72 - Journey to the West … Farther West
Extended Holiday
Ch 72: Journey to the West … Farther West
Act 9
The Monkey King charged with a sudden burst of speed. He pulled his staff back to attack, swinging forward with powerful force. Pensword was already moving into a defensive blocking stance, trusting to Lord Hammer Strike’s armor and forging skills. However, before the blow could land, a blur sped into the Monkey King’s path as a Thestral colt stood his ground, holding a shield to block the attack. The sickening shriek of metal rending and tearing tore at Pensword’s eardrums. In less than a second, the Thestral was tossed aside while two perfectly cloven halves of the shield went flying, missing Ponies and Gryphons alike by a hair’s breadth, and in one’s case, giving a tail a trim. Eventually, the first half embedded itself into a tree halfway up. The other half ricocheted off the ship and buried itself underground, sending sand flying in a stinging spray.
Pensword ignored all of this as he dashed after the Thestral. He cared little for the fight. His only concern was the safety of his own. He reached the young colt, touched the body, and let loose a sigh of relief. “You’ll live, thank Faust.” He heard the sound of air behind him as he raced around, but he couldn’t process. He was too slow. Why did Celestia not warn him about this creature? Why didn’t Luna?
“Klang!”
The sound of metal on metal echoed into the distance as Grif stood before Pensword. Both Vigilance and Vengeance were drawn and locked with the Monkey King's staff. Sparks erupted between the two ancient weapons as the warriors struggled, the Monkey snarling at the Gryphon. Grif’s face was emotionless, but the strain on his body was obvious. His brow was sweating and he was visibly struggling to match the Monkey’s force. Wukong pushed forward, sending Grif off balance as the Monkey’s strength overwhelmed him. Grif grabbed onto the wind around him and blurred as he appeared behind the Monkey and swung his blades. Wukong blocked the strike with ease.
Gryphons watched the fight in fear, Thestrals in anger, and Monkeys in utter confusion as Grif continued his assault, taking advantage of his superior speed over the Monkey’s monstrous strength. The wind blasted over the crowd with every blow, the earth groaned with every movement. The fight seemed to shake the very island as the storm took on the mountain ... and was loosing.
Anyone watching the fight could see the flow of the battle. Grif’s speed was indeed an advantage, but it was not enough to compete with the experience, endurance, and sheer strength of the ancient immortal. Grif was soon showing signs of fatigue. His movements were slower, his attacks more obvious. In a last ditch effort, Grif swung Vigilance at the Monkey King's left lower side for the Monkey King to block the attack. Wukong reacted as Grif had hoped and whipped his staff to take the blow only for Vengeance to come around from the left with a well aimed blow at the Monkey’s head. The sword made contact with a hollow thud before the Monkey attacked, sending the Gryphon flying into a nearby tree and through it, felling the tree to the ground with a loud thud from it’s now missing trunk.
“You fight well, stranger,” Wukong growled as he stood upright and began to move towards Grif’s prone form. “For that, I will give you an honorable end,” he said as he approached, much to the dismay of the spectators as a wall of Monkeys blocked all possible routes for assistance. Wukong’s shadow fell over Grif’s still form as he looked up, squinting, Vigilance and Vengeance still clutched in his taloned hands as his arms lay limp at his sides, his belly exposed. The Great Sage raised his staff and prepared for the killing blow when an unmistakable crack like breaking glass sounded through the clearing, followed by a metallic Klink!
The area was silent as the Monkey King's circlet fractured and then broke where Vengeance had struck. The golden circlet loosened for the first time in thousands of years and fell to the sand where it shattered. Wukong stared down at the shards in disbelief before the remnants of the circlet began to glow. Suddenly the shards burst into a thousand pinpricks of light, which swiftly coalesced, shot into the sky, and promptly faded away. The Monkeys whispered amongst themselves as Sun Wukong, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, stopped dead. Then it began. It started as a low rumble at first, but gradually grew louder and louder as the Monkey King's body shook with laughter.
“I’m… free,” he chuckled. “That damned band that Buddha gave the monk, the control collar; it’s gone! My little ones, your king is free again!” And then he broke into a full throated laugh as he planted his staff in the earth and tossed his head back. The Monkeys looked on, stone silent for a moment before erupting into cheers and hollers as they celebrated with their king. Smiling, Wukong looked down at Grif. “What’s your name, stranger?”
“G--Grif,” Grif groaned out where he lay. Wukong chuckled as he held out his hand.
“Perhaps Sun Wukong has been too hasty. I must have been wrong about you. Perhaps we can put this behind us and start over?”
Grif stared at him for a moment, the silence speaking volumes between the two warriors. Wukong knew he was wrong, but his pride would keep him from ever giving a formal apology. The choice was Grif’s whether to be prideful as well and demand it, or humble himself and make peace with the Monkey King of legend. Taze seemed to help the issue by replaying what the stories had said happened to the gods who were too proud to acknowledge the Monkey’s power.
Grif took the hand as the Monkey pulled his battered and bruised body up. “I would be a fool to make an enemy of the Handsome Monkey King,” he chuckled. “Perhaps we can settle this like real men? You have taken my family, and I have taken yours. Let’s return each others’ and talk?” The Monkey clapped his other hand on the Gryphon’s elbow and received the gesture in kind. Breaking the gesture off, Grif nodded to pensword. “Get the Monkeys out of there.”
“And you, little one,” Wukong said, pointing to one of the better armed Monkeys. “Run back and tell my Monkeys to free the birds. Have their wounds seen to and harvest some more peaches. We will be having guests tonight.” The Monkey in question rushed to do his king's bidding.
Pensword looked up in confusion, shock, and bafflement. “Asia is insane!” he shouted. Grif couldn’t help but smile as he recognized Matthew shining through. The Pony shook his head. “Look, this is… what about my ponies? You have two in your custody.” he shakily got to his hooves, his body still not fully recovered from his previous injuries. “Do you intend to keep them?” He asked in a pained tone of voice, even as he worked to help the colt to stand.
“They’ll be fine. You’ll see them when we get to my home,” Wukong said. “It’s not far from here. Just up the hill.”
Pensword slowly nodded before he turned to face the ship, his face falling into a neutral expression. “Release them,” he muttered as he sat down. “Grif… get me that spell. I am having a break down and Matthew is going to pieces. I am unfit. I am hereby relinquishing command until I can regain mental stability. You have full command of all Thestral and Equestrian forces, meaning Cosy answers to you.” He took a halting breath. “Get me a Dream Walker.”
“Deep breaths, my friend. All will be well,” Grif assured him with a hand on his shoulder. “My friend, please give us time to prepare. Those of us who can will be honored to dine with you tonight.” Grif bowed his beak to the Monkey, who nodded his head in return before returning to his cloud and flying off. The Monkeys around them retreated into the brush, rejoined by the released prisoners.
Pensword sat at the private table in the royal conference room, “How did that happen?” he cried, but Grif could tell the emotion and tone control was not Pensword’s. It seemed that Matthew was actually speaking out for the first time in a long time. “How did this go so insane?” He threw his hooves into the air.
