Chapter Twenty-One: "Oh my God, its happening. Everybody stay calm! Stay f*&#!#% calm!"

Filled with a mix of practicing with Vlad and Twilight in the morning, experimenting with equipment in the afternoon and being poisoned in the evening, I found myself with little to no time to just relax and enjoy the flight.

The poison training got really easy after the second night though. I was beginning to notice if I was poisoned, making it easier to cleanse myself of it.

I was surprised at how fast I took to it, but Celestia said it was due to the fact of using Soul magic. What I couldn’t understand though, was why I kept spiting the poison out as a solid, instead of a liquid. But after looking at one and having Celestia scan it with magic, we found that it was just a mix of minerals commonly found in the body that would usually be expelled by various means.

I was also feeling less and less of the poison’s effects on my body before cleansing it, my body adapting to the constant abuse.

At least, that’s what Nurse Redheart said after I stumbled upon her on the ship.

While I hadn’t known that she was coming, I wasn’t that surprised. In fact, with her being on the ship, I was able to get help with a special project that I knew only she could help me with.

“Thanks for the help Redheart,” I said looking at the small gem I had. “I can’t wait to see everyone’s face when they see me use this.”

“Just keep your end of the promise,” Redheart replied, walking away with a slightly worried look on her face.

“I must only use my powers for my own enjoyment!” I cackled to myself while making my way to the top deck, passing a few concerned looking ponies.

“There it is!” Twilight cheered as I found her, Rainbow Dash and the fillies in their own little group. All of them were watching as what appeared to be a port city, come closer.

“We’ll be landing the ship there before continuing with a caravan,” Celestia said as she joined our group.

“Why can’t we take the ship all the way?” Scootaloo asked, her face scrunching up in annoyance.

“This airship wouldn’t be able to handle the trip,” Twilight began to explain. “One bad dust storm could be enough to crash an airship of this make and flying high enough to prevent that would place us in some dangerous areas.”

“Not to count all the dangerous monsters that are there,” Celestia replied. “Most fly high and fast so that they can get the prey they need to survive.”

“How long will it take us to reach…uh,” Rainbow Dash began, looking towards Twilight for help.

“Cat-Uwan,” Twilight answered. “And by what I know, it will take another two days from here.”

“Isn’t there a faster way?” Rainbow Dash groaned as even the fillies looked disheartened.

“There might be,” I replied, giving a smile and drawing everyone’s attention. “There’s a limit to how many can use it and I’ll need some help to keep it running the whole way, but I can cut travel time by half, at the least.”

“And just how would that be possible?” Celestia asked as everyone else looked at me wide eyed, mouths agape.

“Remember that drawing you saw back during nightmare night?” I offered, reaching into a pocket and pulling out one of the gem’s the Tree of Harmony had given me. It was an obsidian black and had a small shine, meaning that something was imprinted in it. “I finally got a prototype finished.”

“Prototype?” Twilight chirped, her eyes sparkling.

“Isn’t that the gem you used to make that motor-cycle thingy?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Nope,” I replied. “That one was silver, this one is black.”

“How many can it fit?” Celestia asked, taking the gem from me with her magic and inspecting it. I could see her focus on it for a second, but when nothing happened, she began to frown.

“It should be able to fit all of us here, Geralt and maybe three or four others,” I replied, snatching the gem back.

“Can we see?” the fillies all asked as one, big smiles on their faces.

“What do you say?” I asked, turning everyone’s attention to Celestia.

“Go right ahead,” Celestia said as she cleared a large place on the deck with a wave of her horn.

“Everyone, stand back please,” I called, channeling some power into the gem before tossing it into the space, keeping a small tendril of power attached to it.

A thick mist quickly began to emanate from the gem, forming a large rectangle that stood six feet high and nearly twenty feet long. A few moments later, it began to shift, forming three thick tires on each side and a large dark gray rectangular body.

The dashboard was filled with switches and nobs. Instead of the common two front seat, there was only a single captain’s chair placed in the middle of the front, just behind a steering wheel. Behind that were another pair of captain chairs, a long bench seat and then a large back trunk that had benches on both sides with a large space in-between them.

“Woah!” everyone, including the surrounding guards gaped as I moved over to the vehicle. Opening the front door, I pulled out a small glowing gem from a pocket and fit it into an opening by the steering wheel.

“That will keep it from dissipating for a bit… I think,” I said, cutting my connection to the gem and watching it for a moment.

“This thing is huge!” Rainbow Dash blurted out as she opened a side door, with some difficulty. “How fast does it go?”

“No idea,” I replied, deciding to not shout ‘that’s what she said’. “But it should still be faster than what you could run at top speed.”

“Oh, trust me,” Rainbow Dash grinned, sitting in one of the back captains seats with a grin. “You’ve yet to see me run.”

“We can all fit in here!” Apple Bloom called as she and the other fillies found their way inside, sitting on the back bench.

