The Elder Scrolls: The Battle for Gryphus
Chapter 5
"Speaking of pranks, you wouldn't know anything about me turning into a pony now would you?" I ask Discord.
His eyes widen and he chuckles nervously. "Well I, err, that is... Maybe?" he replies with a sheepish smile.
I just raise an eyebrow at him and cross my arms."Oh fine! I was able to use my powers even while in my delightful accommodations, I pulled a few pranks on those who passed by now and then, but until recently, I felt a strange presence nearby for a few days. I felt that old geezers magic but to my surprise, it was coming from you," he says as he conjures a couch and lies on it. "At the time I thought you were sent to find me, so I played a little trick on you." He snaps his fingers but nothing happens, he looks surprised and snaps a few more times.
"What are you doing?" I ask confused.
He shakes his head as he still has a surprised expression. "I was trying to turn you into a pony again, but seems like I can't now, how are you blocking my magic?" He asks, more intrigued than frustrated.
"My ring blocks any type of manipulative spells, I'm guessing shape changing is one of them," I reply.
"Ah, well then." He twirls his lion paw around a few times as a silver amulet with an emerald gem in the shape of a horseshoe hangs from his fingers. "Here you go, just put this on and you'll become a pony again, just take it off to turn back. Oh, and also it will change your clothes and armour to match as well." He holds it out to me. "Just think of it as a thank you present for freeing me from dear old daddy," he says.
I take the amulet with a 'thank you', I remove my ring and put the amulet on, I feel my body shifting but this time there's no pain. In just a matter of three seconds, I'm a pony again and my gear changed to match as well.
My wings are now on my sides, I note I'm still an earth pony and just as big as Luna. My bow is hanging off my left flank and my quiver is tucked under my right wing, my sword is on my back with the pommel just to the right side of my head and the staff on the floor under my left fore-hoof.
Discord raises an eyebrow. "I don't remember you being that big... Oh well, I bet Lulu will love it all the more then!" he says while wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
Instead of being embarrassed I just chuckle. "I'm sure she would, so besides me using this staff, is there any other reason for you to be here?" I ask him.
He chuckles a bit. "Not really, I just felt some chaos magic and thought the ol' goat got loose... If I could of gotten out after a few hundred years, who's to say he can't as well? Maybe even sooner? He is stronger than I am with chaos magic," he replies.
I raise my eyebrows at that, if Sheogorath is stronger than Discord, then there's a good chance he's just playing with us. I frown for a few seconds, I'm going to have to warn Celestia and ask if there's anyway to add more seals on him.
"But since I'm here, I'll hang around for awhile! I could use a vacation after being in one spot for so long!" he says excitedly as a flower patterned shirt, a pair of black glasses and a case in each of his hands appears, he then looks confused and tilts his head. "...Where are we going?" he asks as his glasses slip a bit.
"Gryphus, it's under attack and we've been sent to help them," I reply as I take off the amulet and revert back.
"Ooooooh! I think I've been here once before, this will be interesting," he says.
Before anything else is said, the Captain yells out. "Prepare docking procedures! Time of arrival five minutes!" he says through the funnel.
The crew rush around getting ready to dock to a close approaching tower, I was too busy talking with Discord to notice we've arrived.
The ship is now approaching the centre of the city and up to a tower with a large flat top. Griffins fly over and take a few ropes handed to them by the crew, they fly back to the platform and tie the ropes to some anchors, I head back down and retrieve the letter for the King.
As I return to the deck, the ramp is placed across to the platform and the ponies set up a perimeter around the landing area. I walk off and a dark purple almost black griffon with dark red feathers in robes greets me. "Welcome to Aerastrad, capital city of Gryphus," he greets us with a bow. "My name is Ebonwing, advisor and brother to King Iron Beak, I've been asked to bring you to him." He looks past me and spots Razor Beak being pulled off the ship.
"Ah yes, my nephew. I do apologize for his inexcusable behaviour, my brother will have no choice but to punish him harshly this time, it's not the first time he's tarnished our name, but it will be the last," he says with a sharp look at Razor Beak, but what puts me on edge is the grin Razor Beak has on his face.
Before I could wonder why, a large plume of smoke blasts the platform. I draw my sword instantly and hear three screams of pain and thuds, I can hear frantic footsteps as a griffon and pony in the same knife vests with matching colour fur like in Ponyville and Canterlot rush me. I quickly thrust at the griffon impaling him between the eyes, I hear a sound like a teleportation spell going off to my left.
I let go of my sword and grab the pony's forelegs by his fetlocks before he could stab me. I frown and prepare a sparks spell in each hand, his eyes go wide as he sees the electric sparks, but it's to late as I pour the electrical current through him {80%}. He drops to the floor twitching and I pull out my sword from the griffon's head.
There's too much smoke to see anything, so I look straight up as the face plates retract. "Fus RO DAH!" {50%} I yell, the shock wave pushes the smoke away as I look around, Razor Beak is gone and the two guards who were escorting him are bleeding out, a griffon guard is also on the floor bleeding.
