Author's Notes:

Warning: There are numerous sex scenes in red scattered throughout the chapter in several places. If you wish to skip, just scroll down to normal black.

"Are-are you angry? A-about w-what happened—back there?" Mittens nervously asked Trevar once they were inside. Trevar stopped and looked back at her.

"Mange!? You thought I had mange!?" he demanded with a mock growl. She cringed at his words, and he lunged for her before she could bolt away and grabbed her by the neck. "I'll show you mange!" he snarled before giving her beak a playful nip. She held herself still, frozen in his grip, and after a couple seconds of teething on her, he released her, leaving her to blink at him in confusion.

"Nyah, I'm not mad," he finally said giving her a pat on the shoulders.

"I am, however, astonished by the level of stupid that happened back there," he sighed. "A mind can process and dismiss only so much stupid before it gets overwhelmed and begins to shut down. Those three kids exceeded that amount by at least a couple levels of magnitude," he said, laughing. "But then I find out that you thought I also had mange? Honestly?" he asked, feeling rather hurt.

"Sorry," she meekly muttered, cringing again.

"Well, you're not going to lose any fur from being with me," he said. "But I am going pluck out all your damned feathers!" he added, tugging on a couple on her brow, and she nervously winced.

"Just kidding," he relented with a sigh, seeing how she was still scared of having offended him. "What I really want to do is start working on you with the hair brush and preening pick we bought today," he told her, making her perk up when she realized what he had said. She smiled and he returned it before leaning in to give her beak a kiss where he had playfully nipped her.

"And—and I bought something for you, too," she seductively told him.

"You don't mind we split our time between you and your pegasus friend, do you, Pinkie?" Panthera asked. "Pardus can stay with you while I want to discuss some matters with Rainbow Dash."

"Oh, not at all!" the pink earth pony happily exclaimed. "But aren't you already talking with her?"

"Yes, I am," Panthera replied, noting how this creature's heightened senses must be still detecting her hologram projection on the cloud above. "But the range for my projections is rather limited. And the matters I wish to discuss would beyond my ability to maintain contact with her."

"¡No problemo!" the Equestrian creature happily replied, hopping on all four of her hooves to move closer to her brother.

'You know you will owe me for this,' Pardus sent with a smirk.

'Consider it payback for not warning me of that data cascade earlier,' Panthera shot back as she flapped her wings and lifted up.

'Except we three agreed to never charge each other exponentially calculated interest, especially compounded by the second,' he grumbled.

'This is true,' Panthera admitted after thinking about it for a moment.

"So, you were able to detect our projections, even with them invisible?" Pardus inquired.

"Uh-huh!" Pinkie Pie happily admitted. "Although, at first, it was a little tough to isolate which ones were you guys and which were fakes."

"Interesting," Pardus said, now intrigued. "So, how does that work with you?" he asked.

"Oh! I have this thing I call my 'Pinkie-sense'!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

After he was finished brushing her leonine fur and preening the feathers covering her head, wings and rear, she picked out one of her bags accumulated from their shopping. After digging her face deep into it, she pulled out one of the fruits she had purchased at the market.

"Those were a little expensive, weren't they?" Trevar asked, recognizing it. She had gotten three of them and Trevar was astonished when the vendor asked for four hundred and fifty bits, especially when he had seen other vendors about selling bushels of carrots, bunches of flowers, and baskets of apples for only three or four bits per load.

That that fruit stand didn't seem to be segregated from those selling far cheaper produce, or that the security didn't appear any greater for the one selling a single item at a hundred and fifty apiece, was quite astonishing.

"This is passionfruit," Mittens explained. "It's very expensive, and rather dangerous, too."

"Dangerous?" Trevar inquired with reserve. "This wouldn't by chance be some sort of illegal product on this world, would it? I usually make it my business to put an end to that sort of trade back home."

"No, nothing illegal about this," Mittens protested. "It comes from the Everfree, where collecting it is quite hazardous. Also, it's normally purchased by those—well—couples that might have a—few problems—and need special—help—in having children."

"So—this is an aphrodisiac?" Trevar asked, confused. "Not really an issue that I need help with. I've got no problems getting up for the—uh—fun."

"Me, either," Mittens said, putting her paw on his chest. "Although, the problem is—you're not a griffon."

"I don't follow," he said, still confused.

