It was morning now. Despite that, Nightmare Moon hasn't left Skystrike's mind. They spent a while talking about their intrusive thoughts. The feeling of wanting to destroy. After all, they were both born from it. Well, not so much, Skystrike. Made would be a better word. But that was a thought for later. Right now, Skystrike was awake, petting the new companion that would be traveling with them for at least the next while. His eyes were cat-like as Nightmare watched through them.

She stared at the electric feathers taking up half the bed. Aztec moved from perching at the end of the bedframe to sprawling across the bed itself. Skystrike stopped scratching the back of her neck, only for Aztec to whine and push her head into his hand. "Daddy..."

Skystrike chuckled as he continued to pet her. "Alright, alright... But I have to get up soon to make breakfast. And you need to make sure to use the bathroom. I don't want to clean up that stuff."

Aztec pushed her head further into the petting. Nightmare continued to stare. "Do... Do you just collect elemental pets on purpose?"

"No actually." Skystrike thought. "No idea how, but random chance I got Aztec and Naga." Then he chuckled at a memory. "This one, I actually thought was some sick chicken or something. She bit the hell out of me when I first picked her up."

"Hmmm..." Nightmare thought. "Luna and I used to wish for a pet... But our lifespan was a harsh reminder that it wasn't meant to be."

"...Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing... I just figured that you and Celestia would be used to loss, I guess." Then he realized. "Sorry, that was a fucked up thing for me to say. Think."

"It's... fine." He felt the disappointment in her voice. "That line of thinking was within all of our-... Celestia's and Luna's subjects. But our long lifespans doesn't make the pain of loss any easier." Nightmare began to reminisce. "I've had friends, family... even a lover for a time. But my sister and I were the only ones to ascend, and the grip of time wrung the life out of those we held close. Our sister and I began to close off ourselves to relationships after that. Losing family was already unbearable... We could not imagine the pain of losing a son or daughter. At least Celestia got a phoenix during our absence."

"Oh shit." Skystrike said aloud, albeit under his breath. "Well now I feel even worse about Celestia..."

"Oh... sorry." He could feel Nightmare wince.

"No, no. I bought that on myself... Time I face the music." Skystrike sighed. "But I appreciate this. Really. If I'm being honest, I did think about trying to extend my lifespan after finding out about my depleting one... I talked myself out of it, but it's a bit... calming, surprisingly. Plus, it makes you all more relatable."

Nightmare chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment. And admittedly, it is nice, not being in the publics eye, even like this. As an alicorn, ponies expect perfection from you. You must be faultless. It was... a driving factor for my existence." They stayed silent for a while. "...Skystrike, can I ask you something? And I need you to be honest."

"Of course."

"If I won... back during my return... Do you think it would've been worth it? For anypony?"

Skystrike thought hard on that. "I... Well, there's several ways to look at things. If you won, took over Equestria as the new Monarch, I'm willing to bet for the average pony, nothing would have really changed, save for the distain of you. If I was alive, I'd probably still try and resist, as would many ponies. And from there, as you sat upon the stolen throne, at some point, you'd have to think to yourself and realize that while you won, you didn't want that... After all, at least from the little you and Luna shared, you wanted ponies to look at you like they did your sister. That couldn't happen with a hostile take over. They'd look at you the same. And from there, you'd have to decide if you wanted to relinquish the throne back to Celestia, or keep playing the role. And that's not even beginning to touch on the other countries who'd wonder what happened to the sun."

"You've... thought a lot about this." Nightmare said. "But in the end, I think you're right. That wasn't what I wanted. I wanted the ponies to love me... and yet I came back, and the fear in their eyes still haunt me."

"But..." He got her attention again. "Despite all of that, I don't think I'd have given up on you, Nightmare. It's a bad habit of mine. Hoping that you'd still change for the better. Sure, you did a bad thing, but I don't think you're inherently a bad pony."

Nightmare's voice wavered. "Can-... you really say that? Knowing what I was planning to do?"

Skystrike nodded. "I can. Because with that short talk before we fought that night, there was some sense of humanity in you, as well as your regret. Plus, you gotta be a pretty bad being for me to not give you a chance at redemption."

"I mean... I appreciate it. Truly, I do. It's just..." She paused, trying to find the words. "Your moral compass seems somewhat inconsistent. You gave me a chance, yet you left Magelight to burn. You also let Wattle die, but let Magnus live, and to be honest... I think I'm worse than those three."

"A fair criticism. Then let me explain." Skystrike rolled his neck. "You, while wanting to take over Equestria, still cared enough for the ponies within to not die. Magelight betrayed the trust of his fellow pony, and sold several. He wasn't able to escape because I was there. On top of that, he hit a lot more personal because he tried to sell my fucking sister, as well as me being a victim of similar circumstances... But despite that, I would've killed him anyway, because the ponies he affected wanted it." The human grit his teeth. "Wattle was a favor for a friend. Alder knew of his sins better than me, so I allowed him to deliver his judgement. Sure, I could've stopped Alder, but from what I learned, I didn't think it was right for me to do so. Magnus, despite the pain he's bought upon me and my friends, still has some use. After all, he'd had some connection with my brethren. If they don't need him anymore, then once Celestia and Luna are done with Hydra, he's going to die. If they do need him, then he's seen as an asset. I need to know why."

"So... it depends on what the ones affected want?"

"Partially. Mostly on if the one who did the wrongdoing affected the freedom of the victim. I would've let Magelight live if he went for help after the first mare. MAYBE the second, but that's a big maybe. You, as a ruler, would depend on the policies you would put in place, honestly. But as long as the average pony's life didn't change drastically, then I think you'd be safe. Still would try to dethrone you, but I wouldn't kill you." He stopped petting Aztec as he got out of bed.

"I think I get it..." Nightmare hummed. "So you would kill Sombra, for example?"

"I'd fucking atomize him." Skystrke responded, rather quickly to the notice of Nightmare Moon. "That dude had slaves!"

"Oh, right." Nightmare blinked. "I forget how that part of human history applies differently to you."

"All good." Skystrike walked to the bathroom before stopping in front of the door.

"...Why'd you stop?"

"I gotta piss." Skystrike thought. Nightmare seemed to be waiting for a response. "You want to watch me piss?"

"Oh!" She quickly grew flustered. Then he felt her smirk. "Well, I think it's fair after you got handsy a while ago."

"You fucking-..." Skystrike spoke aloud, getting a weird look from Elytra who poked her head around the corner. "You know what, fine! You're going to watch me piss!"

"I WAS JOKING!"

"I'M NOT. WE DOING THIS."

"I avoided those memories for a reason!" She quickly tried to leave his mind. "Wh-... Why can't I leave!?"

"I DONT WANT YOU TO!" Skystrike laughed maniacally as he slowly began to take off his boxers. "I'm about to fry some chicken!"

Then Skystrike felt a breach in his mind. Something- somepony came in. "What's going on! Did something happen!?" It was Luna's voice.

Inside his mindscape, Nightmare Moon was frantically trying to cover her eyes, flailing on her back with a large blush. Her whole face was purple. Luna found it amusing for a moment, before walking over to her. "Art thou alright!? Is something happening to Skystrike!?" Then she looked closer at her alter ego. Something was off. She was releasing waves of magic within his mind. It was a spell of sorts, a constant one at that. One that was being stopped from ending. Luna recognized that spell. "...Are thou using a prying eye spell!? Skystrike trusts you enough to be within his mind, and you do this!?"

"He let's me, sometimes!" Nightmare groaned as she kept trying to cover her eyes. "But you can yell at me later! Please, you gotta stop him!"

"Stop him?" Luna tilted her head in confusion. "Whatever is Skystrike doing?" She decided to use the spell as well. She would have to ask for his forgiveness later. Right now, however, it seemed dire.

Skystrike looked in the mirror momentarily. One of his eyes were cat-like, similar to Nightmare Moon's. The other was the same cyan, but akin to a normal pony's eye. He felt another watching through his eyes. "Oh hey Luna."

"Skystrike, are thou alri- IS HE PULLING OUT HIS PHALICE!?!?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Skystrike was in a tough spot. He was at the point where he already looked into the toilet water. He needed to go... now. The joke went too far, and he couldn't let them out fast enough without peeing himself. He lined it up, closed his eyes, and began to piss.

The silence was deafening. Within his mind, the two alicorns stared at each other and covered their ears... as if it did anything. A minute passed. Then another. Skystrike couldn't help but laugh as he began washing his hands. "Alright, alright... I took it pretty far, but neither of you saw anything, right?"

"I hate you." Nightmare deadpanned.

"...I am glad thou closed your eyes." Luna sigh. "But that sound... will haunt my memories for decades."

"...My bad-" Skystrike began.

"SILENCE!" They both yelled at him. Skystrike couldn't help but laugh as he began to wash his face.

"Luna, I know we aren't on the best terms right now, but do not leave me with this human!" Nightmare pleaded.

"...A shame we have to be in this circumstance for our roles to be reversed." She gave a small chuckle. "Come, Nightmare."

"Daddy..." Aztec knocked from the other side of the door. "Hurry!"

Luna's head whipped around. "You have a DAUGHTER!?"

"No, a bird." Skystrike opened the door, seeing Aztec's black beak poking in. "Hey, Azzy. Sorry, you can go in now." Aztec pushed by him before closing the door on him. Skystrike stretched as he straightened his shirt. He began walking towards the kitchen as his mind was silent. "...Are you two gone?"

"No... just..." Luna cleared her throat. "Not how we expected to start off our night. Thou threw a lot at us."

"Fair." Skystrike chuckled. "And don't get on Nightmare about looking through my eyes. It was actually me who convinced her to do it months ago. I trust her."

Luna sighed. "If thou says so... Come Nightmare. I'm going to see if I can forget this... interaction."

