Advent Of A Gunslinger

Just as Kora had described, an award ceremony was set to take place in the middle of the reformed Klugetown. Officiated by the king and queen of Abyssinia themselves, Axel and his friends would all stand on a stage in the middle of the square behind the curtains as they awaited their arrival.

“Gah…I don’t do very well with no large crowds,” Axel muttered as he poked his head out to view just how many individuals had shown up and taken their seats. Among them, familiar faces were included such as Ms. Martha and Clarabelle. The latter waved at Axel from her seat in the back row. “Gets me all nervous…”

“Relax yourself, amigo,” Vido replied as he pat his gunslinger friend on the back, “You’ve got nothing to worry about. After all of the shit we’ve gone through together, you deserve some form of recognition. Isn’t that right, Kora?”

The she-cat agreed as she flicked her tail. “Hm? Oh yes, of course. This was quite the hard-fought war that I believe will go down in history as one of the most important, world-altering events that Equestria certainly wasn’t apart of.”

“No kiddin’,” Axel replied with a chuckle, “For all their talk about friendship and shit, they certainly ain’t stickin’ they necks out for nobody else.”

“The griffons in particular still have it pretty bad,” Vido admitted, “No telling whether things will actually get better or not.”

Axel snapped his claw fingers as an idea popped into his head. “Ya know. I’ve been wonderin’ about Griffonstone these past few months and kinda realized that they problem is that they ain’t got no real farmlands. The minotaurs are just fine since they can grow they own food.”

“To be fair,” Kora interjected, “The minotaurs do have the distinct advantage of being able to produce their own milk. I don’t think Griffons can do that--can they, Lord Magpie?”

“In very small quantities for infants usually,” Vido replied, “Not enough to bottle and sell like the cow ladies can.”

“Hm…then we’s gon’ need a trade route…” Axel muttered as he gave it some more thought. “Maybe it can be a part of my little acceptance speech or whatever.”

Soon enough, the king and queen of Abyssinia arrived to greet them behind the curtains.

“Ah. Here they are,” King Mau proclaimed as he walked around and shook each of their hands/paws. “The heroes of our homeland and saviors of the entire south. How does it feel?”

“Oh! You’re all just so adorable!” Queen Bombay purred as she approached each one with a hug and friendly nuzzles against the sides of their faces. “A team of rag-tag superheroes coming together to save everyone! It’s like something out of a movie!”

“I told you those films had a basis in reality,” the king asserted, teasing his wife.

“Oh shush--I knew they’d make it the whole time,” the queen huffed, rolling her eyes in responded to her husband.

Axel, Kora, and Vido simply laughed amongst themselves as they listened to the old couple banter with each other.

Just then, Mio would arrive and join in on the conversation. “Am I interrupting anything? Ah! Your majesties. It’s great to see you both here,” he said with a bow out of respect.

“Rise, young man,” Mau urged him to stand upright, “You’re our equal now and deserve to be treated as such. In fact, we’d like it if you remained on stage during the ceremony.”

“Me?” Mio asked while pointing at himself, “How come?”

Bombay approached him and threw her arms around him to give him a loving hug. “We…have something that involves you that we’d like to make official. And public. If that’s okay with you.”

Mio hesitated for a moment, but eventually returned the gesture by hugging her back. “I…of course, ma’am. Whatever you’d like to announce, I’d be happy to hear it.”

Bombay backed away and sniffled with a small smile on her face. “That’s…that makes me happy. Alright, hun,” she looked at her husband, “Get the medals ready and have someone open the curtain.”

“On it,” Mau replied as he started to make the final preparations.

Within minutes, the curtain opened up to the crowd. Within the crowd, Roseanne had appeared alongside Chang, completing the auxiliary members of Axel’s crew that had been with him on this grand adventure.

The trio stood in line on stage next to Mio--who was addressed by the royal couple first.

“Thank you for your attendance,” Mau started off, “On behalf of everyone here, as well as the entire Southern Hemisphere, I’m happy to congratulate all of the wonderful people who fought to end the slave routes that wormed their way through Klugetown.”

The audience was given a moment to applaud, and Bombay took over right after. “But before we begin. My husband and I have a rather important announcement to make. And a proposal to Mio…”

“...Again: Me?” Mio muttered in awe as he flicked his tail, “I mean…yes?”

Mau approached him…with official documentation dedicated to Mio’s formal adoption. “...You’ve shown us that you deserve to be brought into our family. After risking everything from tail to claw, we would be honored to take you in as our son.”

“...If you’d like, of course,” Bombay added, “There’s no pressure in accepting right now. However, we wanted to make our feelings known far and wide. No matter what choice you make: We love you, Mio.”

The tom paused, and hid his eyes as he shed rivers of tears behind them. “I…I don’t know what to say…”