“That was the plan,” I smirked while getting into the front seat and spinning it around to look back at them. “It even has air conditioning… I think?”

“You seem very unsure of a lot of things,” Vlad’s voice called as he appeared to one side of the jeep.

“Well, I haven’t had the chance to use the damn thing to even see what does and doesn’t work yet,” I replied as I heard a thump on the roof.

“What is this thing?” I heard Spitfire ask from above.

“Hey!” I called, getting out and glaring at the Wonderbolt. “You’re not supposed to stand there, get off!”

“I was just looking,” Spitfire grumbled, jumping off the roof and crawling inside.

“Maybe showing it off wasn’t such a good idea,” I grumbled myself, watching as ponies began to crawl in and out of the thing.

“What do these things do?” Cotton asked, pointing at the dashboard of nobs and switches.

“They let me do different things,” I replied, reaching in and flipping a switch that had a jeep frame just above it. The moment I did, the walls and windows of the jeep’s trunk disappeared, leaving only a frame in place. “Only a few of them work right now though.”

“This.Is.Amazing!” Twilight cheered as she went over the whole thing, stacks of paper floating around her like flies.

But the sight that really drew my eyes was Celestia.

She stood at the front of the vehicle, where an engine would typically be found, staring and rubbing the hood with her bare hoof. A look I couldn’t place clear on her face as she stared at the jeep construct.

“I think we should be able to fit at least five additional ponies including your group, the princess, my wife and I if they really squeeze in there,” Vlad interrupted, drawing my attention as he looked over the inside of the vehicle. “If this… thing, can cut even half a day off our trip, then we can leave more things behind to arrive at a later date, opening up more room.”

“Well, however you decide it, just know that you’ll be sharing space with Geralt,” I commented, turning back to Celestia and finding her discussing something to Twilight.

“What other little tricks have you got stashed away?” Vlad asked, giving me an apprising look.

“You’ll just have to wait until the tournament to see,” I replied, giving a chuckle.

Reaching back into the jeep I pulled out the gem powering it and quickly pulled back, watching it disappear in a puff of smoke, causing the ponies that had been inside to fall to the deck.

“I’ll be sure to remember that,” Vlad nodded. Chuckling at the glares the ponies who had been in the jeep were giving me.

“Well, there are still a few things that need to be done before we reach the port,” Celestia said, drawing everyone’s attention. “If you haven’t already, go get your things packed and ready.

“Once we make it to the city, we’ll take the original caravan to the city edge before we switch over to Christopher’s vehicle,” Celestia explained before looking at Vlad. “Choose who will be going with us and make sure the others have what they need to make the rest of the trip themselves.”

“Yes, Princess Celestia,” Vlad saluted before rushing away, his umbrella lacky keeping pace beside him.

“Can’t you do some magic so he doesn’t need the umbrella?” I mumbled so only Celestia could hear me.

“Oh, I put a spell on him shortly after he started working for me,” Celestia quietly replied with a giggle. “He just never bothers to correct anypony.”

* * *

“Wow!” the fillies gasped as the carriage we were in continued down the cleared city streets. Someone had tried to tell me the city’s name, but I was unable to pronounce it so I ended up forgetting it.

“What is that?!” Dinky called as she pointed a hoof at what looked to be a camel.

“Camel,” I replied.

“And that?” Scootaloo asked, pointing at another species.

“Shark… thing?” I replied, looking at the walking, bipedal shark the filly was pointing at.

“What about that?” Cotton asked, pointing at a weird ball of pink fluff that was bouncing out of sight.

“Don’t stare at that one!” I quickly replied, a weird sense of unease filling me at the sight of the fluff ball that was a horribly bright pink. “That’s one we don’t want to deal with.”

“What?” Twilight asked as everyone in the carriage looked at me in confusion.

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a chuckle, swearing I could hear someone give a “thbpbp” in the distance.

“There’s so many kind ‘oh ponies here!” Apple Bloom cheered as she looked back out the window.

“They’re not ponies though,” Sweetie Belle commented before the fillies dived into a discussion amongst themselves about who they were seeing.

“There sure is a lot of sand out there,” Rainbow Dash grumbled from her own seat. She was currently stuffed next to Geralt and Twilight, so she couldn’t spread her wings and it was causing her to be irritable.

“It’s not called the South Sands for nothing, Rainbow,” I chuckled. “Besides, it could be worse.”

“Oh yeah, how?” Rainbow huffed.

“You could be walking outside,” I replied. “Surprised me when they said this place was a no-fly zone outside of the port.”

“Which is so stupid…” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“What about you Twilight, anything to comment on?” I asked the bookish mare.

She completely ignored me as her eyes remained locked outside the window, mumbling to herself about the things she was seeing.

“Oh, this is going to be a great trip…” I sighed.

* * *

“Okay, that should be everything,” Vlad told me and Celestia after loading up the back of my jeep with several large suitcases and a few small crates. “Everypony else is already inside and ready to go.”

“Very good, Captain Vlad,” Celestia nodded.