And with that, the two left. Skystrike decided to start making breakfast. He went to the kitchen, turning on the stove and getting out some pans. It'd be a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon and hay bacon, fruits, and some waffles. He was so glad he remembered to bring his waffle maker. As he began to cook, cracking half a dozen eggs into they frying pan, he began to hum to himself. Skystrike had to admit, he was getting into it, mostly how calming it was to him. Flipping the eggs, he began to softly sing to himself as the words came to mind. "One wish... That I cant pretend I don't want to see come true. I know it wouldn't make a difference... if you thought of me as much as I think about you... But maybe it's deliverance? From the pain I know is coming on when my old soul's finally gone. It's not wrong to think about it, but I'll stop for tonight. Cuz we're immortalized forever in the songs that we write, you know?" He spun on his hooves as he put the eggs onto a plate.

Next, he finished making the batter and began pouring the batter into the waffle maker. While that was cooking, he got started on the bacons. "You know I gotta say goodbye, the end. I'm not sorry, but I wanna see you again sometime. A song in my heart, a world of worry falling on your mind. Why don't we leave it all behind? Treasure this moment, us together. Bound by time ever light as a feather. I'm happiest when I get to hear you say: 'I'm glad I lived today'."

Skystrike's head snapped around when he heard the snap of a camera, and the printing of a photo. He saw them there. Zecora, Elytra, Tethys, and Lanka were looking at him in surprise. He saw the photo coming out of the camera the genie Djilisa gave her a bit ago. The... indestructible camera with indestructible film. Skystrike looked back to the stove and turned off the appliances. For a split second, he made eye contact before rushing towards them.

They were not prepared for how fast he was, pushing each other over as he cleared the table in one jump as they screamed. "SCATTER!" Tethys yelled as she ran down the hallway.

"I got you, girl!" Lanka said as she tried to slow down the human, putting her arms out. Skystrike didn't pay her any mind, jumping and kicking off the wall to get over her. "Damn..."

Tethys kept running until she got into her room and slamming the door behind her. She gave a relieved sigh as she began to look at the image she took. Skystrike did not realize how loud he was singing, the sound of the teleporter falling on deaf ears as she and Lanka entered. She heard his singing immediately, her eyes widening as she made sure she was hearing right.

By the time Tethys and Lanka snuck up to the source of the admittedly heavenly voice, Zecora and Elytra were already watching with much interest. The two bipedals did as well before Tethys wanted to savor the moment. She knew with her long life span, she'd eventually forget things. It's why she spent so much time with Lanka the last day. The minotaur, after learning about the camera, decided it was time for them to make some memories. They went out on the town, spending time with each other and taking as many pictures as they could to make sure they remembered the time they spent together.

And then she remember Skystrike. Tethys didn't know why he was the first to come to her mind, but he did. And so did the time they have left together. When she saw him singing and dancing to himself, the dragoness didn't know he had this side to him. It was cute... and something she wanted to remember. She didn't even realize she took the picture until he turned around. But now, the picture was in her hands. A moment in time, immortalized just for her...

She just had to keep it away from Skystrike.

As if on queue, Skystrike began jiggling the door knob. Tethys quickly locked the door behind her with her tail and throwing her weight against it. The door knob moved for a while longer before it suddenly stopped. Tethys let out a sigh of relief... until she saw him in her window. His azure eyes stared at her as he slowly pushed the circular glass open. She screamed as he slowly approached her, trying to unlock the door. With luck on her side, she was able to get out and found Lanka, Elytra, and Tethys standing there, watching the show.

Skystrike was about to chase after her, but then noticed a wall on Tethys's room. She didn't allow him in there in the first place, so everything in here was new. She used the pelt of a manticore as a rug, and a small pile of gold, gems, rocks, and surprisingly, her old set of armor, sat in the corner. The broken and rusted pieces of metal were placed carefully around the gold. And then he saw the walls.

One wall had some paintings. Looking at them, she more than likely got them while in Diamondia. Another wall had hangers for her sets of clothes, and a small bookcase. The wall opposite to the door, however, surprised him the most. The wall had a few dozen pictures hastily taped on it. They were in sections, separated by who was in them. Skystrike saw a picture of Tethys and Zecora going shopping in the streets of Diamondia. A picture of her and Jeshan scarfing down gems in some sort of competition. Tethys and Alder sharing a laugh over the shrimp from a few days ago. Tethys and Casta practicing magic on the ship deck. Her and Lanka sitting and drinking wine together.

Then in another section, it was pictures of them all together. Ones where she was just enjoying the moment. He and Jeshan sitting in the distance in front of the Wind Waker during their talk. Elytra comforting Zecora in a hug on the same couch after leaving her homeland. Skystrike, Pinkie and Elytra playing would you rather. The list went on.

She took as many pictures as she could discretely. Wanting to keep the memories alive. After all, eventually, she'll be the last one left. Skystrike sighed. Sure, that picture is going to be embarrassing, but it's a snapshot in time for her. He could handle the embarrassment if it meant she'd be happy. Besides, knowing she had this side instead of the tough girl act is pretty cute. Skystrike sighed as he walked out of her room, making eye contact with Tethys, Lanka, Elytra, and Zecora as he closed the door behind her. "Next time... just ask."

Tethys peaked her head over Lanka's shoulder. "You aren't... upset?"

"...No, now that I know what you took them for." Skystrike smirked.

Tethys blinked before she glared at him. "Don't speak a word of this."

"That depends on if any of you speak a word on this." Skystrike waited for their answers. They frantically shook their heads no. "Great. Breakfast is done by the way. You're welcome to join us, Lanka."

"I wont say no!" Lanka quickly walked to the kitchen.

"Also, Alder said he's stopping by." Elytra said before going to the kitchen as well.

The rest followed before sitting down and making plates for themselves. Skystrike sat down and began to eat, pouring the syrup onto his waffle. Lanka stared at him. "...What is that?"

Skystrike looked at his food. "You've never had a waffle?"

"A waffle?" Lanka eyed her plate before Skystrike gave her the syrup. She poured some on before trying a bite. "...This is amazing!"

"That's what I said the first time I had one too." Tethys chuckled.

"Daddy..." Aztec said from around the corner. "Smell food. Hungry."

"You have a kid!?" Tethys and Lanka both asked.

"That's Aztec." Elytra picked at her food. "She can... talk now. Honestly it just hit me, and I'm not sure if I'm a fan."

"I agree." Zecora nodded. "She's cute, but blunt as can be, Her words hit hard, as sharp as a plea."

The electric falcon waddled into the room and looked at everyone, then noticed two new faces. She went up to Tethys and put her head on her shoulder. "Big Auntie!"

They all chuckled at the nickname. "Didn't know you had a pet..."

"It's been a while, Aztec." Tethys scratched her neck. "You got big! And can talk!"

Aztec nodded. "Words helpful." Then she turned to Lanka. "Who?"

The minotaur quickly swallowed. "I'm Lanka. A friend of your..." She chuckled. "...Auntie."

"...Lah...kuh?" Aztec tried to pronounce her name. "Lankie!"

Lanka smiled at the bird. "You can call me Lankie."

Then Aztec turned to Skystrike. Then she looked at his food. "No..." Skystrike sighed. "I already made you a waffle. Your waffle. This is mine."

"But... want yours." She pointed.

"No. I gave you some of mine yesterday." Skystrike huffed, then pointed to her plate at the end of the table. "You can have the full meal I made for you, or what's left of mine. Then I'll eat yours. Not both." Aztec pouted before walking over to her plate and beginning to eat.

Their breakfast continued in relative peace... though some were eyeing others. Aztec was angrily staring at Skystrike's food. Elytra and Zecora were suspiciously staring at Lanka. Lanka noticed, and glanced at Skystrike, who was obliviously eating his waffle.

"Skystrike..." Elytra turned to glare at her brother.

"Yeah?" Skystrike looked up from his food.

Elytra began to hesitate. "...I'm just going to ask what everyone is thinking. Did you fuck a minotaur!?"

Skystrike paused the fork coming to his mouth. "...I mean... I also bought cheese and wine."

"By the pantheon Skystrike, that doesn't make it better!" Elytra slammed her hooves on the table. "We've talked about this!"

"You all decided to set me up in a wench tavern and didn't expect me to have game?" Skystrike put out his arms.

"Well..." Lanka scratch at the flat of her broken horn. "If it makes it better, we asked him... and he still wasn't sure until we clarified that we sold sex."

Elytra seemed to calm down for a moment. Then she went over the words in her head. "Wait, we??? Who's we!??" She turned back to Skystrike. "HOW FUCKING MANY!?"

"...Five?" Skystrike answered hesitantly.

"There were only four-" Then she blinked as Zecora began to laugh. Elytra slowly turned her head to Lanka, who was grinning. The avoidance of eye contact from Tethys didn't go unnoticed. "HER TOO!??"

They all stared at Skystrike for an answer, who wasn't sure what to say. "...I feel like no matter how I respond, it wont make things better. However, I did not go in with the intention of-"

"HOW DID YOU MANAGE THAT!?"

Skystrike shrugged as Lanka coughed. "I mean... do you want the answer or-"

"YES!" Elytra shouted. "Is this grub some lady killer in secret!? How does this keep happening!?"

"Well..." Lanka began. "Thinking back on it, he's just... a good guy. Was interested in us as Minos and our culture, rather that our bodies. You know how guys are... What did it for me is when he said I could've fooled him when I said I was fifty six. He also made breakfast the morning after."

"That's just because it's a nice thing to do." Skystrike bit into a piece of bacon. "I do to pretty much everyone I meet. Not my fault that the majority of the beings in this world are female." Then he paused mid bite. "...And now that I think about it, if me being nice gets me this type of treatment, you all collectively need to raise your standards."