“Five days ago you got married into the clan that shunned your father, which is good news; you got married again, which was odd, but still I can understand that; but in the last few days we literally meet someone who saw us like we would see our heroes on Earth. Then we stop a coup, an outright impossible thing, but it doesn’t end there, no. We are getting away with commandeering an actual royal airship, and now this. THIS TAKES IT ALL!” he roared, hoping to Faust the room was soundproof. “We literally met an actual Earth Legend. The book by DaVinci is a fluke, an oddity because of it being tied to our own field. That could work. But you just met the Monkey King, Taze. Your mythological idol! You keep going on and on about him as long as I have known you and I … I have had it! You just--I just almost died fighting that thing. And what did you do to the crown? Did you not say that it was impossible to remove?”
“Sir!” Moon Kicker walked up to Pensword, saluted, and then proceeded to smack him across the face. “Get ahold of yourself!”
“I am not Pensword. I am Matthew Washington Conner, and I am going to have my piece!” he roared, scaring even himself as he suddenly eeped and immediately began to shrink back into himself. “I am--I have had it, Taze. I want to go home. I am done, okay? I--I just want to curl up right now and ... why didn’t anyone tell us about this being?”
Grif twisted the dial on his bracer, becoming Taze in a flash of light. “Matthew, at home we have a manticore, a phoenix, and a dog made out of wood hanging around as pets. We have Pegasi controlling the weather and Unicorns casting magic. We have time traveled twice, and Shawn walks through fire. Tell me why a single mythological figure is too much.”
“Because it’s a literal page out of our own mythology. I can handle the species, I can handle the archetypes, but an actual creature? Name and all? That is crossing the line. If this is true,” he whispered. “What else might be true?”
“Isn’t that why we need to gather information? Maybe it’s a coincidence,” Taze offered. “Or maybe he’s the real deal, but we don’t know at this moment, and currently we have the chance to find out!”
Pensword sighed and looked weak and worn out. “Grif, I really want to go home. I have been here for over twenty years, and I miss Earth.” He snorted. “Also, Pensword is planning to have a long talk with Luna and Celestia.” His right ear flicked. “I don’t care if I am not using their titles, Pensword, I am an American, and I think I earned the right to use their names alone.” Fortunately, only those who were aware of Pensword’s split personalities were present. Otherwise, there would likely be a movement to have Pensword committed.
“Look, Matthew, we will get home. I promise you that. But please, for tonight, breathe deep and relax. We’ll get our dress armor on and enjoy ourselves. Maybe Wukong will give you a giant peach to bring home to Moon River. She likes sweet fruit, doesn’t she?” Taze asked.
“Yeah, she loves sweet fruits,” the Pegasus admitted. He shook his head. “I am a father. That … is weird. Still, I guess I am going to go back to being in the background. Just … can we have times where I get to be at the forefront?” He looked at his hooves. “It feels funny, yet normal having hooves and standing on what feels like my fingers. And yet know that I’m strong enough to kick down a door.”
“So what do you say? Let’s go find out just how linked Earth and Equestria were,” Taze said.
Matthew nodded his head as his body language shifted and the more confident and prickly Pensword returned, sitting at the table to look at Taze. “I am ready. I will be on my best behavior. Just, I thought I was not as dependant as I am on Matthew.” He winced. "Though I really wish he would not combine words.”
“I need to go get Avalon,” Taze told him. “I don’t think this is something I could get away with, leaving her out of this. You going to be okay?”
“I … think so,” Pensword answered with a nod. “Still, this is going to be very ... strange. I-” he paused. “Look, I know how to handle Western politics, not Asian politics; especially if they…” he closed his eyes. “These are Matthew’s memories. I personally know how to handle combat and war politics. Matthew is my more diplomatic side.”
“Just let me-” Taze switched the dial, swapping back to Grif “-handle the talking. I think we can work this out.”
“Very well. I shall remain silent. I just wonder what would have happened if I tried to block that hit with my wing blades.”
“Best case scenario? He’d have shattered the bones in your wing,” Grif admitted. “Likely, he’d have torn it off.”
Pensword shuddered. “I do not want to think about that. It would end my military career right there.” He shuddered again. “Not being able to fly.” He paused. “How can you stand being in that human body anyway? You have no wings, no means of three axis of movement.”
Grif shrugged. “I just do. Anyway, we have a dinner date, and I need to inform my wife. You know how long it takes females to get ready.” He chuckled before heading out the door.
Pensword blinked, confused. “Matthew gets the joke, yet I do not find it tasteful. A female Thestral that cannot be ready for a date hunt in less than ten minutes is a poor mate indeed.”
The hill Wukong referred to earlier had in fact been the volcano in question. The handholds and carved steps were how his Monkeys got back to their home. Inside the crater, the Monkeys lived in small, but strong, wooden huts, or in caves at the edge of the crater. It had been little trouble for the Gryphons and Thestrals to fly there, though Bellacosa had to be carried. The engineers had been left behind with a few guards to continue the repairs since they didn’t wish to push Wukong’s hospitality too far.
True to his word, when they arrived, Wukong had a large table set with platters of peaches as big as footballs. The fruit was sweet, succulent, and smelled amazing. The Monkeys seemed to hold no formal ceremony before eating, as the only deity they kept sat at the head of the table.
Wukong referred to all the Monkeys present as his children, and they in turn seemed to have a fondness for referring to him as grandfather. It had taken time, but Grif eventually breached the topic of humans over their meal. It had been a somewhat shocking revelation to find out Wukong was indeed the Sun Wukong from a distant world populated by humans.
Grif sat at the seat of honor next to Wukong with Avalon waiting to his right as she carved into a peach with a talon and speared the slice before biting into it. Snowy perched atop her chair, looking down on the festivities while keeping a watchful eye on her mistress. The negotiations had taken some time before Avalon was willing to come, but ultimately Grif got her to relent and let go of her grudge, at least for the night. Besides, the prospect of meeting such a powerful warrior intrigued her. It wasn’t every day she found someone who was stronger than her husband after all. And it was the first time she had ever been able to meet this strange new species, though she’d read about them in books from time to time.
Eventually Grif revealed the human nature of himself and Matthew, as well as Conor and Shawn, much to the shock of Pensword. Grif then proceeded to tell Wukong their story, which Wukong enjoyed immensely. After the Monkey King had drank a good amount of his peach wine, Grif decided to ask about Wukong’s own story and the inconsistency of his presence with the story of the Journey to the West. The Monkey King seemed very uneasy about the subject, but faithfully answered Grif’s questions with his own version of the story. While parts seemed obviously embellished to portray the Monkey King as an innocent and wronged soul, Grif had been genuinely surprised to find Wukong attributing much more credit to Pigsy and Sandy, as he had fondly referred to them, than the story itself had. He also praised Tripitaka greatly, showing a great respect that bordered on love for the monk.
“Finally, when our journey ended, Buddha rewarded each of us. The others were honored to accept anything he gave them; however, when I was offered Buddhahood and immortality, I found the prospect unappealing. I was already immortal, much more immortal than some gods even with everything I’d consumed. I’d had enough of gods and heaven and being under Buddha’s thrall. Furthermore, I had already lost my family during the five centuries under the five elements mountain, and I was tired of heaven and gods and enlightenment and the way. So, I asked instead that Buddha return my little Monkeys to me and place us somewhere beyond his reach or the reach of any earthly or heavenly god. I wanted only peace to settle and be the king my people needed. That, and a place to grow my peaches.” Wukong smiled. “He grumbled about it, but in the end karma demanded he do this, and Buddha could not have bad karma. My first task when I came here was to visit this world's immortals and make it clear I would not be a threat or a pawn for any of them. Then I proceeded to find my island and keep out all prying eyes. And so,” he spread his arms to the area around them. “Monkeygascar.” He chuckled. “You like that? I found that every other name is a pun, so why not?”