The two unicorn healers rush over and start healing the two wounded guards, I look around for any sign of where Razor Beak could have gone, but there's no trace of him anywhere. I grumble as I head over to the downed griffon and start healing him {60%}. After I healed him, he thanks me and I head over to Ebonwing and help him up.
"*cough cough* Thank you," he says as I help him up to his feet. "We need to inform the King about this," he says grimly.
"Lead the way," I say and turn to the others. "You three come with me!" I say to an earth pony a unicorn and Fleetwind, they salute and follow me. "The rest of you, guard the ship, we don't know if they'll return." The others salute as well and continue setting up the perimeter.
Me and the three guards follow Ebonwing down a set of stairs and through a hallway connecting the platform to the castle. After a ten minute walk and many stares from the castle staff, we arrive at the throne room.
I enter the room and notice it's very different to Celestia's, there's a large crescent shaped table in the middle of the room, an old looking tan griffon with snow white feathers in a fur lined red coat sits in the middle with others sitting besides him, he also has a few scars on his face and beak, in the middle of the room is a table with a map on it, similar to the war room in Canterlot.
"Brother! The aid from Equestria has arrived," Ebonwing announces, the one in the coat looks up, I guess that's the King then.
"Wonderful! Come come, take a seat," he gestures to a seat in front of the map table, I tell the three Guards to stand by the door and I head over to him and take my helmet off which I hook to my left hip.
{100%} {100%}
"Greetings, your Majesty. I have come with a regiment of guards to help protect Gryphus from the dragons. Also, I have some bad news," I say and hand him the letter.
He takes it and reads it. After a minute, he frowns and shakes his head. "It shames me to know that my own blood is the cause of this plague," He sighs in disgust. "and where is he? Was he not sent with you?" he then asks me.
I look over to Ebonwing. "I'm sorry brother, but a group ambushed the platform and took Razor Beak away, our friend here took out two of them but the rest escaped."
Iron Beak's frown deepens. "Then I have no choice, send out a bounty on Razor Beak for fifty thousand bits alive, ten thousand dead, from what Princess Celestia has told me, he has insulted not only Princess Luna, but also you as well," he says looking at me. "He also attempted to assassinate you, and now to find out he's the leader of the worst criminal organization in the world?" He places his head on his talon and shakes his head.
"On behalf of my family, I apologise for his actions," he says with a bow to me.
"It's alright, it's not your fault. Besides, with that bounty on him, I take it I can now kill him?" I ask showing no emotion.
"Yes, I understand how you must feel, my wife was killed by assassins a few years ago, I caught the culprit who was one of my most trusted guards and took his head personally, so I don't blame you for wanting his life," he replies. "Besides, he is no longer my son, you may do as you wish with him."
I bow to him. "Thank you, I've only stayed my hand at Celestia's request, no one threatens those I love and lives to regret it," I say barely restraining my anger. "As for the bounty, you can keep it."
"Alright, now onto the matter at hand," he says and flies over the table to stand beside me. "So far half of our towns and villages have been attacked, our military has managed to take out two dragons but we've lost over three hundred soldiers and countless others." He points to several areas on the map. "We've also received increased reports of the organization raiding the towns untouched by the dragons," he finishes.
"Well, we took out a dragon on the way here as well as a very well armed group of around fifty griffins trying to free Razor Beak," I tell him.
"That is good news at least, our main concern though right now is trying to locate where the dragons are coming from, it seems like they appear out of thin air then leave without a trace," he replies.
"Hmmmmm. Well, they could be using portals, we have a dragon ally who came to Equestria by a portal, I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing the same," I tell the King.
"That is troubling if true, that would mean finding them would be near impossible," he says with a defeated sigh. He has a point, how do I track an enemy who leaves no tracks?
"We can discuss this later, I'm sure you're tired from your trip, shall I have a servant escort you to a guest room?" Iron Beak offers.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'll be staying within the airship we arrived on," I reply.
He chuckles. "That's fine, but I would like you to join us for supper in a few hours time."
I smile and nodded. "I'd be honoured to."
"By the way, what is your armour made from? It looks like some kind of bone, wouldn't it break easily?" he asks intrigued.
"It's made from dragon bones by a minotaur smith named Hammerhoof," I reply which stuns him.
"It’s made from dragon bones and thee Hammerhoof crafted it?" he asks and I nodded to him.
"That's very impressive, it's very hard to commission him to craft armour, it must of cost quite a few bits to make," Iron Beak says as he circles you.
"I wouldn't know, Celestia had it made for me," I reply.
"Hmmm, well I better let you go since I have some matters to attend to, I'll see you at supper then." He smiles before heading out through a door behind the crescent table.
Me and the guards head back to the ship. Upon arrival, Discord just looks confused, I walk up to him and he just stays still, I wave my hand in his face and still no movement.
"You alright?" I ask him.
He blinks and shakes his head. "Yeah, I'm just peachy, but do tell what that was all about? I thought the enemy were dragons? Why did griffins and ponies attack us?" he asks.