"Hello, again," Panthera greeted, switching off her cloak after sneaking up behind Rainbow Dash. Then she turned off her projected duplicate as the creature began looking about for the voice that called to her.

"Gyaah! Stop doin' that!" the azure pegasus yelled after finally spotting her hovering there.

"Um—anyhow, I know you and Pardus were interrupted this morning, but I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to race with me," Panthera said. "We were both very impressed by your moves the other day when you chased him through those catacombs. He and I are virtually equal with this sort of thing, so it's no slight to him for us to race instead."

"Heh! Sure!" the pegasus happily exclaimed. "I don't often have anypony who can keep up with me! Now, it looks like I've got two!"

Mittens crooned, pausing in the preparation of the passionfruit to enjoy his fingers idly combing through the underside covert feathers of her wing. She set down the knife to turn her head and nuzzle him in appreciation.

"The others are going to be so jealous of me for being first when you get around to preening them like this," she whispered. "And I'm going to be so jealous while I have to wait my turn again."

"Not that I'm trying to cause any strife," he murmured, when they finished kissing. He kissed her deeply once more. "We're all in situations we hadn't anticipated. But all we can do is make the best of them. Making new friends and giving pleasure is the least we should do, and is certainly better than many of the alternative choices."

It was a very odd sensation kissing her. Her beak wasn't boney, like those of the avians of Earth. Rather, it was more akin to hard rubber. Yes, if she wanted, she could very easily do some damage with a bite from it. But at the same time, it was malleable enough that she was able to do things like exposing her teeth in a smile, as well as other—pleasant—activities.

"It is regrettable that your species had lost so much in the past," he gently continued when they finished. "This world has so many opportunities. Of course, there's the risk of conflicts. But there are also so many, many more cooperative and productive opportunities. It could very well be the sort of paradise we humans have been searching for for so very long."

"True," she sadly agreed.

She turned back to the plate holding the passionfruit and used her beak to pass him a wedge from the peeled succulent, feeding it to him with a grin. Laughing as he took it, he concentrated on the flavor as he chewed.

It was surprisingly pleasant and perfect blend of salty-sour-sweet that exploded in his mouth.

"That is delicious!" he exclaimed as he waited for her to finish one of her pieces.

"Yes, it is!" Mittens purred. "So-o-o creamy! Ten times better than butter!"

"Really?" he asked, astonished. "It doesn't taste like butter at all to me."

"For me, yes," she replied. "Fhat's vone of fhe feazures asout fassionfruit," she said passing him another wedge with her beak. "It's specific to the individual's favorite flavors. It's even been known to change as the individual's preferences change."

"Intriguing," Trevar replied, taking it. They continued until they had each eaten half.

"So, aside from the One Fruit To Savor Them, One Fruit To Find Them, And In Their Bedrooms Bind Them, what else does it—whoa!" he exclaimed when the dizziness hit him. It was so sudden and he was seriously drunk!

"Well, there's that Dizzy Super Strong Hard Cider Ride that you're probably feeling right about—now," she said, grinning. "And while it's a very good thing we're not in the air at the moment—now's the best time for us to start flying!" she said as she kept looking at him while she turned her body around. She was seductively licking her beak as she lifted her rump as her tail feathers spread out.

"…And this is th' obstacle course Applejack lets me keep up out here over their back forty," the pale blue pegasus said, finishing the tour. "I use this t' practice my Sonic Rainbooms!"

"Hmm," Panthera grunted as she analyzed the course and came to a disappointed conclusion. "But even at near-Mach speeds, it's clear this won't put you through as tough a run as we had in the castle ruins. So this can't be the hardest route you train with."

"Yeah, you're right, there," Rainbow Dash admitted. "There's Ghastly Gorge, out in th' Everfree, which is longer and tougher than this. But even that's nowhere near as tough as that tunnel. Of course, I had flown up and back that thing a few times b'fore Pardus stole tha' device from the humans, so I already knew th' layout."

"The same with us," Panthera agreed with a nod.

"But … hay! … It's easy enough fer me t' set 'er up like th' tunnel!" Rainbow Dash offered.

Just as he had done before with her, he spent a good half-hour just petting and scritching her body, focusing on those erogenous zones that she confirmed from their previous times at love-making. Only when she couldn't tolerate any more of that did he finally directly touch her sex with his fingers.