“I will have words with two of them when I get back,” Pensword grumbled. “Because you were a complete surprise. Utterly and totally.” He snorted. “If I had known you and your children were here, I would have found someplace else to land, or at least given myself as tribute and a bargaining chip to allow us to repair the ship. That way you would have assurance of no trouble, and you would have a means to--” he shook his head. “Way too close to another war. How many am I going to see before I die?”
“War.” The great king sighed. “It seems it exists on every world. I have seen far too much these thousands of years, my friend. Be glad you will eventually be past the reach of war.”
“But what about you? You do not have war here. You only have to maintain border security, which, as I have seen from the outside, is a forgone conclusion.” He looked at his two peach pits. “I do not have that forgone conclusion.” He shook his head. “My apologies. It is just that as the seasons change it is hard not to remember the camping trips my mother took me on and guided me through.”
“That is something I cannot speak on,” Wukong responded. “I was born of a mountain. I never had a father or mother, but please, my friend, take the advice of an ancient Monkey. The past is like a vibrant rainbow. We can only look at the colors, but never touch them. It is best simply to take it in, because if you chase it, it will elude you.”
Pensword nodded. “Just take the journey, and maybe, you find it bridging your path,” he said as a memory from Matthew surfaced: a car trip that literally drove under a rainbow back on Earth. He smiled at the memory. “That was an odd sight, traveling underneath it.”
“Now, I do not know how things have changed on earth,” the Monkey King said as he motioned and a jade cup of wine was placed in front of Grif, Pensword, and Avalon. “But in my time, those who would be close friends and allies would join in sworn brotherhood. I would become brothers with you,” he said solemnly. “Your enemies will be mine and your hardships shall be my hardships,” the Monkey King swore. “Until the end of time, I do call you my brothers and sister in all but blood, and I offer my strength to you.”
Grif repeated the oath without a second thought, taking the glass and holding it to Wukong as Wukong held his cup to them. Pensword rose his own cup in his hoof and repeated the oath as well, word for word. He waited and followed the tradition of the Monkey King. Avalon looked uncertainly at her husband, but managed to repeat the oath without stumbling. Nevertheless, the seriousness of those words weighed heavily upon her.
In unison the four of them drank from their cups, sealing the oath. The night concluded quickly after that. The Monkeys went to their homes to sleep while their guests and former captives returned to the ship. Over the next three days the engineers continued their work, now under the protective care of Wukong and his people. During this time, Grif continued to visit with the Monkey King and talk with him, receiving his wisdom on matters of combat and other such areas. Through Wukong's guidance, Grif even managed to start to truly grasp meditation. The two sparred constantly, and while Grif always lost, the thrill of facing such an opponent never died away. He could leave the Gantrithor in the morning energetic and optimistic and return late at night tired and bruised, but happy. It seemed almost too soon when the engineers announced the thrusters were repaired and the ship was ready to be powered back up.
The crew were already in their stations at the dawn of the fourth day. The Gantrithor’s engines hummed back to life as the ship lifted from the ground. Only Grif, Pensword, and Avalon stayed below to give their parting words to the Great Sage.
Pensword stepped forward, handing over a slightly large weaving. A metal ring with plant fiber stretched about to create a web. “I hereby, on word and authority of the Dream Clan, leave this emblem of protection from nightmares. As one brother to another, I extend the safety of part of my clan to protect your children, should you wish to accept.”
“And I gratefully accept and extend to you the same offer, my friend,” Wukong said.
“I’m afraid I haven’t much that I can offer to your people, Wukong, but if you have need of our aid, we will come. My magic is at your disposal, though I’ve still much to learn,” Avalon said, bowing.
Wukong smiled as he pulled something from behind his back. It was a massive banana leaf lined with gold amongst the veins of the leaf. “On my journey to the west, I acquired this banana leaf fan from a woman known as Princess Iron Fan. The wind reacts to you as it reacted to her. It may not be able to tap into your magic, but perhaps it may help you direct it. Please take it as my gift for you.”
Avalon took it gently, almost reverently. “Thank you, your highness.”
“Uh uh, little sister. We are sworn siblings. You do not refer to me by title,” he chided, wagging a finger playfully as he smiled.
Avalon couldn’t help but laugh. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
Grif embraced Wukong gently. “I count the days until we can fight again, brother,” he said as he released the Monkey and stepped back. “The Bladefeathers value family, and we will not turn our backs on our own. If ever you ever have need of me, just call.”
“And likewise. You three are always welcome on Monkeygascar. Should you find yourself in need, do not hesitate to ask, and I will grant you as much of my power as I can.”
The three bowed gently to him and he returned it before they wordlessly flew to the ship. This journey had lasted long enough, and it was time to return to New Unity. The Gantrithor hummed as the captain's voice echoed through the ship. “Brace for full speed.”
“Better brace yourself,” Grif warned Pensword as he and Avalon grabbed the guard rails of the ship.
Pensword was about to give a retort when he was chided mentally by Matthew. He followed the suggestion and muttered to Grif in Dragonic. “Matthew is being a little more chatty lately. I wonder why.” He looked to the the others silently. He couldn’t wait to write the letter to Lunar Fang telling her they were finally coming home.
With the roar of a tyrannosaurus, the ship launched forward and Pensword nearly felt his hooves pulled out from under him. Grif smiled at him as they adjusted to the inertia. The end to their journey was finally in sight.
Three days later Lunar Fang hovered nervously in the air, a spy glass in hoof as she scanned the horizon. Fizzpot stood at her side with Moon River on his back as he watched. The little foal held to the last letter sent by Pensword and looked excitedly at the sky. Hammer Strike stared at his handiwork, having had to build yet another port designed for a larger airship in accordance to the diagram Pensword had sent.
“Daddy!” Moon River cried as she pointed to the horizon. She giggled as she waved her hooves about, smacking Fizzpot in the muzzle with the letter. By this time his horn had grown back halfway.
Lunar Fang swung the telescope to face the speck and her jaw dropped. She slowly lowered the spyglass. “By Luna’s tail and mane,” she whispered. She looked to Moon River, “Well, you’ve certainly got your father’s hearing,” she laughed.
Moon River squealed at the compliment. “Fizzpot, Fizzpot. Daddy, Daddy!” she shouted with joy.
“How close are they?” Shrial asked as she peered into the distance. An armed guard had escorted her out with Kalima and Thalia. Her stomach had expanded to the point where a Pony could call her portly if it weren’t for the fact that she’d dismember them in a heartbeat.
“Patience, daughter. The danger is past. Grif is just fine, and so is the crew.”
“I don’t want to be patient. I want to see him.”
Kalima just shook her head knowingly and chuckled. “Anxious to meet your new pride mate?”
Shrial’s eyes grew flinty. “I have some words for her.”
“Don’t be too hard on her, dear. She was just trying to look after Grif. You would have done the same thing.”
“That doesn’t excuse her recklessness. After I’ve had the twins, I’m going to teach her how to fight properly, Farflyer Clan or no.”
“I’m just looking forward to seeing The Gantrithor up close and personal,” Thalia said. “It’s not that often a Gryphon gets the chance to see the pride and joy of the empire.”
The Gryphon Slayers spread out in formation, their dress armor in place to receive their commander safe and sound. Fox Feather stood at the front, holding the Slayers’ banner, watching with stoic calmness. As the ship drew close enough to make out details on the deck, she barked, “Slayers, present arms!” With one fluid motion the Gryphon Slayers lowered their weapons and presented them for review. At the very end, Lighting Dust stood following suit, half a beat behind.
