Less than an hour had passed before the Gate opened again, depositing one robot holding one Gate Key back in the clearing. He turned to me and presented the Key, which I gratefully took and stuck back in my belt.
"What took so long?" Copper asked.
"The princess desired some form of proof beyond being transported between two points in time that what happened happened," Justice said. "My weapon demonstration satisfied her."
"I bet it would," I said, looking around. "Okay, so we're in 599, in the nation of Griffenheim. Why would that zebra think that sending that princess back to here would be a good way to disrupt anything?"
Justice beeped and whirred before replying. And when he did, it wasn't something that gave me much hope. "Records indicate that around this time in the kingdom's history, the Queen was briefly abducted by a party of fiends seeking to disrupt and demoralize the citizens of Griffenheim. Were the princess to appear back here-"
"Oh great," I moaned as I put a hand to my forehead. "A grandfather paradox. She was hoping to make a grandfather paradox."
"A what paradox?" Copper and Zehan asked.
"Okay, put it like this," I said, lowering that hand. "Let's say I were to figure out your ancestors, Zehan, then go around here and look for one of them. And discreetly kill them before they have any kids. That introduces a grandfather paradox, because how did I learn about them from you to kill them if you didn't exist? Which means I couldn't have gone back, which means that never happened, which means you do exist...so on and so forth. An infinite loop of time travel madness."
"My head hurts just thinking about it," Copper muttered. I declined to tell them about alternative futures and parallel universes just then. When it became more relevant to the topic at hand, we could go into multiversal theory and how the grandfather paradox could be solved.
"So!" I said, clapping my hands and shocking them out of their deep contemplation. I swore I heard Justice grinding as he considered all the infinite loops. "Who wants to go save royalty again? We could probably help rescue the queen of this era."
The three of them thought on it, though it was Justice who nodded first. "Affirmative. It was a near thing in my records that the queen was returned. Let us make it a sure thing."
"Fine," Zehan muttered. "I suppose I can tag along. And if this doesn't sway their minds that not all zebras are bad, I don't know what will."
"Sure, I'll come with," Copper added. And with that, the four of us were on our way to High Aerie, circa 599.
The first thing I noticed was that both the stone walls around the palace were in remarkably good condition. Probably the best indicator that we were in an earlier age was how new everything around us looked, even though there was less of it. The guards were no less vigilant, though they were at least more vocal.
Two griffons swooped down in front of us and crossed their halberds once we'd apparently drawn 'too close' to the palace. "State your name and reason for being here!" one barked at me.
I smiled and did a slight bow to the guards, before I introduced myself and my companions. "I'm Crono, this is Copper, he's Zehan, and this is Justice," I said, indicating the proper party with my hands at each name. "We heard about your missing monarch problem, and would be glad to lend our aid."
The second guard laughed before replying to that. "And what are you, that you all think you could help in the least with our problems?"
In response to that, I casually drew my sword and went through a few motions I had learned to show off my skill to them. "A traveling swords-arm, one willing to work for free," I said. "Surely, any help is better than none?"
The two seemed to consider this for a moment before having a hushed conversation. Eventually, they turned back to me and nodded. "We'll escort you around the grounds," one said. "But don't expect to see the palace itself."
"Fine by me," I said, sheathing my katana. "That'll give us time to ask us questions related to the disappearance." My companions nodded their assent to my plan as we followed after the guards. "Why don't you show us where the queen was taken from?"
"Her tower is this way," one said as they began to lead us around the exterior of the castle. "One night, she went to bed, and the next morn, she was gone."
The tower didn't look vandalized or broken into, but there was only so much one could do in assessing a situation from the outside. "Did the queen ever make any routine visits outside the palace?"
The two guards looked at one another before one of them answered my question. "Yes, she was often fond of visiting a village of ponies to the east, to see how our neighbors were getting on. Why?"
"Just a theory I'm spinning at the moment," I replied. "Anyone ever go with her?"
"The Chancellor, to observe the proceedings," one said. "And her bodyguard, Gregor."
"Hmm," I said aloud, turning the situation over in my head. The bodyguard would likely learn the same things we did, or was already there...meaning we should probably head to the east and lend our aid already. "My thanks for your assistance," I complimented the guards, before turning to the east and starting to walk around the palace. "But now we have somewhere we should be heading."
And ignoring their questions as to what I could possibly be thinking, the four of us began our trek to the last good lead as to the location of the griffon's queen.
"Okay," Copper said as she looked around this village. "I'm not sure what was creepier. The empty village, or this one."
This particular village was filled with ponies, all of them nice and welcoming.
Just...a touch too nice and welcoming. And they wouldn't stop staring at us. The hair on the back of my neck was probably standing on end from all their staring. This village seriously gave me the creeps. And if there was one thing the hero should trust, its his instincts. And seeing as how I was the hero now, I didn't mind too much that my hand kept twitching near my sword's hilt every time one of these ponies said 'Hello' to us.
"I do not like this," Zehan muttered as his eyes flitted from pony to pony. "The feeling of zebra magic hangs thick in the air."
"Yeah, I'm getting the creeps too," I muttered as I flinched from another enthusiastic 'Hello!'. "Can you be a little more specific than that, though?"