He began by using his left hand to mercilessly tease the sensitive chevron-shaped bare patch of skin branching up from her opening while his right arm and head combined to gently hug her feathered haunch as well as occasionally reach for her belly from between her legs to tease her leonine nipples. His telepathic connection with the shadowcats to keep track of time let him know she lasted only about another fifteen minutes of that.

"GYYAAHH!" she screamed as he inserted his middle finger into her. After a little bit of wiggling, she was soon rapidly panting. "I—I—can't—believe—th—that's—just—from—using—y—y—your—claws!" she whimpered.

"No claws, remember?" Trevar chuckled, gently working his digit in deeper and probed about inside. "Humans have fingers. Not claws." He focused on grinding the tip of his finger down upon the inside of her pubic bone and knew he once again scored on her G-spot from the way her rump was suddenly bucking against his hold on her. Oh, and from her screams.

"Okay, I think that should do 'er!" Rainbow Dash announced once she was finished with the rearranging the cloud obstacles.

"Yes, that seems about right," Panthera responded, rather disappointed.

"What's wrong?" the pegasus asked.

"It initially looked good in theory, but the more I think about it, the less it seems worthwhile," Panthera admitted. "I mean, the run you and Pardus did before reaching open sky was less than three seconds."

"Just what were ya' hopin' for?" she angrily demanded.

"Oh—about seven minutes," Panthera said, grinning. The pegasus pony's jaw nearly fell to earth at that. It was a good long drop from where they were hovering.

"Wha—bu—bu—wha--???? ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Rainbow Dash stammered wide-eyed. But then, she evidently stopped to think about it.

"Hmm! Yeah, I guess yer right," Rainbow Dash finally agreed, putting a hoof to her chin. "Even if we were ta' go repeatedly 'round this course at those speeds, we'd tear it apart in ten seconds flat. Th' only thing 'round here that could give us a good run like that is Ghastly Gorge, but nopony can construct those additional twists and turns in th' Everfree."

"Well, maybe you can't, but I can," Panthera said with a toothy grin.

"So, do you know the difference between kinky and perverted?" Trevar asked her.

"Um, no," she had to admit.

"Kinky is when a guy uses a feather to tickle himself," he said, putting his tip against her opening. "Perverted is when," he was telling her as he gently pushed and slid inside her moist channel, "he uses the whole griffon."

"Oooh, I think I'm going to like your kind of perverted," she crooned as she clamped down on his intrusion. "You know any more jokes like that?"

"Lots," he said, grinning.

"Why does it take 100 million sperm to fertilize an egg?"

"Why?"

"Because not one of those stupid male's bastards will stop and ask for directions."

…

"Who came first? The griffon or the guy having sex with her?"

…

"Little Johnny came down to breakfast. Since they lived on a farm, his mother asked if he had done his chores," Trevar began.

"'Not yet,' Little Johnny replied.

"His mother tells him no breakfast until he does his chores.

"Well, now he's a little pissed, so when he goes to feed the chickens, he kicks one of them. Then he goes on to feed the cows, and still pissed, he kicks a cow. He then goes to feed the pigs and sure enough, he kicks a pig, too.

"He goes back in for breakfast and his mother just gives him a bowl of dry cereal.

"'How come I don't get any eggs and bacon? And why don't I have any milk in my cereal?' Johnny asked.

"'Well,' his mother says, 'I saw you kick a chicken, so you don't get any eggs for a week. I saw you kick the pig, so you don't get any bacon for a week either. I also saw you kick the cow, so for a week you aren't getting any milk.'

"Just then, his father comes down for breakfast and kicks the cat halfway across the kitchen.

"Little Johnny looks up at his mother with a smile, and said: 'Are you going to tell him, or should I?'" Trevar finished and waited for her response.¹

"Being the Cat-Lord, should you not have killed Johnny's father for kicking the cat?" Mittens finally asked. Trevar blinked for several moments before bursting out in laughter.

"Yeah, I certainly have considered that sort of punishment for those," he finally admitted, still laughing.

…

"So why did the griffon walk all across town?" he asked.

"Wh-wh-why?" she panted as he continued thrusting.

"To get fucked," he said, slamming in deep and held himself there.

