Author's Note

The real ch 21 is out. no more 42s just ploit

Chapter 22. Landfall.

Luna stared off into space for a long while as everypony unloaded the ship with supplies they will need. The ride through the storm where horrid monsters tried to drag them down into the ocean, but that didn't matter to her at the moment as she tried to hold onto the kiss that the dragon gave her for caring about him, even though she didn't trust him. All she could think about was Winters musk, the way his scaley lips made her purr with safety and pleasure.

She didn't even hear the Elements of Harmony calling out her name as they were forced to walk on the warm sand of the islands beach. Raven had to snap her out of her trance by throwing water in her face. Luna frowned at the little necromancer for removing her from her fantasy of the Void Knights lips. But she was thankful for it as everyone was out of the ship and ready to move.

Luna walked over where Captain Black was standing beside Raven, Sunset Shimmer, and even Twilight Sparkle in her armor. None of them noticed her except for Raven who was the one that brought her out of her trance in the first place. Luna noticed that they were more focused on the dragon and what he was doing with the ship. Then, just as everyone was looking with curiosity, Winter engulfed the entire ship with his fire. Luna felt a strange feeling as the fire completely encased the ship, but the feeling stopped the second Winter stopped the fire, revealing to everyone that the ship was gone.

The dragon gave a big smile as he walked back to the group while they tried to wrap their heads around how he was able to make the ship disappear, but Luna quickly figured it out. That feeling was the same feeling she got whenever a hammerspace was being used. If the dragon has a hammerspace of his own that he can access at anytime or anywhere, then he could have a lot more than that ship ready to be used at a moments notice, and that thought frightened her. She knows that no one but the caster could enter their personal hammerspace as it is bound to their soul. If he has a ship that could traverse the Sea of Death without taking a scratch and killing everything inside. She could only wonder what else he has hidden within.

"Alright guys, we will make camp here on the beach for now," Winter ordered with a smile as he stood without his armor but instead in a black trench coat, black leather boots, black cargo pants, and a black shirt. He was also wearing a black collar with a silver medallion of a snowflake on it. Captain Black spoke up to his order.

"Anything else...Sir?" Black asked, still fearful of the dragon from earlier.

"Yes, I want patrols to watch out for anything else that might attack. I know that there are more beings like the walking barrel over there..." he pointed to the blue being that was heavily chained on a wagon beside the other prisoners. "...And I don't like surprises."

"As you wish," Black bowed before he left to do what he was ordered to do.

"Now for the rest of you. Since I told you that once we made landfall, I would tell you all that you wanted to know. So ask away as we are going to be here for a couple of weeks," Winter said.

I watched as their eyes went wide with joy that they finally got the chance to ask me what I have been holding back for the past couple of days. These questions will make or break Luna as they are heavily based on her. Twilight I could care less about for as she is just a puppet that I could use at any time, but that doesn't matter at the moment as Luna spoke first. This time without blushing like a little school girl.

"HAHAHAHA!" the Space Marine knock-off laughed from within her bonds. All of us turned to see what was causing the thing to suddenly get excited and saw four figures walk out of the treeline with weapons drawn, and in the same style of armor as the person who laughed. I groaned in annoyance that the thing that I fought on the ship had friends, and so did Luna and Twilight, but for another reason.

All but two of them were bipedal. The two I could easily tell that they were Griffins by the same of their armor, but the other two I could only guess. I sighed, knowing that a fight was going to happen, and changed my armor to something more light. The being stopped and stared as I changed my armor to my trench coat set up. They also looked at my new weapons that I was carrying, though, it was just my two .44 magnums and my none enchanted katana, but that didn't matter to them as more of those, rock-tiger-fur-things bolted out of the forest and charged straight at us.

Luna and the mercenaries took the initiative and got into a defensive position around the prisoners while I groaned that nothing is going to be as easy as my time in Trottingham anymore.

I watched as I walked over to the four that the rock-tiger-fur-things surround the group but didn't attack, which was interesting, to say the least. I bet the four are the ones that control the RockTigers. If that's the case, then attacking them outright could cause more problems in the long run if I were to search for the vault on the island, but they had other plans.

"The biggest on in the group that held a giant greatsword charged at me with blinding speed. I pinched the bridge of my muzzle that the big guy, of all people, had to challenge me.

I gripped Subtlety, my regular black, straight edge katana and waited for the right moment as the big guy that I am calling, Ted, charged at me while kicking up mountains of sand in his wake. Then, as he got into range. I drew my sword while saying the word, "Iaijutsu." Faster than the eye could see, I resheathed Subtlety and once it locked back into place. Ted and the line of trees behind him, split in half and collapsed to the ground.