Vlad returned the nod with a salute before getting into the back and sitting beside his wife and Captain Spitfire.

“After you, Celestia,” I said, holding the side door open for the princess.

With a nod, Celestia claimed in and sat in one of the captain chairs with Twilight in the other. I was about to explain how to put the seat belts on when Celestia’s horn glowed and all the belts locked into place, holding everyone down.

I was going to question it, seeing as I hadn’t told any of them about the belts yet, but decided to just shake my head and close the side door before getting into the front.

“Now then,” I mumbled, sitting in the chair and putting on my own seat belt. “Let’s see how well this actually works.”

I didn’t need to turn the jeep on or anything, so there was no key slot, but there was a lever that had the basic setting of park, drive, reverse and neutral.

Shifting into drive, the jeep immediately began to move forward slowly without me having to do anything.

The motion was enough to cause all the ponies inside and outside the jeep to jump slightly, drawing a chuckle from me.

“Just give it a second,” I grinned, placing both hands on the wheel and putting my foot over the gas pedal.

Sparing a quick glance at the gems I had placed into the dash board, I nodded at the three that glowed a full charge. The stopwatch I had set next to it said it had already been ten minutes since I first activated the jeep and put the gems in; giving me a good feeling.

“I wanna go fast!” I whooped like an idiot before pressing down onto the gas pedal and launching us forward.

While it wasn’t as fast or as intense as it was on my motorcycle, the jeep still rushed forward, forcing everyone into their seats for a moment.

“It works!” I cheered while giving it as much speed as I could. A moment later, I couldn’t help but frown as I felt that we weren’t going more than seventy miles an hour, even though the pedal was all the way down.

“This is quite impressive,” Vlad’s voice echoed from the back as everyone looked out the windows and the rushing scenery. “We must be traveling at least twice as fast as a train.”

“And as long as it has power, we don’t need to stop to rest,” I called back, a little miffed by the slow speed. One of the abilities of the jeep I had plans for was a switch to swap to different modes for different situations, one of which was meant for speed.

I was now worried that the “Speed Mode” wouldn’t really be all that fast.

“Something wrong, Reaper?” Celestia asked, drawing my attention to a small rearview mirror. She wasn’t actually looking at me, but she seemed to know that something was wrong.

“This is as fast as I can get it to go right now,” I grumbled, drawing looks from everyone.

“Is it supposed to go faster?” Twilight asked.

“His motor-cycle thingy went way faster,” Scootaloo voiced, the other fillies nodding.

“It could be because of how many ponies are inside of it,” Spitfire called from the back.

“If it were a real vehicle then maybe,” I called back. “But like I said, this is just a prototype, so something like this is expected. There’s still a lot I need to figure out to get something like this to work exactly like I want.”

“Still pretty impressive if you tell me,” A guard called. A quick glance showed them staring at Geralt with wide eyes.

Geralt, for his part, had shifted enough to stick his head out a window in the back.

“If we can keep this speed, we should be able to make it by tomorrow,” Celestia said, mostly to herself.

“You work some of that magic to keep me awake throughout the night and we can probably be there by morning,” I replied.

“What about us?” Rainbow asked from between Celestia and Twilight. I had taken the time to put a small seat in between the two middle captain seats for her. “What if we want to sleep?”

“Then sleep,” I replied with a chuckle. “I used to sleep in vehicles all the time if I wasn’t the one driving.”

“Oh…” Rainbow Dash replies as she shifted to get comfortable. Everyone watched as she did this, and a few minutes later, she was snoring.

“Uh… is there something we can do while you drive?” Sweetie Belle called from her seat.

“Well… if someone would grab my smaller bag and Twilight was willing to help, we can play some music,” I replied, pulling my phone out of a pocket with one hand.

A few minutes later, the speaker I had borrowed from Vinyl and modified to work with my phone was set up and playing a random playlist for everyone.

“This is going to be a long trip,” I sighed, continuing to pay attention to the path in front of me, humming to the song playing.

* * *

“Is that it?” I quietly asked as I saw lights appear off in the distance. Celestia had yet to rise the sun for the day, so it was dark enough for me to see it from what had to be miles away. The only ones awake at the moment were, myself, Celestia and Vlad.

“Yes, it is,” Celestia quietly replied as she floated a charged gem into an open spot on the dashboard. I was happy to see that a charged gem lasted about half an hour before it needed to be replaced, surpassing what I had originally thought by about fifteen minutes.

“Stop by that small group of trees,” Celestia said, indicating a small oasis that my jeeps lights just barely reached. “I want Captain Spitfire and another guard to go ahead of us and tell them we’re coming.

“Plus, I think you could use a small rest yourself,” Celestia said. “If you don’t mind, I could drive this vehicle the rest of the way while you take a nap. I don’t have to move the sun for another hour and I think it would be best to reach the capital a few hours after that.”

“You don’t have a license,” I replied with a smirk.

