The Gryphon Kingdom is threatening war. Celestia sends Josh to diplomatically solve the problem.
--- Legions of the Gryphon Kingdom, hear my call. --- Equestria has begun to stagnate. --- The Princesses are blind to the danger they face. --- Now is the time to strike. --- We shall take the kingdom of Equestria while it is weak. --- Let us strike now!
-Transcript of the Gryphicus Address by General Feltha.
This is a sequel to the fic A Lost Soul Hidden in Unexpected Places. It is a completely different type of story from the original, but this time I get to have more fun.
"Legions of the Gryphon Kingdom, hear my call. Equestria has begun to stagnate. The Princesses are blind to the danger they face. Now is the time to strike. We shall take the kingdom of Equestria while it is weak. Let us strike now!" shouted General Feltha over the roars of the crowd. Angel Dancer watched from the second storey window of the Equestrian embassy. She could just about hear the voice of the gryphon leader over the crowd. She turned from the window as the massive roars of the crowd signalled the end of the address. She walked from the window towards her desk, speaking to her assistant in the corner.
"We need to get a message to Celestia, Dak."
"Is it as bad as it sounds?" asked Dak, jumping up from his chair by her desk.
"Worse. Feltha's calling for immediate war. We need to speak to Celestia right now." Dancer picked up a pencil and started scribbling a message onto a sheet of parchment. She rolled it up and threw it over to Dak. He picked it up and blew fire over it, sending it to Celestia in a flash. The cheering was dying down and soon General Feltha's aide would be coming to the embassy to require an audience. No sooner had Dancer thought that did the General's aide knock on the door. Dak opened it, standing slightly between his mistress and the tall gryphon that was stepping through the doorway.
"Is it really going to come down to war?" asked Dancer.
"It appears so." said Feltha's aide sadly. He had always liked the ponies of Equestria, but it looked like war was going to be inevitable.
"Does the General want to see me?"
"No. I am sorry to say, but he wants you out of the country." said the aide, a tear actually showing in his eye.
"What?"
"He knows that he can't do it legally without requesting a new diplomat. or fabricating charges against you. Requesting a new one is easier. He doesn't expect the Equestrian government to be able to send a new diplomat on short notice. At least he is giving you a comfortable ride out of the kingdom."
"Any idea why the war is going to start?"
"None. Personally, I think that he's just xenophobic."
"It seems likely."
The aide turned and left. Dancer sat down at her desk and looked out of the window.
A sheet of paper appeared before Celestia while she was sitting on the toilet. It was so urgent that she had barely hitched up her dress before running out of the bathroom door. As she left her bedroom, she grabbed hold of a servant.
"Find Luna and Josh and have them meet me in the great hall ASAP!" she shouted, continuing running down the corridor. She reached the great hall and turned, smoothing the ruffles in her dress just as Luna and I ran in. Celestia's face was grave.
"We need to send a new diplomat to the Gryphon Kingdom. We don't have anyone else who is ready. Josh, I trust that you would be willing to help?"
"Of course, what is going on?"
"They are threatening war. When you arrive, you will have six months of immunity before they can request a new diplomat. I need you to stop the war. Can you do that for me?"
"I can try."
"Very well. Pack your things, you leave in ten minutes. I will send you there by magic. We need to maintain a presence in the kingdom."
"Okay. I should get started now."
"Okay, go."
I turned and ran out of the great hall, sprinting to my room. I grabbed my well-used backpack from the cupboard and ran to the dresser. I stuffed clothes into the bag, grabbing as much as I could. I filled the pack and stuffed toiletries and luxuries into the side pouches before running back to the great hall. I arrived there to see two stallions waiting with the princesses. One was navy blue with a dark purple mane. The other was the reverse.
"Allow me to introduce..."
"You know what, just introduce the purple stallion. I have a feeling that I know Midnight Guardian."
"How could you-?" asked Midnight
"I umm. In my universe, I created you, but you?" I pointed to the purple one. "Please tell me that your name isn't Night Raven."
"It is." said Night Raven.
"Oh shit. You're alive? Brilliant!"
"What? I... Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Have you two been to the Saddle Arabian palace yet?"
"No, why?"
"Never mind. It's time to go. You really don't want to know."
Celestia teleported us to the Equestrian embassy in the Gryphon Kingdom. A white unicorn looked up from her desk, a look of shock on her face at the sight of a strange creature and two fully armed and armoured Equestrian guards appearing in her office. A red dragon was sitting in a chair by the desk.
"O my god, that was fast." said the unicorn. "I only sent the message twenty minutes ago."
"I'm Josh, the newest diplomat in Equestria with no training and no intelligence about the Gryphon Kingdoms and most importantly" I paused for effect, "no idea what the rules are, so I don't know when I have to stop. I have the two best guards from the Equestrian Special Operations Group and instructions to stop a war. Time to get started. I don't need a briefing."
The unicorn just looked at me blankly, then shook her head.
"Well, I have to leave. I wish you luck."
She stood up and walked past myself and my guards and out of the door. The dragon followed her out. I walked to the desk and sat down.
"Right, first order of business, I need to get two comfortable chairs in here. You two may as well be comfortable while you are protecting me. You deserve it. Next, we need to arrange a meeting with the gryphon diplomats. I need to speak with them and find out what the story over here is from their end. Thirdly, we need to establish sleeping arrangements. This embassy is now one above normal running capacity. We have two options. Option one, you both share the room for the previous diplomat and her assistant and I take the spare room. Option two, one of you shares the diplomat's room with me and the other takes the spare room. I, personally don't mind, but I believe that you two would prefer the former. Its not like you trust me anyway and we are technically in enemy territory. Finally, it is almost dinner time in Euqestria but the clocks here read noonish. That gives us the afternoon to make appointments and then take dinner and go to bed. Any thoughts?"
"How do you know us?" asked Midnight
"That is something that I can never tell you."
"How do you know about ESOG." asked Night
"The same thing."
"Why can't you tell us?"
"Because I don't know what would happen if I did, but-"
"Wait, you said that you created me in your universe."
"Yes. I did."
"Then, did you create ESOG?"
"Yes. I did." I said.
"Then, did you create me?" asked Night.
"Yes."
"Then when you were so happy that I was alive, does that mean that you killed me?"
"No, it means that I would have killed you. I altered this reality the instant that I came here. You will survive and for that, I am profusely grateful to the universe."
"What are we to you then?"
"Stop right now. You are literally my creations. If you want to, you can destroy me. The reason that this will work so well is that my thoughts are your thoughts, or at least, your thoughts are mine. We will work together perfectly. We are the best hope for Equestria. You will have to trust me."
"For now, yes. We can trust you. If you earn it, we may even come to respect you. We will follow your orders as instructed by Celestia, but other than that, forgive us if we don't exactly feel like enjoying your company."
"Understood. By the way, if we stop this war and save Equestria, would you trust me and respect me then?"
"Yes."
"Well then." I tried to swivel my chair. It worked. I did a full circuit and smiled.
General Feltha's aide walked in as I was writing a slip to be sent to him. It was convenient to say the least.
"Good afternoon, I am the new diplomat from Equestria. I am here to prevent a war. My name is Josh." I stood and walked around my desk, extending my hand.
"Good... afternoon. I am surprised that Equestria was able to respond so quickly. My name is Ando. I am the aide to General Feltha. I don't want war anymore than you do."
"Then we have something to work towards. When can I meet with the General directly?"
"You can make an appointment for early this evening."
"A diplomatic dinner then?"
"I suppose that it can be arranged."
"Perfect, I will see you there. Do you need anything else?"
"Well, no. I was just coming to see Angel Dancer again. I suppose that she has already left?"
"Yes, she is probably already out of the country."
"I am sorry that she had to leave."
"So am I."