"Well, that was easy," I said with a smiled as Ted's blood pooled onto the golden-yellow sand. His friends took a step back and if I could see their faces. They would be staring at me with rage and horror.

"Well? Who's next?!" I shouted at the three who had their weapons drawn and aimed at me. The rock-tiger-fur-things moved away from the mercenaries and made me their targets as well, but from the motion from one of the Griffin-shaped beings, they ran back into the forest.

'What a bunch of chickens,' I thought with a chuckle, but that merriment died when the other big guy charged at me, but this time, faster than Ted.

I jumped into the air, barely dodging the battleax that was clearly oversized and in the shape of something unrealistic. I grunted and pulled out, Ash and Cinder, my two .44's and pointed them at the new guy that I am calling, Moa, and fired.

*Clack! Clack!*

Moa rolled out of the way as charged at me again as I touched the ground again. I ducked from a wide swing of the battleax and side-stepped back and jumped around her slashes like I was doing hardstyle. I laughed as I could feel her frustration grow with each miss as I looked for an opening to her flurry of haphazard of attacks.

Then, when I thought I had her move-set figured out, she jumped back and pointed her hand out at me. Not wanting to let her do something crazy, I shot at her again, but this time. My bullets deflected off of a forcefield like they were nothing. Then as I took into account of her new abilities that suddenly popped up. The sand around me shot out of the ground and encased me in a coffin.

"Alright, we have a Gara knock-off. She just lost the cute name of Moa, So what is her next move?" I muttered. "I know!" I cheered as I holstered my guns and clasped my hands, focusing my magic in them. Then once there was enough energy in my hands, I placed them on the walls of my sand coffin with an evil smile.

"Magna Ventilabis!" I shouted, causing my entire prison to explode and everything else around me. I laughed as I stood in a small crater, watching the Gara knock-off step back in fear. I pointed my hand at her and with a snap of my fingers with my spell still activated. I sent the Gara knock-off flying into the nearest mountain.

"Hehe, two down. Tow to go," I chuckled as I saw said the nearest mountain's peak, crumble to the addition that I gave it.

I walked out of the crater towards the two remaining beings that were extremely hesitant to fight me as their fallen brethren. They trembled where they stood, wondering what to do next while everyone else just stared at me in awe. Except for the main six, they were as fearful as the two that were left alive. I sighed and snapped my fingers again, this time uttering the words, "Vincula Umbra," causing the two to be wrapped in chains made of their own shadows.

Luna took this as a sign to rejoin me as I approached them with a bored expression on my face. She didn't utter a single word until we were looming over the two, Griffin-shaped beings with our weapons were drawn. With a sigh, I pointed my gun at the bigger being and cocked the hammer.

"So, unless you want to end up like your friends. I suggest you tell us why you attacked when we did nothing wrong," I said with a neutral, emotionless expression.

"I won't talk!" he said.

*Bang!*

I recocked the hammer and pointed it at the other guy's head with Luna looking at me in disgust for my brutality as the guy collapsed onto the ground. Dead.

"Should I repeat the question, or are you going to talk? Cause I don't have time for bullshit while I am here."

"I-I-I'll talk, please don't kill me," she whimpered in a meek and frightened, slightly childish, voice. I uncocked the hammer on my gun and holstered it with a smile. "Good, now go and sit by your friend over there and wait until I say so. Don't fight and you won't die." She give me a hesitant nod and quickly walked over to where the prisoners with her tail between her legs.

I turned to Luna who was looking at me like I was a cruel and heartless demon that was incapable of any kind of mercy. Which was true for the most part. I know that I have my own little spot in hell if I were to go back, but that doesn't matter right now. I looked over to the forest to see if there was anything else looking to cause problems before I turned around and rejoined the mercenaries to assess my next move.

After that whole first contact encounter we had, we set up camp for the night. The beach was the ideal place for the most part as it gave us the opportunity to see any and all who might attack us during the night. We didn't have another run-in with the armored begins or the rock-tiger-fur-things again, but I could tell that they weren't too far away. It was like they were studying us like a hunter to his prey. That wasn't something that I was expecting from the things that got there ass handed to them. Though, if they were looking for a weak point, I wasn't going to sleep so they could find it, which was fine with me in my dragon form. I could run at full sprint for day's without stop if I had too.

With that in mind, I still had to set up patrols, much to the ponies in charge of that task dismay. I knew that after our first encounter, everyone was on edge, and they should be. Raven told me after she looked over the Space Marine knock-off, she found that the being was radiating necromana. A common trait for demons if I remembered my time in Tartarus correctly. Which made me think about the Vault as it was protected by demons and anything undead.

'If the demons were outside the Vault, then Grogars enchantments have either; lost control of them or vanished completely. If that was the case, then the only thing protecting the Vault now was the door that was made before Grogars time.'