“I’m a princess, I don’t need a license,” Celestia replied as I slowed the vehicle down beside the oasis, stopping before putting it into park.

“Captain,” Celestia began, looking back into the dark and quiet trunk and addressing Vlad. “Wake Captain Spitfire and another Pegasus guard to accompany her. Don’t wake anyone else.”

“Of course, your highness,” Vlad replied as he got to work.

Ignoring them, I quickly got out of the jeep and was greeted by a hard chill. Another thing that hadn’t worked was my air conditioning idea, which Twilight and Celestia remedied with their own magic, keeping the jeep cool during the day and warm through the night.

A small movement drew my attention to the base of a nearby tree, where Red-eye and Blue-eye were lounging.

I didn’t bother addressing them, even as they looked at me and waved. Blue-eye made a motion for me to join them while Red-eye just looked up into the sky.

When I didn’t move, Blue-eye simply joined Red-eye into staring up at the sky.

Suddenly, I didn’t see small copies of myself, but two entirely different individuals.

Where Red-eye had been, a man with black armor sat, red cracks covering its entirety. He wore no helmet so I could see a pale faced, black haired individual. He had sharp features and knife-like ears, but I could also see countless scares covering his face as his red eyes looked skyward.

Blue eye had become a woman in a flowing white dress. Her hair was a shinning silver and cascaded down the side of her head, her own pointed ears poking through, but leaving her blue eyes free of obstruction. Her skin was bare of any marks and just as pale as Red-eye’s, but she sat in a more regal way compared to his slouched position.

“It’s rude to stare,” Celestia’s voice cut in, causing me to jump and turn to her. Her gaze was over at the same tree I had been, but when I turned back, Red-eye and Blue eye were gone.

“What aren’t you telling me, Celestia,” I asked, looking at Celestia with a glare. She clearly saw the two, meaning it wasn’t just in my head like she had been telling me.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Celestia cryptically replied as she sat down and looked up into the sky.

“That just makes me worry even more!” I grumbled, moving over to the tree and looking down at the spot I had seen the two.

The new image of the two was seared into my mind for some unexplainable reason.

“Listen, listen

Remember the wane

Of son’s Fury and waving grain.”

The song seemed to softly spill from my lips of their own accord and was from “Red Raising”. A story centered around a young man who was drawn into a civil war after the death of his wife at the hands of their oppressive rulers.

“A tale of winter done,” I finished as a cool breeze moved through the trees.

“That song is unsettling,” Celestia commented as she stood next to me. “The underlying message could also be dangerous.”

“The book I heard it from called it “The Forbidden Song” a few times,” I replied with a shrug. “It just popped into my head after seeing them… it’s weird.”

“You’ll understand soon enough,” Celestia replied, mostly to herself. “If you ever have a chance to talk to a Arthwani, ask them about “The Angel and The Demon”.”

“I almost feel like I shouldn’t, just to spite you,” I grumbled back. “What’s an Arthwani?”

“One of the races on Equis,” Celestia replied with a frown. “You’ll meet them tomorrow most likely.”

“You sound like you don’t like them,” I replied, brushing off some sand that the wind had blown onto me.

“Bad history,” Celestia simply stated before getting up and climbing into the front of the jeep.

* * *

Cat-Uwan was quiet the sight as we all stood just outside of the city. Celestia said that a carriage would arrive to help carry everything from the jeep, but what we hadn’t expected, was who already sat inside of it.

“Queen Persephone,” Celestia greeted as a bipedal cat exited the carriage. They wore a large set of bright purple robes and had a circlet of gold on top of their head.

A second cat exited just behind the first, wearing dark leather armor and had twin swords on their hips. Both had dark brown fur while the queen had yellow eyes and the other had orange.

“Princess Celestia, it is good to see you arrive in good health,” Queen Persephone replied with a thick purring accent. “When one of yours arrived so early this morning, I feared that the sands had attacked.”

“Even if it had, there’s nothing out there that could worry me,” Celestia replied, giving a respectful bow of her head. “I see you brought High Guard Kleo with you as well.”

“Yes, she wanted to see your representative,” Persephone replied as her gaze and the others shifted to me.

“Uh… sup?” I offered under all the looks.

“I see your letters of him weren’t exaggerated,” Persephone sighed as Celestia gave an audible groan.

Stepping forward, Persephone gave a small nod to us before properly introducing herself and her companion.

“Good morning everyone, I am Queen Persephone and this is my guard, Kleo. We both welcome you to our homeland.”

Kleo gave a respectful nod to the ponies, while her eyes stayed fixed on me. Persephone held out a paw towards me, a simple smile on her face.

“Uh, hi, I’m Christopher,” I greeted awkwardly while taking the claw and giving it a shake. “But these days, everyone calls me Reaper.”

I quickly realized that I had made a mistake in shaking her paw when she frowned at me and the look Kleo gave turned into a glare. But before I could do anything about it, everyone else in our party gave their own introductions.