Vital Spark gawked. “Woah. Just how big is that thing?”
Hammer Strike stared at the ship as it moved closer to the new docks. “Glad you at least sent the specifications for the scale of the ship…” he muttered to himself.
The southern half of the castle had two tall towers, connected together by a new wooden structure with heavy supports. Multiple platforms split out from the primary platform, each extending into a slot in which airships could dock individually. From the ends to the center they sank down, effectively making the entire collection of smaller docks into a cradle for one giant airship.
The Gantrithor slowed on its approach to the dock, edging methodically towards the slot. With the ship’s massive size, the process had to be carefully done, lest the ship tear through the dock’s structure. Descending gradually until the deck was level with the dock, the ship’s lift field seemed to help with the stress on the wooden structure as it rose gently near the ship's hull. The ship let out several groans as the thrusters died down. A Gryphon appeared on deck with a large steel ramp, which he used to bridge the gap between the deck and the ground. The Gryphon returned to the inside of the ship and several moments later, familiar figures began to file off.
“You’re late, Grif, Pensword.” Hammer Strike called out.
Pensword couldn’t answer as he was suddenly tackled by the adorable form of his little daughter as she shrieked “Daddy!” over and over and over again. Lunar Fang was a little more elegant in her approach as she flew to her life mate and kissed him gently, deliberately ignoring the Changeling who was finding it very, very hard to not feed on the emotional reunion. The kiss turned a bit deeper as one of the guards snapped a photo.
“Well, you know, we had the whole ‘saving the emperor for the first time in recorded history’ thing going,” Grif said, chuckling. “Oh, and also, I fought a shark.”
“With just your talons?”
“Didn’t use them,” Grif said proudly. “I employed your secret ‘punch it’s face till it dies’ style of combat.”
“As long as you did it right.” Hammer Strike nodded. “So, who’s the new one hiding on the deck behind you?”
Grif turned to Avalon and signaled her forwards. “Come on, he won’t hurt you.”
Avalon slowly approached until she stood next to Grif and smiled nervously as she locked eyes with the clearly pregnant Shrial. She then turned her gaze back to Hammer Strike. A snowy owl circled around her, hooting comfortingly. “Hello,” she said as she waved.
“Hello. Might as well get introductions out of the way. I am Hammer Strike, and I would assume you are Avalon?”
“You assume correctly. Grif’s told me a lot about you.”
“Should I ask what he’s mentioned?” He said, glancing over to Grif for a moment.
“Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“I told her you're a reclusive self-made noble with a major revenge scheme and endless wealth who will stop at nothing till the lives of all those who’ve wronged him are totally destroyed.” Grif rolled his eyes.
“Well, at least you didn’t spout off what the history books do,” Hammer Strike replied with a shrug.
Pensword gave out a small yelp as he landed on the ground. Lunar Fang was firmly nipping his ear and pulling it down in a manner unmistakably like a certain red haired girl with a squinty eyed man Matthew remembered from a television series back on Earth. Her eyes glinted like steel. “You got hurt?” she spoke through the bite. “Honestly, I can’t seem to let you out of the den without something going wrong with you. I literally only just got you healed up from the last time.” She spat his ear out. “Besides, you need to plan something big for Moon River.” She smiled as she stepped back. “My life mate, meet the first conquest of your battle tasted daughter. She saw through the guise of this Changeling, broke his horn, and led the foals in our suite through battle, terrorizing not just the enemy, but the parents as well. Lord Hammer Strike is currently building her a weapon from the horn. What shall we do with this creature?”
Pensword looked at his wife. He raised one eyebrow before speaking. “I see thou hast plans already for this one. What has she named him? What would you do with this one?”
“Fizzpot!” Moon River cried with a giggle. “Fizzpot!”.
“Ah. Well, Mr. Fizzpot, it seems that you shall be staying with our family for the foreseeable future,” Pensword said as he looked to his wife, waiting for her to speak.
“He shall become head butler for House Pen,” she said with a nod. “So, what have you done, my mate?” she asked, placing her muzzle under Pensword’s with a coy smile.
“Well, let’s see… I think I am going to go with the less shocking of the two pieces of information.” He saw Vital Spark trot into view while the Gryphon Slayers stood on the wooden dock ways. He raised his voice. “It is my privilege to present to those of New Unity, War Prince Bellacosa of the Crystal Empire: Savior of the Gryphon Emperor, Daedalus, and killer of Traitors.” The small crystal pony stepped from an open doorway flanked by three Crystal Pony guards.
“Was that title given to him by the Emperor to honor his escape from the Crystal Empire?” Lunar Fang whispered.
Pensword smiled as he moved his muzzle to tickle his life mate’s ear. “Nope. At least ten Gryphons died by his blade alone.”
“Such a boast at his age?” Lunar fang asked, shocked. “Such a thing would win him a chieftain's daughter.”
Bellacosa smiled and waved down at the gathered crowd. “Hi, everypony, we’re back!”
“‘Welcome back, Bellacosa. Have fun?” Hammer Strike asked.
“Yup. Loads!” Cosy said, grinning.
“Good. Think you’ll be sticking around Unity for a bit?”
“As long as you need us to. Oh, and I’ve got something you might wanna look at. Well, four somethings, actually.”
“Exciting. Magical in nature?”
“Uhuh.”
“Then we’ll have someone else with us as well,” Hammer replied as he turned to the side. “Clover, could you come here?”
Clover walked up next to Hammer Strike and looked up at the foal.
“Hi, Miss Clever,” Cosy called as he waved. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Prince Bellacosa.” She bowed her head gently.
“Bellacosa has something to show us later. Specifically you, because it’s magically based and I don’t have a full knowledge of magical artifacts.”
“I look forward to it eagerly.” Her smile faltered. “Your mother was a good mare when I knew her. You have my condolences.”
A shadow crossed Cosy’s face as he made his way slowly down the gangplank. “Thank you. We all miss her.”
“Cosy,” Hammer Strike started as he reached into his coat and pulled out a knife. Its handle had been specifically shaped for a Unicorn’s magic, embedded with a green gem to help channel the arcane energies. The blade was a dark black that gleamed in the sunlight. “It is with great pleasure that I give you a weapon from my personal armory: Toothpick.”
Cosy looked up in surprise. “What’s this for?”
“What title was just added recently?” Hammer asked.
“And you want to give me this just because of what happened in Gryphonia?”
“You made it out with minimal damage, fought in battle, helped the emperor. I don’t see what not.”
Cosy took it gently and buckled the sheath around his waist. “Thank you,” he said.
“You earned it.”
Quite suddenly, something small and blue bowled into the Crystal Prince and sent him flying onto his back. A large, inquisitive pair of eyes looked into his face as Moon River inspected him from an angle that was entirely too close for comfort before leaning forward and licking the tip of his muzzle.
“Uh … hi,” Cosy said, taken aback by the sudden tackling. “You must be Moon River, right?”
She giggled before wrapping her hooves around him. Cosy blushed immediately, but didn’t move to dislodge her, instead letting her have her fun.
Pensword looked a little worried. “Dear,” he leaned close again to his mate’s ear. “Does she do that to every new Pony she meets?”
“She isn’t quite so… clingy with new Ponies,” Lunar Fang said. “Friendly, yes, but I’ve never seen her so attached to someone before.”
