Rain, lightning and thunder shook the building as ponies and gryphons dressed in black trundled inside. Their hooves and claws clopped lightly on the wooden floorboards, breaking the silence of the room. Everyone knew that this event was not to be pleasant, but the sombre mood of the home made everyone uneasy. The tension was raised tenfold as more and more ponies and a few more gryphons, threaded through the door and took their seats on the chairs scattered around the room. Seated at the front, was a foal. All alone. In tears. This was to be his 10th birthday, a joyous occasion by any standard. However, today was not to be a happy day...
----
Quickdraw snapped awake, gasping for breath. Sweat clung to his body, sticking his fur and mane to his skin. Feeling constricted, the grey unicorn stallion threw off his sheets and staggered over to the hotel room's bathroom, where he splashed his face with water. He mumbled something akin to a curse upon his brain for the nightmares.
Why always the same dream? I thought I got over that years ago... Quickdraw let out a sigh into the mirror. Evidently not...
"Oh well, I suppose I should check the time and head down to breakfast," he stated aloud, breaking the unpleasant train of thought. While only mildly coherent, he quickly checked the clock on the wall which stated that the time was 4:30am, and that he should still be asleep by normal pony standards. He donned his gear: a dark grey vest with every inch of space covered in bulging pockets, and two golden rings, which he slid onto his hind legs. A permanent reminder of a great loss.
Quickdraw stumbled out of his room in a drunken-like stupor, induced by exhaustion and bad memories. He reached the stairs, where his face quickly became best friends with the cold hardwood floors of the hotel's ground floor, much to the surprise of the overnight clerk. Quickdraw quietly apologised to the clerk once he had his bearings and informed him that he would be out practicing until 7.
As the grey stallion reached the edge of town after an hour's walk, he spied a fence with bottles, lined carefully on its wooden top, as well as on the lower rung. The stallion immediately decided that this was either an elaborate trap, designed specifically for him, or just sheer luck. Either way, those bottles were history. Quickdraw fired up his horn, opening a pocket on his vest and pulled out a few metal pellets. With a flick of his magic, he sent the pellets screaming at the bottles, fast enough to break the sound barrier, causing a loud crack to sound in the air. As more of the bottles were smashed into oblivion, Quickdraw became aware of a high pitched whining sound coming from the bushes to his left. So, as any normal pony would, he went to investigate. The sound, he found, was coming from a cat, with a coat of dark brown fur, a ruby red eye (the other was covered by what appeared to be a fringe) and a scarf with bells on the ends, as well as in the center, wrapped around its neck. What was more curious to Quickdraw, however, was the three crosses on its front legs, which appeared to be sewn on in thick, white cord.
The cat looked at him...
He looked at the cat...
Suddenly, as if the universe decided to mess with the stallion's head, the cat spoke...
The cat. SPOKE!
It was at that point that a shrill scream could be heard through the town.
--Meanwhile, back at the hotel--
The sounds of the battlefield reached the young gryphon's ears. The cries of the wounded, the tears shed over lost loved ones, the screams of agony as steel sliced into flesh. But Whirlwind Storm was not deterred. He was a captain of the weather artillery division after all, and the gryphons of his squad looked up to him for guidance and direction in the harsh times that were to be had. This battle had raged on for nearly a month, and all were tired. Whirlwind (or Whirl, as his unit called him) sliced through another of his foes with his blade, the blood glistening in the sunlight. A sudden cry for help saw the gryphon flying into an enemy group to save the youngest of his squad, only to watch helplessly as the lion/bird hybrid was sliced open by the spear of the enemy soldier.
----
Storm mumbled in his sleep and turned over in his cloud bed - only to be dropped 5 feet to the floor, as he had unknowingly rolled right off the side of the cloud. With a resounding crash, the gryphon woke, sputtering curses that would have made a sailor proud. He picked himself up, smoothing down any feathers which remained out of place from his slumber and subsequent rude awakening. Taking a quick glance at the clock with his one good eye, he saw that the time was 6am. With this knowledge, he decided that now was as good a time as any to head to the creek and fish up some breakfast before the townsfolk awoke. He quickly put on his equipment: a leather strap holding a broadsword to his side, chain-mail - the front of which was covered in red dragonscale, a symbol of his strength and rank in the gryphon army - a fishing pole, and a black, dragonscale eyepatch for his missing eye.
He sauntered out of his room and downstairs into the lobby, where he noticed a small, yet noticeable pony-face shaped dent in the floor. Ouch. That must have - Wait... Is that Quickdraw's face? The enormous gryphon promptly burst out laughing, falling on the floor (causing another dent, this one gryphon shaped), in a bout of laughter. The Clerk pony gave the gryphon an annoyed look, but couldn't help but giggle softly at the sight of a 475 pound gryphon, heavily armed and armoured, rolling on the floor in fits of laughter. After catching his breath, Storm rose, staggering slightly, apologised to the clerk and asked, "Say, did a grey stallion pass throu... er, fall down the stairs here?"
"He most certainly did sir. If you're wondering where he went, he mentioned something about practice until approximately seven if my memory serves me correctly," answered the clerk.
"Excellent. Well, I'm off too then, I'll also be back around that time. Oh, and if you see another... oddity... wandering around the halls, probably around room five, tell her that her buddies have gone off to do their own things and not to worry, thanks."
"Of course sir. Enjoy whatever activities you have planned until you return."
"Thank you. Try not to let my friend cause too much trouble. I'm off." And with those parting words, the gryphon waltzed out the door and took to the skies.
