//------------------------------// // Trust Lost, Trust Gained. // Story: Fists of Fury or Something // by Shocks //------------------------------// The bright afternoon sun gazed down upon the thick grassland, its rays warming the ground and casting away all shadows. The wind was calm, peaceful, and lacked any factors to reduce the nice temperature to uncomfortable levels. For miles, the grassland stretched, rich and green, thanks in part to the rich, fertile soil that the area had come to have. It would have been a very picturesque scene, the quiet of the wild allowing any onlooker to observe the area with peace and tranquility. However, this would have been rather difficult, especially taking into accounts the hordes of armored soldiers that formed the divisions of the Equestrian and Griffon armies, each army standing off hundreds of yards from each other. Stationed close to a large forest that bordered the expansive grasslands, the avian army was a wash of grey metal and deep reds, their plated and chain male armor reflecting the suns rays. War banners appeared near the sides of the columns of troops, as well as a large central banner raised near dead center of the army. Buckler shields, long swords, lances, halberds, many and more weapons were clutched tightly in the talons of the Griffons, even some flying above the ranks clutching long bows with readied arrows. By contrast, the equine army laid standing silently on the now trampled grass of the plains. Their ranks were filed up around a thick line of heavily armored earth ponies with large shields formed up at the front to protect the unicorns in the rear lines. The flags of Equestria were displayed proudly by several banner bearers, a few nearly at the front of the divisions. There was a tense silence as the armies simply observed each other, content for the moment to sit and wait for one or the other to make the first move. There was the occasional twitch of a claw or the spark of magic by unicorn, yet all remained still. Little time passed though before the silence was broken. It happened slowly at first, almost a hum in the air, before rising in strength. From the Griffon side, there was the deep rumbling of hundreds of spears, their shafts contacting the ground in a rhythmic fashion, as swords banged against shields to enhance the sonic booms of the army. Slow at first, before reaching a rapidly increasing crescendo, the avian sea of bodies parted for a moment, allowing a truly massive armored Griffon to appear out of the ranks. If a regular griffon stood roughly at head height to an average stallion, then this Griffon could be easily one if not two heads taller, making him a truly intimidating sight, the added bulk not withstanding. The champion spread his massive wings, raising a finely crafted war axe in one talon, he soared up and down the troop line, screeching caws echoing across the field as his fellow soldiers matched his shouts with their own. This went on for several times as he flew back and forth to assure that all heard his cries. Then, suddenly landing where he originally parted the formation, he hefted his axe before slamming the shaft into the ground as the army burst into even louder shouts then before. The equine army, for its worth, did not match the loud cries of the enemy, the pony's faces stoic behind their golden helmets as they stood silently. The bird’s screeches soon began to die down as more Griffons came to realize that their enemy seemed unfazed by their verbal onslaught and soon, quiet was brought back to the field. That was until one seemingly random pony started to stomp his hooves before bashing his sword against his shield. BUM BUM BASH! Then, several more began to join in. BUM BUM BASH! It spread throughout the ranks, the rhythm not as complicated as the Griffon’s own but seeming to have an intensity all its own. BUM BUM BASH! Soon the entire pony army was stomping to the beat of its fellows, as a hole opened up in the thick earth pony line. BUM BUM BASH! What emerged from the line was in fact not a pony, and many a griffon found it quite perplexing how they failed to see a creature standing easily a head taller then each of the pony soldiers. Nearly completely encased it golden armor, the bipedal human marched out from the center file, raising a war hammer in the air as the rhythm pressed on. BUM BUM BASH! Repeatedly, the armored biped raised his hammer, and each time the stomps of the troops seemed to shake the earth itself. The griffon champion, smirking, hefted his own weapon into the air, the avian line bursting into chants and shouts as he began to fly toward the enemy line alone. The biped was quick to match own his pace toward the incoming griffon. They soon met in the dead center of no man’s land, where the two stood silently apart from each other, evaluating each other. The