Ando turned and left, closing the door behind himself. Midnight Guardian walked over from the wall that he had been leaning on and faced me.
"It would appear that we have an ally."
"It would indeed. We will need him. I suggest that we be careful. With all of the anti-Equestrian feeling in this country, there may be some assassination attempts. You have your magic, but what can Night Raven and I do?"
"I will send a message to Celestia detailing your concerns. I do not think that they would attempt assassination, however. If they would, what methods might they use?"
"The popular ones from my world were poison, long range projectiles or blades. Anything that can kill quietly. A spell that could give us an awareness of the things around us would be good. Also, one that could protect us from poison, if you or the princesses know any."
"I can do the first, but we will need to communicate with the princess about the latter."
"Very well. Midnight, please cast the awareness spell onto us then both of you get your rooms ready. I will remain here for a short while then go and ready my own room. We should be okay this early, but lets not let haste get in the way of prudence."
"Okay." A purple aura flashed over the three of us as Midnight's horn glowed. Then it was gone.
"Test it first to make sure that it is working properly." Midnight looked at me, his face pained.
"Better to find out now than in some dark alley." I consoled him.
"I suppose." he said. Night Raven took up a ruler and threw it across the room at me. I closed my eyes, feeling the trajectory of it and stayed still. It whistled over my shoulder and into the wall.
"Perfect. DO either of you feel the need to test. My accuracy would not be as good as yours."
"We are confident that is works." said Night Raven.
"Okay, we meet back here in three hours. Then we will go to the Gryphon palace and meet with their leader."
It was at about 7:00pm local time that we went to have dinner with General Feltha. There was a small reception when we arrived before we were all ushered into a dining room. On one side of the table sat myself, Midnight Guardian and Night Raven. On the other sat the general, Ando and a gryphon that I hadn't met.
"I find it interesting that Celestia ushered you here so urgently when hearing that we had requested a new diplomat. One might think that Equestria was doing something in my country that I wouldn't want them to." started the general as the appetizers arrived. Their side was served with a meat stew while mine was served with vegetable stew. It was an obvious diplomatic courtesy.
"There is nothing to it. We simply wish to maintain a diplomatic presence in the kingdom during a time of strained relations. Perhaps we can bring our two countries closer together." I replied, before spooning some soup into my mouth.
"It is still distressing. Your denial seems only to confirm my fears."
"Would you like to screen all of the communications going into and out of the embassy? They must all still be delivered, but you or your aide may see them all personally if you so desire."
"Might it be that you have some magical way of communicating that we don't know of?"
"If that is the case, you may place a guard to watch me. I would feel more comfortable if you could trust us completely."
"Your openness simply makes us more suspicious. I must request that you and your diplomatic team remain in the embassy unless you are attending a function. I would like your movements accounted for."
"You may watch us certainly, but to restrict us from your city takes things too far. How may I properly understand your people if I never see them."
"We can arrange some interviews if you would like."
"General, what I would like is some small concession that would allow my team to work more smoothly."
The general smiled a little bit self-satisfactorily.
"Yes, I'm sure you would."
"I do not suppose that it would be granted then."
"No, it will not. I expect you to remain within the embassy, where my people can find you."
Assassination I thought, keeping a straight face. He will order his people to try to make it look either like an accident if he isn't ready for war, or deliberate action if he is. The equipment of the assassin will allow me to gauge the kingdom's war preparations. I answered after another spoonful.
"I can see nothing wrong with that. I must be in communicable range of course. If I am among your people, an urgent communication from yourself might take time to find me. I do not wish to be unprepared."
"I am surprised that you agree so quickly."
"It is not unreasonable. I also hear that there is a lot of anti-Equestrian feeling at the moment. It may be safer in the embassy."
"I shall send the guard to the embassy with you."
"I must request that he not set foot into the embassy armed."
"Would you have him incapable of defending himself?"
"I would not have him hurt. One of my staff may get nervous if your guard has a weapon in my presence. Perhaps your aide might be a better choice for the position than a guard. You must trust him more than a common soldier after all."
"A valid point. I will consider it."
"It would be well to agree General. A trained soldier may be nervous and jumpy, but your aide has experience."
"Very well. Ando, you will be staying at the Equestrian embassy during the day."
"It may as well be full time. He can sleep in the same room as me if he so desires. We do attempt to make our guests comfortable."
"You are correct. Ando, upon completion of this meal, pack up your things. You will depart for the Equestrian embassy with Josh."
"Yes sir." said the Gryphon from beside his general. The meal was nearing completion. A gryphon butler walked around the table pouring wine into each glass.
"I would prefer water to alcohol thank you." I said as the butler approached me.
"Would you refuse my nation's hospitality?" asked the general.
"I have a distaste for fermented beverages general. There is no slight intended."
As we arrived back at the embassy, we received a message from Celestia. It was simply three words.
"Go to sleep."
I passed the message to Ando and shrugged.
"An odd message." remarked the gryphon.
"Yes, but not unexpected. I asked the princesses to keep an eye on me. I'm tired and they want me to have my full faculties tomorrow morning." I replied.
"Even so."
"It's late anyway so it isn't like it is a bad idea."
"Very well. I will have to tell the general about this."
"That I have to be babysat by the rulers of my country?"
Ando laughed a little.
"I suppose that it does seem to weaken you, but I will still have to tell him."
"How much do gryphons know about the duties of the princesses?"
"Well, we know about raising the sun and the moon. Other than that, they just rule the country."
I laughed convincingly.
"Sounds like the full bit. With this kind of scope, I thought that they would do more too."
"True."
Ando smiled at me and I smiled back. We started a friendship based around half-truths and deception. Meanwhile, my two silent guards were following us as we walked up to the rooms that we had been assigned. One of the embassy staff members caught up to us and directed Ando off to his room. Midnight and Night Raven started to head off to their room, but I stopped them.
"There will be an assassination attempt tonight."
They looked at me with scornful expressions on their faces.
"We know. You fucking invited them in."
"Of course. Those assassins will tell me more about the state of this country's readiness more than a hundred meetings and interviews."
"They are trained to resist interrogation."
"That will not matter. For now, I have a meeting to attend."
They looked at me questioningly.
"A meeting with my bed and with some pleasant lunar dreams."
Their looks barely changed, but I knew that they understood. I turned to my room and laid down on my bed. It took me a short while to get to sleep, but I managed it.
I seemed to wake up lying on a beach under the night sky. An aurora was dancing overhead and the moon was extremely bright, illuminating the waves. It was ideal.
"A wonderful reception." said Luna as she glided from the sky and embraced me.
"It is brilliant to see you." I said, returning the hug. She kissed my cheek and then we parted.
"You are taking too many risks with your life." she stated, almost emotionlessly. It pained me to hear her talk like that. A bench appeared on the sand beside us and I guided her to it. We sat down together and looked up at the sky.
"Better to risk my life than Equestria. I am not doing it without an aim in mind though. The assassins will be able to tell me a lot simply by showing up. I will know if something is approaching me thanks to the spell that I had Midnight cast on me. An assassin will not be able to get close enough, even in my sleep."
"And if they try to shoot you? Gryphons make the most skilled archers." she replied, a small catch in her voice.
"Trust me. If they try to shoot me, it means that their army is assembled and ready to march. From what I have seen, they aren't that ready for war. It is more likely that traps will be installed in my office or a poison in my food. My office is magically locked. Did you get my letter about poisons?"
"Yes. There isn't one to make you aware of poisons around you, but there is one to make you aware of poisons within you. I can cast another that will allow you to expel poisons from your body in your saliva. It makes the poison dormant until contact with air. It is a very useful skill."
"They sound perfect. How will they be applied?"
"I already did that before coming into your mind. Are you sure that you will be okay?"
"Yes Luna. I will. I promise you that I will come back alive and well, without letting a war start, even if I have to play unfairly."