"Buck you!" Elytra's magic flared slightly before she slouched in her seat, crossing her hooves with a scrunched up face.

"No, real talk, I'm serious. If all of you collectively decided to demand for better, every straight guy would have to do better. They'd have no other choice. And honestly, I don't interact with many guys, but they all seem like good beings. I think I'm normal, so I can't imagine how bad the average guy is."

"You are not average." They all said before going into their own experiences.

Zecora huffed. "I told you before of one disliking my stripes, but left out his list of outrageous gripes. One demand was to dye my stripes away, for black is boring, so he'd say."

Elytra chuckled. "It's funny looking back on it now, but one stallion said that I was too emotional. That's the point of a relationship!"

"I don't really know how it works for you equines..." Lanka huffed. "But after I had my son, the father ran so I had to raise Will by myself. Had to take up being one of the guards. Dating from there went downhill. Apparently, I'm too muscular. By the time Will went out on his own, I was too old... Now he's selling confidence courses or something."

Tethys looked to Lanka. "You have a son!?"

"Oh no, I'm into MILFs..." Skystrike joked, only to duck under a weak blast of magic from Elytra. "Fair."

Lanka chuckled at the show. "A lot can happen in thirty years, Tethys. But since we're all sharing, you gotta say one of yours."

"Mine... isn't as bad depending on who you ask. With dragons, when we duel, the victor can demand that the loser becomes part of their lounge, though most times we kill the loser, since losing and being left alive is dishonorable. The... 'smarter' dragons," She made quotation marks. "often challenged me, then lost on purpose, since they knew I wouldn't kill them. On the bright side, most dragons value their lives enough where these duels don't happen often."

"Well, I imagine that must suck for all of you." Skystrike finished his plate, then stared at the wall in thought. "...I'm revaluing a lot of the decisions I've made now..." Then he had a thought. "Oh, by the way Tethys, since Elytra found out, I technically don't owe you anything."

"Damn." Tethys laughed.

"On the upside, some news for you, we ended up getting the upper half of a Grootslang yesterday." Skystrike got up. "Speaking of, I still gotta bleed it."

"You all took down a Grootslang!?" Tethys yelled in surprise.

Zecora shook her head. "It was Skystrike, brave and bold, who faced it down, alone and cold."

Tethys looked at him. "How!?"

Skystrike shrugged as he got up and put all their dishes in the sink. "Let's wait for Alder. He'll probably enjoy a cut of it." Then he turned to Lanka. "And I remember you saying something about a Griffon you knew. Alder may be able to help you find him..." Then he thought about it some more. "Actually, it'll be better for you to meet him anyway. You'd be able to set up trade."

"That name sounds familiar..." Lanka said to herself.

"What are you about to go do?" Elytra got up and began flying next to him.

"Bleed the Grootslang." Skystrike stretched. "We're above open ocean, so anything that would smell the blood can't get to us."

"I... don't think that's a good idea." Tethys said. "Have you ever been on an open sea? Even we dragons avoid certain areas because of the Leviathans."

Zecora nodded. "There are many types of monsters in the sea. Enough that I paid for the safest journey to be free."

"Oh!" Skystrike blinked. "...I've been flying in a straight line since Diamondia.... Are any of these Leviathans dangerous to jump out of the water and snatch us out of the sky?"

"...That's a terrifying thought." Elytra said.

"I mean... I heard legends of one that could, but it's a legend for a reason." Tethys explained. "My grandfather told me how he barely got out of getting eaten by one when he was in his thousands. By then, he was five times my size, and swore to not go into that stretch of ocean again."

Skystrike quickly remembered where they were on the map. "And what is this leviathan called? And where does it live?"

"Near the south pole, in a part of the ocean the deep dragons call 'the void.' There's actually tales that the Gargantuan Leviathan is an ancient dragon lord."

"...You're telling me that there's a damn leviathan named after its size!? How big are the other ones!?"

"Well... the good news is that the Gargantuan Leviathan dwarfs the others. It's not even a comparison. My father told me he saw one eat a Ghost Leviathan, and those are... I'd say from what I've seen, triple the length of this ship?"

"Oh HELL no!" Skystrike quickly ran to the cockpit and bought the ship a couple hundred more feet into the sky. He slowly walked back in the room. "You had me at 'the void'. Remind me to get sea maps once we're in Seaquestria."

"Actually, I have an idea. About the Grootslang I mean." Tethys cleared her throat. "I saw you use your powers to pool water. Isn't blood mostly water?"

Skystrike winced. "I mean... yes, but where I'm from, it's illegal."

"Really? It seems pretty useful." Lanka cracked her back. "You wouldn't believe what I'd do for something like that."

"Well sure it would be useful at times... but the reason that type of magic was banned was because... you know." Skystrike sighed. "Something doesn't necessarily need to be dead for a caster to move the blood. Also recognize that said caster doesn't have to move the blood outside. I could literally control a living being like a puppet on a string."

"Ah..." They all went before Lanka scratched the flat of her horn. "Yeah, I can see why that'd be illegal."

"I'll just wait for Seaquestria and find a butcher." Skystrike said as he got up. "I don't know how long you're staying, Lanka, but make yourself at home. I've some work to do in the cargo. I'll come out when Alder comes by."

They all gave their respective goodbyes as Skystrike left the room and went to the cargo bay. It was the big day. Echo's integration into his new body should be done by now. While he didn't know how to break it to the crew that his helmet would soon have a body and is in fact their own person. But Echo was a friend. He'd help him out when needed.

Skystrike scratched at his barren neck. It was weird these past two days, not having Echo on. He was fine without him, thankfully. He was just there for so much of his life, it was like a part of him was missing. In fact, it was similar to when Zecora first came to Ponyville, or when he found Tethys up north. Or Casta, Maud, Alder, Jeshan, his siblings, his friends. Skystrike didn't know why it took this long for him to realized he missed all of them.

Then again, it's why they were on this trip. Plus, it's not only been fruitful for him. Tethys found an old friend, Zecora had a bit of closure, and Elytra is finding herself. Maybe it's time for him to do the same. Sure, he's been more honest with his friends, but he also needs to be more honest with himself. But that was for later.

For now, he had to get Echo. Moving aside the crates, the mechanical body was still limp, yet the glowing circuits from before were now nearly invisible. The blank holographic eyes under the horn noted that the body was still off. Getting a good look at it, this body was rather big, being the size of Big Mac roughly... maybe a bit smaller. Skystrike, not sure what else to do, poked the body.

The holographic eyes flicked on, the pale white pixels looking at him. The body began to get up unnaturally... robotically. The joints creaked as the shoulders moved the legs out, planting its hooves and pushing the body up. The head turned to Skystrike slowly as the pupils remained on him. The jaw opened to speak. "Skystrike. I have... acclimated to this... new body well. I thank you... for the assistance in its completion." Echo said, though it was noticeably slow. "Apologies. I am not... used to speaking with a mouth."

Skystrike chuckled. "All good. Just glad you turned out alright." Then he scratched the back of his head. "...still a bit weird seeing a body with no skin."

"Do not worry... I will begin making a shell soon. We have the necessary materials within this storage bay. This body is also outfitted with a mobile foundry, albeit bare." Echo was quickly getting used to talking. "I would've awoken sooner, but I did not want to risk combat with Tethys and Lanka."

"That makes sense." Skystrike said as Echo handed him back his helmet. "Thank you."

"A question." Echo stated. "What colors should I give myself when designing a synthetic skin covering?"

"Well..." Skystrike thought aloud. "A darker colored coat and mane, such as a black or dark grey, still do have some negative connotations with ponies because of Sombra. It's not looked down on as much as it was the past millennia, but ponies will take notice. It's actually a reason why you don't see those colors as often. After the war with Sombra, those ponies were rarely chosen for relationships, and thus, reproduction. Because of Celestia over the same millennia, and her setting the beauty standards, if you care about being conventionally attractive, lighter colors work. You are also presenting as a unicorn. You'd need a fitting mark. Other than that, just use basic color theory." Skystrike put back on his helmet. "Which begs the question, what is your favorite color?"

"Unknown..." Echo thought. "I have not thought about it. I was not aware I would be able to have the ability to decide such." Then the mechanical pony thought about it some more. "I will think upon this topic later. For now, I will wait here until the later hours of the day, as to not worry your friends."

"I mean, I can explain that to them if that's the issue."

"There is another reason." Echo stated. "This body needs to generate the necessary energy to move efficiently. The core was not finished, and is thus cannot generate enough energy to power this body effectively."

"Oh..." Skystrike said. "Yeah, you didn't have me touch any of that... If you want, I can get you the blueprint for the mana extractor I use for the ship. You'd have to scale it down, but it can work."

Echo hummed. "A sound idea, I will accept your offer. It would be best to implement it before I make a shell." Then he paused. "A request, I notice that I am making you uncomfortable. Will you speak on how I am doing so?"

"Oh." Skystrike blinked. "Yeah, I guess thinking about it, you wouldn't realize. You look pony... enough... But it's in the uncanny valley. You haven't blinked, or made any body motions. In fact, you're completely stiff." He then let out a chuckle. "You've seen me talk to others. Check their body motions, mimic them at first, then feel them."

Echo looked at him, contemplation. "Very well. I will take your words into consideration." Echo nodded. "Related: do not worry about us not being able to talk through the helmet. This body and that helmet have the same mind. As long as we are within a set distance of my body and your helmet, we are one in the same."

Now the human was confused. "What do you mean, one in the same?"