"They were Razor Beak’s lackeys," I look at him with a raised brow. "and why didn't you help when it all happened?" I ask.
"I didn't even know he was on board! When it went down I had no idea what was going on, the whole thing just stumped me," he replies and sits down.
"Yeah, I was shocked by it as well," I say.
Discord grins slightly. "I bet that earth pony that attacked you found it more shocking than you did," he says with a chuckle. "So what happens now?"
I chuckle along with him. "Well, we're to wait here and get our gear together and ready, after that we're heading back for supper with the King... You want to tag along?" I ask him.
"Oooh, dinner with the King? This will be interesting to say the least," he says and with a snap of his fingers, he's dressed in an expensive looking robe and curly white hair.
I smirk. "Just behave yourself, if the things I've heard about you are true, then tonight will be rather..." I say but Discord just grins.
"Chaotic?" he finishes for me.
"Yeah, that. Please behave since we're here to help, not cause any more problems," I tell him.
"Oh sure, cross my heart hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye," he says while drawing a cross on his chest and actually sticking a cupcake in his eye.
"What does that mean?" I ask with a confused expression.
"It's a Pinkie promise I learnt from that delightful pink ball of energy in Ponyville," he replies with a smile, what surprised me though is Pinkie Pie suddenly popping out of nowhere over Discords shoulder.
"And no pony breaks a Pinkie promise!" she says in a serious tone before ducking back down.
I walk over and look behind him to see no one there. "What?... but... how? Where did she go?" I ask looking around.
"Oh don't worry about it, even I tried to figure out how she does it but I couldn't find a single clue! I think she somehow knows how to use chaos magic but I never feel a trace of it from her," he says with a chuckle. "She's so random... I think I'm starting to love that happy hyper pony." He gets a goofy smile on his face, steam slowly coming out of his ears.
"Good luck with that, I'm off to make sure everything is ready for when we need it," I say and head below deck.
Several hours go by. Dash left to go check on her friend while me and the crew take inventory, all weapons and armour accounted for, and food supplies are restocked. Three of the guards have been lost but the others morale has only increased to avenge their fallen friends... Oh yes, Razor Beak will suffer for all he's done.
I remain in my armour as I, Discord, and the same three guards head back into the castle and into the throne room. Again Iron Beak is sitting in the same spot with a lot of other griffins around him, there's an empty spot to his right, he smiles but it's lost as he spots Discord.
"Why is the Harbinger of Chaos here!? GUARDS!" he yells as griffins draw swords or point spears at Discord who just freezes in place with his hands above his head with a surprised expression.
"What's going on?" I ask Iron Beak.
Iron Beak Stood up and points at Discord while looking at me. "That monster caused a major disaster over a thousand years ago that caused over half of our people to die of starvation! This land was once a green and lush place, he caused a climate change that turned our once fertile land into the snow covered plains that they are now. A lot of the wildlife and our livestock died due to the change."
Discord looks pale. "I actually forgot about that," he mumbles.
I look at Discord. "What did you do?" I ask him.
Discord sighs as he looks down. "It was when I first arrived in Equis, I just got away from you know who and just let myself go, I caused quite a bit of damage... Until Tia and Lulu stopped me, being in stone for a thousand years, I've had plenty of time to think about what I've done. At first, all I could do was watch as time went by in front of me, but after a few hundred years, I learnt to expand my sight beyond my prison and watched the ponies day to day activities." Discord stays silent for a few seconds.
"I watched families work together and help each other through the good and bad times. Sure, I played a few pranks now and then like making things move or jump out at them, but I never once intentionally killed anypony," he says with a sad expression. "When I changed the weather back then, I did it on a whim without thinking of the consequences." He looks up to Iron Beak.
"I know this won't change anything, but I regret what I've done and I'm really sorry, if I can do anything to make it up to you then I shall," Discord offers.
Iron Beak frowns and sits back down, he looks deep in thought. After a minute he replies. "Alright then, you're going to help fight the dragons, and don't bother turning the land back, we've already adjusted to it over the last thousand years, turning it back would just cause the same problems again."
Discord smiles slightly. "Then I shall help as much as I can."
Iron Beak looks at me. "Well then, please sit and let's start supper then shall we?" I nodded and head round to the empty spot at his left, to his right is a small griffin, judging by its features it's a boy, possibly his son.
Discord sits at the end of the table on the left side as well, I can see a pained expression on his face, I wasn't expecting him to act like this from what he showed earlier.
The food arrives, Iron Beak tells me it's from a wild boar. "Please, dig in and enjoy," he tells me.
I pick up a fork and knife and start eating, the guards I arrived with sitting on the right side look a little queasy as they eat the salad that was made for them.
Supper is eaten in silence, Iron Beak looks over at Discord now and then with different expressions, anger and confusion among others. Discord on the other hand looks too upset to eat.
After supper was finished, the King moves to the centre table with the map on it, other griffins go about their business and some also stand beside the table. Iron Beak starts handing out some folders to me and others. "Alright then, this is what we know so far."