An Impossible Task

by AvalonAva

The Journey Continues

An Impossible Task

Chapter 3

The Journey Continues

The hospital, granted it was in a poor town, was surprisingly elegant. The design of the exterior humbled those of the surrounding buildings. The inside was just as magnificent. And it was clean, something hard to pull off in a underground village. Twilight and Tranquility walked down one of the sophisticated hallways of the hospital, heading for Charon's room.

"This place is amazing! How did you all manage it?" Twilight said in awe.

"People come here for cures to what ails them, to give birth, for broken bones to be mended, lesions to be sewn, and sometimes, sadly, to pass away. We take care into making this place look comforting to all of those who require its services. Your friend's room is just up ahead." Tranquility opened the door for Twilight, allowing her access to the room. She walked inside, and saw her friend resting. He saw the alicorn, and sat up.

"Oh, look who dropped by for a visit." Charon said with a hint of cheerfulness. Twilight smiled. He caught Tranquility's eye, and she looked away almost immediately. "Who's that?" He asked.

"It's Tranquility. She managed to get you here quickly when you took a turn for the worst." The mare said. Charon laid back and sighed.

"I hate being bed ridden. How much longer am I going to be here?" He asked, staring out the window.

"About one more day." The doctor pony chimed in. She had walked into the room, clipboard at her side. Aside from the hospital dress, she was a light grey pony with a sleek, silvery mane. "There are some things that magic just can't do. You suffered a serious wound. Blood must be regained, and the wound kept clean." The doctor said. Charon sighed again, and looked back to Twilight.

"Talk about a setback. We could have been at Fortuna Evanesce by now, looking for the lost foal." He said, somewhat upset.

Twilight snickered. "She's the expert, Charon. You have to rest until you're fit to leave. Until then, we'll plan and wait." She gave her friend a hug, and walked out of the room. Tranquility looked back inside, and met his gaze again. As quickly as before, she looked away, and followed behind Twilight.

XXXX

The two heroes sat outside the hospital, waiting on the mares to exit the building. Lu and Max, along with the dormant Excalibur, discussed what might transpire in the next few days.

"We've managed to track him down to, well, wherever we are, and luckily found natives that know him." Max said, tapping his fingers on the bench arm. "Seems like Lady Luck is on our side for now." The two drew many passerby's attention, but they could plainly see sadness and fear wrote on the ponies faces.

"They don't seem to be a happy lot. I'm surprised they can speak the same language as us, being ponies and all." Lu replied. Max stopped and looked at him.

"And it's not surprising to find yourself in a world full of intelligent creatures of all sorts named Pokemon? You can't have imagined what awe I was in."

Lu shrugged. "Fair enough." He yawned, and glanced back at the hospital. "How much longer are we going to wait here? I think I may fall asleep."

"Don't snooze just yet." Twilight said. She and Tranquility stepped out of the hospital, and trotted towards them. Twilight looked Max in the eye. "We still need to ask questions." She said, taking a serious tone.

"That's right. We need to address the matter of what exactly you two are." Tranquility chimed in. "The only bipedal beings I've ever come across were hostile to my ponies." She said, her snout curled with anger. Max looked at Lu, then stood up.

"I have no intention or reason to lie to you. We came here on a mission to hunt down a person who made war with my companion's fellow pokemon and threaten my life. He escaped here, but we managed to follow through the trans-dimensional portal he left. Now, it's just a matter of finding the coward GearMaster." Max finished. Tranquility sighed.

"He currently has my ponies under his oppression and in fear of his power. We are unable to send out any distress messages to Canterlot or any other neighboring cities. He made sure we couldn't go that far. But, we may be able to make it to the place he is entrenched in." She said, gaining a confident stride. "He set up his forces in the old castle of Fortuna Evanesce. If we can lead an assault on the castle, and discover the lost foal in the process, we may just win." A glint of bravery showed.

"You may have an idea there. I like your style of thinking. What do you think Lu?" Max asked his friend.

"It sounds solid. If we can pull this off, we-"

"Fool!" As if on cue, the true form of Excalibur stood in the middle of them. "Of course it's a solid plan! It isn't wise to doubt yourself."

"I wasn't doubting myself Excalibur, I was just saying-"

"Fool! Do not question my higher intelligence. I've won wars you know." He said, waving his cane in Lu's face.

"That's nice." He put a paw on it and lowered the cane. "How long till we leave?" He asked.

"We still need another day. Charon need to finish healing up and them he's good to go." Tranquility said, staring at the ground. "It's my fault an innocent pony got injured. I should have never tried to kidnap you Twilight."