With the demons out of their cage, and possibly fucking like rabbits. I was going to have a hard time just getting to the hidden city, rather then finding Mout Liberty. Not to mention that I was dealing with a bunch of morons that would have all died to Giggles on the ship. Hell, even Luna had a hard time with her. I could only imagine how strong the Kingpin was, and that was something to look forward too.

I sat on a tree log that was pulled out of the nearby forest with a cold stare aimed directly at Giggles while I ate a few gems to keep myself energized. I could tell from behind her mask that she was staring at me too, trying to gauge how strong I actually was, but I knew she wouldn't be able to find out. Not with a certain spell that I had ready to be used if I had to destroy the entire island in less than a second.

We held our gaze at each other until I got bored and Luna made a seat next to me with the freed Twilight Sparkle again. I sighed, knowing that they will want to talk to me again as their first chance was cock-blocked from our friends that wanted to say hello and then goodbye because we were bad neighbors.

"Captain Solstice, do you mind if we sit here to talk about the things that we were interrupted about earlier today?" Luna asked as she handed me a canteen of water with her telekinesis.

"Sure, why not. Nothing bad is going to happen to us again today anyway," I said, taking the canteen from Luna's grasp and hoping that Murphy will come to my aid. He didn't.

"Then care to answer where we are and what you are planning on doing here?" Twilight asked for Luna. I took a swig of water from the canteen to clear my throat before I spoke and made peace with them.

"Alrighty then. The short answer is to gather information and possibly a few Lich Kings to aid in the murder of the Sun Tyrant and free the Griffin race. And what better place to start this campaign than in the land of the first Griffin King and father of Mark Borne, the land of Eden. Which is also the birthplace of the Thestrals in the southern mountains," I explained. Both of them had different expressions on their faces. Twilight had a look of absolute hatred while Luna just looked sad. 'Strange, I thought she would be on the rage and angst train. Oh, well.'

"You...You are evil! Celestia is pure and good. She is not a Tyrant!" Twilight shouted in pure rage at me. "The fact that you would side with demons just proves that you the very definition of darkness! One would even say that you are The Prince of Darkness too!" she finished. Luna just stares at Twilight like she was about to be killed on the spot, but didn't say anything to defend her. I, however, just laughed like a maniac for saying my title before I snapped my fingers and handed her a lollipop.

"You are right Miss Sparkle. I am evil because I have to do what's right. I have to bring peace and balance to this world. I am the very definition of darkness because I want to save and protect the suffering of an entire race while Celestia covets a power that turns pure souls in black sick that is so toxic, not even Hades would dare touch it with a five-hundred-thousand-million-foot pole. I am The Prince of Darkness, and you, my little pony, have earned yourself a lollipop for being so hypocritical. That I am surprised that the Elements even chose you to be their bearer of peace and harmony. Bravo-bravo Princess," I finished my rant with a slow clap in pure mockery of the raving pony.

"What do you mean, Celestia covets a power that is so toxic, that not even Hades dares touch?" Luna asked as Twilight stormed off to cool down. I chuckled as I watched Twilight pass out from the amount of blood rushing through her veins overwhelmed before I turned to Luna, who looked like I just kicked a puppy at her.

"It's simple really," I said, taking another sip from the canteen. "She has what is known as, The Seven Eyes of Chaos. A power that should have killed her within a year of acquiring it, and yet, she lives. It's a power that corrupts the person soul if the bearer uses it. The only way I got out of that deal was because of the Void aspect that I recently learned that I had, and let me tell you this. If she has full control of that power, she is a bigger threat than all the demons of Tartarus combined and has to be stopped at all costs."

Luna just stared at me like she didn't want to believe what I was saying. Like I was lying to her with the biggest bullshit imaginable, but I knew how to make her believe.

"I know you don't want to believe in my words, but let me tell you this: Mark saw Celestia create the demon known as, Nightmare Moon and planted it inside of you. She wanted to control you with that creature, but she failed and you used its dark powers to try and make the world a living nightmare. Because of this failure. Celestia banished you to the moon to weaken the demon's powers so she could purge you and try again. Tia never loved you, Luna. All she cares about is power and control, and she will do everything to get her way."

Luna turned away from me and stared at the sand in silence. I could see tears dripping onto the sand like her entire world was crashing around her, but she needed to know. I knew that she could tell if I was lying or not, and I usually don't lie. Each word that I said must have hit hard on her reality of the lies that was told by those that said they loved her.

'Damn, she and I are almost the same in this world,' I thought as I placed a wing on her shoulder and brought her in for a hug. I smiled as she leaned in instead of fighting my touch. She mumbled something incoherent to me as she soaked my black shirt as I wrapped her in my wings.

We stayed like that for most of the night until she fell asleep in my arms.