"This isn't a game, Josh. Think of it like that and you will die."
"But it is Luna," I answered, an unnerving quality to my voice. "It is a game of the most deadly kind. Now, I have to go. An assassin is in my room and has started creeping towards my bed. Thankfully, as I am in a dream, time passes differently. As such," I stood up and turned, extending my hand to her. She took it and we stood together on the sand. "I have time to say goodbye."
I kissed her gently, holding her close to me. Luna returned the gestures and my affection before disappearing. Then, so did the dream world.
The Gryphon was moving from the window over to a figure on the bed. I could feel it coming closer to my position and slowly started to untie the knots that were holding me up near the ceiling. The figure on the bed gently tossed and turned. Thin wires were connecting it to the cocoon like hammock that had been gently put into a long trench in the ceiling. While this wasn't a trick that had been used before, it appeared to be working. The assassin steadily crept forwards, choosing each footfall carefully. It was dressed in black and had a few visible weapons on it's back and shoulders. I would have to kill it almost instantly with a surprise attack then.
The gryphon approached my bed and reached into a pouch. It was bringing it's hand out again when my foot caught it in the spine. The creature's whole body snapped forwards and sprawled across the bed. I dropped three feet to the floor and pulled out a short six inch blade, trying to rush in and thrust it between the ribs of my target. Instead, it rolled over the bed and off the other side, flipping itself onto it's feet in the process. It drew both it's hands back, glints of metal in both fists. It wasn't extending from the top though, but from the middle. I almost laughed. Punch daggers.
Even in an experts hand they were a weapon for an idiot. A twisting punch that would deal the most damage normally would only hinder the cut, albeit doing more damage, but a parry or block at the right time and in the right place with the right amount of force could easily break the wielder's fingers, rendering the daggers all but useless. They looked cool, but for the most part, they were scrap metal. I was wielding a short tanto style blade that was perfect for precision cuts.
The assassin danced towards me and tried to deliver a quick double strike to my stomach. I read the movements and slapped away the first hand with my left hand before blocking the other strike with my knife. A common weakness shared by most punch daggers is that they defend the immediately adjacent fingers while leaving the pinkie and index finger and the gaps to those fingers completely undefended. The gryphon punched forwards, forcing the gap between it's pinkie and ring fingers straight onto my blade. It cut perfectly between the bones of the hand. I slid my body sideways, between the hands of my would-be assassin and fully into it's guard.
It tried a feeble knee strike, but that simply allowed me to over balance it backwards. It landed on the floor arms out. I landed on top of it, my blade slicing across it's bicep. I quickly pinned it's other arm and broke it, dislocating it at the same time. I quickly bandaged it's hand and destroyed bicep before tying it to the bed. In lieu of a rapid kill, I decided to take a prisoner. It was wearing a balaclava. I pulled it off to reveal a feminine face. It was unfamiliar to me and for that, I was grateful. At least it wasn't Gilda. That would have been problematic. As it was, she looked me in the eyes with a strange detachment. Her eyes were becoming glassy and unfocused.
Poison.
I leant down and kissed her, rapidly flicking my tongue into her mouth and scooping out some saliva. I let my mind, augmented by the spell cast by Luna, analyze the poison and then spat on to the carpet off to the right. Then I tied her to the bed quickly. I ran out of the door and into Midnight and Night Raven's room. I shook them out of bed gently and gave them a list of materials to attain. Night Raven ran towards the kitchen while Midnight ran to the infirmary. They were both back at my room in five minutes. I knelt over my prisoner and looked her in the eyes once more. They were worse than before. I was running out of time. Midnight started changing the bandages and then set the broken arm and shoulder before splinting them. Night Raven mixed up a concoction and forced it into the gryphon's mouth, massaging her throat so that she would swallow it.
We sat back and admired my handiwork of the night as the, now gagged, female gryphon started to try and yell in pain, only to be sedated by Midnight.
"Good job." said Night Raven.
"Indeed. You appear able to handle yourself." appended Midnight.
An infirmary was set up in the basement. I carried the assassin down myself. None of the embassy staff were awake. We did everything that we could in complete silence. A surgery was set up. The princesses had been watching, but had no real way to tell us things. I decided to simply state my request to the air.
"We need a surgeon. One who can fix up this gryphon straight into the basement. He must return home after giving us instructions in post-operation treatment."
We continued to clean up the dirt and disinfect the area. After five minutes, a surgeon dressed in scrubs appeared the doorway. Night Raven stood guard at the doorway while Midnight assisted. I watched, partly curiously, partly worried. I needed this gryphon alive. It was more than I could have hoped. Most gryphons had a strong sense of honour. General Feltha was using a recent trade agreement to leverage support for his cause according to Ando. That meant that this gryphon would be honour bound to help me. It was time for some planned Stockholm syndrome.
The anaesthetic was quick and clean. The broken shoulder got a swift look. The surgeon checked the break and the set before moving on to the other arm with it's cut bicep. Nothing important had been cut, except for the muscle and there was a surprisingly small amount of blood. He had to reach in and find the connections of the torn muscle before magically knitting it and then the wound. Then he returned his attention to the shoulder, repairing the bones with magic. He turned to Midnight and started hissing out instructions.
"Excuse me, but I need to be the one to treat her." I said, interjecting. The surgeon looked at me.
"Why?" he asked. Midnight's face bore an expression that said the same thing.
"In my world, we had a condition known as Stockholm syndrome. It occurs when a kidnapping victim bonds with their captors. It can result in the captors simply releasing them or the victim wanting to stay with their captor. What we want is for this gryphon to want to stay in my care. That means that we treat her well, feed her well, ensure that she is comfortable and treat her courteously. Midnight, can you cast a spell that makes Night Raven look and sound like me?"
"Yes, I can."
"Good, we need a few days. Doctor, what do you suggest for post-operation treatment?"
"You need to ensure that she doesn't develop a fever. If she does, send a message to the princesses and they will send me. As for those arms, you need to make sure that she exercises them regularly. Now, I must return." The doctor vanished in a puff of magic.
Midnight walked over to me.
"She will awaken in five minutes, what are your orders."
"Cast the spell on Night Raven. Ensure that it neither wavers nor fades. He must pretend to be me sick in bed. It will give me long enough to perform post-operative procedures. Night Raven, can you speak as I was speaking?"
"I might have to say 'Pardon my attitude, the sickness is affecting me' a lot, but I should be able to manage."
"Good. Please bring a bed down here and ensure that nopony can hear anything. Then get to your tasks. Can you make the sickness look like a mild poison?"
"Easy."
"Then please do so. Meanwhile, our guest will wake up soon." I said, turning to the table that my assassin was lying on. She was gently shifting about, fighting off the effects of a magically induced sleep. I took up a damp cloth as the two Equestrian guards turned and strode through the doorway.
"Make that two beds please!" I called after them. I turned back to the gryphon and started to study her face.
It was strange. Anthropomorphosis didn't include removal of fur when it applied to ponies, but the feathers of a gryphon were replaced from the large, coarse feathers of an eagle to the almost fluffy feathers of baby geese. Equestrians had hands as well. They also lost their tails while retaining wings and horns. Their muzzles were also shrunk into normal human faces. Gryphons were almost the same in that regard. They didn't have beaks, but as opposed to the manes of the ponies or the hair of humans, they had long beautiful feathers that behaved like hair. This one had the appearance of shoulder length brown hair. She was sweating. I leant down and started to mop at her forehead with the cloth.
At the touch, her eyes snapped open. The unexpected contact returning her to instant wakefulness in an instant. She sat up quickly, one hand groping at an empty sheath. She ran into my hand halfway. I gently pushed her back down. My other hand returned to her forehead. She looked up at my face, seeing me for the first time then tried to roll off of the table, only to yell as she rolled onto her recently set shoulder. Following that, she flopped back down and I rested my hand on her chest.
