Our return to the still-quiet town of Truceburg seemed to finally snap Zehan out of his slight daze. "So we not only succeeded in altering time and perception itself from four-hundred years in the past," the zebra said. "But we traveled to the end of time itself?"
"It's normal for a Gate to deposit us there en route to where we want to go," I told the zebra. Our party of four made its way out of the inn's basement and back into the outside air. "Something about them not having the energy to take more than one zooming past it. Why don't we go back to Anima, see if we can't pick up our weapons?"
"A sound plan," Justice affirmed. "Perhaps afterwards, we can see about Copper and myself getting some upgrades."
"Maybe," I said as we started the walk back to High Aerie. "It's just, upgrading either of your weapons would involve more than a few hours spent in a hostile land."
"Fair enough," Copper said. "Still, I'm getting ideas that I would like to try out."
"We'll see how Zehan and I take to our new weapons, and how our new friend takes to his new magic, before we make a decision to go after an upgrade for the pair of you," I offered. A sound of agreement rang out from my party members then, and we lapsed into silence for the rest of our trip to High Aerie.
It was just a little bit...eerie to walk the streets of the capitol and not have the griffons glaring at our zebra companion. Apparently when we did work, we did good work. Not a one of them had any problems with our striped friend.
"This feels odd, not feeling any hostility directed at me," Zehan muttered. "It feels like a different city entire compared to the one I walked through not a week ago."
"Because of what we did, that's an entirely apt description," I said as we made our way to Anima's forge. "Remember, in this new present, they're friendly with zebras, and ponies too I would imagine."
"...It will take some getting used to, this method of rewriting time to suit us," Zehan eventually said. "How much of what I know has changed, because of our actions yesterday?"
"Likely? Quite a bit," I said as we finally found the building we were looking for. I knocked on the door a few times, hoping to gain the smith's attention. There was a shout as the sounds of forging from within slowly came to a halt. The sound of hoofsteps grew closer and closer, until the crystal stallion opened the door and beckoned us inside.
"In, in, I was just about to finish honing this new sword's edge!" he said, and I smiled at the thought. The four of us piled into his home/workspace, and the stallion closed the door before walking back over to his...interesting forge setup.
"Here," the smith said, before all but tossing a gleaming metal staff at Zehan. "Steel exterior for the durability. Made the interior of weightier stuff, to help it pack a kick when you hit something with it."
The zebra hefted the staff a few times, seemingly taking in the weight of the thing, before he nodded and took his older staff off his back and placed it on the floor. "A better staff I now have, true, so this one I shall return to you."
The master of the forge nodded once, before turning back to his forge, to work on a gleaming hot piece of metal. "Your sword will take a little longer, though. Feel free to wait as long as you don't say anything." Without waiting for our reply, he touched some sort of button and caused the entire setup to flare into life again.
With a quick look at Zehan and Copper, the three of us agreed silently to wait for the forgemaster to complete his work.
It took him what felt like hours of honing the edge of the blade, but eventually he pulled back and touched the same control he had again, to deactivate the forge. "And finished," he proclaimed as the setup sputtered back into inactivity. The smith presented me with my new sword, and I took it, swinging it around a few times to gauge how it felt.
Mostly, it felt lighter than my Crimson Katana. I would have to test it on a few targets to be able to gauge its actual strength, but I had high hopes for it. Especially when I saw a gleam running down the length of it, one that shimmered in the light. "A crystal core?" I asked as I thought about running a charge through the blade.
"For strength, activated crystals are some of the best things," the smith said with a nod. "Plus it should be a bit more magically permeable than your old blade."
I found that out easily when the charge I tried to run down the length of the sword lit the thing up in record time. "I can see that," I said with a nod. I took my old blade out and laid it next to Zehan's old staff, placing the both of them on the pile to be sold. "How much do we owe you?" I asked the stallion.
"It would be a thousand bits, but with these two to add to my collection...750," Anima said. Copper passed me our bit-bag, and I counted out the coins. One of these days, I would have to count our money myself. And then ask how she kept getting it all.
"Pleasure doing business with you," I said as I passed the coins over. "We may come back with another request in the future, seeing as how you did so well with this one."
"Not a problem, just don't ask for an upgrade to those weapons right away," the stallion said with a wave of his hoof. "It'd take something legendary for me to improve on those weapons."
The idea twinged with me again, as I recalled the other reason for visiting the Guru of Life. Surely he wasn't implying?...
"Thanks again," I said to him, before we continued on our way. "C'mon guys, let's head back to Truceburg."
With that cheery thought hanging over my head, the four of us attempted to leave High Aerie as quietly as we'd come.
Attempted, because we were accosted the moment we got out of the forge, by a platoon of armed griffons in armor. One stepped forward and looked at all four of us before focusing on me. "Are you the one known as Crono?" he asked.
I nodded as one hand inched closer to my new katana, wondering just how much trouble we could possibly be in.
