Chapter 19 - A Welcoming Home Party
As I soar through the air once more, the wind blowing through my mane as the sun filled me with warmth as it lazily touched my fur, I feel happy again that I finally fly once more. With each beat of my wings they take me higher and higher into the forever expanding sky above, it feels good to finally being able to go fast again. I see the clear blue skies as the sun shines down on Equestria below, today is a beautiful day to fly! I want to go visit my Mother and Father and see how they’re doing. It feels like I haven't seen them in ages, I beat my wings harder and faster as I fly through the air.
My parents lived in a town called Trottingham, only a short flight from Canterlot and Cloudsdale. I see the town become larger the faster I fly towards it, I poured on the heat as I increased speed, I’m just too excited to see my parents again after what I’ve been through; I guess you can say I felt homesick.
I reach the town in the matter of minutes, I fly above the marketplace district and towards the residential district. I land on the road looking over the buildings before spotting my parent’s little home. I run up towards the door and my hoof stops only inches away from knocking on the wooden door. I’m just too excited to see my mom and dad I couldn't bring myself to knock on the door.
The door opens and a gryphon steps out from my house, he looks up at me with sinister grin on his face as he pushes past me; Knocking me to the side with his wing. My blood runs cold as my mind races when the gryphon takes off and flies away. I can’t bring myself to even move as my excitement turns to fear. I’m snapped out of my paralyzed state as I hear crying coming from within the home. I charge in flying, and find my mom sitting on her haunches as tears run down her face.
“Mom! W-What’s wrong?!” I land next to her embracing her in a hug.
“C-Cloud! W-Where have you been!?” She looks up to me as I hug her, her voice mixed with shock and sorrow.
“I’ll explain everything later, why was HE here, where’s dad?!” I hug my mom tighter as she keeps on weeping.
“Y-Your f-father has gotten himself into trouble again... T-They came here to collect...” My mom levitates a tissue over to blow her nose with.
“Where did they take him..” My voice now flat and even as I start to stand up.
“C-Cloud what do you think you’re going to do?!”
“Simple, I’m going to go save dad, now where did they take him?” I turn my head and gave my mom a faint smile as I say this.
“T-They took your father to the lake.. C-Cloud please don’t go! They’ll kill you!”
I drop my saddlebags on the floor and fly out of the house, I flew as fast as I possibly could, with each beat of my wings I went faster and faster. I just had to get to the lake before they kill dad... I-I have to try to save him, no matter what. I flew out city and made it to the lake in a matter of minutes, I see a small group gathering around the lake; God I hope I made it in time.
As I near the group I can see two gryphon bodyguards and two other pegasus around an earth pony, it was DAD!
“Get away from him!” I yell as I slam my body into a side of the gryphon, causing him to fall over in surprise as the group turned their attention to me.
“C-Cloud!” My father yells out as he sees me tackle one of the gryphons.
The gryphon falls to the ground with a thud, the others slowly made their way to me as I get back up to my hooves. I see the two pegasus stallions start to pop their necks and the gryphon has a cold hard look on his face. I backpedal as my dad slowly gets up to his hooves, I turn to see his bruised and bloodied body as he tries his best to give me a smile.
“C-Cloud, why did you come? This isn't your problem!” He spits up some blood after saying this.
“It’s my problem now dad, glad to see you’re okay...”
“Aww, isn't that just the cutest little thing! You’re little daughter here to save the day.” One of the pegasus says as makes his way closer.
“My my, aren't you a cute little pegasus, I’m going to have fun with you before we kill you!” The second pegasus licks his lips as he continues to walk closer.
“Stop! Let me speak to your boss!” I yell out, causing the pegasus to burst into laughter.
The second gryphon now gets to his paws and claws and dust himself off and join the group.
“Why would we le-.” The perverted pegasus is interrupted by the first gryphon.
“Fine, I’ll take you to speak with the boss, but I doubt he’ll even listen to you.”
“And what about my father?” Narrowing my eyes at the group.