"EE-EE-EE-Ee-ee-eerr-rr-rrr-rr-rrr!" she squeaked then purred, clamping down hard on his member as he held her tightly.

"So how 'xactly yer pullin' this off again?" the pegasus pony asked for the fifth time as they flew over the Everfree Forest.

"Holographic projections," Panthera calmly responded, demonstrating. Again. She showed the pegasus a scaled down diagram of the original tunnels then the extrapolated repeated continuation of them.

"Also, since there's no need to invite the creatures you told me that live there into our race, I don't have to project the course down inside the gorge," Panthera went on. "I'm not about to make it a true maze. The entire course will be a single trail from start to finish. But since some of the turns will have us going backwards, it'll be necessary to let us both see the gorge as a guide for the overall progress of the run."

"Sounds doable," Rainbow Dash finally admitted.

In a little more than an hour, they were there at the start of the canyon, and Panthera guided the pegasus up a couple hundred feet and projected out the course to a range of three miles.

"That's as far as I can reach, but as we go through, I'll be extending the next sections as I get closer to the far end of what's there now," she explained by way of demonstrating with a miniaturized diagram of the canyon and the obstacle course complete with moving indicators showing their progress and the projected extensions being added as their avatars advanced. The mare watched in earnest as the demonstration played out. "Also, there'll be no need to keep up the projections for those segments behind us," Panthera finished.

"Sounds cool!" the pony eagerly agreed. "Let's get started!"

"And you should like this," Panthera told her as they got set to fly off the mark. "Ready, set, GO!"

They were both flying for the entrance, but the pony's ears obviously picked up the sounds that Panthera added to the environment: an audio playback of the instrumental version of "Dogfight At 100Gs" by Cosmic Furball. It caused her to slow down a little, letting Panthera gain a big head start on her. But the shadowcat didn't try to take advantage of it. Instead, she slowed down to allow Rainbow Dash to catch up again.

"Huh? What the hay is that!?" she yelled.

"Just some appropriate tunes to fly to," Panthera told her, laughing. "It'll follow us through the run, so don't worry about missing any of it."

"That—IS—AWESOME!" the azure pony exclaimed. Together, they ramped up to their full speed, which was exactly what Panthera was hoping for.

Back when Pardus was trying to dispose of the nuke and ditch the creature chasing him, they were both going about Mach point eight through the tunnels. He had to make turns that actually were pushing a hundred Gs. And even with his turns that tight, he was still scraping against the walls here and there. But the readings he got from those few sightings of Rainbow Dash following him indicated some disturbing conclusions. The Gs she was pulling seemed to exceed his estimates by a comfortable margin, made all the more maddening with the interference from the rock walls absorbing his sensor readings.

But out here, with her providing the holographic projections of the tunnel, she wouldn't face that problem. When this creature maxed her turns, Panthera would have a clean and clear shot to measure the G-forces this bitch was pulling.

And less than one minute into their flight, she got the readings that confirmed her worse fears: Rainbow Dash was pulling well over a thousand! The only uncertainty was that the pony was exceeding Panthera's ability to measure it!

This creature was performing, as close as possible to measure it, perfect ninety degree turns! The best the shadowcats could muster were turns at a radius of seven point four meters!

"Okay!" he panted as he furiously thrust into her. "What did the griffon say to the trouser snake?"

"Wh-wh-what?" she barked.

"Harder! Bigger! Faster! Deeper! More! Yes! Yes! More! More! Now!"

"R-r-r-really—sh-sh-she s-s-said a-all th-that?" Mittens exclaimed between pants as he frantically pumped her rear.

"Y-y-yep!" he responded, speeding up even faster into her. "A-and a-all in one word!"

"Wh-what word?" she exclaimed. But then she suddenly gripped his member, causing him to nearly hurt himself as she did so as he was just starting another inward thrust. Fortunately, the spasm in her channel released him and he drove in deep and help himself there, waiting for the rest of her orgasm to play out.

"EE-EE-EE-EE-AR-RR-RG-GH!" she screamed.

"I do believe that was it!" he panted. Mittens had to cackle in laughter at the cleverness he used to pull out the punchline, her guffaws causing her channel to spasm in time with her laughter.

Then, within moments, he was also orgasming and roaring out with his own expression of pleasure. Suddenly, she was squeaking in alarm at the sensation as he came inside her.