"Before you try to move again, we should talk. Do you understand?" She glared at me, but nodded. As long as my hand was on her chest, she couldn't sit up and both of her arms were still painful from the surgery.
"Good. Firstly, you should know that because of your most recent actions, you have nothing but my deepest respect. I know that gryphons are honourable people. Most of them at any rate. Do you consider yourself honourable? Do you have a code?" I asked. She looked up at me again, still not wanting to speak, or not able. Either way, she nodded. As it occurred to me that she might not be able to talk, I started again.
"Are you thirsty? I don't know the after effects of that poison that I cured you of. I have some water here, or would you like to drink something else?" I asked. She parted her lips and managed to croak out from a dry throat.
"Water"
"Okay." I said and gently lifted her up to vertical. Then I picked up a jug of water that we had been using to clean the gryphon's wounds and a glass that had been on the tray with it when we had grabbed the whole thing for the trip to the basement. I filled a glass. She tried to lift her arms, then let them drop with a wince.
"Tilt your head back. When you are done, start tilting forwards again. I will stop." She did as instructed, tilting her head back obediently. I lifted the glass to her lips and started to pour water into her mouth. She drank half of the glass, then tilted her head forwards. I tipped the glass back and took it away. She gasped slightly then looked at me.
"Why?" she asked, her voice still weak. I tilted her back down.
"Why what?" I asked.
"Why are you being so kind to me? I tried to kill you. Why aren't you locking me up? Keeping me as a prisoner is dangerous. Not only that, but you are the lead diplomat. You have work to do. Why are you looking after me personally?"
"I should be kind to everyone. I am especially kind to you because I need you. As to why we aren't locking you up. You have an honour code. I do believe that you would not wish to kill me. Yes, you did try to kill me, but you didn't. We can't judge people by the crimes that they tried to commit, but only the ones that they succeed in committing. I stopped you from killing me. You were bested. My only real worry was that you would attempt suicide. The reason that I am looking after you personally is even more simple. I injured you myself. Right now, I have no reason to dislike you. I have reason to hate the one who hired you, but I don't hate them either."
"I don't understand."
"I don't expect you to. Basically, my luck is extremely weird. I have no luck when it doesn't matter, but I have perfect luck when it really counts. Some envy me, others pity me. Right now, I have no idea what kind of luck I have been having. Right now, though, my two guards should be returning with a bed. I advise that you sleep. There will be another bed coming down after that. The door will be locked from the outside. I will not have a key. Can I trust you in the room with me while I am sleeping?"
"Yes. Should I stay on the table?"
"No. You get the bed. I will use the table." She looked at me again.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Josh. And yours?"
"Kriea" (pronounced cree-a)
The door opened and Night Raven backed into the room, carrying a bedframe. Midnight was holding the other end. A floating mattress and bedding followed them into the room. I looked at a clock on the wall. It was almost dawn.
"Never mind the other bed. You two get yourselves ready for your own ordeals. I will set up the bed." The two guards nodded, then left. I dragged the bedframe over to a corner, Kriea watching from where she was lying on the table. Next, I dragger the mattress and placed it onto the bedframe. I spread a sheet over the mattress, then placed pillows at the head of the bed. I turned to Kriea, and walked over to her. She started herself up and I finished, lifting her to a sitting position. Then I turned her to her side so that her legs were dangling off of the edge of the table. She wiggled forwards and then popped herself off of the edge of the table. She started to fall forwards, still dizzy from blood loss and other factors. I caught her in a hug, then placed her left arm across my shoulders. Confusion showed in her eyes as I carried her over to the bed.
"I can walk" she said quietly.
"This helps me feel better." I replied.
"About what?"
"About what I did to you. Hurting people is never a good thing and I always feel terrible about it. I hurt you terribly. The least I can do is to look after you. Honestly, that's about all that's keeping me from tears right now."
"But it was self defence" she said as I sat her down onto the bed and she laid down on her back.
"Nevertheless." I replied, then went to fetch the blanket. Kriea looked at me again as I brought the blanket up her body.
"It was my first, you know."
"What?" I asked, resting the blanket on her chest and sitting beside her on the bed.
"My first kiss. You were my first mission too. They raised us to be assassins. On our eighteenth birthday, if there are any contracts, we take them. Yesterday was my birthday. I'm happy that it was you, even though I wish that the circumstances were different."
"We can talk about that later. For now, go to sleep." She closed her eyes and I kissed her on the forehead. I stood up.
"Please sleep beside me tonight."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
I sat down again, then looked at her.
"Then I will." I shifted myself to the floor, took off my shirt and rolled it up before putting it under my head as a pillow. As I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a sniff from the bed and sat up.
"What is wrong?"
"You are doing all of this for me."
"Yes."
"Even though-"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I love every inhabitant of this world. I want to help you."
She sat herself up, tears rolling down her cheeks. I got back up onto the bed beside her and embraced her. She rested her head on my shoulder. I held her in my arms as she slowly drifted off to sleep. While she was crying onto my shoulder, a thought shot through my mind.
General Feltha stormed around his office, waving his hands and shouting.
"I thought that you were going to kill him! All you did was make him ill! What did I pay you for?"
"It is likely that our person was killed. She always liked to use poisoned blades. It seems likely that he got cut while defending himself. Do you want us to send out another assassin?" the other occupant of the room asked mildly.
"No. I know about this Equestrian. He is a human from another dimension, brought here by chance. I spoke to someone who could help."
"Who might that be?"
"Me." Said a silky voice.
Queen Chrysalis entered the room through the wall. She took up a seat on the general's chair and put her feet on his desk. She wore a dress with holes cut into it in seemingly random fashion.
"How will she help?" asked the other occupant in clear disgust. Chrysalis inspected the fingernails on one hand then snapped them. A green flame winked into existence above the tip of her finger.
"Why, I will go back in time and prevent his death. If he doesn't die, his spirit will not be in the right place to be transferred here. No more him, no more problem. Although, you do understand that all changes from this would be retroactive? If ANY of your plans or thoughts were started or influenced by him, you will be a different person in a different position."
"I understand." said General Feltha.
"Good. Now we can continue." Chrysalis said, standing up. The third occupant left. Feltha let them go. This was more important.
I was walking down the street, the rain falling on my head. The occasional piece of hail bounced off of it as well. I wandered my way towards the Tim Hortons where I was planning on grabbing a coffee before heading back to MSS.
"Hey, Dustin." called my friend Mitch from beside me.
"What?" asked Dustin grumpily. He had his hands in his pockets as he walked on my other side.
"Cloud r34." said Mitch, ruining Final Fantasy 7 in Dustin's mind forever as he pictured it.
"Hey Mitch," he said back.
"Yeah."
"Fuck you." Dustin hitched up his sweater and pulled his hood over his head. I grinned a little inside, but didn't openly laugh. This had happened to frequently. It was especially bad when the wiggles had been mentioned. I sighed looked up. Thin black streaks seemed to be moving through the clouds. Suddenly, a shiny body dropped below the cloud layer and seemed to disappear for an instant before reappearing a little to its front. Something else was falling from the sky. Something big. Another darting body dropped out of the clouds and landed on top of the falling object.
"Hey guys what's-" then I dove forward trying to get out of the path of the huge piece of ice. I figured that the dive would be enough, but looked up to see a flying fish push the ice, defying the laws of physics. The trajectory of the ice changed and it headed straight for me again. Suddenly, it slowed imperceptibly. Just enough to give me the time to get out of the way.
"Bullshit!" I shouted, rolling to the side. I kicked my legs into the air and they spun, throwing me sideways and onto my hands. I pushed myself onto my feet and jumped to the side. The hailstone followed me and suddenly, a freak event of two random particles happened. The hailstone and I disappeared.
