Chapter 14 – No Going Back

Josh, Shane and Twilight walked through the streets of the town they were in. It was a typical port town, with plenty of ships, fishing shops, and street vendors.

"Reminds me a bit of some parts of Seattle," Shane mentioned. Josh rolled his eyes. "Never been to Seattle." Shane groaned. "Are you sure you're human?" Josh was

silent for a second. "…Not entirely," he finally answered.

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Gilda had hitched a ride on a trade ship to her homeland, hidden in a barrel. Half of her wanted to rip herself out of the barrel and roar at the ship's crew until they

followed her orders. The other half told that half to shut up until they reached the mainland. It was already hard enough to not rip out these stupid griffins' throats for

being so slow, but she kept reminding herself that she did not know how to handle a ship. She hunched down, hidden inside her barrel, and began to drift off to sleep.

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This town was quaint, Josh decided. Then again, most of his coworkers would laugh at him if he ever used the word 'quaint' in a sentence. Then again, he was in a land

of magical talking ponies. As he walked with Shane and Twilight through the streets of this strange land, they came upon a large wall, with guards stationed at the

only visible entrance. "Halt!" a guard said. "What is your business here?" Twilight held up the letter for them to inspect. "We are here on royal business with your

king," she said. Moments later, after the two griffins had determined the authenticity of the document, they escorted the trio through the wall and towards a massive

castle, far larger than that of Equestria.

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"Louis XVI, all over again," Shane whispered to Josh, who laughed. "Quiet back there! No laughing in the palace, king's orders," the guard in front of them ordered.

After a long walk through several decadent hallways and courtrooms, they finally came to a huge set of doors. The guard in front knocked, and a voice from the other

side replied "Yes, come in…" It sounded sad. The doors opened, and the two guards hastened back to their posts.

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When the doors were opened, all Josh could do was stare. The king had plastered news reports about Gilda all over his walls, as well as pictures of her and him

(judging from the age of Gilda in the pictures, this had been several years ago). "You must be Aperture Science." The king said. It wasn't a question. "Yes, and we've

come to negotiate the end of the war." The king almost cracked a smile, but apparently thought better of it. "Good. My people have been suffering long enough. Will

you give us what we want?" Josh nodded, feeling uncomfortable. "You will get precisely as much access to our technologies as Equestria currently does. The king's

frown deepened even further, if that was possible. "That won't do. We'll have to see if you can come up with something of a better offer. Guards, take them away."

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Security guards burst through the doors, surrounding the three. In a last-ditch bid for escape, Twilight desperately enveloped Shane in magic, and threw him out the

window, meaning to follow him herself. However, she was sprayed with some sort of gas canister by one of the guards and quickly fell unconscious. Josh was busy

himself, fighting three of the guards. It was too much, however, and one of them got him with the spray of gas. Josh's last thought was 'dammit, Shane,' and quickly fell

to the floor.

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Twilight woke up to find herself in a prison cell. The walls were off-white, and from what she could see from outside her cell, the place was huge. Clearly this was a

more 'modern' prison, as instead of bars across the doorway it had a single, heavy steel door. Josh was still very asleep from whatever had happened. What had

happened, anyway? She was distracted by the door opening. She lunged at the intruder, ready to rip out its very spine, but was restrained by a metal chain attached

to the wall. When had she been chained to the wall? Twilight groaned as the events of the previous day caught up to her. "Very nice," the newcomer said. This griffin

was dressed in the most outlandish fashion Twilight had ever seen, wearing an actual dress. And it was a he. "Do you like it?" he asked, noticing her look. "It's the

latest fashion around these parts. Of course, you wouldn't know that. "What do you want?" Twilight said, trying to keep herself from breaking into tears.

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"What do I want?" the voice repeated. "I want control. We all want control." To Twilight's horror, twelve more figures walked in, taking up almost the full space of the

room. "Who are you?" she asked. "We are the Council. We're the ones who are really in control here, not that wretched king."

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The griffins seemed to be focused on Josh, still sound asleep. "Wake him up," one said. It was not a question. Twilight gently shook Josh awake, and he looked up to

see the thirteen griffins in a circle around him. "Now. You're going to give us all your technology, or die." The apparent leader spoke, with a heavy accent. "No." Josh

said, equally firm in his stance. One of the council grinned, and kicked him in the face, sending him stumbling back and leaving a red mark. "You'll break. It's just a

matter of when." The leader whispered, as the thirteen filed out, leaving Josh and Twilight alone in the cell.

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Shane came to as the sun was burning over his head. Evidently, it had been some time since he had landed here. Speaking of which… where was he? He was in a

small cellar, dark except for a beam of sunlight, encasing his body in a perfect circle of light. Shane got up, and looked around. "Lookin' for somethin', are you?" an old,

wheezing voice spoke up behind him. Shane jumped about a foot and turned to face the intruder.

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What he saw was the king of griffins – only somehow… older. Bruised. Scarred. The griffin saw his recognition, and laughed, a slow, painful sound. "Don't worry

yourself, cub. I'm Matt's brother." The griffin held out an object to him, and Shane recognized the Gravity Gun. "Looks like this is yours." The griffin stated. Shane took

the Gravity Gun, inspected it for flaws, and finally asked, "Who are you, exactly?" The griffin cocked its head, looking at him. "Like I said, I'm King Matthias' brother. My

name's Grunel, and I'm also the janitor for the palace." Shane was confused. "You're the janitor? Shouldn't you be royalty?" Grunel laughed. "I never liked that sort of

thing, I just wanted to keep the place clean. So when Matt started going crazy over the loss of his daughter, I helped him out behind the scenes. Now that I've

introduced myself, who are you?" Shane introduced himself and explained the recent events with the Council, the king and his friends. Grunel frowned. "Sounds like

blackmail to me… Best thing would be to just get out of the country and back to Equestria while you can."

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"You're going to have to head through these old passageways through the catacombs to be completely unseen. They'll take you to a bar outside the castle if you go

straight… and just about anywhere in the palace, if you can find the right door." The griffin opened a door behind him, which had been hidden by wine bottles and

barrels. "Happy trails… and good luck with your friends." Grunel smiled as he closed the door.

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A/N: We now return you to our regularly scheduled hiatus. I can't apologize enough for the distance between these chapters, as college and a few other things

have been keeping me busy to no end. Review so I have motivation to get off my arse and work on the next chapter.