"Okay, you've GOT to let me throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Pinkie Pie complained, continuing to harass him since Panthera departed.

"You already did that," Pardus grumbled. "You have my apologies for not being able to attend, but Panthera was there to represent us both."

"But it's not the same!"

"Yes, it is," Pardus countered. "Most of your kind can't tell the difference between my sister and me…"

"I can!"

"…Then you'd be the exception," Pardus continued unfazed. "And there's nothing that I can add to the conversations Panthera had with your lot that needs to be said."

"But there's cake! And pies! And cupcakes! And doughnuts! And…"

"All of which, quite frankly, would be wasted by having me eat any of it," Pardus countered. "My body is essentially—rock. It's a mineral. I don't get my life-energy from chemical nutrients. I get it from an internal sub-spatial tap."

"But you can eat, can't you?" she asked.

"Can, yes. Ever need to, no."

"Awww! But I was looking so forward to making you smile…" the pink menace pleaded.

"Look, Pinkie Pie," he said, turning to her. "We appreciate the effort. But you have to understand: cats smile without 'smiling'. And if we ever do 'smile', as you're used to, well…" He pulled back his lips and exposed his teeth to demonstrate. Suddenly, several ponies up and down the street started screaming.

Pardus stopped his grimace and looked at them galloping off.

"I believe they made my point for me," he muttered deadpan, facing back to her. "But trust me. I'm laughing right now. Hysterically, in fact."

The pink pony looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then suddenly brightened again.

"Oh! Oh! I should introduce you to my sister, Maud!" she cheerfully exclaimed. "I bet you three would just hit it off great!"

"You mean like this?" Mittens asked as she lay on her back. Her wings were outstretched over the bed and her pelvis partly hung over the edge, allowing her tail to bend back more than ninety degrees behind her spine, and her rear legs were stuck out straight to either side; her talons had hooked into the sheets to hold her feet there.

"Perfect," Trevar said, approaching her. He easily reentered her, making them both moan with pleasure.

He reached forward with his arms to hug Mittens' barrel where her fur gave way to the feathers at her waist. In response, Mittens brought her leonine paws to gently grip his arms with her claws. As he thrust deep into her, he was privy to how it was affecting her as her claws reflexively twitched on his arms as well as being able to see her eagle talons also clench. He was especially mindful to ensure that every time he hilted deep into her, he shifted his hips to grind his pubic hairs against the shallowly hidden clitoris just inside her opening. With them belly-to-belly this time, it would be sure to quickly send her once more into orgasm.

The added benefit was it gave him a means by which to tease a couple of her nipples with his mouth.

"Okay. Lying like this, you're so-o-o restoring the term 'spread eagle' back its original definition," Trevar laughed, getting back up to speed. Of course, going faster meant he couldn't constantly grind his pubic bone against hers on every thrust. But the random times that he was able to remember did serve to reignite her frenzied reactions.

"EE-EE-EE-EE-EE-EE-AR-RR-RR-RR-RG-GH!" Mittens screamed as she suddenly began thrashing about. Trevar grinned, despite his arms getting ripped by her front claws. He still had plenty of drive to go before he reached his peak again.

He waited as she calmed down and for her claws to release his arms.

"Did I hurt you, Lord?" she exclaimed, evidently smelling his blood in the air.

"Minor scratches," Trevar said, dismissing the matter. "Nothing to be concerned about. In my line of work, I've often had to tell myself, 'if you're not drawing your own blood, you're not properly doing the job'. I guess this is one more job where that applies."

"Are you certain?" she asked, trying to disengage. But he had resumed his thrusts.

"I'm certain. I like doing my jobs. In time, I migrated to professions I was best suited for. And naturally, some jobs are certainly much more fun than others. So please relax and let me enjoy doing my work," he told her with a grin. "And please let me know how well I'm doing it by singing for me."

She resumed her purring.

In time, they both came together.

"Oh, that was wonderful!" Mittens sighed as her breathing rate began to slow. "What shall we do next?"

Trevar's eyes widened in alarm as he lay on her belly, desperately panting for air.

What's it going to take to wear her out? he fearfully wondered. So far, he had been able to keep her experiencing two or three orgasms for every one that he did. And counting he had done with foreplay, she had at least seven or eight to his two!