"Oh shit." muttered a green cloud as it got sucked back through time.
Colors twisted and twirled past my face. I tasted sounds, saw tastes and heard light. My brain started to heat up past the melting point of lead as it used up more and more capacity trying to make sense of insane happenings as I twisted through dimensions. My body warped as my height became my weight and my weight my age. I grew shorter then started to lengthen as time stretched my body. Shapes and scenes flashed before me. I felt myself physically getting weaker. I shut my eyes, trying my hardest simply to keep myself sane. There was a blinding pain behind my eyes and then nothing.
I opened my eyes to see nothing but clouds around me. The sun was below my feet and the ground above my head. A slight wind started that soon turned into gale. I could barely think after my trip through wherever I had just been. I tried to put my hands above my head to brace myself for the inevitable landing, the thought of turning to jelly on a ground that I could barely see not even registering. My twisted mind slowly began to come back to me, along with something else.
Shat out for only five seconds and you are already going to die. Fucking pitiful.
Who are you? Why are you in my head?
I registered the sea of green below me. It was a forest. There was a town off to the side with a mountain range in the distance.
Oh, come on! You can solve this. You know how.
I had no idea what it was talking about. My strange, snide passenger was talking about things that-. My eyes opened. The vibrant green of the forest seemed to emanate towards me. Light burst upwards. I felt the forest within me. I flexed muscles belonging to the hydra and drank sunlight through the leaves of a thousand year old tree. Time seemed to slow. I was back in my body, a blazing fire in my eyes. I knew how to survive. My hand extended before me and the vibrant green of the forest coalesced into a glowing green ball of energy.
Oh finally you figure it out. I though that I would actually have to help you for a second. The mere thought makes me-
"SHUT UP" I shouted. I dropped through the forest canopy, the tree limbs blown out of my way by the orb of light ahead of me. I felt within myself and added part of me to it. Instantly, the ball turned into a bloody crimson. I let it hit the ground and then released it. The explosion was visible from Canterlot. Trees were blown away, the closest ones simply being obliterated. A shockwave of destruction rippled from my landing point and crashed through the surrounding forest.
Two winged figures flew over the area and saw me lying in huge crater. I looked wasted away. My skin was taught over my bones, muscles barely showing. My body had used up almost everything to keep me alive in the void. The figures flew down towards me, their outlines becoming less blurred as they flew closer to my supine form. They were two young women. One was grey, the other was blue. They spoke for a while, their voices muffled by distance. They landed next to me, picking me up between them and carrying me in the direction of the town that I had seen on my way down.
I was rushed into a hospital room where i heard mere snatches of conversation. My mind was giving up on staying conscious and my vision swam, growing dark at the edges. Voices faded in and out of focus.
"Almost dead-"
"-happened? How-"
"- out of the sky-"
"-saw an explosion-"
"-you went-"
"-course-"
"-found him-"
"-he awake?"
"-don't know."
The blackness expanded, covering my eyes. I seemed to be looking through a tunnel at the world. Then there was only a field. I blinked. I looked down at myself to see that I was as I had always been. I had been lying down before, but now I was standing. I turned, watching the amber wheat of the field ripple in a warm breeze. I started to relax. Nothing could be wrong here.
Well, aren't you just the happiest little fucker?
I spun around. A figure was walking through the forest. It looked exactly like me, but waves of darkness seemed to emanate from it. Wherever the waves went, the wheat shriveled and died.
I need you to live properly. I want to move and stretch and kill, but you are in the way, and if you die, we die. So, here is what I have in mind. You can be your normal do-goody, wimpy, useless self. But, if something needs fighting, let me do it. As much as I hate you, I'm stuck here, so lets make the most of it.
Why should I say yes?
You know why. Because if I die, so do you. We are two sides of the same mind. One cannot live without the other.
Yes, I know. I know that you knew that I wouldn't say no, even if I should.
Yes and it disgusts me.
That isn't important.
It is to me. Now wake up you sack of shit.
My eyes opened instantly. My vision was blurred and I could barely see. I used some of my new knowledge. A crimson light played across my eyes. When it died, my vision was flawless. I tried to sit up, but I could barely move. I tried to focus, but knew that my own energy reserves would not be sufficient. I reached out with my mind, pulling at the energy of the ground. It wouldn't move, so I poked it instead, then tried to suck at it. Grudgingly, it slowly came out and soaked into me.
The feeling was incredible. The tectonic plates shifted, the air brushed over a desert. My center was spinning. I was part of a being that was so immense that I could barely comprehend it. I felt like I was about to be swallowed up. Painfully, I dragged my mind back to my body and focused on my atrophied muscles. They thickened out, then grew dense and powerful. I shifted my focus to my bones, growing them, condensing them. I finished with bones that would break steel such was their density. I sat up and looked around.
I was alone in a hospital room. There was a bed, a small table and a window. That was basically it. I stood up, then felt the hunger. It hit me like a wave. I groaned, and doubled over. I staggered towards the door and fell against it. Twisting the handle, i straightened up and pushed the door open. It was a fairly plain hallway. There was a sign at the end pointing the way to reception, the cafeteria and several different wards. I followed the sign to reception. As hungry as I was, I had no money and no idea what money I would need, had I had any.
I turned the corner and came face to face with a horned woman covered in light fur and a nurse's uniform.
"My Celestia! You're awake!"
I was confused. She was speaking English, but there was something about the words themselves that didn't connect.
"Shouldn't I be?" I asked.
"Not for a month! We even had Twilight use a spell to see-" It clicked.
"Nurse... Redheart?" I asked, slowly, stunned.
"Yes. Wait, how-?"
"Oh God." I started before something snapped me back to the present. I doubled over.
"What's the problem? Are you still injured?"
"No. I'm just really hungry. How long was I unconscious?"
"Three months."
"What?"
"Three-"
"I heard you. Is there any way that I could get some food?"
"Umm. Well, we looked at your teeth. You're a carnivore aren't you? That could be a problem. We were going to get gryphon food in when you were due to wake up but-"
"I'm an omnivore. I can eat vegetables."
She was visibly relieved by that. She told me to follow her, then led me to the cafeteria. There, I learned about another human who had recently appeared in much the same manner, except this one claimed to be dead...
I blinked. Something had happened, but I had no idea what it was. I sat up and looked around the makeshift cell/guestroom in the basement of the embassy. I looked at the figure sleeping on the bed beside me. Her long flowing hair that- wait. She had cropped hair when I went to sleep. I looked around again, my eyes wary for any changes from the night before. No, the hair seemed to be the only difference.
I need to speak to Midnight! I thought, willing Luna to receive the thought.
He is on his way. came the reply.
There was the sound of a key in a lock, then the door started to open. I looked over to the familiar figure on the bed. She was still sleeping. What was that thought that I had about her hair a second ago? It looked exactly as always had-
The flash ripped through my mind. Two sets of memories converged and overwhelmed each other. I held on tightly to the ones that must be wrong. My every thought was focused on that one difference. Kriea's hair had changed. I looked back, seeing two DEATH'S, two different pairs of pegasi catching me. Luna's dress changed, the colours of our aurora. They were all in the past. Like a desperate lion clawing at the ground to stop its movement, I clutched at the brief glimpses of the past associated with that one image. It was a good thing that we had sound dampened the basement.
A distant ache in my head sat me up in bed. Not many pains had a direction that they were coming from, but this one did. I recoiled from the touch, then realized that this was yet another way that I could move. I tested the limits, moving from my body, seeing through non-existent eyes, feeling the pain dragging at my head. I snapped back into my body, suddenly propelled out of bed and onto the floor. A nurse was through the door instantly.
"Josh? What is wrong?"
"The pain, I can't reach it" I responded through gritted teeth.