griffon was not afraid. Curious certainly, but not afraid. The biped appeared to be skinny, probably less weight then a pony, so it was probably more agile to compensate. Its body was covered in golden armor, and a gilded design of the Equestrian’s princess’s mark was stylized on its chest. Strangely, its gauntlets appeared to be made differently…strange. Through the T-break in armor on the helmet, the griffon found two beady brown eyes staring back at him, and somewhat pink, fleshy skin like that of a plucked griffon. And…was it trying to fight back a smile? Interesting. The human was having his own time evaluating the griffon, noting of course the fact that this heavily armored griffon was for a point huge. Like, slightly taller then the one person he thought was the tallest in terms of personal height and she was large. Not so say fat mind you! Just…you see…he was aware she was far from fat and she had the right amount of curves… Gah! Back to the griffon! The armored warrior had more metal on him then a death metal fan, and only the bird’s head was exposed for him to see. The fact that he seemed to have an armor scheme with a mix of a Viking and dwarf did not help his case. Perhaps they had a society similar to dwarfs? Diggy Diggy Hole… He repeatedly mentally facepalmed as his thoughts became a train wreck. He was trying desperately not to smile at the ludicrous half-baked thoughts invading his mind. The fact that he had managed to teach the army that song in such a short time was not helping… “Ye don’t look like a pony creature” the griffon spoke, nearly startling the armored human. “Yeah? What gave me away?” he smiled, gesturing to his body with a gauntlet that the griffon realized was oversized compared to the rest of its body. “The fact ye don’t turn tail and run back to your whorse princess” the griffon clutched his chin as he smirked. His opponent shifted, resting his war hammer on his shoulder in a far too relaxed gesture. “That was a bit of a low blow wasn’t it?” was the reply, the ‘whorse’ comment flying completely over his head. The screeching caws that erupted from the avian warrior were far less pleasant at this new range, irritation sparking in the human at the sound that was similar to nails on a chalkboard. “Well, eh can certainly tell your made of stronger stuff if ye aint attacking me over a little jest. Even so…” the griffon flared his wings as he moved into a fighting stance, cold determination on his face. “…ye aint winnin’ this battle” The human brought a hand to its chin, nodding solemnly as he seemingly ignored the threat near him. “Your right there. I’m not winning this battle” the griffon smirked again. Accepting defeat already? Honorable, it was the only option. “Because this isn’t a battle!” the bird warrior dived to the ground just as the biped for a better word, launched the war hammer at him, it sailing over his head by inches before impacting the ground yards away. Barely had he dodged the hammer did an object appear in his peripheral vision, his instincts saving him just as an armored gauntlet dug into the ground directly where his head had been. He looked up to spot a chain connecting the armored part back to its owner who seemed entirely fine with the fact he had a detached body part. A curse escaped under his breath. Damn those equine magics! The armored gauntlet seemed not done however, and with a tremor, tore away from the ground gripping a large chunk of rock in its grasp. The human moved forward, its arm swinging the now improvised weapon of earth. “Your ass is grass!” the human yelled, releasing the piece at the griffon once more, his gauntlet connecting back to his body with a clang. Again, the avian warrior was sent on the defensive, rolling out of the way. “And I’m the lawn mower!” The biped rushed him, at a speed that he had to admit was numerous times quicker then he had originally believed. Though the fact that he charged without an actual weapon gave the griffon the advantage he needed. Spreading his wings, he used the small speed boost of a flap to launch himself at the biped, content to meet him head on. Just as the two were about to connect, the human readying a haymaker, the avian slid, connecting his ax with the human’s shin. He twirled around, hoping to see crimson upon his axe, yet instead found the sharpened metal dulled and damaged. A glance at the still standing biped revealed that the only damage was its armored leg suffering a thick dent, the slightly exposed area he aimed for undamaged. However, the attack seemed to stun the human, as he stood there immobilized for a moment. And was he…shaking? “W-wow, felt that pretty well…” he started shakily, his legs starting to shake even more. “Fuck…if I had been normal, you might’ve taken my leg off…hehe…” The griffon stared confusedly as the human half turned, its head lowered in