Twilight was the one to show me what I was supposed to have done as she touched the back of Persephone’s paw with her forehead. Vlad and his wife did the same followed by the other adults.

For the fillies, she simply patted them on the head, excluding Cotton who quickly moved away from the paw and hid behind Geralt.

This quickly drew Persephone’s and Kleo’s attention to the pony sized wolf and both quickly reared back with looks of alarm.

“{A Dire Wolf?!}” Kleo barked in what must have been the cat’s native language. It was a mix of purring, meows and what sounded like words, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“Yet why did I know what she said?” I thought to myself before Celestia began to explain.

“{Its actually an Everfree Cave Wolf that has bonded with Reaper},” Celestia replied in the cat’s native tongue. I wasn’t surprised to see that she knew it, but it did surprise me to hear the sound still coming from her.

“Yeah, he’s my friends,” I added. “He won’t cause any trouble I swear.”

At this response, everyone turned towards me with looks of surprise.

“{You can understand us?}” Persephone asked in her native tongue.

“Uh… kind of,” I replied as Celestia began to look contemplative. “It’s like I know what you are saying, but not what you are saying.”

“[How about this?]” Celestia suddenly asked with a weird chirping like language.

“Uh… how about what?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable.

What followed was a few minutes of Celestia speaking to me in several different languages, revealing that I could understand Cat, Gryphon and the Minotaur languages. There were still several others Celestia spoke that I couldn’t understand, including something that sounded like Latin, but didn’t fit with the few words I had come to learn.

“I didn’t know you spoke other languages,” Dinky commented before anyone else could, after Celestia’s experiment.

“Uh… outside of a few words in Spanish, Japanese and Latin, I can’t,” I answered with a frown, mostly so everyone around could understand what I was experiencing. “Like I said, its like I just know what they are saying, but I don’t know what each individual word or phrase they were using meant individually. I’m positive I wouldn’t be able to speak to them in the language, but I do know what they are saying still.”

“Well, that sucks,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “How can you understanding a language if you can’t even speak it?”

“Part of it could be because he can’t make the noises needed due to a limitation in his vocal cords, but that still doesn’t explain how you understand it,” Twilight began. “I haven’t seen you with any linguistic books.”

“Perhaps this is a discussion better had behind closed doors,” Persephone cut in, looking towards Celestia with a nod. “Your rooms are already prepared at my palace and I believe a few ambassadors are waiting to meet with you.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Celestia replied. “For now, I’ll guarantee that Geralt won’t be an issue.”

“{Very well},” Kleo replied as she moved to the carriage. As we were talking, the guards had been loading our bags into and onto the carriage. In the front, two camels were attached, both looking at our group, waiting for us to board.

“Please, follow me,” Persephone said as she led the way into the spacious carriage. Aside from Vlad and Kleo, the rest of the guards stayed outside the carriage, planning to follow it from outside.

As we traveled, Persephone did her best to answer the constant stream of questions coming from Twilight and the fillies. I was only half listening as I was more drawn to the mass assortment of different races and species that filled the side streets, the main street being surprisingly clear.

Dog, cat, lizard and bird races could be seen staring at us past a few cat guards that blocked off the main street for our travel. But as we passed a slightly dingier part of town, I saw something that immediately drew my attention.

I could see a few groups that wore rages and thick collars trying to look at our small precession with curious glances. They kept themselves away from the main groups of passerbys and I noticed a few flinch back and shrink slightly when a guard would glare at them.

“What are those groups with the collars on?” I asked loudly, cutting off a question that Twilight was asking the queen.

“They are…” Persephone began, worry clear in her voice as she looked towards Celestia.

A shake of her head was all she gave to the now nervous looking queen.

“They’re probably part of the slave class,” Twilight blurted out, her eyes locked onto a paper filled with notes that floated in front of her. “I remember hearing that slavery is really big in The South Sands and that they use the… collars… too…”

Twilights explanation faltered when she finally looked up and seeing the mix of looks directed at her.

Celestia looked disappointed, while the cats looked annoyed. Vlad looked impassive while his wife looked sad.

The fillies were a mix of shock and horror as they looked around, unsure of who to actually look at. Cotton just stared at the ground, a distant look in her owns eyes.

But none of that compared to the rage filled eyes I turned towards Celestia.

While I was angry at Persephone, as she was the leader of a country that seemed to support slavery, I was even more angry at Celestia for colluding with such a country in the first place and not at least tell me to expect it.

“B-before this develops into a problem, please allow me to explain a few things,” Persephone called, drawing my glare. “Yes, there is slavery here, but it is something I have been working to abolish since I took the throne over fifteen years ago.

“I’ve had very little support inside my own kingdom in my attempt to abolish the practice, but I don’t plan on stopping until every one of my subjects are free from such things as slavery,” Persephone continued with a heavy sigh. “I’ve been able to get a lot of things changed, thanks to the support of Princess Celestia and a few others, but my subjects are stuck in their old ways, and I fear what would happen if I tried to force the change.”