"As a back up, I have copied a part of my code into this body. If the helmet is lost, then the rest of my code is uploaded, and I will continue my existence. Because my original body and this satellite exist simultaneously, one needs to be the command. If this satellite is lost, or away from the helmet, it follows the most basic codes of survival, and focuses on coming back to where my old body, the helmet is. When not connected to the helmet, I cannot give any commands until the return protocol has succeeded. Additionally, if I can assume it is safe to leave the satellite by itself, I can order the satellite to follow more complex instructions." Echo explained. "Do not worry, I have put in the proper failsafe. Unless deemed as enemies, any attempt to restrain this body through force will be met with non-lethal combat and escape protocols."

Skystrike got up from his crouched position. "If you say so. I trust your judgement."

"Before you go..." Echo sat down. "Need I remind you, we theorized this body was initially constructed to combat you. looking into the inner files, I was made aware that it was in fact made to restrain you."

Skystrike's eyes went wide. "Wh-"

"Do not worry." Echo shook his head. "Through their surveillance of you, the creators prepared this body to restrain you given the abilities you showed as a pony. They made the assumption that while here, you lost much of your combat magic. This body would be of no threat to you." Skystrike gave a relieved sigh. "This also implies that they do not know the extent of your powers. Need be, you can take them by surprise. After all, that was the last known laboratory with contact to the home dimension that you destroyed. Additionally, even if that wasn't the last, you did not use enough magic for them to deem you a threat. It was on similar levels of the inhabitants of this world."

"That... does make me feel a bit better, yeah." Skystrike smiled a bit before turning his helmet into a collar, the weight on it feeling a bit nice, admittedly. "But if that's it, I'm going to hide you again. Alder is supposed to be coming over." Echo nodded before sitting down and slouching over. As soon as Skystrike moved the crates back to hide Echo's new body, he heard the teleported activate.

Skystrike turned around the see the silver feathered griffon. Alder turned to look at him. "Oh, you were waiting for me. How's it going, kid?"

He chuckled. "Well... remember when you were telling me about doing a minotaur?"

Alder let out a wide grin. "Damn, that quick? Welcome to the club!" He laughed. "Didn't know you had it in you to handle one."

"I didn't either." Skystrike stood up straight. "Tethys, Jeshan, Zecora, and Elytra decided to get me the all inclusive at a Minotaur wench house after I said I wanted wine and cheese. They didn't expect me to have game."

Alder chuckled. "Well to be honest, I didn't expect you to be a lady killer either. No offense, but since you were raised as a pony, I wasn't expecting it of ya. Herds, or whatever you call them."

"Jeez, didn't realize the stallions were that bad." Then Skystrike thought about it. "Wait, don't you griffons have prides or something?"

Alder gave him a look. "Why, because I'm half lion?" Skystrike returned the look. "...Ok, we do, but not because I'm part lion!" He gave a hardy chuckle before he sat down on a box. "It actually depends on the Grif. From what the old scholars used to say, those of us who are more bird prefer a single, loyal partner, and this rarely remarry. Those of us who are more cat are more likely to have prides, but it's not the normal." He explained. "But notice how I said cat, not lion. Hundreds of years ago, we were all part lion, part eagle. As world trade started, so did foreign relations, and thus mixed species relationships. Somewhere, somehow, Griffons got with the Avians and Abyssinians, and thus there are a few Grifs who have different looks. For example, my great grandfather was an Avian, so I got his feathers. I had an ex who was actually part peacock, part panther. We're kinda rare so, you know."

"Oh, so your kind is mostly monogamous?" Skystrike asked.

"Yeah, but personally... I wouldn't be against what you ponies have." Alder sighed. "Mind if we go up top? If we're going to talk about serious stuff, I want a cigar to go along with it."

The two got up as Skystrike continued. "We don't have to talk about it. I just realized that I haven't learned too much about yours, and I don't want to know just the stereotypes."

"Well, if you want my view on it... recent history has made us more materialistic. After the loss of the Idol of Boreas, we Grifs lost what bought us together in the first place." The old bird grunted. "Part of the reason why I left Griffonstone and joined your rag tag group of friends... and the reason I came back and tried to make the place better. We need something more concrete than that Idol. We need hope."

"Well said." Skystrike nodded. "Trust, once I'm done with this mission and back in Equestria, I'll be doing a lot of work. I forget if I told you about it, but once I reveal my identity as the pony Skystrike, I will be given a territory to lord over. It'll also be the closest one to you once a train track is put in place. With luck, a trade route will benefit both of us."

Alder blinked, then looked up at him. "You serious?" Skystrike nodded. "Well, that is good to hear. Gives me something to hope towards at least."

"I have been meaning to talk to you about it, actually. It's a mining village, but it is next to a bay. I imagine that griffons would be pretty good sea farers. Fishing, while not exactly popular in Equestria, would do wonders for trade for Griffonstone, since you, and the surrounding countries can eat fish."

"...I'm a bit annoyed you thought about this stuff more than me." Alder huffed as they finally got to the deck of the ship. Alder took out a cigar and his lighter, lighting it and taking a puff. With one breath, he blew it all out. "Hah~. I don't see how you do it, Skystrike. You always did have the makings of a leader."

Skystrike and Alder leaned on the railing. He breathed in the salty air of the ocean. "Well, admittedly, it was because of how we all split up. Even before the attack, the missions that we took, I was in charge of. Many had mistakes that we realized too late and struggled, or lucked out of. After Blueblood, and all of us nearly dying, I realized how bad those mistakes could've been. I don't take risks like that any more. I plan out as many outcomes in my head as I can, and plan for each of those." Then he chuckled. "Of course, it's hard to do that, since I have to account for my allies actions as well, but being prepared comes in handy... It's also a big reason why I handle most things on my own now."

"That... makes sense..." Alder took inhaled a puff of smoke. "I guess we all have our own ways of dealing with things." Then he realized. "Wait, you'd say you'd reveal yourself. How's that going to happen with that Blueblood cunt running about?"

"Every few years, the ponies have this thing called 'The Grand Galloping Gala'." Alder chuckled at the name as Skystrike explained. "I already told you about what Blueblood did before I met all of you, so I know he'll be there, and I know he'll take the bait and challenge me to a duel. Then I'll make him admit to every wrong he's committed against us, in front of the most powerful ponies in the country. He'll be ruined."

"Won't you get into trouble if you do that?"

Skystrike shrugged. "Probably, but then it's a matter of if the fines will stick. Say I do get into legal trouble, they'd have to find a jury that isn't sympathetic to the life I had to live, isn't biased against Blueblood, and don't find my actions justified once they realize that Blueblood sent the guards to kill us, and ended up dead due to self defense. All of that before taking into account that I am also a prince. Put simply, it'd be best for everyone politically if they pushed this under the rug. And that's highly likely because barely anyone likes Blueblood."

"...Ok, you've really thought about this." Alder leaned back on the railing.

"You don't truly get it, Alder." Skystrike clenched a fist. "I've spent years thinking of how I'd do this. Days... years on end where, at times, the only thing that kept me going was anger... hatred for what that pony did to everyone I cared about. He's one of the few beings that exist across dimensions that I can say I hate."

"Eesh, and we've met some pretty terrible beings." Alder huffed. "But if you're really going to do something about him, try and make sure I'm there for it. I love karma."

"Well, I can get you a ticket. You got a suit?" Skystrike smirked.

"I can have that arranged..." Alder smirked. "When is this Gala?"

"In a month, about. By the time I get back to Equestria, assuming we're on time, we'll have two weeks left until it. Zecora, Elytra, Tethys, Casta I'm pretty sure, and my siblings are all going. And if you don't have a suit, I have a friend in Ponyville that can make you one. She made mine."

"Oh, you already got a date!" Alder elbowed the human with a hardy laugh. He noticed the look on Skystrike's face. "Wait... you do know those two-"

"Trust me, I talked with Jeshan. He made me plenty aware." Skystrike sighed. Alder took out another cigar and handed it to Skystrike. Skystrike eyed it hesitantly before taking it, lighting the end with a ignited finger. He bought it to his lips and inhaled it, coughing up the smoke afterwards. "God..." He wheezed. "I don't know how you do it."

Alder chuckled. "You get used to it. I'll let you keep that one if you share your thoughts... Just don't make smoking them a habit."

Skystrike nodded and took another puff, not inhaling nearly as much as before. "I... First, I need to be more honest for myself and my own feelings. I've hidden myself and my thoughts for too long. Because of that, I also think that they deserve better than someone like me. I left for fucking two years with nothing more than a parting message, I'm still amazed any of you even found it in your hearts to forgive me." Skystrike grit his teeth. "On top of that, there's, you know, the whole impending death thing."

Alder exhaled some smoke. "You don't want them to lose you again." His silence was enough of an answer. Alder sighed. "Sky, I'm gonna tell you something I haven't told anyone else. I know, being in my fifties, I got a good twenty years left before kicking the bucket. Despite that... I still want to find love. Would you say it wouldn't be worth it because I don't got long left?" Skystrike couldn't fault that line of thinking. "I guess I just need to say it, just to make sure you know it. Pain is a part of life. It's something we all have gone through... given some more than others. But letting others in and having at least a little bit of happiness, I think is worth it."

"Fucking..." Skystrike huffed. "You're right, I know... I feel like whatever I say in response to that will come off as an excuse." Skystrike took in another puff. "...I've-... My actions have bought enough pain to those I care about. Now my inaction is hurting the same ones. Damned if I do, damned if I don't."

"And despite all of that, we still stay together, don't we? These types of bonds are hard to break." Alder nodded. "Tartarus, I remember one time years ago when we had some fight over how we'd split the payment when I first joined. I wasn't expecting so much, and I thought there were strings attached. It took weeks for me to admit that it was because I was too scared to trust you. And I saw the look on your face back then. Someone who you did no wrong to, hesitant to trust you when you gave him no reason otherwise. But you moved passed it, recognized I had my reasons for doubt."