defeat? Resignation? “I wasn’t taking this as seriously as I should’ve” he raised is head to stare at the griffon, the beady eyes meeting the bird’s own. The look he received made his fur bristle. “This is a battle. This is a war. You want to kill me. I’m supposed to kill you” As the human said this, he flexed is gauntlets repeatedly, running his metal fingers over each other numerous times as a hum began to fill the air. The avian warrior’s eyes widened as he noticed the armored appendages were slightly expanding, the metal seeming to shift as if…alive. Like thousands of small bugs, the metal began to shift and flow outward, increasing the overall size of his hands in a display that the griffon had no words for. And yet, it seemed to spread over the armor of his forearms, crawling up slowly toward his shoulders, all the while the armor shifting and changing to match the gauntlets he wore, as if they were originally the same piece. The human suddenly brought his enlarged arm and hand slamming to the ground, shaking it while showing off his new found reach as he crouched low like a predator. His other arm moved behind him, his palm seeming to form small sparks of light, before the gauntlet was awash with lightning, dozens of bodily sized bolts connecting him and the ground. He looked toward the griffon-which had slowly begun to inch back-a look that was more than startling. The human finely smiled, revealing teeth that did not belong to a herbivore. “Now, how about that battle?” It took me a few minutes after I woke up to realize that I had been dreaming, and a few minutes after that to realize that I was singeing the covers of my bed with my gigawatt gloves, the light smell of smoke lingering in the air. It was a simple task to turn them off as I looked at the mess of my bed covers. My hand slipped over my head, ruffled what little hair I had as I tried to recover from the dream. Well, I use the term dream loosely. … A memory. It was a memory. I don’t exactly dream anymore, something I didn’t find out till a few weeks back. My brain…it just… Let me try to break it down for you. Ever have to file something or organize a ton of paperwork and such? Ok, now you’ve probably had that moment where you have all of the materials that you need to sort before you, and you realize very quickly that this job is going to be a pain in the ass, but you have to get it done right? My brain was having something similar to this. I guessed it had been trying to sort through the literal clusterfuck of memories I had developed over the century, and what’s the best way to know where things go? Review them. Or in my case, replay them. Replay them all. I was not looking forward to the rest of the memories that I thought I had lost in the depths of my head, especially any with my two favorite princesses. That was the last thing I needed, they already occupied my thoughts when I’m actually awake. I don’t need them when I sleep too. I swear if you misinterpreted that or raised an eyebrow suggestively… …. Groggily, I swung my legs from out of my cover to lamely place my feet on the floor, taking a moment to enjoy the smooth textures of the carpet against my bear feet. As I allowed my body to try and catch up to my rapidly awaking mind, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my covers were still slightly smoking, the burned fabric still glowing slightly orange. Guess I’ll need to be more careful where I sleep… The irony of that comment was not lost to me. To explain, I had taken the large leap of trusting that mare Ivory and her so called order as she so eloquently explained it. Of course, she could have been pulling more out of her ass then a pg-13 birthday clown, and by god I would go on a fucking rampage if this is a trap, but…what the hell. Someone once said, when you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. I don’t think they meant it to apply to dimensionally displaced altered humans with super powers in a land of mythological creatures, but hey, can’t win em all. A sudden shrill beeping totally didn’t catch me off guard as I initiated a tactical diving role, bringing my fists up protectively as I try to find the origin of that god awful noise. Coincidentally, it didn’t take long to find the small circle shaped device strapped to the ceiling of my room, a small red light blinking rapidly as it continued its glass-shattering wail. Wait, they have fire detectors no- I had to put that thought on hold as the door to my room for a better word shattered into two halves courtesy of the large earth pony stallion outside it, as he held a large red fire axe in his mouth. Without a thought, dozens of ponies equipped in full firefighter gear rushed in backed by several of the elite guards after I tired to understand that this was actually happening. Jesus, they brought enough gear to battle even the