“How you run your country is up to you,” I growled slightly. “Even my own world was filled with slavery for thousands of years; and still is in some places, so I know it’s something that takes a lot of time and work to abolish. So, there is nothing I can say except to hope you succeed.”

“Thank you,” Persephone replied with a sigh of release. “If you have the chance, would you be willing to discuss some of your own species issues and solutions at some point?”

“Sure, I can do that,” I sighed, sparing another glance out of the carriage.

The rest of the trip was done in silence as the fillies had decided to not look outside anymore and Cotton had found her way onto my lap.

Once we reached the palace, I took some time to look up at the towing mass of marble and stone. Unlike Canterlot’s white and purples, this one was a deep red with some dark purple mixed in.

“Nice place,” I commented as we exited the carriage, doing my best to settle my nerves. “I know Canterlot’s was made using marble, but what was this one made from?”

“A special clay,” Kleo stated in common as her gaze shifted to a few cat guards made their way over. “{Take their bags to the guest quarters}.”

We all took a few moments to watch as the cats and the few pony guards began to unload the carriage onto a small cart.

“I’ll be keeping this one,” I said, grabbing my weapons case. It may be enchanted to only open for me, but I wasn’t taking that chance with how much I had stored inside of it. An ever so subtle nod from Celestia also told me that she agreed.

It actually held a lot for its size, mostly thanks to the enchanted pouches on my equipment belt. It let me fit all the things I needed while also leaving enough room inside to fit my armor.

The only issue was that it weighed over seventy-five pounds.

“{Your highness},” a guard called as he kneeled before Persephone. “{Some of the guests have been causing a commotion in the Main Hall}.”

“{I’m pretty sure I know why},” Persephone replied, mostly to herself. “{Please inform them that we will be there in a few minutes}.”

“{Yes, your highness},” the guard replied before getting up and rushing towards the main entrance.

“Trouble in paradise it seems,” I mumbled, earning a small glare from Vlad and Celestia. I just shrugged my shoulders at them.

“I apologize for that, but it seems some of the others are… how do you say it…. getting restless,” Persephone sighed, looking towards Celestia. “It might be best if you sent the young to the guest quarters through a side entrance.”

“I’ll go with them,” I replied, looking at Celestia. “I can think of at least five fillies that might cause a problem if left alone.”

This caused the younger fillies to glower, and Cotton to look sad and hurt while Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“What are you laughing at, your one of those fillies,” I said, cutting Rainbow Dash’s chuckle short. “You’ll try to find someone to race; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle will set something on fire; and Twilight will spend the rest of the trip reorganizing the palace library.”

This caused all but the named individuals to burst out in laughter, even Celestia and Persephone giggled at the statement.

“There’s a library!?” Twilight chirped with wide eyes and a smile as the other named ponies continued to glare at me.

“While that would be best,” Celestia began, everyone else calming down. “I’m pretty sure those waiting want to see you as much as they want to see me.”

“You can leave the fillies to me,” Glimmering Cloud, added. “While my little butterfly isn’t a good example, I do have experience with handling rambunctious fillies.”

At this, Glimmering looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash chirped, earning another round of laughter from the fillies.

Cotton was the only one not to laugh as she moved closer to me and looked up.

“Don’t worry, Cotton, you can stick with me,” I told her, leaning down and scratching her ear briefly.

“I really should insist,” Persephone cut in, drawing my eye. “Some of our guest’s aren’t… young friendly.”

“I will also have to agree with Queen Persephone,” Celestia added, looking down at Cotton. “Cotton, why don’t you take Geralt with you and the others, okay?”

“But…” Cotton frowned, looking between myself, Celestia and Glimmering Cloud.

“It’s okay sweetie,” Glimmering cooed, moving down and carefully pulling Cotton away from my side. “He won’t be far and you’ll see him again in a little while.”

“But…” Cotton repeated, looking down.

“I got an idea,” I said, dropping my weapons case and opening it momentarily. The only thing someone could see if they looked were a few parts of my armor, one of which was the helmet I was quick to remove before sealing the case again.

“You’ll hold on to this for me, won’t you?” I asked, offering the filly the helmet.

Cotton simply nodded as she took the piece and put it over her head.

“So adorable,” Glimmering smiled as she carefully moved Cotton to the side where the other fillies were grouping up.

“Don’t worry, nopony is going to mess with them while I’m around!” Rainbow Dash boasted as she flew up a few feet into the air and did a little shadow boxing.

“Rainbow Dash, this is a no-fly zone,” Twilight scolded as she pulled the mare back to the ground.

“It’s actually been partially lifted for the tournament,” Kleo answered as she waved a few extra guards over. “These guards will take you to the guest quarters set aside for you. If you need anything, they are instructed to assist in any way possible.”

“Thank you,” Glimmering answered for the younger group.

“I’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry,” Vlad told me before walking off with his umbrella holder.