"What are you talking about?"
"It hurts, but what hurts isn't me, while at the same time it is me.It comes from that direction. Something is happening and I need to get there, but I just can't reach it."
"You are making no sense. Get back into bed or I will sedate you."
"Give me a moment." I grunted. Fields and forests flashed past, mountains grew in the fore and shrank behind. I was almost there. A city, a town, anything would do. I just had to find the source of-
I heard the screaming. I knew where it was. I knew what was happening.
"I have to go to the Gryphon Kingdom." I said, standing.
A new feeling crossed my mind. A caress more gentle than even Luna's. It rested on my mind like a veil before lifting just as gently. My pain eased as the twin sets of memories were disentangled and then moved to two separate sections of my brain in a way that I could not comprehend. Both sets were there, both accessible. I looked up to see Midnight with a blade out, pointing it towards Kriea's throat.
"What did you do?" he roared at her. She looked terrified as she sat on the bed. She lent back away from the blade, but it followed her every movement.
"Nothing." I said, exhaling then getting to my feet. "It wasn't her."
"Then what was it?" Midnight asked, his blade unwavering.
"I don't know. What I do know is that you are pointing your blade at an inno- a relative innocent, who currently bears us no ill will. Please put your sword away."
Midnight growled a little at the mild rebuke, but stood down and sheathed his sword.
"Thank you. Now please get us a kettle and some hot chocolate. I don't think that sleep is a realistic occurrence right now. Then, I will tell you what I had Luna call you here to tell me."
Midnight turned and walked out, shutting the door behind himself. I turned to Kriea who was sitting with an odd expression on her face.
"What is wrong?" I asked, sitting next to her on the bed.
"Well, what happened? I was lying here sleeping, then the next second you are screaming and HE comes in here and puts a sword in my face." She looked at me, then took my face in her hands and looked into my eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I am now. As for what happened, I will get into that when Midnight comes back. I feel certain that you two may not like this."
"This universe has changed. Very slightly, but it has. Another human entered it three months ago." I said
"We knew about that." Midnight interrupted.
"Here is where things get interesting. I am not from this universe. My brain works differently from yours. When we went to sleep last night, there were many differences to how things are now. One of them is in this room."
"What?"
Kriea echoed Midnight's response to that.
"An alteration was made to this universe last night. The human entered then."
"But you just said that he has been here for three months."
"He has. And from his point of view, this universe was never different. The only reason that I am saying this is because I have the memories of the old version of this universe in my head. The new memories are there too, but they are separate and I can compare them. My speculation is that somepony traveled back in time and through dimensions to try and prevent me from coming here. They evidently failed, but the question is, what really happened. Normally, I would cease to exist. Since this is so obviously not the case, it means that they traveled to a different universe from mine, but one that was almost a precise match to mine. What we are seeing here is the prevention of paradox."
"Again, what?"
"A paradox is when two things in a timeline conflict with one another. The grandfather paradox is when someone travels to the past and kills their own grandfather for whatever reason. When their grandfather dies before their father/mother can be conceived, they were never born. That means that they could not have gone back in time and killed their own grandfather. It creates a never ending loop that can cause unforeseen consequences. My theory has always been that when anyone travels backwards in time, the universe branches. There are an infinite number of branches where the person did travel backwards in time and there are another infinite where they didn't. In one of those infinite number of universes, where the time travel happened, I traveled through dimensions in the same way. It means that I traveled here at precisely the same instant as he did. Everything was changed here last night, but the changes happened at one instant to every single point in time."
"So, we are in a different universe?"
"Not quite, we are in a different version of the same universe."
"So, what is different?"
"Too many things. The General is more panicky and this kingdom is more prepared to fight than in the original universe. I don't like it, but the specifics of the situation are basically the same. For now, what we need to do is-"
Josh! Get out of the embassy! Now! came Luna's voice in my mind.
"Everyone out, now! Not just the room, the embassy." I said, before asking questions.
A mob is coming. They are going to-
"Oh shit. We have to evacuate the embassy. Quickly. Midnight, get Night Raven and get him out, give instructions to the guards on the way. Kriea and I will head out through other means. There should be a door out of the basement. We will go that way."
I grabbed Kriea by the arm and we started moving. We ran through the basement, looking for another door apart from the familiar one. Kriea started pulling me to the side. I looked in the direction and saw the door as well. I overtook her, letting go of her hand in order to sprint at the door. I ducked my shoulder and rammed it at top speed. The impact jarred my shoulder, but nothing broke. The door buckled, cracks forming in the wood as it bent away from me. I stepped back and kicked it open, splinters showering my leg and a piece of the door hitting my knee. I had no idea where we would end up, but I needed to get Kriea away from the mob. I looked down to see blood on my leg. I pulled up my pant leg to reveal a light gash on my knee. I ignored the pain, grabbed Kriea's hand and we ran again down a corridor, just as the first of the torches arched into the building.
Down a corridor, turn left, run, a door. The same process of ripping through it. On the other side was a storeroom with another door at the end. There was serious pain in my shoulder as we started running through to the opposite door. I cast my eyes about, looking for anything that we could use. My eyes alighted on a crowbar and I snagged it as we ran past, the simple action of reaching out and grabbing the tool sending another wave of pain across my shoulder. We continued running. Above us, the sounds of panic and roaring flames were the symphony of our flight, my pulse pounding in my ears to provide a swift percussion tempo to the dramatic overtones. We arrived at the next door. I barely slowed, the crowbar slammed into the gap between the door and its frame. My body hit the wall on the other side, dragging the crowbar with it.
The door popped off of its lock and swung free, the wood around the deadbolt ripping and tearing. I bounced off of the wall and sprinted down the corridor with Kriea behind me. We saw another door. This one was surrounded with a bright, yellowish light. Again, my crowbar dropped into the gap and the door was ripped away from its lock. Sunlight gleamed through the gap and onto the floor behind us, seeming impossibly bright compared to the gloom of the past night. We sprinted through the doorway and ran up the stairs beyond. The enchantment suddenly kicked in. A long and thin object whirred from the left. I pushed Kriea to the side and dove, rolling instinctively. The pain from my shoulder blocked my thoughts for a second. I felt a light pricking on my neck. As the pain quickly subsided in my adrenaline rush, the other enchantment kicked in, reporting on the non-native substance in my body.
I jumped up, ready to fight. I had to eliminate this new assailant before the sleeping agent from their dart worked on me. I took a step, then dropped. I was unconscious before I hit the ground. The last thing I remembered was Kriea's voice, yelling slurred words at my unknown attacker. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Damn it." I said, running down the corridor of the hospital. Red light streamed up and down my legs. I sprinted more quickly than any human could naturally run. Sliding, I pushed open the door at the end of the hallway and started running again. The reception area was right in front of me. I jumped over a gurney and pushed my way through the doors and into the lobby of the hospital, only to see the person who could only be Princess Celestia. A pair of guards in full armor flanked her on either side. They spotted me as I ran over, drawing swords and preparing to fight. I kept my cool, feeling the other stir. I silenced it with a thought, stopping mere inches before I ran into the blades. Celestia looked at me, then waved a hand. The two soldiers stepped back, their blades unwavering.
"Now, I met one of you. You were charming, unhurt, normal and has recently been sent off to be my diplomat in the Gryphon Kingdom. You, however, I haven't met. I have known about you since you arrived, but never met you. Can I assume that you and he are the same, or must I see you as another person entirely." Celestia said.
"What you see is very different from what you know. There were differences in our arrival. The chief difference being that I was conscious for the entire trans-dimensional event. I know what happened. I know what can happen. I know what I can do. I don't believe that you will have any problems with me. What is more important is that I need to get to him now. He is in danger and I need to save him. Also, I will need some more clothes." I looked down at the hospital gown that was covering my body. They had also given me a shirt and a pair of boxers, but other than those three garments, I was uncovered.