most stubborn forest fire. Bypassing myself as I was near the side of the room, the firefighter ponies rushed over to my bedside, quickly spotting the small burning blanket on the bed. Several of what I assumed were fire extinguishers surrounded the honestly pathetic fire, and literally doused it in a mountain of foam. I wish I was kidding. I literally watched the pile of foam slowly climb up in height. That was however not the most unexpected element as another pony came running in just as everything appeared to have calmed down, carrying with him a fire hose that was immediately directed toward my bed. I watched stunned as they completely blasted my now ruined bed with enough water to fill a small swimming pool. I was silently patting myself on the back for having the foresight to place my shirt and pants on the dresser. Yeah, you pony boys are lucky you didn’t ruin those hehe. Ivory began to approach me as the overzealous firefighters were trying to decide amongst themselves if they could somehow hack the bed apart to stop the by far dead fire. “We’ll this was by far nowhere near what I thought might have occurred…” she laughed, hoping to diffuse some tension I guess? Though… “And what exactly did you think occurred?” I countered, trying to edge my way toward the dresser, not interesting in staying in just my boxers for the moment. That took her by surprise for a moment, her and her guards tensing up just slightly. Suuuuuspicccioooooouuuussss She paused momentarily before she answered my question, searching for the correct answer. It was that pause that made allowed me to spot something different about her… “No robe this time?” I said, tilting my head to get a better look of her in the armor similar to her guards. “And you’re a pegasus to huh?” Noting the white feathered appendages standing out against her sides. “Observational Gaunts” she spoke, not so much sarcastically but as a simple truth. “No, you caught me at an inopportune moment, and I wasn’t able to grab my robes in time. And yes. I am a pegasus” she flared her wings in a little show for me. It was at this moment one of the firefighter ponies approached us before he stopped before Ivory, saluting quickly. “Fire’s out ma’am” he spoke neutrally. This got a small smile out of the mare as her eyes glanced over the completely ruined four poster bed. “Excellent work sergeant, looks like your record remains spotless” she spoke, and…did I sense sarcasm? “Though I wonder if all this is necessary?” she gestured to the dozen other fire ponies in the room, who were twiddling their hooves at this point or trying to impress the female guards, many failing very…very poorly. I’m quite sure I heard the phrase ‘Hey filly, wanna check out my fire hose?’ followed by a loud smack. The lead fire pony just shrugged. “Only we can prevent fires ma’am.” He said. Made since, I mean you can’t… Wait…what did he say? While I was trying to process another strange tie back to my own world, Ivory dismissed the firefighters as well as guard to find the cleaning crew or some such. This left me with herself and two of the guards from yesterday. Personal guards maybe? “This is not how I planned to start my morning” She groaned, placing a hoof to her temple and rubbing at a clearly starting migraine. “And how did you plan to start the morning?” I asked, finally reaching the dresser where my clothes were resting undamaged. “With breakfast” Oh. Touché. I simply shrugged as I donned my pants and shirt, finding my shoes just out of arms reach. “So, how are you feeling this morning?” She asked, the comment surprising me more then it should have. “Uhhh…good I guess” God did that sound convincing. And of course she picked up on that right away. “Oh? Is something wrong?” she sounded slightly concerned as her guards looked at each other. “Not particularly” I tried to brush off the question. She wasn’t having any of it. “If you need anything, feel free to ask. You have more resources at your disposal then you realize” she smiled, gesturing a hoof to the entire room, minus the bed of course. I paused for a really long time. I mean, I think I literally stood still for a full minute, a mental battle ensuing within me as I thought heavily on the first part of her statement. “If I need anything?...” I let the question linger. “Within reason of course” she smiled at me timidly. I paused again, letting some rising tension in my shoulders release. I looked her straight in the eye, leaving my face as passively neutral as possible, though I know for a fact that a small frown was definitely present. “Who are you?” I asked. She looked at me funny. “I believe we already introduced oursel-“ “No.” I stated, my voice hard. “What I meant was. Who are you, your group specifically. What are your interests, motives-“ My eyes narrowed. “Allegiances?” I had delivered the loaded question