Advent Of A Gunslinger

At the far reaches of the Bone Dry Desert…

Near the coastline, a rather massive manor would lie tall and superior above the lush vegetation that surrounded it. To the West, behind the manor would lie a large, mountainous set of hills that tapered off into the sandy desert on the other side. On the cool, Eastern side, the manor itself was surrounded by beautiful plants, trees, and endless amounts of grass. It was a palace that easily rivaled Canterlot’s own castle. The main difference was that the entire territory was spread across a good three buckball fields worth of land!

A letter would be slipped through the mail slot of the manor’s front door. The foyer was an entire spectacle in and of itself. Black and white checked marble flooring, a red carpet that led up to perfectly pearl porcelain stairs, and statues of various unicorn ponies that existed on both far sides of the room near the walls.

What appeared to be a well-dressed possum crawled over to grab an envelope. It was the only piece of mail they had received on that day, so it swiftly traveled with the envelope through the foyer. The possum had to pass through several rooms before it reached the backyard. “Madame Topaz! I have something for you! It’s from the city in the middle of the desert.”

“Hm? Quelque chose pour moi? Hand it over…”

A blue magical aura took hold of the letter, opened it, and there was silence as the mare behind the voice began to read it. Once she was finished, she gave an order to her servants. “Ah. I zee. Everyone, prepare ze carriage. We arr heading out to exzperiment.”

The Diva

Near the edge of the Desert...

The airship landed and all of its passengers would safely exit and head into the inn. Vido entered first, and made eye contact with his mother at the front of the bar. “Mama! We have a bit of a situacion.”

The older griffon noticed that her son had brought back not only the gunslinger from before, but a new friend as well. Her eyes shot open with a bit of excitement. “Ooh! Don’t worry, honey! I got rooms for all of ya, and will make sure y'all get a nice meal!”

Kora would blush due to being a tad overwhelmed from what she had just been thrust into. What didn’t help were the wandering eyes of the few patrons that had already been there that morning. “Erm...i-if it’s not too much trouble…”

Axel, having gotten enough rest, had already recovered from his sleepy state. “...Thank ya, Ms. Cass.”

“Anythin’ for my lil’ Vee’s friends!” Cassy chirped.

Vido would push the abyssinian and hippogriff towards the staircase in the hallway. “Vamos, vamos, amigos. I’ll help mama with the cooking. You two go shower up and relax, si?”

“...I’d appreciate it.” Kora looked down at herself. She realized that she still had on her sports bra and gym shorts from yesterday. “...Oogh. How embarrassing. To think I would end up all the way out here like this.”

Axel also gave in, and accepted the offer. He knew he was too deeply involved with them to ignore their efforts. “Alright, alright...yer ma is a great woman, by the way.”

“Si, it’s no problema at all,” Vido replied, “Now go catch a siesta while I help my mom.” And he left before they could respond further.

Kora re-adjusted her glasses, and sniffed the air. “...Such a curious pair of griffons,” she turned to Axel, “Sounds as if you’ve been here before, yes?”

They both started to walk up the stairs together, and Axel would reply. “Well, yeah. It’s where I started this whole darn shindig in the first place. Now things’ve gotten plumb loco on me.”

“Indeed…I can see that for myself.”

Both of the rogues went upstairs and into separate guest rooms that were isolated from the actual inn rooms.

Kora stripped nude, and folded her clothes neatly for Cassy’s laundry service that she had so graciously offered them and put them in a nearby basket. Then, she went to the shower. Contrary to popular belief, while tongue baths were a common way for abyssinians to clean themselves, many of them still needed conventional cleaning methods to keep their bodies disease-free.

“Argh…” she removed her glasses, and her vision became quite blurred towards objects that were far away. She looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she didn’t have any major injuries. Her bust was average, but her rear was rather wide from how hard she worked herself. She stepped into the shower, and started to clean herself off. “Hang on, Mynx...I will make sure that I save you. Even if it kills me. But Vido and his mother--Cass was it? They’re very accommodating. That’s how we should be able to live...freely, where we can decide what we want to do. I can’t believe I’ve been so blind this entire time. Complacent in following some creeps who want to harvest pony body parts…”

In the next room over, Axel had also started to freshen up.

He preened his wings to make sure they were in good working order, and took a look himself before he got into the shower to clean himself up. “Blech...stupid kitty bitch with massive tits. Can’t deny it felt...alright. But it was a mighty shitty tactic to use. So that’s how they be gettin’ all them slaves to fall for it…”

Axel started to think back to what he saw. All of those lonesome, emotionless faces. Ponies who had lost their will to live and found comfort in being used by someone else as a slave. It was something that he never expected to see. Prior to this, he had only figured that his family had been taken in by that mob of gangsters. But that experience showed him that there was a lot more than what met his eye.