Pensword stared off into space as the gears turned in his brain. FInally, he sighed. “Well, I hope he doesn’t mind a wet ear,” he muttered as Moon River shifted to nibble on Cosy’s ear. He couldn’t help but laugh at the scene and hope someone was taking pictures.
Grif and Avalon moved past the group to approach his family. Moments before Grif got to them, he, too, was hit by a blur as Sylvio pounced him and started licking his face. Grif laughed. “I missed you, too, boy,” he said as he tried to pull the timberwolf from his face before his feathers got stuck together. “Down, boy. Easy.”
“He missed you almost as much as I did,” Shrial said, smiling down at the scene.
“Well, I hope that this shows just how much I missed you,” Grif said as he slowly got to his his feet and presented her with a large serrated tooth on a cord. “Taken from the beast's mouth, the hard way.”
“And I wondered why these girls were such fighters,” she said as she patted her distended stomach. She laughed as she took the tooth and kissed her husband on the beak. “It’s about time you got home.”
“I hope everythings been ok?” he asked her. “You look tired. Are you sleeping well?”
“A woman always gets tired when she’s taking care of three.” Shrial smiled. “It’ll be worth it in the end though.” She started suddenly as a talon flew to her stomach. “Oh. Feels like they know you’re home.” She laughed. “They’re kicking.”
“May I?” Grif asked, reaching out a talon.
“Of course. They’ve been waiting for you, after all.” She grabbed the talon and guided it to where the growing twin cubs were stirring the most.
“Hi, girls,” Grif said softly. He let out a few gentle dove-like coo’s. “They are strong.” Grif laughed as he felt the kicks. “They’ll be terrors on the battlefield.”
“Let’s hope they don’t have to go through a whole war like we did, though.” Shrial smirked. “One is enough for any Gryphon’s lifetime, I think.”
“Well,” Grif smiled, turning to Avalon. “My lovely wife, may I introduce you to Avalon, formerly of the Farflyer clan. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to meet her before our wedding. I hope the two of you will get along.”
“I think we will,” Shrial said. “Though, Avalon, a warning. Once I’m finished nursing these two, you and I are going to have a long talk involving several sharp and pointy objects. Our husband hides nothing from me, and you’re just a little too much like him for your own good. You need training.”
Avalon ruffled her feathers as she flushed, half enraged, half embarrassed. Snowy cooed gently and Avalon’s blush increased. “Not now, Snowy.”
“And this is my adopted mother, Kalima, and my sister, Thalia,” Grif said, gesturing to them as he pulled out another shark tooth necklace and offered it to Thalia. The tooth was smaller, but from the same shark nonetheless.
Thalia did something Grif never thought he would ever see her do. She smiled. “Thanks, Grif.” Kalima chuckled at her daughter’s apparent shift in behavior. Thalia had lightened up a great deal since they’d all settled down, and the clan respected her all the more for it.
Grif pulled out one last necklace. Unlike the others, this one held a larger tooth crowned by two smaller ones beside it. He offered it to Kalima with his head bowed. “And the true heart of the prize, as is your right and my privilege, wise one,” he said, presenting it to her.
“It will go amongst my closest treasures, my son.” Kalima smiled radiantly as she took the necklace. “And you’ve brought me a new daughter.” She embraced Avalon, then turned a quizzical eye back to Grif. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’ve found another treasure,” she said, pointing to the belt and its great sapphire wrapped around Grif’s waist.
“It was my wedding gift.” He smiled. “Now if I can just locate the topaz bracer then perhaps I can bring our race closer to it’s better glory.”
“It will take more than trinkets to change our nature. But knowing you, I’m sure you’ll find the way.” Kalima chuckled. “And I think you’ll be pleased with the progress of your little friend. Clover and Rook have done very well with him while you’ve been gone,” Kalima said as she motioned over to a blushing Vital Spark.
“I can see some muscle growth,” Grif confirmed with a chuckle as he eyed Vital. “You got Rook angry at you, didn’t you?”
“I regret nothing,” Vital said, grinning with a barely suppressed chuckle.
“So, anything exciting happen while we were away?” Grif asked them
“Changeling invasion, nobility visits, I nearly killed a young Hurricane who was way too cocky, and we have Gryphon delegates who came here expecting their coup to succeed,” Hammer Strike said as he walked towards the gangplank leading to the interior of the ship. Bellacosa, who now carried Moon River on his back, followed close behind while Clover, Pensword, and Lunar Fang followed behind Hammer Strike. “The usual.”
Lunar Fang sighed as she saw the glint in Pensword’s eye. “Oh, can I deal with them?” He asked with a false sweetness in his tone of voice.
“Too late,” Grif said as a familiar Gryphoness flew overhead towards Unity. “Chesh will have them dead by the time you get there.”
Pensword frowned. “But I am the military leader. At least let me get the paperwork signed for their execution as spies first. That way she can have more time to plan her revenge,” he said, sighing reluctantly. Then his eyes widened as the Demon Damned lined along the deck. “Oh yes. Um, dear. Uh ... I might have ended up adopting some Gryphons as Children.”
Lunar Fang’s eye twitched, but to her credit, she lasted a whole two minutes before the loud “WHAT?” echoed around them.
“Yeah, I have another team. Meet the Demon Damned. They pretty much gave everything up to follow me. In Gryphonia, they are considered dead.” He sighed. “So… we are now going to have Gryphons teaching us techniques.” The six Gryphons in question filed in behind their commander. Pensword’s cutie mark had been painted on their armor. They looked at Lunar Fang and promptly gave her a salute followed by a wing bow, their beaks touching the deck.
Lunar Fang wasn’t quite sure how to react as she inspected them. “Uh, rise?”
They did so and Kahn stepped forward. “As Pensword’s mate, our oath extends to you and all you hold dear. We are yours to command.”
“Thank … you?” Lunar Fang said, more asking than saying.
Kahn nodded as he and the Demon Damned formed up around Pensword and Lunar Fang. “Shall we go, sir? I think your friends are waiting.”
Pensword nodded his head. “Yeah, I’d rather keep an eye on Moon River. I have no clue what she would do to Cosy if left alone.” He paused. “Dear… how long have I been away? She seems to be a little more along than I had thought.”
“She’s been developing quickly. I’m honestly not sure what's causing it,” Lunar Fang admitted.
Pensword bobbed his head up and down. “Well, still, I need to plan her ceremony. Who needs to be at her table?” The conversation was suddenly derailed as Pensword and Lunar Fang both were rendered speechless by an event that may cause Tartarus to freeze over. Hammer Strike was yelling. Actually yelling. His voice was animated with excitement. The companions immediately rushed down to the hold.
“Carved golems made from amethyst using an above basic logic magical network system? Fantastic… Though, why and how in the world did you find these in the Gryphon Empire?” Hammer Strike questioned aloud.
“How do you know so much about golems? I thought you said you didn’t know anything about magical constructs,” Clover said, surprised.
“One, I was inside a golem for plenty of years. Two, it’s a basic magical network system, at least, I thought it was basic…”
“The Crystal Empire was known for its magical technology. Maybe they discovered something new?”
“You know, I could always just ask ‘em for you. They listen to me,” Cosy said, smiling.
“Please do. I’m curious,” Hammer replied.
“No problem.” Cosy smiled as he approached the crystal golems. “Alpha, deactivate sleep mode. I have some friends who want to meet you.” One of the two armored statues rose to its feet as its eye’s flashed, indicating it was active. “Alpha, my friends here want to know. Do you know how you were made and who made you?”