It was true that he was nearly seventy-seven years old, but measurements of his telomeres done by the panthers confirmed that every time he used the Gateway, his human form was reset to that of a person in his mid-twenties, with the health and stamina that comes from having such. But even that has its limits!

This bloody cat-bird's insatiable! he concluded.

"Okay, there's one more thing I can think of that should satisfy you," Trevar slyly said as he stepped away from Mittens.

"Oh, shit! GOTTAGO!!" Pardus suddenly exclaimed, launching into the air and engaging his cloak. 'Trevar! TREVAR! DON'T DO THA--!'

"Awww! Just when it was getting interesting," Pinkie Pie sighed.

The griffon watched as Mittens' eyes recovered from the flash.

"Wha—who are you!" she angrily exclaimed when she could see again. "What have you done with the Cat-Lord!"

"How do I look?" he asked.

"L-L-Lord Tr-Trevar?" she cried in astonishment.

"Oh—fu-u-u-uck!" Trevar sighed, suddenly realizing what he had done.

"Uh—yes—yes! By your command!" Mittens instantly exclaimed, and she turned about to present herself to him.

Trevar looked at her and sighed. "Well, not exactly what I meant when I said it, but—it is appropriate," he said, shrugging his wings.

Just then, Pardus revealed his presence in the room, accompanied by a sonic boom.

"Ah! Shit!" the shadowcat spat in disgust as he took in the sight of the male griffon calmly standing there with a bored expression on his face and the female griffon cowering in the corner with her feathers poofed out to make her look three times her normal size.

"No! NO! NO!" Trevar instantly yelled out. "Don't do that, Mittens! Pardus! Never, never say that! Please!"

"You do know this complicates matters, don't you?" Pardus growled.

"Not as much as ordering her to take a dump would have!" Trevar shot back.

"Mittens," Pardus softly began. "You must understand, Trevar only just learned of his ability to transform from human to griffon. You must not speak of it to anyone! Even to any of the other griffons who might learn of this!" They had to wait for her to regain control of her breathing, heartrate, and feathers before she could respond.

"Of-of course, Lord Pardus," she murmured as she finally got back to her feet. "I do understand."

"Well, we know you don't understand—yet," Pardus said sighing. "Understanding is not required, but obedience is."

"Yes, Lord Pardus," she responded.

Mittens stared at the transformed Trevar and began walking about him, looking him over.

"Y-y-you—are—magnificent!" she finally sighed in awe. "You truly are the Cat-Lord! I would be truly honored to be your mate once more!"

"My pleasure," Trevar said, grinning.

"And you'd better have another of those fruits," Pardus said surely.

"You sure about that?" Trevar asked, surprised at his clone's suggestion.

"Oh, no! He mustn't!" Mittens protested. "He's already had half of one. And nopony may eat more than that in a day or the effects can be deadly!"

"Except that he's used the Gateway and anything of that first fruit he ate has been destroyed," Pardus pointed out. "I need to analyze this damned thing to determine what it's doing to you," he growled at Trevar. "It's not like you to spill any of our little secrets, no matter how drunk you get!"

"But the fruit won't activate unless it's completely eaten, half by one lover, half by the other!" Mittens exclaimed. "And I'm still affected by the one I ate! I can't eat anymore!"

The two looked at each other and considered the options of the impasse.

"Well, I suppose I could eat the other half," Pardus finally said, shrugging his wings. "That would give me two routes of analysis to see what the hell this bloody thing is doing to you."

"Well, don't expect me to do 'Teh Gay-sex'," Trevar chuckled. "I'll do that with Panthera, but there's no way anything will ever make me drunk enough to do it with you."

"We'll see," Pardus snarkily responded.

"Is anything the matter?" Rainbow Dash asked, snapping Panthera out of her stare.

"Huh?" Panthera responded and then she remembered where she was. "Oh, nothing to be concerned about. Pardus is dealing with it.

"Well, while Pardus and I are pretty certain we can outrun you in a straight shot, it's quite clear you have us beat with maneuverability, Rainbow," she said, resuming their conversation. "Your turns are at accelerations that run beyond my ability to even measure. I can only go by what I can see of your contrail, and based on that, you're pulling infinite Gs! Your turns are so sharp they should be able to cut steel!"

"Nyah! Pardus just got lucky," the azure pegasus said with confidence. "I'm the fastest pony in Equestria!"