“Other pony’s mothers, fathers, likely sisters and brothers. Children--anties and uncles. The rumors about their lost body parts were true. Horns, wings, organs--harvested for a quick buck or a meal. Just how does this place function? And beyond that...is my fam involved also? I need to know for sure. But Kora...we can’t let her sis fall to the same fate. I won’t let it happ’n.”

The beige hippogriff exited the shower, and dried himself off with his fuzzy red head of hair going wild with a puffy frizzle. His gear was spread out upon the nightstand nearby, so he went without it for the moment. He stepped into the rest of the room, and looked at the door that led to the hallway. “Hm?” Right beneath the doorway, a note had been slipped. He grasped it in his claw, and gave it a read…

“...A brunch invitation from Ms. Cass. Guess this is her way of sayin’ soup’s on.”

After he read the note, he left the inn room and locked the door with the key was given. While he didn’t show it, the hippogriff was actually a touch excited to taste her cooking. To him, the best meals were made when a family was all together. He knew that well enough after all.

“Can’t help but wonder what she and pilot-boy are gonna be makin’ together. Reminds me of cookin’ with my Ma. She always made the best scavenger’s beans and apple pie…”

He flew towards a room at the end of the hall and to the right. This is where the griffon mother took residence. A home within her business so to speak. It made things much easier when dealing with her various customers.

“Guess that makes sense,” he mumbled under his breath, “Gotta deal with everythin’ somehow.”

As soon as he made that right turn, he would see a familiar bespectacled abyssinian.

Though, her attire was completely different.

“...Kora?”

Her ear flicked, and she turned around to greet him. “Ah. Sir Remington. Are you well?”

“I am, but uh...what all are ya wearin’?” he looked her over.

Kora now had on an oversized white T-shirt that draped over her figure not unlike a sheet. The shirt itself read, in big, bold font: ‘I 💙 FISH!’ with a picture of what appeared to be a tuna, salmon, and trout positioned sideways and travelling down to the bottom of the shirt.

“Oh, this?” she grasped the hem of the shirt. “...Lady Cass offered me this while she washes my other clothes. Apparently it’s one of Vido’s old t-shirts, hence the sheet-like appearance this article of clothing grants me. Nevertheless, I appreciate it. She’s a very generous woman.”

The comically large shirt draped over the young she-cat caused Axel to chuckle to himself. “...Heh-heh.”

Unfortunately, Kora picked up on this, and shot him a judgemental look. “Hey now, what’s so funny?”

Axel cleared his throat, and ceased his enjoyment of the sight. “Ah, sorreh. Just kinda surprised me is all.”

“Hmph,” she folded her arms. “You Equestrians are rather lucky. You have the privilege of being able to walk around casually in your birthday suits. But unless we grow our fur out, we have to conceal ourselves.”

“Well actually, we have to conceal ourselves also,” Axel replied, “Dunno how it works. But it’s like our bodies just sorta hide our naughty bits when we don’t need ‘em out. It’s why you see many stallions walkin’ and flyin’ around without a care.” He glanced at the shirt one more time. “But I think it suits ya. Love me some fish.”

“Pony biology is curious...but yes!” her eyes sparkled at the mere mention of the aquatic delicacies. “I adore ichthyological feasts! With a glass of milk, I’m just over the moon!” She quickly hid her excitement, and calmed herself as she brought her tail to her front. “Ahem...sorry. I mean, fish is great.”

“...Wonder why her speech is so...refined for a Kluger. They don’t really talk like that over yonder.” Even though he thought about it, Axel felt it was a rather personal thing to discuss and didn’t wish to bring attention to it just yet. “Agreed. Wonder if that’s what Lady Magpie is makin’.”

Kora sniffed the air, but found nothing. “Whatever it is, I suppose we will find out when the time is--”

“VAMOS COMPADRES!'' The door to Cass’s residence swung open at the hands of Vido.

This triggered Kora’s natural flight response, and she quickly scampered up to the ceiling with a hiss. “HHHHHH!” But once she realized nothing was out to harm her, she relaxed. “...Oh. It’s you.”

As the she-cat dropped to the floor, Vido would reply. “That’s right. Food’s ready. Don’t be shy--eat as much as you want.”

Axel used his wing to dust Kora off, and stepped forward into the griffon’s living room where the smell of delicious food came from. “C’mon, I can’t wait to see what--...well I’ll be damned.”

“What is it?” Kora asked and followed them both in.