Even as I watched them wonder off, I couldn’t help but feel worried for Cotton and the others.

“Reminds me of the first time I was alone and in a different country,” I commented, not even caring who heard me, the memory popping up. “Got off the plane, American, couldn’t understand the language and had no idea what would happen aside from some haphazard instructions given to be from a friend.”

“What did your friend tell you?”

It wasn’t Celestia who asked that, but Persephone.

“Find the Marine,” I replied, moving up beside Celestia. “Now, let’s go see whose asses I’m going to be kicking, huh?”

* * *

I expected a lot of things for when we stepped into the castle’s main hall.

A contingency of cat guards, a bickering noble or two, a family pet running amok.

What I had not expected to walk in on was what looked to be a Mexican stand-off between a group of Gryphons, three elves and a fucking eldritch horror.

“What the fuck is going on in here?!” I blurted out, unable to stop myself as I looked between the three groups.

There were five gryphons, the leader of which was a towering beast of red feathers and metal armor. Another, who had the same shade of feathers as the leader, stood beside the gryphon, wore simple dark brown armor and had two long silver chains strapped to their side.

Another gryphon, who stood close to the chain wielder, had white feathers and looked to be based on a snowy owl. They had on an elaborate set of silver and black robes and had the last two of their group behind them. Each looked like some basic guards and wore matching colored armor to the robes the white one was wearing.

The elves were what I had always heard of elves. Sharp features, pale skin, unnatural beauty and a look that screamed arrogance. The only difference between what I knew of elves and these ones were the thick furry tails thy had behind them.

The one in the front had gray hair and a small crown on their head. He had red and silver armor that, while the same shape as two with them, was more elaborate than the other. The second looked a lot like the first, but had less wrinkles and didn’t have a crown.

The third was completely hidden under a red and silver robe, preventing me from seeing anything about them.

The Eldritch horror was just that. It was in the shape of an inversed drop of water, while also being the size of a small car, and was made up of a mix of bones, muscle and a dark purple and red smoke.

Seeing the horror made me realize why Persephone and Celestia had pushed to make sure Cotton hadn’t joined me.

“[So Equestria finally decided to show up],” the lead gryphon growled in their native language as my outburst drew all of their attentions. His dark yellow eyes immediately locked onto me, and I began to feel a subtle pressure on me that I couldn’t place.

“It looks like Tartarus has decided to make an appearance this year,” Celestia quietly grumbled, revealing where the horror came from. “They haven’t joined the tournament for several decades.”

“And the elves?” I mumbled back.

“I think you mean the Arthwani,” Celestia answered.

“So that’s an Arthwani,” I quietly said as the three groups quickly made their way over to us.

As each made their way over, I quickly realized that they were all looking at me.

Aside from the lead gryphon and the horror though, who glared at me, they all seemed to look at me in a mix of intrigue and fascination.

“{So that’s a human},” the white feathered gryphon stated in a feminine voice. “{I thought it would be bigger…}”

The lead Arthwani also said something, but I didn’t understand their language the same way I did the others.

The horror just continued to glare, but with it being closer, unsettlingly so, I could tell that that was simply how their face was formed to look.

“Princess Elenora,” Celestia began, greeting the gryphon’s first, her respectful nod directed to the white feathered gryphon.

“Emperor Ker Faluck,” Celestia continued, turning to the lead Arthwani.

“Lead Guard Jin,” Celestia finished with the horror.

Each returned the gesture, even the horror nodded its bulbous body in greeting to Celestia.

“Out of all of us, its surprising to see you arrive last, Princess Celestia,” Emperor Ker said in a masculine, yet light voice. His accent made it sound like he was breathing his words instead of just speaking them, but it didn’t hinder its tone.

“Well, with the return of my sister, I had to take some extra time to ensure she knew what to expect before she also made her way here,” Celestia replied simply, little emotion on her face.

“So, the Moon shall be making an appearance,” Guard Jin replied in a heavy growl of a voice. “I did so miss our talks we used to have with one another.”

“There will be time for such frivolous actions later,” the red feathered lead gryphon growled, his gaze never having left me. “We’re all her to finally get a look at this freak.”

My eyes immediately locked onto the horror.

“The chicken means you,” Guard Jin pointed out to me, chuckling in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that you walking corpse!?” the lead gryphon squawked at Guard Jin.

“{Commander Grantz, calm yourself},” Princess Elenora interrupted, staring at the large gryphon. “{Remember the terms of the contract}.”

“{Of course},” Grantz growled back.

“While those two bicker, perhaps you could answer something for me,” Emperor Ker Faluck began, drawing my attention.

“Uh…” I replied like a professional.

“Is it true that the ponies have been calling you “Reaper”?” the Arthwani Emperor asked, a heavy weight behind his words.

“Uh… yeah?” I replied uneasily, sparing a quick glance at Celestia, but her attention seemed to be locked on Grantz.