"I see. In which case, we shall fetch you some clothes, then I will send you there." There was a glowing flash of light, then we were gone from the lobby.
We reappeared in a massive room. There were folded and hung up clothes in the section that we were in. They appeared to be uniforms. Beside them was armor and weapons resided beyond that. The doorway was behind us as I strode up, pulling off the hospital gown and taking up a pair of pants that looked about the right size. It dropped to the floor and got kicked off to the side as I pulled the clothing on. They were slightly too large, but a belt from a nearby shelf sorted that problem. I pulled off the hospital shirt and threw it off to the side. Celestia watched as I dressed myself in a full uniform. I spoke as I was tying the laces on my boots.
"Armor and weapons?" I asked.
"Yes. I want him to live, so you may need them. Do you know the circumstances?" she asked
"Yes"
I straightened and then walked to the armor, strapping on greaves and vambraces. Next, I found a chainmail shirt, pulling it over my head. I ignored the helmets and other armor pieces, walking to the weapons. Two shortswords were belted to my waist. I strapped their scabbards together behind my back, enabling me to draw both weapons simultaneously without crossing my arms. Next, a longsword was strapped across my back. Finally, daggers were secreted in various places on my person, including the insides of my greaves and vambraces, one at my waist and four buckled into their sheaths arrayed with the shortswords at my back.
"He had two enchantments. I will need them." I said.
Celestia nodded, then closed her eyes. Her horn glowed and I felt her magic pour into me. I picked up a knife and closed my eyes. I tossed the knife into the air, feeling its passage with the spell and feeling the reflection of its own mysterious life-force. I caught it deftly and tossed it back onto its shelf.
"Okay, I am ready." I said.
I had better get some time when we land.
Only if we have to fight.
Fine. Just don't come crying to me if you get killed.
Our argument was interrupted by the flash of light.
The teleportation was instantaneous. I dropped into space on top of a carriage in an area that looked like a traditional Japanese dojo. There were gryphons everywhere, almost all of them holding or wearing some kind of weapon. I felt the other straining to escape, but held him in check, much to his fury.The doors of the carriage opened and two gryphons jerked out, looking onto the roof of their vehicle. Both were familiar. One from the memories of the version of myself presumably lying in the carriage below me. The other was familiar from a very different source.
"Wait." I said, aware that almost every single one of the gryphons around me were drawing their various implements of death. I saw Kriea doing double-takes into the carriage. Gilda never let her gaze wander.
"If you attack me, I will be forced to fight. Believe me, I have a few advantages. As it happens, I would prefer to resolve this peacefully. I feel sure that if you wanted me dead, he" I kicked the carriage, " would be dead already. He is alive. I won't kill if you don't."
"And why should we believe you?" asked GIlda, her eyes burning.
"Because I haven't drawn a weapon myself. You are intelligent, if a little belligerent. I trust that you could see what the unarmed version of me could do. Look at me. I am in better condition, stronger, faster, and I have some...other bonuses. If I was planning to kill you all, you would be dead already."
"Kriea is not among our best. The other you was her first assignment. What makes you think that you could best us all."
"Shall I demonstrate my strength? What should be my target?" I looked at the top of one of the tiered buildings standing thirty yards away.
One strike. If you do anything else, you are going to be locked away instantly.
That's it? You ungrateful bastard!
Save it. We are going to need all the strength that we can get.
What for?
We have to kill the instigator.
When?
Very, very soon.
He drew the longsword from my back and focused. He drew the power from the planet below, this time almost instantly now that we were used to the feeling, and channeled it into my blade. He held it low at my waist and then moved it in a long diagonal cut, There was an instant when the sword seemed to lengthen, then as it passed, the top of the highest tier collapsed, its pillars cut cleanly. He withdrew the power from the sword and resheathed it.
All yours.
There were varying reactions among the gryphons. Some reacted in shock, dropping their weapons. Others were incensed at the destruction of their building. Gilda just looked up at me coolly.
"Interesting. I wonder why you can do that."
"You don't want to find out."
"I saw your face when you did that strike."
"Then you know why you shouldn't get on my bad side. He enjoys killing. I don't"
"An inner mercenary then. Interesting."
"You wouldn't think so if he was inside you."
Fuck you!
Shut up.
"Now, why don't you tell me why the other me is here?"
"I wanted to find out what happened to Kriea. I had agents watching the front while I watched the back. That's where he came from so that's why I found him. I needed to get Kriea away before she was lynched as a traitor. It seemed to her that he was trying to do the same thing. He is kind and forgiving. I decided not to leave him when I took her."
"Good. I didn't suppose that you thought about the other two then."
"Other two?"
"His bodyguards. They should be here any minute now. Take him out and wake him up if you want to avoid a fight.
"Fine."
A figure appeared on the horizon just as Gilda and Kriea started to pull the other me from the carriage. It was probably Night Raven. That meant that Midnight would be here as soon as communication between the two were- There was another flash of light and the unicorn appeared, sword in hand. The other me was sat against the side of the carriage and kriea was patting the sides of his face as another gryphon ran up with a bucket of water. Midnight's eyes alighted on the young gryphon girl as she tried desperately to wake the other me up, then he started to run, sword raised. It started to come down.
Well then.
My arm moved, pulling the longsword from its sheath on my back. The voice was controlling it, a feeling of power surged within me as my own sword rose, the power was released into the blade to form a second, glowing blade. It extended, blocking Midnight's down-stroke. Midnight looked up in shock. His eyes followed the glaring length of the sword and up to me. He stood, staring. He looked down, past the two swords and at the version of me that was sitting by the carriage, the gryphon with the bucket now arriving and pouring it over his head, then back to me standing on the carriage. He froze, then recoiled, his blade coming up again. Then he teleported.
I spun, blocking the attack with my vambraced arm, then turned, extending a leg and tripping him up. He teleported again before hitting the roof of the carriage. My sword arm came up, blocking the attack from above. His sword bounced off of mine and there was a thud as his boots landed on top of the carriage and then a upwards strike came towards my stomach. My other arm spun, slapping the sword aside with the vambrace again, then caught Midnight's wrist. An object hit the outer perimeter of the enchantment placed on me by Celestia. My sword arm moved, blocking the incoming knife. Night Raven dropped in from above, sword out.
He landed, an overhead strike aimed at bisecting me thwarted by my longsword. My other arm flicked to my waist, drawing a shortsword. Midnight recovered from his parried attack only to have his next stab stopped in a similar manner. Night Raven and Midnight finished their recoveries simultaneously, then pressed their attacks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I opened my eyes, my head pounding and a ringing in my ears. I could see Kriea's face in front of me, which wasn't an unpleasant sight. The water soaking my head and torso was less welcome. The ringing wasn't dying down, even though it seemed that it should. Kriea's face seemed concerned, but also scared. I pushed myself up and turned, realizing where the ringing was coming from. There were three figures engaged in a pitched battle on the roof of a carriage that I presumably was sat against. I recognized Midnight and Night Raven, then I realized who the third figure was.
"STOP!" I shouted, startling two of the figures out of their duel. The third simply walked to the edge of the carriage and dropped down, walking towards me.
"So, you are me." he said.
"And you are me." I said.
"Interesting, You are exactly the same as I was."
"And you are on the verge of insanity."
"Indeed. I call you lucky,"
"Would that I could feel that way, you are what I wish I could be."
"I'm going to look after you." the other me said, sitting down in front of the low table and crossing his legs. I was already sitting across from him, my own legs crossed as well. Kriea and Gilda sat to my left, Midnight and Night Raven to my right.