As it turned out, not a whole lot. The guards merely surrounded us and the one that had addressed me motioned for me to follow after him. "The king and princess would have words with you. Please follow us to the palace."
"Only if you all agree to stop pointing at us with the weapons," I said, not liking that situation at all.
Clearly, some of my nervousness transferred over to my words, as the guards jolted at the thought of me being skittish around them. The lead guard, as I called him, chuckled before shaking his head. "Stand down," he told the others. "There's no reason to act like they're criminals."
Slowly, the griffons relaxed and stopped gripping their halberds so hard, causing me to relax and not grip the handle of my katana either. "Better?" the head guard asked me.
"Much," I said as I finally took a free breath again. "If they only want words with us, so be it. But sending armed guards to retrieve us sends a bit of a mixed message..."
"The princess didn't want to take any chances with your safety," the guard replied as we started to make our way to the castle. "We have low crime, but not none."
"Yeah, alright, fair enough," Copper said as she visibly untensed as well.
"A regrettable statistic," Justice said.
"For a moment I did fear for my life, I am thankful that there was no strife," Zehan rhymed as he lowered the hoof reaching for his staff. The party of griffons didn't exactly surround us then, and I was grateful for the difference. They weren't there to take us in forcibly, there were there to make sure we made it to the palace in the first place.
This was their equivalent of a police escort, so I could get behind it. Especially now that they weren't so twitchy around us. It wasn't too long a walk to the palace, and once we reached the main door, the majority of the escort dispersed from around us. Only the guard that had talked to us and a guard behind us stayed to usher us through the halls of the palace.
And I'm thankful they did, because that place would probably have been very confusing to walk through otherwise. It looked like at the time they built it, they designed the castle to confuse any invaders so that there would be little to no danger to the royalty.
After what felt like a long enough time winding the maze that was the hallways, we were presented with a set of double doors. "Enter and be sure to mind your manners," the guard said. "They are the king and princess of Griffenhiem after all."
I nodded my head, settled my stomach, and pushed the doors open so the four of us could walk in. Sitting on a slightly raised dais, in a not-too-ostentatious throne, was a griffon wearing a crown and a cape, with the black feathers I could recall his ancestor from 599 having. His daughter, on the other hoof...had white feathers with a pale violet edge, though it was most notable around her eyes.
Yup, this was Gilda alright. Same griffon we'd rescued from the threat of temporal displacement, and apparently, she remembered us as well.
"So," the king said. "You four are the ones that rescued my daughter from the fiends that took her from me, and dealt with their master?"
I waved my hand in a so-so fashion. "All we did was fend them off and release them into the wild. Without her minions, the master wasn't as powerful, and it wasn't that hard to rescue the princess with the zebra mare responsible taken out of any further interfering."
"I see," the king said with a claw to his chin. "And this mare, she was dealt with?"
"She was not present when we passed through Truceburg a second time, nor were any of the inhabitants," Justice informed the king. "It is likely as not she did away with the inhabitants of the town to secure a base of operations and test out her powers."
"A sad loss indeed, but I will be certain to inform Princess Celestia it was circumstances beyond our control that led to the disappearance of a town. I will even mention your efforts in apprehending the culprit."
"I would rather prefer you didn't," I said, barely daring to contradict his word. "Or at the very least, downplay our role. We didn't even catch her, just stopped her."
The king hummed a bit before shrugging. "If you insist," he said, before looking at Gilda. "My daughter, was there something you wished to say to these brave warriors?"
The griffoness nodded before taking a few steps forward, looking us all over before returning her attention to me. And when she spoke, she did so in a whisper that still chilled me because of what she was saying.
"I know what you all are," she said softly. "Don't worry, it's a pretty big secret, right?" I slowly nodded, prompting her to smile. "Then I can keep it for you, as long as you promise to swing by again so I can look at the robot's weapons again."
"That's...doable," I whispered back. "Just not...right away. We'll...send a message when we're next in town."
"Fine by me," the griffoness nodded as she returned to standing next to her father. Who was now holding a broadsword. And coming closer. Oh...
"Kneel, if you would," he asked of us, and I gulped, but complied, even bowing my head, not daring to look up. There was a tap on both of my shoulders as the older griffon kept talking.
"By the power vested in me, in honor of your accomplishments in defense of the crown, I name you Sir Crono, knight of the Griffon Kingdom. Rise, Sir Crono."
I did, shakily, and the old griffon was smiling at me. "Thank you for saving my daughter. May you always fight for the brave and true, and your sword never dull."
I bowed my head to the griffon, still shaking a little but managing to control it. "Thank you for this honor, your majesty."
"It is the least I could do for you," the griffon replied. "Do you have some pressing business to attend to?"
"A prior commitment best seen to sooner rather than later," I answered. "Else I would surely stay for a little while longer."
"A pity," the king said. "But understandable. I wish you well then, and hope for your eventual return."