“Then I hope to see good things from you,” Emperor Ker Faluck said, bringing his hands together, flat against the left portion of his chest. “Do note that my people place the name “Reaper” in high regard.”

With that, the Arthwani turned and left the area, obviously knowing where they were going.

* * *

“|Did you sense anything?|” Emperor Ker Faluck quietly asked the fully robed individual.

“|There was something, but whatever it was, it wasn’t strong enough for me to confirm anything,|” the robbed individual replied in an old, withered voice.

“|Why do this father?|” the third Arthwani asked. “|What use is it to confirm something as inane as this?|”

“|Its not, but I will not have that name tarnished by some charlatan,|” Emperor Ker Faluck growled. “|Should that be the case with this human, we will take action.|”

* * *

“Good riddance to them,” Grantz growled as the Arthwani left. “Just more freaks like this one.”

“You would do well to hold your tongue, Grantz,” Celestia replied, a scowl on her face that wasn’t directed at me for once. “You and I both know that I have little patience for your prattling.”

“Bah…” Grantz grunted, turning his glare back at me. “I call them like I see them.”

I simply let the two talk, the weird pressure from before taking up my thoughts as I felt it seem to double.

It almost felt like when I got over anxious and worried about something, almost like something was trying to make me have a panic attack.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I had horrible anxiety as a kid, I probably wouldn’t have noticed such an odd feeling pressure.

Focusing on the feeling, I tried to push back against it with whatever it was that it seemed to target.

At first, I thought I was doing nothing but looking constipated, but the sudden silence around me drew my attention.

Everyone looked on edge, even Guard Jin seemed to be concerned about something as the purple and red smoke seemed to coil around it.

“Tell your freak to calm his presence!” Grantz growled.

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have directed yours at him to begin with,” Celestia replied from my side. She was the only one to stay close to my side when I did whatever it was that I did.

Grantz just grunted as I felt the pressure that had been trying to push against me vanish.

“Now release yours,” Celestia commented, not taking her eyes off Grantz.

“Uh… what?” I asked, looking at her.

A simple glare from her was all it took for my focus on pushing back to fade as well.

“Such a powerful presence is to be expected of someone who can use their soul so fully,” Guard Jin chuckled before taking his leave. “I’m glad we decided to participate this year.”

“Freaks, the lot of you,” Grantz growled, turning and storming off himself. The rest of the gryphons stayed though, watching as both Grantz and Jin disappeared through opposite halls.

“I apologize for that Princess Celestia,” Princess Elenora said, turning to Celestia and bowing deeply. “I know you have issues with Commander Grantz, but when my father learned of who your representative would be…”

“Your father always did have a strange way of offering his assistance with certain matters,” Celestia replied, nodding back respectively.

“I hope we can talk more later,” Elenora nodded, both to me and Celestia before turning to leave. The two guards quickly followed her while the other gryphon stayed for an extra moment, looking me up and down.

“I too hope we can talk when you have the chance, Reaper,” the gryphon said in a calm voice. He gave a nod to Celestia and Persephone before following after Elenora.

“{At least they didn’t break anything},” Persephone grumbled before looking at Kleo. “{Please get Jaffar, I would like him to be Reaper’s guide when possible}.”

“{I-I will go get him your highness},” Kleo replied before turning and rushing at speeds that would probably impress Rainbow Dash.

“Sorry about that, I just felt that a proper guide for, Reaper would be needed,” Persephone told us.

“Uh… okay,” I nodded, looking at Celestia.

“When will the first meeting be?” Celestia asked Persephone, not looking at me.

“Tomorrow evening is the current plan,” Persephone replied. “It will give us time to implement any changes we come up with then.”

“One of the reasons we’re here early is to discuss the first part of the tournament,” Celestia explained before I could ask what they were talking about. “It’s the only one the representatives are aloud to attend so that they can provide some input.”

“Uh… okay,” I dumbly nodded.

Before anything else could be said, Kleo retuned followed by another cat that must have been Jaffar.

“{Sorry we took so long, my queen},” Kleo quickly said to Persephone.

“{My queen},” the new cat bowed, speaking in a masculine voice. He had dark orange fur and wore a thin white shirt and dark brown pants. But what really drew my eye was the thick iron collar around his neck.

“{Its quite alright},” Persephone replied before turning her attention to Jaffar. “I want you to be Reaper’s guide during his stay here. I feel that you would be best to do this and ask that you do this; can you?”

“O-of course, my queen,” Jaffar nodded before getting up and turning to me and Celestia. “Good morning, I am Jaffar and if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“Uh, thanks,” I replied, holding my hand out. Jaffar looked at it for a moment before reaching out and giving it a slightly hesitant, but firm, shake.

“I’m Christopher, but as you’ve heard, everyone calls me Reaper.”

Author's Note

Behold, the next chapter!
I'm not dead, just a terrible procrastinator suffering from writer's block and a case of easily distracted.
Please direct all complaints to the carrot tied to the end of the stick
As always, quote the title. ^.=.^