"I.. see your point, Alder." Skystrike sighed. "I fucking hate talks like these, being honest with myself."

"I've noticed." Alder chuckled. "But it's a good thing you are being honest. I feel like I got my point across." Alder smiled. Then he realized. "Wait-... you do like them, right? Or just one?"

"No fucking idea. They're good beings, but I don't know if I've ever felt any type of love that wasn't platonic." Skystrike admitted. "Maybe it's trauma or something, I dunno."

"...Do you think the reason you don't like being honest with yourself is because then you'd have to confront parts of yourself you don't want to?"

"God damn it, Alder, I don't like you being smart like this." Skystrike sighed as he took another hit of his cigar.

"See, you're getting better." Alder chuckled. "Tell you what, I'll share one of mine, then you share one of yours."

Skystrike exhaled. "Bet."

Alder took a long, long whiff of his cigar. He slowly exhaled it. "I told you a bit about my little brother, Talos, but not the whole story. Growing up, like most Griffons, we were poor. Unlike most, I decided to get into petty crime. Eventually, he got of age, grew up, and followed in my footsteps. He had a kid, Gilda, and decided to start moving up to take care of her and his wife. I was already pretty high up, and he was my right talon Griffon. But... things didn't last." Alder took another hit. "We were put in charge of a raid on one of the vaults in the abandoned castle. What we didn't know was that it was a setup from a Griff that wanted our seats. Fortunately, it didn't work, and we killed the guy... Then there was a new problem: when we got back, the big boss wanted to know why his son was dead, and wanted to avenge him." Skystrike noticed Alder scratch the floor with his talons. "Didn't even get the chance to explain fully. Talos told me that things would be fine if I let him do the talking, despite my protests... but I trusted my little brother. Of course, the boss didn't believe our story, and was quick on the draw... I was too slow. Talos pushed me out of the way, took a flintlock to the skull."

Skystrike winced. "I'm... sorry."

Alder grit his teeth. "I saw red. I paid them back in blood a thousand times over. I didn't care anymore. The boss, everyone directly under him, and everyone who tried to stop me from leaving with his body, I slaughtered. Didn't come out perfect, had some shrapnel in me, but it wasn't enough to stop me from bringing him home. Seeing Gilda's face of grief, and my sister in law's wailing... his body burning over the pyre adorned with memories we made... it broke something in me. I didn't join you just because. I was running from them. And during my time in Equestria, even before I joined you, up to when you left, I lived with that guilt. And when you almost died, all that hit me in the face. That's why I decided to go back and try and fix things my own way. To make sure that no Griffon would have to go through what my brother and I did." Then he turned to Skystrike. "Guess I gotta thank you for doing that. I feel like I at least started making things right."

"I couldn't imagine." Skystrike said. "There's... nothing I can say that can make you feel better... nor anything you haven't already said to yourself."

"Don't worry about me. I made peace with it a while ago." Alder blew a ring of smoke. "Seven years is a lot of time to think. But now, I just worry if Gilda blames me... at least she comes to me when she wants to talk. But that's for later. Still want to share your story?"

Skystrike huffed. "You told me yours. Only fair I told you mine. I already spoke of what happened at the orphanage, a way to justify my actions. Also told you about the Changelings, and how Elytra and I got banished. Guess I need to go further back..."

"You mean... before you came to this world?"

Skystrike nodded before bringing the cigar to his lips. He shook his head and put out the fire at the tip. "Before Skystrike... Before Equestria, I had no name. Just a designation: P.R.O.W-0034. My... 'Father', First was what I knew him as, saw me as an object. A means to an end. A project to reform our doomed world in his image. As you can assume from my designation, there were others... were." Skystrike sighed. "Budgets were cut, and they couldn't afford to house however many of us there were. In my group, numbers 1-50, to reduce spending, we were put in... essentially gladiator pits. Every month, two of us were chosen at random to fight to the death."

Alder's eyes widened. "You had to kill your friends?"

Skystrike shook his head. "Friends wasn't the right word at the time. We all had barely any interaction with each other. We knew the others existed, but not anything else. But at a certain point, my 'mother', Ysolda was bought in to teach me morality. Right and wrong. How to think instead of what to think." He put his metal hand out to the sky. The black metal reflecting the light off of it. "When I began to question why we were doing things was when I was deemed important. My training regimen changed and increased, I was put under many experiments to strengthen my physical and magical capabilities. But when it was my turn to fight another number, when I had his back on the floor, when he looked at me with fear filled eyes as I was about to incinerate him, I thought about why I was going to do it. I came to the conclusion that it would be wrong to kill him." Then he clenched a fist. "As a punishment, First killed the first person I ever showed mercy, and took my arm. My seared flesh and phantom pain a reminder of my first ever failure. At not following orders... and not being strong enough to defy them."

"...Holy shit kid, what in Tartarus?"

Skystrike turned his arm into a rifle. "And as my arm was replaced, as I was pumped full of enhancements, as they took away what made me human, I thought... I loathed. I was given an artificial intelligence as a way to learn. The helmet you often see me with. Echo's primary function was to assist me in any way that ensured my survival and my goals. I don't know why I was chosen, but that doesn't matter for this." Skystrike began charging magic within his mechanical arm. "In a way, Echo was my mentor, giving me perspective the child me would never had thought of. But after meeting him, Ysolda came back for one last lesson. To teach me what freedom was. I remember her words... 'It is what all humans want, yet is taken away from us in some form. Freedom is the right to act, think, or speak as you'd want without hindrance or restraint. There will always be some of that freedom taken away to protect you and others. Other times, it is taken away to control you and others.' But she wasn't prepared for my question."

Alder looked at Skystrike as he got up from the railing, pointing his metal arm out towards the open sea. "And... what was it?"

"'Do I have freedom?'... She said no. Then I had another question: 'Why do I not have freedom? To protect me and others? Or to control me and others.'" Skystrike continued to charge his magic, his arm vibrating ever so slightly at the build up. "She said she didn't know. But we both knew she did. I asked if not giving me freedom was the right thing to do... She left me in that room of white walls. But I didn't blame her. After all, she was only there for a paycheck. And after months of thinking, with Echo as a voice of reason, I came to the conclusion that the answer was no.... I planned my escape, causing a breach during the daily meals. Through the flames of my rage, the bitter chill of my apathy, I cut through each and every person that stood in my way. Except for one... the only one who actually treated me like a person, not an object. He knew that if he didn't at least attempt to stop me from escaping, he'd die. So, he did the only thing he could, and killed himself so he wouldn't have me kill the first one I ever considered an ally... But it's thanks to him that I know that there are those humans who care, those who were innocent in all of this. For all I know, he had a family to get back to, maybe he had no choice but to be a guard. But his fate was doomed to be the same as the others. But with all of that said, when I came to this world, years after, I realized what they wanted...." Skystrike grit his teeth.

"...You don't need to continue if you don't want to, Sky."

"NO-..." He grit his teeth. "No... I need to say it to myself." His eyes flickered white. "They wanted me like that. Afraid and hesitant of anyone and anything that could even remotely harm me. The one that cared, killed in front of me. The ones I had to obey, putting me through unimaginable suffering. I hated them. And when I crashed down in Canterlot, those stares, seeing me as inhuman, were scorched into my mind... I automatically hated them like I hated all those who contained me." He held his rifle arm with the other to stabilize it. "But I knew that was irrational. I calmed myself. But years later, only then did I realize why they wanted me like that. Alone... Because I was made to destroy, to conquer all who'd oppose my existence in this world with a literal iron fist! Even now, I feel it. It's not something you can unlearn. Each time I meet someone new, see a familiar face, in the back of my mind, my first thought is to deem them my enemy. And enemies do not deserve any mercy." Skystrike released the magic within his metal arm, shooting a wide beam of energy into the ocean. The initial hit vaporized the water around it, making an explosion of steam.

"...Are... are you ok, Skystrike?"

Skystrike looked back at him, shaking the thoughts out of his head. "Yeah... Isn't the first time I've fought off these thoughts. But you can see why I'm easily angered." He turned his arm back to normal and flexed his fingers. "...So now you know the real reason I'm this way. I was made to be, and I constantly fight that nature. I know that if I took out my anger on those around me, the world around me, that wouldn't be fair. So I don't."

Alder took in the longest inhale yet. "...And I thought the rest of us had it pretty bad..." He exhaled the smoke through his nose. "So what, you're a psychopath or something?"

"Oh, no. Didn't mean to imply that." Skystrike looked to the horizon, trying to best word what he wanted to say. "I still feel emotions, I just had to unlearn repressing them. The times I've spent with you all is genuine. But when I first met all of you, same with everyone, one of my first thoughts was to kill you. I just knew that wasn't a rational thought to have, and thus, didn't act on it. But, because I've held back many of my emotions, it's a bit of a problem where something needs the emotional response and I don't recognize that, and thus, don't give an emotional response."

"Oh... well that's not too bad then." Alder huffed as Skystrike looked at him. "You wouldn't believe the amount of times a thought process like that has happened in Eques. For a while, we Griffons used to hunt Ponies and Zebras, the Diamondians and Abyssinians each other, and the Dragons, anyone they could get their claws on. Some... still do. So while rare, you aren't alone in those types of thoughts. On the upside, you realize it's wrong, and go against them."

"...Thanks." Skystrike gave a weak smile. "I owe you one."

"Don't mention it, kid." Alder looked to his cigar. "...Got a place I can put this out?" Skystrike used his metal thumb to press down on the cigar, extinguishing it. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"You know... everything makes sense now." Alder huffed. "We all thought you were just quiet, but you had a lot on your mind... I also see why it's hard for you to be honest with yourself. If you were..."