"It feels like when we were in Truceburg, outside the inn," Zehan said as he looked at another pony. "Only, charged with tension. Like a string pulled taut waiting to snap."
"So essentially a trap," I summarized. "This whole town is a trap."
"A trap?" a new voice said from directly in front of us. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
What came out was the only griffon I'd seen in this town yet, which was a rather large alarm siren to my mind. Unique foes happen rarely, and when they do, it's often indicative of a boss fight. I was already starting to think of everyone around me, minus my allies, as a foe.
"Let's just say I have a sense for these sorts of things," I told the griffon as I looked away for a second to look at some other pony that had gotten close. In fact, quite a few of them were drawing closer now. I almost pitied them.
They thought they had trapped us, but they clearly didn't know what they were trapping.
"Unfortunately, this is where your journey ends," I heard the griffon say, prompting me to turn back and grip the handle of my katana. The griffon raised one claw and started to say something else-
"GET TH-"
-When he was rudely interrupted by another griffon jumping on him from behind, this one wielding a large sword in one claw. "Fiends!" the second griffon yelled. "Fiends and monster alike! I will rend you limb from limb if you have harmed so much as one feather of the Queen's!"
The only thought running through my head at that juncture? Well, let's just hope he doesn't lump us in with them. Other thoughts were quickly dispelled as I saw the forms of the ponies around us start to...
Well, for lack of a better word, melt. Then twist and reveal a far more hostile shape. Those of giant snakes, each one baring their fangs at us.
I drew my sword and stood with Zehan, Copper, and Justice, who had all drawn/activated their weapons as well. "I don't know who you are," I said to the griffon. The one he'd attacked had fled, and we were rapidly being surrounded with more snakes. "But if you want to get out of this alive like we do, then we'd appreciate a helping hand."
"Or don't, I'm pretty sure we could handle this whole thing," Copper quipped as she blasted a snake with her flamethrower. "Heck, I'm pretty sure I could handle this whole thing."
The griffon pulled his sword up and took up a position near us, near me as a matter of fact, and eyed the snakes just as much as he did me. "When this is over," he said. "You are going to explain yourselves."
"We can worry about that when the time comes," I said as I let the lightning flow through me and down my blade. "We have a horde of fiends to deal with!"
And with that, the melee began.
"Truly, these foes were powerless before us," the griffon said as he wiped his blade clean. I did the best I could to follow suit, before sheathing my blade. "I might have prevailed alone, but with you four here, it was a sure thing."
"The battle hasn't been won yet," I quipped, before turning to Justice. "Did you see where that other griffon went to?"
The robot beeped a few times before nodding and pointing a hoof at a nearby store. "The culprit ran into there once the fighting started. We should follow and apprehend him."
"Introductions later," I told our mysterious ally. "We have a member of royalty to save."
The warrior nodded as he drew his blade again, a motion I followed suit with. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw my allies doing the same. Whatever this thing was, we weren't going to let it do anything to the griffon's queen. Not if we could help it.
We burst into the store, seeing nothing on the first floor. Justice whirred a little before informing us where our quarry was. "There are two life-signs below us."
I saw a door leading to a set of stairs in back, and vaulted the counter that would normally divide shopkeeper from shopper before making for the stairs down. I heard the sounds of my allies following after me, and took them two at a time.
Note to self: Pony staircases are sometimes hard to navigate. I nearly took the steps three at a time, and almost tripped once.
By the time I finally arrived in the basement, I saw the first griffon standing over a second, with his claws bared. His hostage was bound and gagged on the floor, and there was a murderous glint in his eyes. "Prepare yourself, Queen Hilda," he said, drawing back for the strike that would surely end her life.
I held up a hand and channeled my Lightning, pointing at the griffon standing over the queen. The bolt erupted from me and crossed the distance at the speed of, well, not light, but electricity. He screamed even as he was blasted across the room, and I hurried to untie the hostage.
"Go," I told her once I got her claws free. "Get outta here. Leave him to us."
"Us?" she questioned, just as my friends and allies arrived behind me.
"Yeah, us," I said as I saw the guy get up. "It's you he wants, it's us he'll have to deal with."
The queen nodded her understanding and made to flee, but not before giving some choice words to her bodyguard. "Destroy him for me, Gregory."
"With enthusiasm, your majesty, as always," our griffon friend said as he readied his broadsword.
That was about when the other griffon got up and, I kid you not, hissed at us. "You fools," he said, drawing out the s far longer than necessary. "You've undone a plan long in the making!"
Here his form started to melt as well, even as he kept talking. Somehow. I don't even want to think about how that worked. "I hope you enjoy the taste of poison, because that's what I'm going to be giving you all a dose of!"
Guess what? Another giant snake, only this one reached up to the top of the basement and had a good bit of himself coiled up besides.
"How handy are you with that blade, Gregory?" I asked of our griffon ally as I held my katana in front of me.
"Skilled enough to be proclaimed the queen's protector," he said as he fell in on my left side. On my right, Copper and Justice stood ready, and I could see the top of Zehan's staff poking up from the other side of Gregory's form.
"Well, let's see how hard it is to wrangle this snake," I quipped. The thing hissed at us, and I could see some sort of fluid dripping down its fangs.
This promised to be an interesting boss fight indeed.