“Query acknowledged. Accessing databanks. Unit Alpha and fellow units are the result of a program. Codename: Project Sentinel. Project Sentinel was formed by the Crystal Empire War Drive Division on orders from Queen Blood Orchid for aiding Equestria in the Third Gryphon War. Project leads, first lead, lead arcanist: Stunning Array. In charge of sentinel golems. Second lead, lead alchemist: Caring Circlet. In charge of Pegasus Deployment Platform Nebula’s design.”
Pensword coughed violently into his hooves as the name was mentioned.
“You alright Pensword?” Hammer Strike questioned.
“Yeah, yeah…. I am okay. Just, well, that is something for later on in the tour.”
“With that kind of reaction, I want to see whatever it is next.” Hammer frowned for a moment before turning back towards Bellacosa and the Golems. “How many units exist currently?”
“Four current prototype units,” Alpha responded.
“Yourself included?”
“Affirmative.”
“What is your current primary and secondary directives?”
“Suspected threat level is below 10%. Primary directive is to obey commands of whoever bears the marker until told to deactivate or threat level reaches 10% or higher. Secondary directive: observe active perimeter of 20 meters circular of user location for threats.”
“Current threat levels?”
“Presently, this unit detects a threat level of -500%. Area populated by Equestrian ponies and allied Gryphons. Presence of Lord Hammer Strike detected,” Alpha confirmed.
After a pause, Hammer Strike blinked a few times in shock. “I’m actually surprised they programmed that. Why did they program that?”
“Threat level determination reduced when presence of select figure confirmed. Commander Pensword -25%. Grif, son of Graf, clan Bladefeather -45%; Lord Hammer Strike -500%; Luna Galaxia -250%; Celestia Galaxia -750%.”
“Shouldn’t the collective percentages be added together, rather than the highest?”
“Commander Pensword is currently recovering from serious injury. Fighting capabilities are hindered. Score has been adjusted until full recovery. Grif Bladefeather is still outside of vessel. Current response time reducing threat deterrence.”
“You clever golems… I need to get one,” Hammer Strike commented, nodding his head in approval. “Or make one. Either works. So, what’s next?”
“This ship is massive. I, for one, would like to know about the power source,” Clover spoke up. “I studied a stormstone core once and there is no fathomable way one could move an object this big.”
“Read my mind on that one,” Hammer Strike commented. “A ship of this scale must require serious amounts of power.”
Pensword nodded his head. “Follow me. I will lead you to the core. It is, well, I can say it is not a stormstone. I saw a cracked one in Fort Triumph, and it is nothing like the core here.”
“I’ll be with you guys in just a sec,” Cosy said as he turned back to Alpha. “Thank you, Alpha. You can get back to resting now. I’ll wake you again if we need you, or when we get back home. Whichever comes first.” Cosy smiled and patted the crystal golem’s leg before it returned to its brothers, laid down on all fours, and powered down, returning to sleep mode. Then Bellacosa raced down the halls to catch up.
He caught up to hearing Pensword speaking. “Well, I was thinking of renaming the vessel to something along the lines of ‘Alicorn’s Wrath,’ or something.” He chuckled. “We can talk about the name when we reach the core if you want.” They all stopped as they had to enter single file through the great metal door. The pillars and conduits still pulsed slowly. It was just like Pensword had left it. “Welcome to the core and heart of the ship,” he said as he nodded to the core. Caring Circlet manifested, looking curiously at the gathered guests, though only Pensword could see this..
“That’s ruby quartz. It’s used to control power flow of highly volatile magical sources,” clover said, moving closer. “But I can’t tell what’s at the heart.”
Hammer Strike’s eyes flashed with blue fire for only a moment, his pupils the size of a flea in the short burst that he looked at the core. “Welp, never doing that again,” he said aloud as he blinked several times, rubbing a hoof over his eyes.
Pensword looked to Hammer Strike, confused while he did his best to ignore Caring Circlet’s sudden bout of giggling. “You did something silly, did you not?”
“I can’t see. I looked at the raw energy from the core. And you say that powers just the ship?”
“Yep, and it is not even utilizing all the power and features,” Pensword replied in a smug tone of voice.
“You’re being so inefficient with it. You could use everything at once and not even touch the power contained in that core.”
“I know,” Pensword muttered, putting a hoof and leg over the top of his muzzle. “Boy do I know.” His tone of voice sounded tired, almost bored. Lunar Fang looked wonderingly at her husband, but remained silent.
“You’re wasting so much potential,” Hammer Strike said as his vision returned to him.
“Tell me about it!” Caring Circlet shouted.
Hammer Strike’s eyes snapped to Pensword’s ears as they twitched in response to noise. “They’re here, aren’t they?”
“Was wondering how long you would take to figure it out,” Pensword muttered. “Caring Circlet is here in this room. She designed that core, and is very proud of it. She looks very smug over the fact she managed to baffle even the great smith.”
“Pensword, I’ve been blind for a good minute or so. I couldn’t catch your ear twitches,” Hammer Strike replied. “I’m primarily upset because, for crying out loud, the Gryphons who made this thing are idiots.”
“They had no idea what they were doing. They killed all the scientists and took the half finished plans,” Circlet said.
“Well, they were working on half finished plans after they wiped out the teams working on these projects.” Pensword paused before turning to face a pocket of air. “Did you not hear that the Crystal Empire went dark? Or were you just so caught up in this that you forgot about the fact that the Crystal Empire was no longer sending messages?”
“We were in a sealed bunker deep underground. By the time we knew anything, we were under attack,” Circlet responded. “And don’t forget, I was already dead at the time,” she noted.
“Of course,” Pensword muttered, deflating a little. “Still, this is--we have a lot of work ahead. Utilizing the full potential of the core for this ship will take time. We could end up gutting large parts of it…” He paused. “I wonder if we could put in a communication system so I, or any of my kind who can see you, do not have to act as interpreter.” He flicked his eyes to Clover. “You have a strange look. What do you have to say…. and wait, just who are you?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. This is Clover. She was released from stone during the changeling invasion and the poison killing her was cured by it being taken into Trixie, after which I removed said poison from both of them.” Hammer Strike paused. “Actually, I think I still have it.” He reached into his pockets and shuffled a while before pulling out a vile green crystal.
“PUT THAT AWAY!” Pensword ordered. “Why do you carry dangerous stuff? You are as bad as my relatives during the forties and fifties.”
“Because it’s fine in this state, Pensword,” Hammer replied in a flat tone. “It’s an average thaumic crystal at this point: a solid aspect that I could even use as a fuel for something.” Hammer Strike rolled his eyes, placing the crystal back into his coat.
“Oh…” Pensword sighed and his ears folded down. “Still,” he put a hoof to his muzzle. “Clover, let me guess, Clover the Clever?” His eyes turned skyward. “Mother of the Night, please tell me Twilight is past her geeking out phase.”
“She never really geeked out, actually. Doesn’t help that Trixie was dying at the time…” Hammer shrugged. “As said, fine now.”
“Well, happy that Trixie is doing well. Staying here, I presume? Also, are we going to have a magical academy or something? I rather like the idea of teaching the old war magic.”
“Already have the courses started,” Clover replied smugly.
