Unexpected Adventure

by WhooshieWoosh

Grip

I sat on a log as my campfire cast an orange glow over the book I was reading. I'd picked up a few books after entrusting my stolen gold to Ra'avez. The one I was reading now was called An Introduction To Warping and Blinking. Basically I was trying to learn teleportation spells. I now knew the words to cast the spells, but I was reading about how to avoid teleporting into the middle of a mountain. Aparantly, the main difference between the two spells was that a blink was like a short-range, instantaneous dash that only went to places you were looking at. Warping went to anywhere and took a small delay to do so. In order to warp you needed to either have where you wanted to go memorized to perfection, or set a marker. The spell to make a marker was... a bit more complex. I was currently trying to turn a rock I'd found into a marker. (I won't bother writing down the paragraph of Draconian needed for the spell but just know it takes a while.)

I sat back and groaned as tiredness seeped into my limbs. That spell had taken a bit out of me. I walked over to a stump a few feet away and set down my rock before walking back to my log. I took a deep breath and cast the spell.

"Wyrp." (Warp)

The world folded in around the edges and tunneled out in front before I suddenly was standing in front of the stump. I smiled as I realized I'd done it before the exhaustion set in.

"Holy... I need to practice that one."

I picked up the rock and returned to my camp ready to collapse into my bedroll that had been graciously given to me.

---------------------------

Over the next few days of traveling I practiced my magic as often as I could. I also turned my sword and knife into markers because, why wouldn't I? Imagine how useful it will be to be able to throw my knife, teleport to it, and then shank a fool. I also worked on blinking and soon was able to not be disoriented upon stopping and could blink three times in a row without too much exhaustion. By the eleventh day of my journey I had reached a dingy little town by the sea.

I walked into town and saw that along with ponies, there appeared to be griffins here too. I spotted a tavern and decided I'd stop in there, you know, catch the local gossip and all that.

As I walked through the door I saw beings of all types sitting around drinking and playing cards. I headed to a small table in the corner and sat down, keeping a close ear out for gossip. At one nearby table a nervous looking pony with glasses was talking to a griffin with a large axe hanging from his back. At the same table was a minotaur (yes, half man half bull dude) with an insanely big sword leaned against his chair, a unicorn with a fiery red mane and tale and a yellow coat, and another griffin with a bow over her back. The pony, probably a girl and most likely a scholar given all the scrolls she had in her bags, adjusted her glasses before continuing.

"So if I'm correct all we need to do is locate the temple and the treasure is ours."

Treasure! Now that sounds like my kind of adventure. I wanted in.

The griffin nodded and said,

"Are you sure this place is real?"

"Absolutely."

"Hm... I guess we're going treasure hunting." He waved a claw at the bartender and called, "Another round!"

I took my opportunity and moved to the empty seat at their table. He looked at me curiously while the others placed their hands on their weapons.

"What do you want, dragon?"

I lowered my voice and said,

"I overheard something about hunting a treasure. And I want in."

He laughed and shook his head.

"I know better than to trust a dragon to be willing to split the loot. Scew off." He turned to the scholar and shook his head.

"I told you to keep your voice down. Now we got dragons trying to but in."

I placed a claw on the table.

"I think you should entertain the possibility of taking me along. I could prove most beneficial in your... endeavor."

The griffin cocked an eyebrow.

"Huh, you definitely talk better than most of your kin."

I smirked.

"Most of my kin don't have enough brain between the lot of them to find their way out of a cardboard box."

He laughed and the others released their weapons.

"Alright, I'll think about it. Now, where's our drinks."

He looked back just as a busboy placed a trey on the table. Along with the smell of alcohol, I could smell a clear chemical smell. Which meant--

I slapped the cup out of the griffin's claws just before he took a drink. He scowled and reached for his axe,

"You've got some nerve! I think I ought to teach you a--"

"Smell the drinks."

He frowned as he heard me say that and motioned for one of his companions to smell one of the mugs. The unicorn levitated one over and sniffed it before scowling.

"Well? What is it?"