"A sad tale indeed." Excalibur said, sitting on the bench sipping on tea.

"Wait, where did you get the tea from?" Lu asked.

"Fool! A proper hero always comes prepared." He said, continuing to sip. The purple mare shrugged.

"It's alright, Tranq." Twilight wrapped a hoof around the unicorn. "But that's in the past. Charon is an easily forgiving pony. I should know, I've known him for years." The alicorn looked back at Max. "We should go over what supplies we need. This will be a trying quest." Twilight turned around. "Let's go. We don't have much time to waste." The three followed the ponies down the street, heading south.

XXXX

Charon was sitting in his hospital bed, reading a book to pass the time. The title read, "Odd Thomhoofs".

"Hmm. A colt that can see the dead...yet solve mysteries? This isn't something you come across everyday." He said, flipping the page. The story managed to hook him, because time seemed to disappear. The day quickly dissolved, and night soon took hold. Outside light diminished, Charon used his magic to turn on a bedside lamp. He was so absorbed into the tale that he didn't notice when some pony entered the room.

"Interesting story?" The voice made Charon jump.

"Gah!" He said, looking at the pony. A familiar mare unicorn stood beside him.

"Hey there, how ya' doing?" Tranquility asked, waving a hoof.

"Fine, I've been through worse. And yeah, it is an interesting story." Charon dropped a bookmark in the pages, and closed it. "Did you come here just to say hi? Visiting hours were over a while ago."

Tranquility sighed. "No. I came here to apologize. It's my fault you got shot, and ended up here." She looked upon him with remorse. "All I was concerned about was the safety of my ponies." She stopped suddenly. She stared at him in silence. He stared back at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Tranquility suddenly threw herself onto him, pressing her muzzle to his. Charon's eyes went wide, but then relaxed. She seemed to be running the show, forcing her tongue into his mouth. They kissed deeply, and held it for a few moments. She pulled back, leaving a small stream of saliva. The unicorn took a few steps back, blushing a deep red.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." She looked at the colt, but couldn't keep his gaze. "I've gotta go!" She said, making a run for the door. She opened it without hesitation, and quickly exited the room. Charon was left there, completely dumbstruck.

"What was that?" He asked himself, tuning on his side. "This has been a strange couple of days." The confused colt said.

XXXX

Charon awoke, and felt great. Disregarding the fact that his foreleg was recently damaged almost beyond repair, he sprung out of the hospital bed, and stretched.

"Ugh! It feels good to move again." He said, popping his neck. "I've missed walking." He trotted in circles as the mare doctor walked in.

"Looks like someone is up early." She said with a smile. "I was hoping to run one last test on you, but seeing as how you're spinning in circles renders that inert." The colt stopped and acknowledged the other pony.

"So does that mean I can leave this place? I hate hospitals." He said, almost dancing in place.

"Yeah, you can leave. We just need to sign you out and you're good to go."

"What about the bill?" Charon inquired.

"Tranquility took care of that earlier." As she mentioned the unicorn's name, Charon blushed.

"Oh yeah, her. She seemed to be a nice pony." Avoiding eye contact, he shuffled his hooves. The doctor pony scoffed.

"Yeah, she's pretty generous. Let's get a move on." She said. Both left the room, and headed towards the front desk.

XXXX

Supplies ready, Twilight and Tranquility waited near the cavern exit. They had food and camp supplies all assorted into saddlebags and modified bags for the bipedal companions. The alicorn sighed, and plopped down on her plot.

"What is taking them so long? I told them all to be here at exactly 7:00! It's 7:01 now!!" She said, having a schedule fit. Tranq laughed, and glanced down the road. A smile came across her face.

"Looks like your pal Shimmering Blade is on his way. And he seems to have brought two of my guard along." The three ponies, two colts and a mare, approached the waiting pair. Twilight turned around, and stormed over to Blade.

"I told you to be here at a specific time! This is a very serious matter we are handling, and we can't allow any slip ups!" The lavender pony said, chewing him out.

"Sheesh, don't be so defensive ma'am. I was only bringing along extra protection. I hear they're the best of Tranquility's freedom fighters." The two ponies beside him weren't complete strangers. The colt, a burnt red coat and cobalt mane, was the large pony that hoisted Charon onto his back to escort him to the hospital, and the mare was the doctor. The mare stepped forward.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I'm Silver Scalpel, but you can call me Doc if you want." She held out a hoof to the lavender mare, who gladly accepted it.

"Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine."

"So, who does your friend happen to be?" Twilight inquired. The colt cleared his throat before speaking.

"I am Bounce. Although it's an odd and original name, I prefer to be called Bo." He didn't offer a hoof to the alicorn, but bowed. Twilight looked around.

"Wait, if you were Charon's doctor, where is he?" She asked. Sliver looked around as well.

"I have no idea actually. He was with us when we left." She responded. Down the road, they could see him hurrying towards them, along with Max and Lu. The colt came to a stop next to Bo, panting.

"Sorry, I got lost. Luckily these two were walking by." He said between gasps of air. Blade snorted.

"How did you get lost? This place isn't that big. What, did a mare distract you?" He taunted.

"No!" He said, getting defensive. "I was hungry. That hospital food wasn't the best, I thought I'd have some pie before I left." He walked past them, and approached Twilight. "So, is this all were taking?" He waved a hoof at the saddlebags. The alicorn nodded.

"This is all of it. Here." She used her magic to levitate a bag and put it on Charon. "Now you're ready." She begun to evenly distribute he bags between the group. Max and Bo, since they were the biggest, got the heavier supplies. Doc carried all of the medical since she was the expert.

"Alright, are all of you ready?" Tranquility asked. She looked at all of them, getting words or nods of yes. When she looked at Charon, she couldn't help but smile. She turned around, almost clumsily. "The castle is a day's walk from here." She said, taking the first step.

XXXX

Their path took them to a deep canyon. Due to the dry weather, only a small stream of water flowed through the deeply cut stone crevice. The 8 companions, 9 if you include Excalibur, walked along this ancient riverbed. Twilight and Tranquility were at the front, Bo and Silver right behind them. Charon and Blade held behind the cave city dwellers. Max and Lu pulled up the rear.

"Ah. I enjoy the morning." Max said, looking around the canyon. "I mean, even if this place isn't the prettiest, it's almost magical." As he said this, Twilight looked back.

"You should see Canterlot. It's on a mountainside, and the view is magnificent!"

"And don't forget little old Ponyville." Charon chimed in. "That's one of the nicest places you can visit."

"Maybe after this we can all go visit!" Silver said, bouncing. She stopped, and changed her demeanor. "I mean, yeah. Those sound like good places to go."

"What was that? Did you just let loose, Doc?" Bo said, leaning down to her.

"No! I have no idea what you're talking about." She lightly pushed him away from her. "I'm just saying, I like traveling." Up ahead, Tranquility was smiling with Twilight.

"Hehe. It's been too long since I saw my friends having a good time. Out of all the ponies that were affected by this "GearMaster", she was hit the hardest. The old chief doctor died, and Silver being so young, was landed with the responsibility of main practitioner. She's done well, but I fear it caused her to change too much." She sighed, and smirked. "These past few months have been difficult. The only consolation I can offer them is that we're taking the fight to Gear-whatever he is."

"GearMaster." Lu said from the back of the group. Tranquility turned around.

"You can hear us?" She said, bewildered.

"Hey, I'm canine. I can't help that I have hearing beyond yours." He said, shrugging. The whole group began to laugh, the sound echoing of the walls. "What? Was it something I said?"

XXXX

Soldiers in armor worked around the clock to repair the castle. Each wore full suits of armor, which were the same design. They were all assigned to different parts, walls, flooring, interior design. Every single one of these bipedal beings had the emblem of a teal gear. The soldiers who weren't working on repairing the millennium-old ruins were focused on war devices. Scientist, mechanics, overseers. Many vehicles, weapons, and other assortments could be seen.They all worked tirelessly for a cause yet unknown.

A person stood in watch, enjoying the sight. As he smiled in glee, one of the soldiers approached him.

"Sir!" He said, standing at attention. "We've received reports that the shipyard in the mountain range north of Canterlot was completely destroyed!" An odd silence fell.

"Hmm. That's an obvious problem to our operation. But, seeing as how I've recently reunited with an old friend, my need for that shipyard is no longer necessary. Get a guard ready, Chrysalis will be looking here for refuge. I can afford to loose something like that shipyard, but powerful allies are harder to replace. Also, prepare a banquet for our guests. they should be here within a few hours, for we have much planning to discuss. Dismissed." GearMaster said. The soldier saluted, and left hastily.

"Ugh, I'm getting too old for conquests. But we need to rebuild our empire." He smiled, continuing his soliloquy. "The pieces are in place. It's only a matter of time before we strike."

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[HarmonyRain]

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