"Yeah." Skystrike nodded. "But I've learned to control it as the years went by. It's more a passing thought now, a nag in the back of my mind. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"So, moving on, where are you heading now?"

"Seaquestria, specifically Hippogriffia, to see Skybeak. I remember him saying he was a guard, so he'd most likely be in the capital. Might see if we can get info on Celeano and Ornitia, but that's unlikely. She didn't seem keen on going back to her home country... Still might go just for the culture."

"About that." Alder got his attention. "I've been meaning to ask, you're always interested in other cultures. How come?"

"Ah, that." Skystrike hummed. "A couple reasons. Mainly, I grew up under two different ones, so experiencing the differences in each is interesting to me. Other than that, I haven't had any interactions with my race's culture aside from recorded memories. It's like reading out of a history book... It's not the same."

The conversation between the two were interrupted by Tethys and Lanka. "Oh, Alder. Didn't think you'd be here. Skystrike said he'd tell us."

Alder smiled at his dragoness friend. "Tethys, good to see you. And yeah, we ended up having one of our talks."

"...About?" Tethys asked.

"Guy stuff." Alder quickly answered. "But besides that, who's this? We got a minotaur as part of the group now?"

Lanka's eyes went wide. "I knew that name sounded familiar! You're Alder, right?" She walked up and crouched down to the Griffon.

Alder looked at the minotaur. "...Lanka!?" Alder's jaw dropped. "Never thought I'd see you again!"

Skystrike and Tethys looked at each other before speaking together. "You two know each other?"

Alder looked to the two. "You two know Lanka!?"

Lanka answered for them. "Tethys and I go way back. If you noticed, I didn't have one horn last time we met."

"I said I was sorry, damn!" Tethys groaned.

"And you, Skystrike??" Alder asked.

They all made a face. Skystrike answered. "Elytra, Jeshan, Zecora, and Tethys set me up in a wench house... tent...? A place with wenches as a joke, and somehow I ended up having game."

"Huh..." Alder went. "That's the same way I met Lanka too." Then laughed. Hard. Then smirked at Skystrike. "Knew you had it in you, kid!"

Skystrike chuckled at Alder. "Well, what's your story? Doubt you two would remember each other after around thirty years from some one night."

Alder nodded. "Yeah. Shorter version, the mob and the Minotaurs did trade for a while. I was in charge of the area. One of the few ways we could get things like milk and cheese. It became... more than business after a while." He looked at Skystrike's contorted face. "...What?"

"...I've realized I never thought of where the Minotaurs got the cheese from." Skystrike dead panned.

Lanka chuckled as Tethys looked at him. "You can't be serious. We knew you didn't know it was a wench house, but the cheese and stuff? Really?"

"Look, where I'm from, the animals we get milk from aren't sentient. I haven't needed to think on the moral aspect!" He explained.

"You get milk from the cows in Equestria."

"...Shit I didn't think of that either!"

Lanka shrugged. "I mean, you didn't think of ours as a fetish, so it's ok, right?"

"Lanka I have wheels of you and the others processed milk juice. I'm feeling some type of way about it." Skystrike groaned to the amusement of everyone present.

"Well where does your kind get milk from, then? Or whatever the alien equivalent is?"

"That's..." Skystrike hit a thinking pose. "It's... well, interesting to me, but might be horrifying to you all."

Lanka looked at him. "...Go on."

"So, I'm less an alien from outer space, and more an alien from a different universe." Lanka's eyes widenned slightly at that. "And because it's a different universe, there's the chance of this being an alternate dimension, which would explain a lot that goes on here."

"You lost me after different universe."

"Oh, sorry." Skystrike scratched the back of his head. "Basically, my universe has most of the races here, though none that could fit under the loose term 'chimera' or fantastical. Coincidentally, those same races that didn't exist appear in my race's mythology. For example, Minotaurs, Griffons, and Dragons exists as parts of religion in Greek, Greek, and specific to Tethys, western cultures. The ones that did exist, like Horses and thus ponies, Zebras, Cows, the ancient ancestors of Diamondians, Abyssinians, and Avians, did exist, but weren't sentient... They had the same level of intellect as a wild animal."

"That... is a bit horrifying... More existential horror." Alder admitted. "But wait, you said that we exist in your human cultures?"

"Yeah." Tethys nodded. "And while I don't know what 'Greek' is, you said 'western cultures' as in multiple? So... dragons existed in several mythologies?"

"So your issue with getting milk and milk based products is because we're sentient?" Lanka tilted her head. "If you're worried about it being a fetish thing, it's not... but I imagine that it would be for your kind, since from the sounds of it, you humans, was it? Were the only sentient race."

"Oh thank god." Skystrike gave out a long sigh of relief. Lanka chuckled. "And Alder, Tethys, to answer your questions, yes, you both do. If I went into the different cultures, I'd be here for hours. Minotaurs are depicted as half cow, half human, which looking at Lanka, you could see it. There was only one Minotaur in Greek myth, and that's a whole rabbit hole of a story-"

"Well, I kinda want to hear it." Alder said. "All that talk about learning cultures and you don't want to share your own?"

Skystrike looked at him, then to Lanka and Tethys, who nodded and sat down. He did so as well. "Alright... So, minotaurs... The king of Crete, Minos, was one of the sons of Zeus, the god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, and order, and Europa, a Phoenician queen and consort of Zeus. Europa was a normal human, by the way." They nodded. "So, Minos prayed to Poseidon, the god of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses, to send him a snow-white bull as a sign of the god's favor, which would obviously be a really big thing for a king. The Greek gods were often brutal, and Poseidon wanted Minos to sacrifice the bull. Minos planned to do it to honor the god of the sea, but was taken aback by the beauty of the bull and decided to keep it."

"This it actually really interesting. Though I find it a bit funny how Poseidon, the god of the sea, is also the god of horses." Alder chuckled. "So, what happens next?"

Skystrike continued. "Minos naively believed that one of the twelve gods of Olympus would accept a substitute sacrifice. To punish Minos, Poseidon arranged with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, lust, passion, pleasure, beauty, and sexuality, and daughters of Zeus and a Titan- who ruled before the twelve Olympians which is a whole other story, so I'll get back to the main story- The two gods arranged for Minos's wife, Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios, the god of and the personification of the sun, and Perse, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, to fall in love with the snow-white bull."

"Wait, your gods can do that?" Tethys asked.

"That wasn't even what I'd say is the worst of what the Greek gods did." Skystrike shook his head. "Luckily, there's a lot of speculation if they're even real. Only thing that makes humans believe gods are real is faith. But this is where it gets weird..." Skystrike ran his fingers through his hair. "Pasiphae had the master craftsman, Daedalus, make her a hollow, wooden cow..." He saw the contorted face of Alder, knowing where this was going. "...Which she then climbed into to let the bull mate with her. Then she fell pregnant and bore Asterius, the Minotaur."

"Oh..." Lanka went. Then her face contorted. "...So a human and a cow? Like, an actual cow?"

"Yeah." Skystrike nodded. "And it keeps going. Pasiphae was a good mother, nursed the Minotaur and all that, but he grew in size and became more akin to a beast that a human. After all, it was an unnatural, to humans, offspring of a human female and essentially a beast. Because the Minotaur had no natural source of nourishment, it devoured humans for sustenance. Then, once Minos found out, he got advice from the Oracle and had Daedalus construct a gigantic Labyrinth to hold the Minotaur... And that's how Minotaurs happened in Greek myth."

"...I mean... It's interesting." Lanka huffed. "But I don't like it. Your Greek gods kinda suck, no offense."

Skystrike chuckled. "None taken. It's more seen as history than anything."

Then Lanka continued. "I do find it really interesting however, that Asterius is the name of our old kings when we were warring with the other races for land... It didn't work, and his last stronghold was an underground maze. Crazy coincidence."

"See, it's stuff like that which makes me wonder if this stuff was real, because there's a lot of really weird 'coincidences' that I've realized." Skystrike put out a hand. "Like, for example, Tethys." The dragoness' attention was on him. "Your name also comes up in Greek mythology as a member of the Titans, and the daughter of Uranus, the personification of the sky, and Gaia, the personification of the Earth. The mythology Tethys was also the mother of the river gods and Oceanids."

"...You're telling me that the Greek version of me had 3,000 kids?" Then she shook her head. "Don't want to think about it. So, how about dragons then?"

"Actually?" Alder put up his talon. "Can we do Griffons since we're on... Greek Mythology, right?"

"Sure." Skystrike nodded. "It's depicted as a mythical creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with it's talons on the front legs. Pretty much exactly what Alder is, save for the eagle part. While it is believed to originate from Greek mythos, artist depictions of Griffons can be found within that general part of my world. There's a lot of accounts, so I'll sum up the ones I find most interesting: lore of Griffons already depicted them to be greedy, guarding hoards of gold, and even decorating their nests with gold nuggets. They were also called the 'silent hounds of Zeus', from tales of how people would steal from their nests and the Griffons would chase them. Griffons were also seen as divine creatures, associated with various deities in Greek mythology. And this was all over four thousand years ago." Their eyes widened. "But if you want a super simple answer on where Griffons came from, because our historians could only assume, Lions were seen as the king of beasts. Eagles, the king of the skies. People in the middle ages combined the two."

"Why does he get the nicer stories!?" Lanka joke pouted.

He chuckled. "Well, if you want a weird part of Griffon mythology, it's believed that a Griffon mated with a horse and made Hippogriffs... Though they barely look like the ones in this world. Mine are just the front half of a Griffon and the back half of a horse. Those were also a concept from a poem almost two thousand years after the fall of Greece."

"Damn, kid, how far back does your history go?" Alder asked.