"Drugged. Somebody wanted us knocked out. And I have a suspicion as to who."

Suddenly, a group of ponies entered the tavern and approached our table. One of them held up a wanted poster with the picture of the griffin across from me on it. It read,

Wanted: Grip the Griffin

For: Possession of illegal items
Attacking several Royal Guards
Various acts of violence

Reward: 2300 bits.

Warning, this griffin is extremely dangerous and accompanied by several other wanted criminals. If you see him, tell the Royal Guard immediately.

The pony slammed the poster down on the table and pulled out posters for all the other people too.

"Grip, you're coming with me."

Grip stretched his back and yawned.

"What if I don't want to?"

The pony grinned.

"It doesn't really matter what you want. By now the drug in your drinks will begin to take effect. You'll be asleep before you can draw your weapon."

Everyone at the table began to laugh as Grip snagged a drink from a nearby barmaid. He downed it and grinned.

"Do I look sleepy?"

The pony turned to the busboy from before.

"You little piece of filth! You were supposed to drug them!"

The busboy pointed a hoof at me and said in a wavering voice,

"H-he c-could smell the d-d-drug and stopped them."

I guess he finally paid attention to me because he looked at me and smiled.

"Well well, if it isn't Drake the dragon. I've got a bounty out for you too."

He pulled another poster out and... 1000 bits!? Wow, that was surprisingly much compared to the much lower prices for the minotaur, unicorn, and female griffin. Grip read the poster and whistled.

"What'd you steal to get that price?"

"A whole lotta gold from the royal vaults."

He looked at me with new appreciation in his eyes.

"Tell you what, after we clean up this lot, you can join up with us for a bit. At least for the job you wanted in on."

I shook his claw.

"Sounds good."

The pony from before, as well as his associates, growled.

"You all seem so sure that you're getting away. Well, I'm collecting those bounties, dead or alive."

I scratched my chin.

"What even is the policy on dead verses alive bounties? The posters don't specify."

The unicorn mare in the group of bounty hunters piped up.

"You only get a little more than half for dead!"

I waved at her.

"Thank you!"

"Shut it! Are we going to fight or are you coming quietly?"

I turned to the pony and pointed behind him.

"Well, we should take it outside. Don't want to mess up a perfectly good--"

He threw a punch at me that I easily caught. I looked from his hoof to his face and sighed,

"How rude."

I grabbed his other foreleg and threw him out the door. I lept after him followed by his bounty hunting friends and Grip and his crew. Upon leaving the building I spotted the stallion attempting to rise. I ran forward and punched him square in the jaw. He fell like a sack of potatoes.

"Hyaaaa!"

I turned as one of the ponies charged me with a sword in its mouth. I sidestepped before conjuring my sword and slicing across my assailant's legs. The pony stumbled and fell with a cry, hamstrung. A burst of magic shot past me as I saw Grip and his crew fighting the three unicorns. Grip's own unicorn was launching fireballs while the others were trying to get close. Two were firing magical rounds from a distance (well, one was firing way more then the other. The other was mainly shooting over everyone's heads.) while the third used his magic to send out some sort of pulse that kept knocking everyone and everything back. I could tell this was going to take a while and decided to intervene. I threw my sword like a javelin and watched it whip past all three unicorns. One of the ones in the back laughed.

"You missed you--"

"Wyrp."

The world folded and I caught my sword in midair directly behind them. I spun and cracked the unicorn who was making fun of my aim across the back of his head with the flat of the blade before whirling and slicing the pulse making unicorn's horn off. He screamed and toppled over, clutching his head.

I turned to the last and least threatening looking of the bounty hunters. It was the mare who told me about the bounties before. I noticed she looked a whole lot younger than the other ponies and was scared out of her mind. She had a light purple coat with a dark blue mane and bright green eyes. Grip stepped forward and looked at all the incapacitated ponies.

"What gives? You only knocked 'em out!?"

I shrugged.

"I didn't need to kill them."

He nodded and started walking towards the unicorn mare. He laughed which caused her to lower towards the ground.