“B.B will make sure he gets home safe, you two go inform the boss that I’m bringing in a guest.” The first gryphon orders the two pegasus, they both nod and fly off.
“Father, please comfort mother, I’ll be okay by myself.” I say before following the first gryphon into the sky.
We’re heading towards Cloudsdale, was their Headquarters really in Cloudsdale? I’ve only seen a handful of gryphons in Cloudsdale, but I’ve only been there a few times myself since my family lives on the ground. We fly over the city, looking down I can see all the cloud structures and pegasi walking and flying around minding their own business. We land in front of this small building tucked away behind several larger buildings, a guard pegasus stands watch at the front door, he just sits there looking bored until we walked up.
“Hey hey hey, who’s your pretty little mare friend there, big guy?” He starts smile wide at me as he raises his eyebrows.
“She’s here to see the boss, is he in?”
“So whatcha sayin is you don’t have ‘dibs’ yet, you mi-.” The gryphon leans in close to the guard and cuts him off mid sentence.
“Don’t make me make an example of you, while she is here she is under my watch. Now would you kindly answer my question.” The guard gulps as he hears the threat of the gryphon and opens the door.
“Y-Yah, he’s in the b-back!” His legs start to shake as we step inside.
“Stick close to me kid, you don’t want to end up as a plaything for one of these perverts.” I quickly close the gap in between us after he says this and start to nervously watch my back.
We walk through the dark building, I can feel their eyes traveling up and down my body, I’ve even seen a couple of mares looking at me lustfully. With every step I take I feel dirtier. We walk through several rooms before coming to a door with two guards standing out in front.
“I’m here to see the boss, let us in.” The gryphon looks down at one of the guards has he stares at me.
“Hey baby, how about you and I go have some fun of our ow-.” The second guard is cut off by the gryphon as he stares him down.
“DON’T make me ask again...” The first guard opens the door as the second guard quakes in fear.
The first guard pushes the door open, light floods the room we’re in as smoke billows out causing me to cough a little. The gryphon pushes me in with his wing, causing me to jump a little bit. We enter the room, a thick haze of smoke hangs in the air, the door shuts behind us as a gryphon from behind the desk looks up from his parchments with a cigar hanging in his beak. He raises an eyebrow at us as we walk closer to the desk, only stopping a few feet away.
“So tell me, why do you bring such a little pegasus to me?” He grabs his cigar with one of his talons and knocks off some of the ash from it.
“Boss, this is Cloud, Rough’s daughter. She wishes to speak to you about her father.” The gryphon from behind the desk stares me down.
“Ah, so tell me Cloud, what would you like to speak to me about? And be quick about it, time is money.”
“S-Sir, my father is a hard working pony and I love him to death. I ask, no I beg of you please let me work for him to pay off his debt!” The gryphon takes another puff of his cigar and blows smoke into my face, causing me to cough a little.
“And why would I allow you to work for your deadbeat father?” He leans back from the desk and rest his back against the wall of cloud behind him.
“Because, I’m a pegasus, I’m faster than any earth pony, I can easily handle my own, and I’m quick a sneaky one.” I puff up my chest after saying this.
“Yes, B.B told me how you were able to ambush the group I sent to ‘collect’ your father as payment, you have spunk kid, I’ll give you that.”
“All the better then. Please let me work for you instead of my father!” I slam my front hooves down on top of his desk, causing his quill to jump a little.
“Hmmm, I’ll give you a few easy jobs to test your skills, I’ll have Razor here supervise your work. If you prove yourself then I’ll allow you to work off your father’s debt.” My face lights up as he says this.
“T-Thank you sir! You’ll won’t regret this, I promise!”
Hopefully I can prove my worth to these gryphons so my father won’t have to suffer any longer. I’ll work my hardest to make sure I pay off every last bit so my family can live in peace again. Razor turns his head and looks down at me, his face still has a cold hard look on it as before, he extends his talon towards me.
“Nice to meet you Cloud, I’m Razor.” I reach out with my hoof and shake his taloned hand
Credits
Editor
frieD195 .