"No, we have other things to do here," I said, declining the offer. I looked at Gilda. She unrolled a scroll across the table. At Kriea's behest, she had agreed to perform a single service for our small group. As such, she had retrieved plans for the Gryphon Kingdom High Command building in the centre of the capital city. Gilda placed weights on the corners to keep the scroll flat and we perused the blueprints. Midnight looked at me enquiringly.
"Our next task is to disable the commander of the Gryphon military. Following that, we will need to remove as many links from the chain of command as we can until there is no one left that knows how to take control of their army. Celestia is mobilizing her own military back in Equestria and will muster it on the border upon the completion of this mission. Our best hope is that the Gryphon King will simply allow hostilities to end and we can resolve this without a major war. We will need enough of a force to infiltrate the High Command structure, but a small enough one to remain undetected for as long as possible. We can have as many people on standby as we need. I think that it would be best to have them on the nearby rooftops ready to infiltrate on a set signal.
"The objective of the primary infiltration team will be to eliminate the guards and capture as many members of the enemy High Command as possible. If we can't take them alive, we take their lives. Our only chance of stopping this war is to cut off as much of the Gryphon military infrastructure as possible. We need secondary teams to hit barracks and secondary bases to eliminate unit and regimental commanders. Okay, Any questions?"
"Yes, I have a question," started Gilda. "Why do you think that we would do all of this for you?"
"Actually, I don't think that you will. Midnight, do you know how many teams are currently operating in the ESOG?"
"That's classified. I won't disclose that information in front of neutral parties who could profit by giving information to the enemy." stated Midnight.
"How many?" I asked. Midnight squirmed where he was sitting. then answered. "30 four operator teams are currently employed. 10 are active, on assignment and unavailable for our use. a further 5 are on leave. That leaves us 15."
"Okay. Thank you. Gilda, we need one of your gryphons to guide each team to its target location. I will stay here with you. Kriea goes with the primary team, along with him." I pointed to the other version of me.
"Well fine by me. I could use the exercise. You don't have to be so hostile though. The thing that you hate isn't exactly dominant in here."
"I know. The problem is that its there. That actually works to our advantage in this situation."
"Because we can release him."
"And use him to eliminate the guards."
The others looked back and forth between us.
"It is more than a little bit creepy the way that you guys do that." said Kriea.
"We are the same person." I said. The other one nodded.
"And the other thing is, what are you both talking about?" asked Gilda.
A snide voice responded from the other me's mouth.
"Me. I'm the dark side of his personality. This stupid bastard is too kind to get rid of me. SO I have to put up with his fucking pacifist mannerisms."
The other me's voice changed back to normal.
"He hates me. He hates everything and wants to kill. We have come to an accord that he gets to be let out when we need to do something that he enjoys, but I don't. He is basically every emotion that I wish that I didn't have."
"And he has no inhibitions." I finished.
"So, do you have-" started Kriea, looking at me with a mixture of sadness and pity.
"No. I don't. I just have to deal with the feelings whenever they rise up. There is a reason that I prefer not to fight." I replied.
"Enough about this." said Gilda. "When do we start?"
"Midnight, have you contacted the Princesses?" the other me asked.
"They are always keeping an eye on me." I said, "Midnight, have they contacted you?"
"Yes. The remaining ESOG teams are equipping themselves for the mission right now. They will be sent here in half an hour."
"Then we need to get ready. I think that we will need to be set to move the moment that they teleport in. Gilda, please give your gryphons their assignments. Midnight, you will give the ESOG teams their individual briefings. They will be here in 30, lets have the teams out of here in 40."
"I am still not sure if I can trust you." said Midnight warily, "But I will be fighting beside you because I trust the other you. I know that you are almost like him, but I don't know how you are different. So, I don't know.
"Don't worry Midnight. The difference is one that does not impeach my judgement. The two of us still think the same way. Most of the time anyway. I am, perhaps a little more likely to kill than he is. I trust that in the situation we will soon be in, that won't be a problem." I neglected to mention the other. It would only complicate the arrangement. We stood on a rooftop, overlooking the headquarters of the Gryphon's Legion. We stood with Kriea and Night Raven. An extra ESOG team had become available to us and had been enfolded into the plan as a backup team on this raid. They stood on a separate rooftop to the East of the compound. I had my customary weapons, Midnight, his sword and Night Raven, the same. Kriea was using a pair of small blades and a few shuriken in a pouch at her hip.
She stepped up to me and looked down at the buildings arrayed before us.
"Will this really work?"
"A war requires leaders. If we take out the leaders, they will be unable to commence their invasion. My real worry is that no one has seen or heard from the Gryphon king since this mess started. I believe that we might make a few discoveries about your people that an honorable being wouldn't like."
"What do you mean?"
"Who is leading the kingdom right now? That General shouldn't be in charge, but all of the orders come from him. Maybe it would be better if he was removed from the equation completely."
Suddenly, a firework burst upwards from the streets below and to the north, illuminating the sky. We all ducked low.
"The signal" hissed Night Raven.
"Then lets go." said Midnight. He disappeared. Night Raven took off from the roof, his wings spread and beating slowly, but powerfully. That left Kriea and myself on the rooftop.
Time for some fun.
Leave some alive if you can.
I make no promises.
The other took over, grabbing Kriea in my arms and leaping 30 meters into the air. We glided across the night sky before crashing down onto the roof of the main headquarters building. It stood a good 50 meters tall and dominated the compound. Midnight was on one of the adjacent structures and Night Raven was coming down to join him. The ESOG team had divided into two pairs as well and had moved to their own assigned buildings. Their incorporation had allowed us to hit 4 of the 6 buildings in the compound simultaneously, removing some of the need for stealth in favor of speed, but that only gave us some small leeway to work with.
I dropped Kriea on her feet and pulled out our set of rope. We each held onto one end with one hand and I dropped the coil between us. We each drew a blade.
"On three." I said.
"One." We each turned to a different side of the building.
"Two." We got set to run, wrapping the rope around our hands to aid the grip.
"Three!" We ran to opposite ends of the building and jumped. The rope snapped taught, dragging us down and through the windows of the building into a pair of rooms beyond. I had a shortsword in my hand and it swung as I burst through the window, releasing the rope with my other hand. My ability to track life energy coming into play as I smashed through the glass and dropped to the floor. A gryphon dropped next to me, it's throat open. There were two more in the room. My right hand swept back to the hilt of my longsword as my left struck again, cutting through the fabric and feathers protecting the second gryphon. The third had time to draw it's sword before I was upon it.
I parried the clumsy thrust with my shortsword before running him through with my farther reaching blade. It made a sickly wet sound as he slid off the end. I wiped the two dripping blades on his clothes before sheathing the longsword and drawing my other shortsword. In the close confines of a building, the latter would be better. I opened the door into the corridor outside and met Kriea, leaving the room opposite. She had blood on her face, but I probably did too. She turned left and so did I, heading in opposite directions down the hallway. I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, but it wasn't Kriea. Then there was the sound of cracking wood and a massive hammer burst through the wall to my right. I had passed the barrier wall separating the two rooms, but to plan an ambush of this style in such a short time was still impressive.
I dropped, spinning and sliding before standing again. I shielded myself in energy and dove through the partially destroyed wall, ripping more of it open. The hammer swung again, this time down at me. I concentrated the shield and blocked the blow on one vambrace, strengthening my arm and shoulder with the force of the city. I got to my feet then, before kicking out and breaking the head off of the warhammer. A blade swung at me from the right-rear and I spun, blocking it with a shortsword before putting my other into his throat. Then I turned back to the other gryphon. He had dropped the remnants of his weapon and had drawn a broadsword.
He held it lightly in one hand like a fencer. His first swing was slow, but it was recovered quickly when I parried and came back to block my counter thrust towards his belly. He wasn't fast enough to stop me from cutting his sword arm though and his scream filled the room until I silenced him with his own decapitation.