“Good,” Pensword answered before grinning. “Since you are the most advanced mage in this room ... that is alive,” he added as he shot the empty spot a glare. “Alive,” he repeated for emphasis. “Can you take a guess as to what is the core of this Ruby Quartz?” He smirked. “You will be showing me the military training courses as well. I may only be the Commander ceremonially, but I still take my role seriously.”
“Crystallized Dragon fire maybe? Or some kind of purified star sapphire?” Clover asked.
Pensword chuckled and shook his head. “Hammer Strike? How about you? Care to take a guess?” he asked playfully.
“A Philosopher's Stone,” Hammer Strike commented jokingly, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m pretty sure none of us besides you and the creator know at the moment,” Hammer said.
“How does he know about the philosopher's stone?” Circlet asked, taken aback.
Pensword just stared at Hammer Strike for a couple of seconds as he tried to comprehend. He was joking, and yet he still guessed it. How? How could he have guessed, even intuitively?
After several moments of silence from Pensword, Hammer opened his mouth, shaking his head. “Don’t you dare tell me… No…”
Pensword nodded his head. “Yep. We have an actual real one.”
“Welp, I know why they’re dead now,” Hammer commented. “That’s an ultimate tool to alchemy. That is over the top. That is the base foundation of equivalent exchange.” Hammer Strike shook his head. “And that is the power core? No wonder you can’t make a dent in the power usage!”
“Heavy, is it not?” Pensword replied with a chuckle.
“Just because the Gryphons have no idea what they had doesn’t mean we weren’t planning to use the energy,” Circlet said, annoyed.
Pensword turned back to Circlet. “Well, excuse me, but I have an alien mind in my head as well, and to him and his kind, you just created the ultimate myth: the greatest tool of stories in their land. For me… I know why you made it, and frankly, I do not know what I would have done if my hoof was on the controls of this finished product.” He chuckled. “Maybe if I did, having the sight beyond, you would have been my conscience during the war.” He chuckled. “Now… well, I am afraid to say that Hammer Strike will be looking at ways to ‘make a dent’ in that power reserve.”
“With this kind of power contained in that core... “ Hammer Strike paused. “I’m calling in a favor. I’m getting a golem, and I’m going to talk with Circlet. I know exactly how we’re going to upgrade this ship.”
Pensword sighed. “As long as I am able to do my own things at least half the week.”
“Don’t worry. Like I said, I’m calling in a favor, and knowing me, I know exactly how to find the individual in less than an hour.” A familiar sound filled the room as something began to materialize and dematerialize right in front of the door until, finally, the familiar image of a blue box solidified there. “... Let me rephrase that. Less than a minute,” Hammer Strike amended as the TARDIS doors opened, revealing a familiar brown stallion.
“Wait a minute, this isn’t the Saturine Nebula! Where am…. Hammer Strike?” the stallion said nervously.
“Hello, Doctor, I need to call in that favor.” Hammer Strike grinned.
“That favor?” The doctor sighed. “Oh alright, alright, what is it you want?”
“A golem to be filled by a spirit.”
“... Get inside.” The Doctor sighed as he went back into his time machine.
“See you in a minute or so,” Hammer Strike commented to the group as he walked into the Tardis.
“Or tomorrow,” Pensword spoke with a frown. “Still, Caring, this is normal for us. Welcome to the oddest place in Equestria.”
Lunar Fang face hoofed. “How does he get away with that?” she muttered. “Moon River, that is not something you should giggle and clap your hooves about,” she snapped as she moved to try and remove Moon River from Cosy’s back, only for her to hiss at her own mother. There was a slight spat of hissing before the two before Moon River was picked up by the scruff of the neck, walked over to Pensword, and plopped onto his back. Fortunately, this put Moon River in a more reasonable mood as she placed her forehooves onto her father’s head and chittered happily.
“I love you too, my little Mooney,” Pensword responded, smiling goofily.
“This is weird?” Clover asked pensword. “Has something changed with The Doctor since I traveled with him?”
“Clover, I was speaking to Circlet. And wait… You ... wait… You traveled with The Doctor?” He shook his head as his daughter pouted before nuzzling into the back of his neck.
“Thank you, Moonie,” Pensword said softly.
“Commander, I have spent over a thousand years in the empire. I’ll take any excitement I can,” Circlet told him.
Pensword looked around in a panic. “Does anypony have a piece of wood? I do not want any more surprises. NO MORE!” he shouted, his mind clicking back to the Monkey King incident.
“Uhhhh … Uncle Pensword, are you alright?” Cosy asked uncertainly.
“Cosy… last time someone said that they will take all the excitement they want to take ... the last time I heard those words, the Monkey King fight happened, and before that, invasions, battles, and mayhem. I do not want any more.” He groaned. “I want a vacation.”
Meanwhile, in the Tardis, Hammer Strike stood by The Doctor, who was currently flipping switches and turning knobs. After a moment he turned towards Hammer Strike with an unsure look on his face. “So… Will this repay you for the-?”
“Not even close.”
Outside of New Unity, a rather strange and very tense meeting was taking place. Six Gryphons stared at fourteen Ponies. Both parties were dressed in full armor and each held their weapons at bay. Fox Feather stepped forward aggressively, flapping up into the air to glare down at the six Gryphons. “So, just who the Tartarus are you? Why are you wearing our commander’s cutie mark on your chest?”
“We wear our oath keeper’s symbol to honor him,” Kahn said, standing proudly.
“Oath keeper?”
“We have sworn our oath to Commander Pensword,” another male noted, looking away from the blushing Thestral mare at his side while he held his wing over her protectively.
Moon Biter and Night Prism both looked at each other with concern and anger. Moon Biter spoke up. “So, what oath did you make?” He stepped forward. “There are many oaths that could have been sworn. What did you swear?”
“We gave our blood oath,” Kahn said, stepping forward. The male Gryphon’s head stood defiantly tall over the Thestrals.
The fourteen ponies stood in shock. “What? What?” Clean Whistle shouted.
“We swore our lives to Commander Pensword,” Kahn said slowly.
The ponies turned and looked at each other, completely speechless. “This, but a Gryphon would-” one began, while another spoke over them. “Only Grif did that, and look at what they did-” another voice broke up over the others. “This cannot-”
Fox Feather rose into the air further and bellowed. “SILENCE!” Her voice rang over the field. “Your heard them. They gave a blood oath. They are literally of the House of Pen now. The Gryphons from our time are long since dead. Their culture and ways of war are dormant. I will not let this opportunity go to waste. We are the Commander’s bodyguards. Do you think we would risk not getting the chance to actually learn Gryphon tactics?” She glared at the group as she crossed her forehooves. “So, the only question is how do we proceed? I highly doubt the commander will want two units. He most likely will be merging units.” She turned around. “So, What do you call yourselves? We are the Gryphon Slayers.”
Kahn rose in the air to meet Fox Feather. “We are The Damned,” he said with a dramatic bow.
“A fitting name,” Moon Biter replied from below with a coy smile, exposing one of his fangs. He chuckled as he approached the rest of the Gryphons. “I am Moon Biter, the teacher of the Gryphon Slayers.” He bowed with a wing wave. “I take it you took that name because you are damned in your culture?”
“If it is to be damned to follow a warrior who fought to save our emperor when he had every reason to leave us alone, then we march into hell willingly, mon ami,” Kahn said, smiling.
Fox Feather put a hoof to her muzzle. “As long as you do not try wooing me.” Her voice hardened. “I am married to my career. Is that understood?”