right out in the open, and it was Ivory’s choice to pull the trigger. Her smile that she had had most of our short interaction was now gone, replaced by a furrowed brow and a tight lip. She closed her eyes for a moment as she exhaled out her nose, shaking her head slightly. “I think I caused unneeded tension between the two of us Gaunts” she spoke softly. “If you would allow me, I think we can settle this all in one go” she continued, suddenly looking me right back in the eye. “Or as one would say, kill two birds with one stone?” That had my undivided attention. That was not a pony phrase. Things like that simply did not pop up for usable metaphors for them. And besides that fact… I had said that phrase in the company of few ponies. Celestia and Luna were not in that category. “So, mind telling me where we’re going?” I asked, my curiosity heavily peaked thanks to that tricky mare Ivory. She only smiled back from ahead of me, her pace faster then normal to keep up with my longer strides. Her guards remained behind me, no doubt there to stop me if anything happens. “Patience Gaunts. Trust me, you wont be disappointed” she turned back to keep her attention on the hallway we found ourselves in. After deciding to explain everything to me in one go in the form of show and tell, we left my room to the distraught maid cleaning crew that showed up, cries of ‘not again!’ echoing down the hall. I was surprised to find that the hallway seemed to be built as stone or concrete, nothing nice and polished like the castle, but still carrying an overall eloquent design. Small lights built into the rounded ceiling contributed all the light in the hallway, considering that there were literally no windows to speak of. Seriously. Zero. As we passed under one light, I was able to notice that yes, in fact, it was an actual light bulb, no candlelight, no magic. The tech is strong with these ones. We had just made a turn into another hallway when I realized something strange. It appeared to be a dead end. I say appeared in the fact that instead of say a wall, there was a wall of steel wires that covered a hole that ended the hallway. In addition, a small panel with small buttons was placed on the side of the wall directly before the strange wire. It looked eerily familiar. That’s when a very ornate elevator dropped right into the empty pocket at the end, an elegant wood finish with bright reds and gold’s making it look like it belonged at Cesar’s palace. “Surprised?” Ivory spoke up again, not catching me off guard at all. It is impossible. “N-no” Mhhmmm. Not a second after I spoke did the elevator door open with a soft ding, allowing another guard pony to appear, I assume the elevator pony? That’s a thing? “Lady Ivory” the guard saluted as we entered the elevator, my eyes tracing over every inch and detail this thing had to offer. Questions ran in my mind. Questions that needed to be answered. How far have they advanced? What was their most recent tech? Why were Canterlot and Ponyville so…outdated? I had seen more technology from these guys then I had in my week of freedom. Who the hell are they?! I gave Ivory a glance as I stepped into the elevator, ignoring the subtle shift in weight my body made on the suspended surface, the elevator lowering a fraction of an inch. Ivory’s guards were the last to board before the door closed on us with a very smooth and controlled motion. “Destination ma’am?” the door pony asked. “Take us to the surface please, the Atrium specifically” she nodded, smiling at me from the corner of her eye. Your are just enjoying every moment of this aren’t you? “Right away” with a push of a random button, the decent shift of the elevator started before we began to move upwards, toward the… Wait. To the surface?! Ivory only smiled… I hate having a lot of people suddenly staring at me, for whatever reason, good or bad. In this case, I couldn’t tell if it was either one. The minute we arrived at the ‘Atrium’ as Ivory had put it, the door had opened to a massive, and I mean massive, domed area. I could see where it got the name ‘Atrium’. From where we were standing, the center of this room was dominated by a large open space that seemed to have been designed with that of a park or garden in mind, given the large amount of grass and flowers that I could see. The roof of the gardened area was a massive glass dome form which what appeared to be sunlight filtered through, illuminating the entire park area beautifully. But no, none of that was as nearly as incredible as the actual legit waterfall that flowed from the center of the glass dome, water cascading freely in from somewhere unseen, filling small waterways along the garden paths. Circling perfectly around the main structure was in fact a large area supported by rounded arches, giving the space we entered sort of like a highway around the park. There