"You picked the wrong fight little pony."

He cracked his neck and then his claws before growling menacingly.

"Maybe I should carve up your face to teach other would-be bounty hunters not to mess with Grip."

She gasped and began whimpering as she sunk lower and lower.

"N-no! Please! I'm sorry! I didn't want to! I thought bounty hunting was going to be easy and we'd just catch criminals like police ponies and, and," she began to cry and a tremor entered her voice, "I- I don't want to be a bounty hunter anymore! Please don't hurt me! I just wanted to make some money!"

He chuckled as she devolved into hysterical sobbing. He leaned down and grabbed her face, making her look him in the eyes.

"Isn't that sad? Well, I'll be sure to not leave any serious scars so you can still make a living... as a prostitute!"

He began to cackle as the pony flinched away and began crying harder. Alright, that was enough scaring the pony. Also, I think he might be serious now. At first I wasn't, but now...

I stepped between the two of them and crossed my arms.

"Alright, you've had your fun. Leave her alone."

He turned to me and laughed.

"I haven't even started to have fun! And besides, why do you care? Fancy keeping her for yourself? You dirty dog you."

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the scholar who had been hiding in the tavern.

"Don't we have somewhere to be?"

Grip sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go, spoilsport. Although you'll have to do something about her or she'll tell her buddies what we're up to."

This made the pony begin to shiver again and I turned to her. Honestly, she was so pathetic I couldn't do something bad to her even if I wanted to. It would be like punching a kitten.

"What should I do?"

"If I were you, I'd probably kill her. She was planning on killing us."

The pony gasped and clung to my chest.

"Please don't kill me! Please! Please! Please!!! I... I'll go with you a-and be your assistant! Make you food and do your laundry a-and... please don't hurt me."

I looked back at the griffin who shrugged. I turned back to the mare and patted her on the head.

"Uh... sure?"

She started crying and kissing my hand.

"Thank you thank you thank you! You won't regret letting me live, I promise!"

"Yeah... okay."

Sheesh, she actually was convinced I was going to kill her!

I turned back to my new gang and we headed off. I looked around and realized that the townspeople were still cowering in their homes. I turned as Grip tapped my shoulder with a claw.

"You already know who I am, but meet my crew."

He pointed to the minotaur,

"This is Cleghorn."

The unicorn,

"Glowing Cinders."

And then the griffiness,

"And Meril. But claws off, she's mine."

He winked at me as Meril punched his shoulder.

"Noted."

I felt a tug on my sleeve and saw my new assistant looking up at me with adoring eyes.

"I'm Gemlight! Can you teach me how to do that cool sword thing you did! Ooh! Or how about how to punch ponies really good like you do! You were all 'Boom! Pow!' And Oak was all 'Oh no my face! Blaaaagh!' And then you--"

And so she continued to describe the fight as she saw it while we headed towards our waiting fortune. While I walked I pondered many things, foremost was one burning question...

HOW CAN SOMETHING SO SMALL AND ADORABLE TALK SO MUCH!

Comments

[WhooshieWoosh]

8254520
Yeah someone else told me that and I was like, "Oooooh, now I remeber!"

[FuZz v KiNgZz]

8254521
So is sex none existent in this fic or someone that's just not shown but could be implied through innuendo?

[Lunar Valkyrie]

is good

[Starlight Nova]

If Drake McCain was voiced, what would he sound like?

[WhooshieWoosh]

8255932
I'm not writing clop but yeah, there might be some just not gratuitous.

[WhooshieWoosh]

8256134
Much thanks!

[WhooshieWoosh]

8256538
Well I usually like to leave it to the reader. Just think of a voice you like and run with it. If you want I can give you my pick.

[KingPotato]

Cuteness heart attack

[WhooshieWoosh]

8475470
Yay!

[Gravity012]

Wow. XD

[LostArchivist]

Ouch. I know that their medical services can't fix broken horns...

[WhooshieWoosh]

8828755
You’d think so, but you can’t be sure.