“You refer to Javard and his lady friend. That was a surprise to all of us, but love is love, non?” Kahn asked her. “Still, we will do our best to make ourselves useful.”
“Yes, and I know how to see how you will act. You will have the rest of the day to guard the flags. But if we find you have moved a single one without any good reason, you will be taken before the commander,” Fox Feather threatened as she returned to ground. “Magic Swirl, Clean Whistle, please escort these six to their guard posts. Also, Moon Biter, Night Prism, you are allowed to return to the Dream Clan to follow your concerns.” She paused. “Kahn, you and I shall be meeting with the commander to find out what is to happen to the units.”
“Go, my friends. Stand vigil. Be strong. Make The Demon proud,” Kahn said, taking the time to lock talons with each of his five compatriots. The other Gryphons returned the gesture with a nod before moving to follow the Ponies as indicated.
Fox Feather watched the Gryphons leave as they followed Magic Swirl and Clean Whistle. She waited patiently until Moon Biter and Night Prism had left before she looked at Kahn. “Follow me, please. The commander should be at his makeshift office. Either that, or on the new airship. It is time we discussed how we are going to integrate our ways into a new way.”
“Lead and I shall follow,” Kahn said, gesturing in a gentlemanly fashion with a playful twinkle in his eyes.
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Well....that happen.
6617678
Care to, well elaborate what you mean by that?
I am curious as their can be a lot behind those simple words.
6617683 well...for one, we see the monkey king being pals, second a ship with prince bro of cadence with pensword daughter like that. Third is Hammer with doctor on getting parts for a golem, and finally....things are going to be slice of life temporary. Because let's be honest, these lot rarely get vacation time.
Number of words is Over ONE MILLION!!!
It will take me forever to read this man. When does it End!
6617711
So, a good thing?
And I think there should be some slice of life coming up. But yes, I do agree, these folks need a vacation. Question is, do they get it? To find out, tune in next week, same Holiday channel, Same Holiday Time.
((Sorry been watching old Adam West Batman tv episodes.))
6617716
Yes, but funnily enough, it says we have twelve other stories that are over a million words.
As for an ending? What kind of ending? We have many endings, they happen at the end of a chapter, and then their are the arcs, and then even entire character arcs.
Or are you talking about an end to the actual story and have the purple Complete story at the end?
Well that, that I really do not know, last time I charted out a plan.... I only got this far, and already we have deviated from that course at least five different times. So, I cannot give you an accurate response.
And what do you mean forever? Even if you read two chapters a week, you will be reading more then we post. And the early chapters can be knocked out rather quickly I believe.
I thank you for the time to make a response and I look forward to reading and hearing what your comments are as you read it. (If you choose to read it.)
May you have a great day, and enjoy the wonderful week ahead.
6617773 *chuckled* it's fine, but yes it's good. But it looks like these guys need a breather.
Monkeys circlet is finally resolved. But by his very definition, he cannout be out of reach of Budda, because the circlet is always there, except now it isnt, due to intervention by local diety powered legendary weapon causing the smallest damage.
Trouble is, the crew now know Monkey is here, and will help, but Monkey doesnt recognise them, which means that even though in the future when they are time shifted then know the island is there, they cant make use of it? Wonder if thats how the knowledge of the island got out in the first place, for expeditions?
Poor Pensword, its been so long, he totally forgot about that scene. I want Ludicrous speed NOW. My brains are going into my feet.
Still wondering about the speed of the ship and the size of the planet, given a subsonic 747 can make halfway round, so thats anywhere in the wold, in 24 hours, and a third of that speed is just over 200 mph, and at least one heavy class airship was capable of 120 mph. Oh well. Depends how long the letters were sent, such as three days earlier when repairs started.
Ah, meeting family, Lunar Fang all Misty eyed, and Brocking no arguments. Cody has been selected for marriage already. As long as he follows the first rule he should be ok. The wife is always right.
Looks like Hammerstrike is having fun as well with the Golems, wonder what relation Circlet is to anyone, or just happens to be someone who rose by their own efforts and just happened, hmm, to meet the right persons at the right time to solve the problems? the complexity of the magic in the golems can be attempted two ways, pushing everything through a single massively complex corruptible spell, or starting with a collection of simpler core spells, then adding more functional spells, including watchdog, error detection, repair, and learning by comparison with memory and prediction spells. Still amethyst brings to mind Geodes, which implies growth or seeded crystal forms, which I beleive is a speciality of The Crystal empire, and after seeing the latest rock farm episode, has been picked up on by the Pie family? Given the crystals were not visible in teh episode where Pinkie got her cutie mark.
I like the threat modification values, though Im wondering just how badly Celestia has let herself go, given Hammerstrike can spank her silly without currently trying, and yet the Golems programming has her able to take on Hammerstrike and Luna when she is going all out. I really hope Hammerstrike gets them together, so teh Golem can update its database with scanning, and then use that to shame Celestia in really geting the cake out of her plot.
Going to see the core, Hammerstrike, even with his abilities cant look at the Quartz sphere itself, or is that merely the encapsulation of the Philosophers Stone right at its centre, which magically, I beleive is a Penrose Void, although I have seen an actual term given to the phenomena, but Ive forgotton what it was. Its not just raw basic magic, its that which underlays the fabric which gives rise to magic. A magical white hole that emits all that which is absorbed by the end of days of the realm. If Hammerstrike wants to make use of it, he is going to end up with either a Will Be Was drive from the Integalactic Tugs, or Planetary Express.
I wonder how Hammerstrike puts out the call for the Doctor, as currently I can only think of one transdimentional meta being immediately on demand as an intermediate, and thats Death, unless they used their own time shift to go back and call the Tardis, meaning that its a minor paradox, but resolvable? If the four Golems said they were the only four prototypes made, does that mean Hammerstrike is going back, sitting through the creation time of the Golems, then building his own, which wouldnt be a prototype but a production version, preventing information paradox? but wouldnt that mean he has to allow Circlet to die in order to make the Stone, or was the Stone made through his interaction ability of energy crystalisation, which is where his entry into the database came from? He noted he was coded into it prior, which means he was there prior to be coded in.
Looks like a new squad, The Damned Slayers is about to form? And the first buisiness is, stand there, guard these flags, and dont touch. Quick, simple, brutal and effective.
Aww, isnt that cute. Wonder how long before Fox Feather is screaming KHAAAANNNN, and Pensword is brain go bye bye Egon.
Next time, Circlet gets her very own Golem body to play with? And Moony plays with Cody so much that Fizzpot has to be rushed to the infirmary for deflating before he explodes from being force fed love?
This isn't the first story I read that has had the Monkey King in it and I don't mind saying, I don't mind if it is not the last either.
Mooncosy rules.
cosy.
moon river
Is the crystal core look anything like a Protoss Pylon?
Will there be jet airship with energy shield? I heard that rigid giant airship might make a reappearance in the future equiped with Jet engines because while they are slower than Airplane, their capacity and fuel consumtion ratio is much greater. That and helium is safer to use than nitrogen of the old days. Oh, and yamato cannon upgrade.
Awww moon river really like cosy XD. I all ready like the copel
6619994 Yamato connon online!
6629361
This is originally from deviant art..i think? (Yudhaikeledai) <= Just got the name.
Fantastic chapter. Though I can't quite remember the favor with the doctor Hammer Strike is calling in. Have we learned what it is yet? Or is it something that happened off screen?
And perfect ending to Wukong. The only real way to beat him is to make him your friend, much like his understudy, Goku.