"Well, summing it up quickly, a major religion 'won' so there's BC, before Christ, and AD, after death. If you want to use the religion neutral terms, there's Before Common Era and Common Era. The Greek religion I described stopped being practiced in the 9th century CE, or the 800s. I don't know when exactly I was born, but my race is somewhere in the 31st century CE, or the year 3000. To put that in more perspective, Greek mythology was just that, a mythology, stories told in Crete, which thrived from roughly 3000 to 1100 BCE, so around five thousand years ago."

"Well damn." Tethys' jaw dropped at the length of time. "I don't even know of a dragon that lived that long... Speaking of..." She hinted.

"Yeah, Dragons, I didn't forget." Skystrike chuckled. He cleared his throat. "The term 'dragon' in human history is very broad, since it goes across various cultures. There's the dragons in western cultures since the middle ages, 1000 to 1300 CE, are depicted as winged, horned, and capable of breathing fire. In eastern cultures, however, they're usually depicted as wingless, four-legged serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence. These cultures did have much in common, which implied the existence of these 'dragons'..." He made quotation marks. "which are often a hybridization of reptilian, mammalian, and avian features. For example, a dragon could have fur, scales, or feathers. Basically, if it was big and had some supernatural power, it was a dragon. But again, 'dragon' was a very broad term. If people saw a large enough snake, they likely thought it was a dragon."

"...I know I shouldn't feel insulted, but I kinda am insulted." Tethys sighed. "Then again, even we Dragons don't know how to define a dragon... That would put me on the same level as Naga... which isn't a bad thing, but... hard to explain."

"Fair." Skystrike went. "There's a lot to go over with dragons, since they were literally everywhere. It's a similar reason as to why people thought Griffons exist." Alder's eyes widened a bit in interest. "People walked upon Dinosaur fossils and didn't know what they were looking at. They couldn't imagine these massive lizards the size of buildings walking around, so they saw parts and applied what they knew. If you knew nothing about... bats for example, and you saw a skeleton of one, you'd think it had feathers." Then he chuckled. "There's one part of history where this guy sold what he claimed to be a griffon or dragon egg, and hundreds of years later, people found out it was a fossilized ostrich egg."

"Pfft... ok, that is kinda funny." Tethys laughed. "So, I would count as a western dragon then?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Skystrike nodded. "But that's your histories in the perspective of humans." Then he hit a thinking pose again. "Which begs the question why so many of you are similar... Maybe gods do exist and they created our worlds to be not quite parallels of each others. We all just evolved along different paths, due to your world having magic and mine not at the start."

Lanka hummed. "That is interesting to think about. You said you evolved from apes, and we have apes."

"You evolved from an ape?" Alder and Tethys went.

"To clarify, humans and Apes have a common genetic ancestor, the same way how cows and Minotaurs do, or how all the types of ponies came from horses." Skystrike put out his hands. "Apes focused more in strength, while humans focused more on brain power."

"That... makes sense, actually." Tethys rubbed her chin. "The shamans say that we dragons and leviathans were once one in the same until we strived for 'enlightenment' or whatever... It would explain the level of intelligence in the lesser dragons."

"We should do this again." Alder chuckled. "You got a knack for telling stories. I doubt you have books on your history and stuff, but it would be nice to hear about this stuff."

"Wasn't aware you were a big fan of stories." Lanka looked at the Griffon.

"We... don't have many books in Griffinstone." Alder admitted.

Skystrike looked at him. "I got some books in my room if you want to borrow some? Though most are on magic and mathematics..." Then he remembered the letter he found. "Speaking of, Tethys-"

"SHIT!" She said. "You found the damn letter, didn't you?"

"I did." Skystrike nodded. "And while I understand you might not want to learn this stuff, it is important to learn."

"I don't want to listen to a lecture, man!"

"You wont. You'll listen to several." Skystrike said to her dismay, and Alder and Lanka's amusement. "Unless..." Tethys' looked at him. "You can spell the word 'occasion'."

"Uh..." She stammered as she began. Tethys even gripped her horns as she thought. "...A..." They all stifled their laughter. "...c-a-s-u-n?"

"See, that sounds right, but it's spelt o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n." Skystrike clarified. "But I'll give you another chance, since that depends on the accent. Spell 'Wednesday.'"

"Why are you giving me hard words!?" Tethys stomped.

"These are words you use in your everyday life, Tethys!" Skystrike matched her energy. "I could've fucked with you and told you to spell Pneumonia or Bologna!"

"You... you made those words up!"

"Pneumonia is a lung infection, bologna is a sausage, mother fucker." Skystrike pointed a finger. "In fact, lets go to another subject. What's four times seven?"

Tethys began angrily counting on her fingers. Alder put a talon on her leg to get her attention. "Let me word it a different way. There are four dragons, and each owe you seven gems. How many are you going to have once you shake it out of them?"

"Oh, easy, twenty eight." Tethys said almost immediately.

Skystrike pushed his hands into his face. "...This is good but I still feel disappointed..." Skystrike sighed. "Tethys, once we land at Hippogriffia, I'm going to get books on English Language arts, and Algebra. We're going to work through those. You need to know this stuff."

Tethys was about to protest, but was stopped with a hand on her shoulder. Lanka nodded. "He's right, Tethys. You do need to learn it."

Tethys groaned as she reeled her head back. "Fine... Not like we lack the time."

"Speaking of time..." Alder looked up at Lanka. "I don't know how much time you got here before you have to go."

"Ah..." Lanka realized. "Yeah... A shame we couldn't be together longer. Wish there was a way to contact you, but I couldn't get any letters with how often the herd moves around."

"Hold on..." Skystrike thought of something. "Give me a minute but... I might be able to do something about that." They looked at him confused as he ran back to his room. He pushed the door open and went to one of the shelves below his window. The human moved some of the items aside to see a cast-iron lantern, the candle within having golden wax. It was the lantern he used to contact Kyne those months ago.

This was important because the fire was magical. Any letter burned in it would be sent to Kyne, and any letter burned by Kyne's breath would come through the lantern. With a finger, he poked the wick of the candle, feeling the magic going through it. Kyne gave it to him, the candle itself was attuned to his magic signature. But if that was the case... then the candle itself was magical, not the fire itself. With that, then that means that, in theory, he could copy the spell. It wouldn't be dissimilar to a teleportation spell. And if that was the case, he could copy the pattern on the rug that Casta gave him.

He ran to the rug. Skystrike noticed the runes on it. There were five of them that he had never seen before, probably specific to Casta's own research. Looking closer, one resembled her unicorn horn, another resembled his helmet, and another, a paw print. He kept looking, seeing a talon, and a beak. Skystrike realized that they were supposed to represent his friends, and the places they'd be going. She planned pretty far ahead, and probably knew what Skystrike's plan was as soon as she heard he won the airship.

But back on the main focus. If he understood it right, each one of those runes connected to a destination. As long as he copied the runes and the magic signature, it would make a 'path' between the two runes. Skystrike went to the dining room and grabbed one of the oil lamps. He ran back out onto the deck of the Wind Waker and stopped in front of Alder. "Hey, can I see your lighter?"

Alder took it out of his pocket and put it in Skystrike's hand. "Alright, but be careful with it. It was my brother's."

Skystrike hesitated but nodded, holding it in his hand carefully. He sat down to get a better look at it. It was a wind resistant lighter in the shape of a rectangular prism, seemingly made of brass, and had an ivory case on it with a carving on the ivory. The name Gilda was crudely scratched on it with a Talon. He flicked it open with a satisfying 'ping' before closing it. "So... I know a way for you two to talk to each other. It's a spell that would make it so any letter you burn would be sent to the other's fire source..." Then he looked at Alder. "The problem is that I'd need to engrave the magic circle onto it. Do you have another lighter I can put it on?"

Alder shook his head. "It's fine. That thing's been getting beaten up over the years anyway. Just don't break it and it'll be all right."

Skystrike nodded, carefully taking the brass lighter out of it's ivory case. The brass was dented and aging, but was still holding on. It was well taken care of. Carefully, he bought up his metal arm and pointed a finger at the lighter. He generated a small ball of condensed light before a smaller laser beam came out and began engraving a magic circle onto it, the same as his rug. The rune, he decided for it to be a circle with a dot in the middle, the symbol of the Greek god, Apollo. Fitting. As he finished the rune, the entire circle began to glow faintly. Skystrike did the same process on the oil lamp before putting the lighter back in its case.

"...Did it work?" Lanka asked.

"One way to make sure." Skystrike got a piece of paper and wrote random scribbles on it. "Alder?"

The Griffon flicked his lighter open and held it to the edge of the paper. It ignited into smoke near instantly to their surprise. Then their eyes turned to the softly rattling oil lamp next to Skystrike. A puff of smoke came out the top of the lamp before swirling into a ball of carbon and magic, quickly forming into a sheet of paper. Skystrike picked it up. "Same scribbles... it works."

Lanka pulled both him and Alder into a hug. "Thank you, so much, Skystrike! There's no way this old heffa will ever be able to repay you!"

Skystrike could feel his back cracking. "It's... really no problem." He strained out his words. "But please let me go... you're crushing me."

Alder groaned as well. "I also appreciate it, Sky..." She let them both down. Alder held his back. "Damn... not as young as I used to be."

"You aren't old." Skystrike said.

"I'm 55."

"Oh." Skystrike went. Then he looked at Lanka and smirked. "You look it."

"Boy, fuck you." Alder laughed as he stretched out his wings. "But for real, thank you, kid. Didn't think this old bird would rekindle an old love."

"Yeah..." Lanka began. "If I knew you knew Alder, I probably wouldn't have slept with you." Then she looked to the Griffon in question. "Figured I'd tell you... Don't want to make it weird if we're going to try and make it work."

Alder looked at her, then at Skystrike. Skystrike had to admit, he was a bit nervous about his response. But then Alder put out a talon. "That just means we have good taste, am I right?"