was honestly even space here to support hundreds of ponies, flying pegasi included. And it did. Now, hundreds of ponies that had seemed to have been going about there business suddenly all came to a halt, realizing that I was standing there outside the elevator door. Pegasi hovered in the air as the unicorns and earth ponies stared surprised on the ground. The area had become nearly dead silent, and given the fact it sounded like a shopping mall right when we arrived was saying something. Honestly, it was so quiet, a fly could’ve cut a fart and you probably would have heard it. Ivory for her part, was completely unfazed. “Excuse me…trying to get through…” she took to the air, using her wings to fly slightly over some of her earth bound counterparts as she led me toward the garden area of the Atrium, the sea of ponies parting before me like I was Moses. I was rapidly losing my cool. Something was not right here, something is going on. Ivory is too calm, those ponies know something about me, they have advanced tech, what the hell is happening here?! Transitioning onto a cobblestone pathway from the carpeted floor of the hallway, all the while the ponies around us slowly gathering closer, we neared the center of the garden area, the dome’s light shining down on us. I didn’t notice them at first, and I’m a bit ashamed to say that. Where the waterfall landed in a pool in the center of the garden, six gold and silver statues formed a circle around the pool of water. I found my attention grabbed immediately by one in particular. It was bipedal. My legs became shaky as my breath hitched in my throat. That’s….impossible…. It was…me. Allow me to clarify; it was a bust of me. Designed so that I appeared with my war armor fully adorned, I was standing erect on my pedestal, my war hammer raised triumphantly in the air. Seeing myself wasn’t the shocker though. Five other statues, each one holding at least one pony from each tribe stood with my own around the circle, seeming to generate a sense of unity between them all. And the ponies… I knew them. I did know them… I felt like the biggest bastard in the universe for forgetting about them. Though, I thought they did the same for me… “Forge…Storm breaker…Overhaul…” I whispered. “…Firefly, Smooth Bore” Ivory finished next to me, somehow placing herself without my notice. Then again, it would be difficult to take my attention away from this... I fell to my knees. They were wobbling so much I…they…couldn’t handle it. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a guard moved in my direction, but a wing lift and head shake from Ivory persuaded him otherwise. I stated at them for a long time. I didn’t care if all those other ponies were silently watching me, no one daring to make a move. “How?” I finally asked. Whispered being a better description. “You changed quite a few things since you came to Equestria” Ivory started, her own eyes scanning the assorted statues. “You introduced new ideas, new creations, and new ways of thinking. You affected more ponies then you realize. Foremost these five, your friends” She made a sweeping gesture with her hoof. “All that you see here, all that we have built, can be... is traced back to them. While you know them by their actual names, many of the order simply know them as the founders, the ones that created our little group. It was built around one central structure” she paused, as if to gauge my reaction. I didn’t have one for her. “You.” I swear the light from the dome was really bright; my eyes were starting to water. Somebody should look into that... “You may have fallen to the princesses, but the ideals, the ideas, the bonds you formed, lingered. It was with this in mind that the founders created us for the purpose to move forward, without having the princesses gaze down on our backs. We operate outside the jurisdiction of the crown, but much like you, we have Equestria’s interests in mind.” “M-me? They did this…because of me?” I whispered again, Ivory thankfully catching it. “Mhhm. That they did. You changed their lives in ways you couldn’t imagine” she said, her grey eyes dancing over each of the statues. It was another tense silence as I absorbed what I just heard. It…I…. “They never forgot about you, you know? They never forgot, they still cared about you all those years” That was the proverbial nail in the coffin. I practically fell to the ground, my shaky arms barely supporting me as my gauntlets dug into the cobblestone path. I noticed small drops impact the stones every second and I soon discovered I was crying. For the first time in 1000 years, I cried tears of joy, happiness. “Guys…you didn’t leave me…you cared…” I stayed like that for a little bit, even as a slowly rising sound echoed around the domed area. It was the familiar sound of hundreds of ponies stomping their hooves in applause.