Shortly after leaving the hotel, the gryphon heard a high-pitched, oddly girly scream, and dove towards the sound with frightening speed. What he found when he reached his destination, however, was not what he expected at all. As he landed, a cloud of dust kicking up, he spotted his grey companion screaming into a bush on the side of the road, and a heap of smashed glass on the other side. He snuck up behind the stallion (still screaming loudly) and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, only to be thrown back a few metres by a magical slam.
"QUICKDRAW, QUIT FUCKING SCREAMING! IT'S ME, WHIRL!" the gryphon screeched with volume which would make Luna proud.
This seemed to do the trick, as the stallion stopped screaming, to stare dumbly at his companion, with fear in his eyes. Still obviously shocked by the strange turn of events, the stallion managed to stutter out some barely audible words along the lines of, "B-b-b-but there's a cat in the bush here... And it sp-sp-spoke!"
"What..."
"The cat, it spoke..."
"Steele... That's impossible... cats don't speak."
"Take a look for yourself!"
"Fine, get out of the way."
The Whirl quietly strode up to the bush and peered into its depths, surprised to see the cat which caused Quickdraw such fright. Once again, the cat spoke while rubbing its ears with its paws. "What the hell is wrong with that pony? Does he WANT me to go deaf?"
The two present looked at each other slowly. And screamed.
--Once again, back at the hotel--
The dreams of this oddity, this insult to nature's laws, were quite different to those of her companions. Instead of war or loss, she dreamed of chaos... and balloons... so many balloons. "One balloon, Two balloon, Red balloon, Blue balloon!" She giggled as she swam through what was practically a sea of balloons, diving deep into their depths only to find a table, covered in delectable sweets at the bottom. She briefly wondered how none of the balloons were popping on her claws, but dismissed the thought as she dove into a cake twice her size. The cake splattered the surrounding balloons, spraying them with the chocolate-y goodness of the cake. She began stuffing her face with the delectable substance. Out of the corner of her draconic eye, she spotted what appeared to be chocolate chip cookies. She squealed with delight and threw herself with reckless abandon towards the platter laden with the treats. She grabbed a handful and crammed them into her mouth. Immediately, she spat the cookies out, scraping her tongue with her paw.
"RAISINS? WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS RAISINS?"
----
Dizzy woke with a scream, the taste of the ethereal raisins lingering on her tongue. Finishing her screaming contest with the air, she threw the sheets off her tall, slender body, she jumped out of the bed with a light clack of her feet (well, what she called her feet anyway) and wandered over to the bathroom to bathe.
After cleaning up, the young (she liked to think so anyway) girl yawned loudly, cracking her bones as she stretched, then decided to try out a new trick she'd been working on. She closed her eyes and imagined her travel companions, Quickdraw Steele and Whirlwind Storm, along with a nice little surprise for them.
----
Just as Quickdraw and Storm finished screaming and the cat in the bushes stopped hearing nothing but loud ringing, a large bright light appeared in the air above the males... And cat. The light was followed by a large downpour of confetti from a large pink cloud which had miraculously appeared in the light.
"Oh damn... Dizzy's awake," the stallion stated quietly.
"Could today get any stranger?" the gryphon asked to no-one in particular.
The sound of shouting alerted the two of them, and they prepared for the worst, only to find a rather petite, female draconequus dropping from the innards of the cloud, which spat her out with a light coughing noise, accompanied with more confetti. The cloud dissipated into nothingness and the gryphon launched himself into the air to catch the young female.
"What the hell were you doing up there with that freaky cloud?" Storm asked, obviously upset at the day's already strange events.
"HEY," Dizzy shouted. "Frank was NOT freaky... Just misunderstood."
"You named a pink cloud that spat confetti?" the stallion asked slowly, putting extra emphasis in his words. "You know what, fuck you guys... and that cat... I'm going home."
"Cat?" inquired Dizzy. "What cat? Where? Is it cute? Does it have a name?"
A loud cough emanated from the bush as the strange cat stalked out.
"I do have a name you know," It harrumphed, rather irritated.
"OOH! I've never seen a genie like this before!" the draconequus said, staring intently at the cat.
"Shut up. I'm not a genie, I'm a cat. Besides, the name's Cheshire. and if any of you call me cute, I'll scratch your eyes out."
"Alright, talking cat. What do you want?" Quickdraw quickly cut in before Dizzy could speak up again. "I mean, we're not exactly the most normal travelling group, but I'm sure we can do something to help you... Were you sleeping in that bush?"
"Once again, plebeian, the name is Cheshire. And yes, I was sleeping in that bush, until you decided to wake me up by smashing those bottles. Thanks for that by the way."
"Don't mention it. So why were you sleeping in that bush?"
"Well, I don't really want to talk about it... But can I travel with you? You seem like you can handle yourself and I always did want travelling companions."
The mismatched group turned to each other, talking in shushed tones, glancing at the cat named Cheshire every now and again. Eventually they came to a decision.
"Fine," Storm grumbled. "you can join us, on the condition that you pull your weight... and tell us how you got those weird crosses on your legs."
"That is acceptable. Although, I don't know how much use I will be, seeing as I'm a talking cat," Cheshire stated simply, and with that, the group, consisting of an unusually coloured pony, a one eyed gryphon soldier, a draconequus and a talking cat, headed back to the hotel, no doubt to scare the wits out of the clerk.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the group however, one thought was running through Quickdraw's head. What in the name of Celestia's golden beard, have I gotten myself into?