Skystrike dapped Alder up. "Yes you are, Alder!"

"...I don't understand boys." Lanka sighed before moving her hair out of her face. "So, Alder, I got a few hours to spare. Why don't we do some catching up?"

"Sounds like a plan, Lanka." The two walked back into the ship leaving Skystrike there with Tethys. But before they went back in, both Lanka and Alder gave them a wink.

Tethys blinked. "...So do you think that wink was them saying they're going to go have sex, or-...?"

"I don't want to think about it." Skystrike said. Then he remembered what he talked about with the Griffon earlier. Skystrike looked out to the horizon, seeing the setting sun. They had been out here for hours. Maybe this could be the right time. To be honest. For them to be honest.

But then the thoughts of doubt filled his mind. What if he doesn't feel anything? Their friendship wont go back to what it is now. But is what they have now even worth keeping if at least she can't be honest? Skystrike didn't want to turn it on her, but... everyone he's talked to about this subject is pretty sure she likes him. It would only make sense for her to say something... No, those were excuses that he was telling himself to put this off.

But then again... Tethys also has a lot to think about, with going back to her homeland, after all. She left the Dragon Seas for a reason, a reason that she still hasn't told them yet. Of course, Tethys isn't obligated to, but having all these things on her mind can't be easy. She and Zecora aren't exactly dissimilar. Skystrike was willing to bet she was putting on a strong mask. And then he remembered Zecora in this situation.

She also thinks the same of him as Tethys. No doubt they talked about it together at some point. Maybe he was overthinking things... but his mind was still racing. Would she say something? Would any of them? Or are they waiting for the right time? After all, the two know about his plan to deal with Blueblood... Maybe they're waiting for him. Or maybe it's super simple. It is a matriarchal society after all, maybe they're trying to build up the confidence, since that's what they were taught to do.... So far, these 'excuses' sound like good reasons. At least for a little while.

"Skystrike?" Tethys shook his shoulder. "You've been standing there for a while, having that face where you're thinking... Want to talk about it?"

Skystrike looked at her. He decided it was something to think on later. For now, he wanted answers. "Actually, I realized you never told me about why you left the Dragon Seas... or why we're going since you left in the first place."

"Ah..." Tethys huffed, a cold mist coming out of her nose. She pulled on the sleeve of her sweater. "I suppose I do owe you that."

"You don't 'owe' me anything, Tethys." Skystrike clarified. "If you aren't ready to talk about it, you don't have to. You don't even have to tell me at all. Zecora only spoke on her reason because an old face popped up and wasn't sure if she was ready to confront them."

"But I am ready to confront mine." She looked to the horizon. Tethys put out her arms and spread her wings wide, letting the membranes of her wings catch the wind. "I was in my fifties when I was first made aware of my role as one of the princesses. I saw my first Kein Fah Fin Sil, and knew what I was supposed to do. But as I grew... it came to my parents attention that I was the... weakest of the hatchlings..." She grit her teeth. "So, I was looked down upon by my siblings, coddled by my mother, and seen as a disappointment by my father. I was a recluse, staying in the ancestral walls, trying my best to be stronger. So when I was in my 170s, when my time to hunt came, I left. My mother and grandfather were the only ones to wish me well, but every single one of my family members didn't expect me to come back." Tethys clenched her fists. "So I proved them wrong. Within ten years, I worked myself to near death, getting stronger each day. I dug for all the gems I could eat, I hunted beasts for meat. Once I was able to believe in myself long enough, I went for a Bugbear. The fight was the hardest I had yet, but I pulled through with more than enough strength to spare." Then she grinned. "Hah! I remember their faces so well. The disbelief!" Then she pulled in her wings and crossed her arms under her chest. "But when I got recognition, I realized that wasn't what I wanted... So as soon as I arrived, I left. I began to wander for the next few decades. Went to Griffonstone, Equestria, Zebrafrica, even Abyssinnia for a time, figuring out what to do with my life for a while. After I met Lanka, and realized that I still wasn't as strong as I could be, I heard stories about the ponies. They could give me a challenge with their mastery of magic. And that's how I ended up meeting you and the rest..."

Skystrike looked at the dragoness as she turned to him. "Huh... well that explains quite a bit. Hard to believe you were the runt of the litter though." Skystrike walked up to her. "But I hope we helped you find what you were searching for."

Tethys smirked. "To be honest, I think Lanka did first, but you helped me realize it..." She hesitated a moment before pulling Skystrike into a deep hug. Her body was chilly, but at the same time, warm. "...A place where I felt welcome." Then she quickly pushed him off. "Sorry, I suck at these gushy moments..."

Skystrike chuckled. "It's all good, I'm the same." He said as he pulled her back into the hug. "But I'm glad I was able to make a difference."

"Even after you left?"

"I said I was sorry, damn!" Skystrike joke pouted as the two shared a laugh. Tethys wrapped her arms around him. "So, for clarification, why are we going then?"

Tethys sighed, letting go and leaning on the railing as she looked over the ocean. "Well, a part of me is curious on how strong my siblings have become. It's still a pride thing. It'd make me feel better watching you beat the hell out of my brothers and sisters... Another part is that... I want to prove them wrong, that I'm not weak. I want to see if any of them will have the heart to apologize, but I doubt it."

"I think I understand." Skystrike nodded. "Though I am a bit surprised that you don't want to be the Dragon Lord. You could change things if you were."

She shook her head. "Maybe if it was the Dragon Lands. The Seas are too traditional, stuck in their ways. It's why I left. I don't care about being the Lord of the Dragon Seas. Besides..." She smirked. "Imagine how shitty second place would feel. It'll have to be a family member."

The human chuckled. "One last 'fuck you' huh? It would be pretty funny, and embarrassing, knowing that you're the Dragon Lord because of a technicality."

"And the last reason..." Tethys turned her head to look at him. "Is because I want to fight you. No holding back, I want to see how strong I've become, and how strong you are." Skystrike hummed at that. "Tell me, Sky, and be honest. Do I have any chance of beating you?"

Skystrike thought about it. "Well, not thinking too hard on it... assuming we're both focusing on just each other and have no outside interference, I'd have to say it's a low chance." Tethys' head fell a bit at that. "Don't get me wrong, you're plenty strong. In fact, in raw strength, you have me beat in every measure." That got her attention. "The reason I think I'd win is because, for the fight we're eventually going to have, I wont be relying just on my physical abilities. Not sure if you realized, but every fight I've had with you, I haven't used my magic, or any of the gimmicks in this robotic arm."

"Oh!" Tethys realized. "...Now I feel kinda stupid. I'm annoyed still, but I can at least admit I see your reasoning."

"So..." Skystrike got her attention again. "If you wanted to, we can make the morning work outs last longer. I could've sworn I told you, but the armor that I made for you before we left Ponyville, I made it so you can manipulate magic through your limbs like I do. It's just a matter of learning to control it." Her eyes lit up at the offer. "But realize that isn't the only thing that keeps things in my favor. I imagine it's a culture thing, but you dragons seem to focus on power, and power alone. In my culture though, humans, knowing there was a limit to our strength, designed martial arts to use our bodies in the most efficient way. I'd say those two are the biggest things."

"I'm more than happy to spend time wi- I mean train with you." She quickly corrected herself. "But... what would be other reasons?"

Skystrike thought some more. "Well... you're a Storm Dragon, specializing in ice, water, lightning, and wind. You have, in theory, the strongest defensive and offensive magic. But, again because of your culture, you focused solely on offense. Add to that, because you wanted to be seen as a Frost Dragon, you more than likely lack efficiency in the other elements you're able to control. Compared to me, I was made to specialize in destruction magic, so I can use all the elements you can and more. I'm also able to use defensive spells, though not as well. The next one, and this is just off the top of my head, because of you dragons and your strong scales, you're used to tanking hits, instead of learning how to dodge. Which is fair, your scales at your age can withstand most things."

Tethys thought on his words. "So... I just need to think?"

"Essentially."

"...That sounds like an insult." Tethys laughed. "But I'll listen to your words." Then she turned back to him. "But can you show me some really quick?"

"Sure." Skystrike nodded as he stood up straight and stretched. "What do you want to see?"

"Well, a defensive ice spell would let me learn better. I learn better by watching."

Skystrike nodded and held up his forearm. He focused his magic into the palm of his hand, cold air coalescing around it. Clenching his fist, a thick block of ice surrounded his hand and went down his forearm like a gauntlet. "Now punch it."

"...You just went on about how I'm stronger than you physically... Is this a good idea?" Tethys tilted her head.

"Pussy." Skystrike said. Tethys grit her teeth and reeled back a fist, punching the ice around his forearm. The ice shattered, the shards falling to the ground. Skystrike slid back a few inches and shook out his wrist. "See? Perfectly fine. The ice took the brunt of the impact."

"Huh..." Tethys picked up one of the shards of ice on the ground. "I think I get it. But what would happen if I just punched you harder?"

"If it was the same punch that you just threw, it'd hurt. If it was one coming for me directly after the first one..." Skystrike made a lifting motion with the same hand, making the shards of ice levitate in the air before moving his hand towards the ocean. The shards of ice cut through the air at a rather surprising speed to Tethys. "I'd shoot the shards at you and make some distance."

"That's... wow." Tethys thought. "If you got time, I have a lot of questions for you."

Skystrike figured he'd be here for a while. "Alright. Shoot."

Author's Note

Ok, felt like doing more character depth. Hippogriffia next chapter.

As a reminder in case anyone didn't see it, I rewrote the starting chapters of this fanfic. This, a lot of interactions changed. I think you all will enjoy it.

I hope you all enjoyed it. Next one may come out a bit slower, since I'm back to studying. Until next time!