"You probably are," Panthera replied. "But you're forgetting: I'm not a pony."

Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times, evidently realizing that caveat was quite likely true.

"So how fast can you guys get?" she finally asked.

"Almost certainly system escape velocity," Panthera said. "But that's outside an atmosphere, where speeds are relative and the only real limit is light speed. In an atmosphere, we've never tried to test it. Probably somewhere between Mach five to ten."

"FIVE TO TEN!?" the pegasus screamed.

"You're able to do Mach three in the lower atmosphere, and got up to nearly fifteen where the air is too thin to breathe," Panthera replied. "I don't see where you should be complaining. Pardus and I don't need to breathe. We've never tried to test ourselves because we never had an opportunity or a need." Since trying to go Mach five plus would definitely get someone's attention back home, she thought.

"Well, why doncha give it a go right now?" the pegasus asked.

Panthera looked over to the sun setting below the horizon and then smiled.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Why not?"

"This is so weird!" Pardus said as he ate his portions. "I'm actually tasting pineapple!"

"Yeah, to me, it's still like a mix of pineapple, lemon, and soy sauce," Trevar commented.

"Except you don't understand," Pardus explained. "I've—" then he had to snap his mouth shut, only just realizing what he was about to do.

'Ever since I found myself in this body, I've never been able to taste anything! What's weirder, the chemical analyzers in my tongue tell me this shit should taste like celery, if it had a taste!' he sent, resuming what he was telling Trevar.

"Do you feel drunk, yet?" Trevar asked with amusement.

"Yes! Yes, I do!" Pardus replied with alarm. And despite the hilarity and dizziness of what he was feeling, Trevar was also worried.

"Well, we certainly now know this shit works on you, too!" he muttered.

"Alright!" Rainbow Dash slowly called out. "ReadysetGO!" she quickly screamed out, obviously hoping to get a good jump on Panthera. And it worked, for a fraction of a second.

It took Panthera a full second to pass the pegasus and a total of two seconds to reach Mach One instead of her normal one point seventy-four. She was on her way to Mach Three when the pony made her sonic rainboom behind her. But she didn't stop to crow in her victory—she was taking this opportunity to find out how fast she could get up to. It was nine seconds after their start for her to reach Mach Five, and her skin started to glow cherry red when she reached Mach Eight.

Engaging in sex as a griffon posed considerably different challenges than simply having sex with a griffon, least of all it being quite a different form from what he had ever experienced before, and what little he knew was only a few minutes' worth of exposure to that form.

Sure, there were similarities that helped immensely, chief of which his back half was leonine, of which he had experience using it with Panthera in the past. But the griffon's senses of smell, sight and hearing were quite different from what he was used to and, as a result, it was greatly distracting.

'Just make sure to let me know I'm aimed for the right hole!' Trevar sent Pardus.

'I'm sure Mittens'll let you know very quickly if you get it wrong,' the shadowcat responded with a laugh. 'Just like Panthera had!'

'NOT! Funny!'

But Trevar moved as Pardus telepathically directed. They might joke about it, but at least Trevar could trust the panthers wouldn't mislead him in that sort of thing. And very quickly, Mittens was crooning her pleasure.

"Oh, this is so much better!" she exclaimed. "So much thicker!"

"We always aim to please," Trevar and Pardus simultaneously said.

As Trevar got busy in her rear, Pardus walked about to lie face-to-face with her and began licking and kissing her. And thus began the subtle yet intense seduction of Mittens the Griffon.

She knew she could hold out until she got to white hot for a few seconds, which she estimated would be about Mach Nine point Five, but she didn't wish to risk damage, so she engaged her shields to insulate her. It also allowed her to take advantage of the improved aerodynamic shape. But then the ionizing air burning about her began masking her sensors' ability to read anything beyond her shields and so she decided to drop the effort. She had gotten up to Mach Eleven—and on level flight!

"Fucking-A!" she cheered. Looking back, she could see the rainbow shockwave finally peter out when it reached its maximum diameter. Happily, she reversed direction and flew back to where the pony waited, rushing back at Mach Two.

"That was AWESOME!" the mare happily called out when Panthera rejoined her. "I got up to Five and a half! What'd you get?"

"Mach Eight," Panthera said. Truthfully, she felt the use of her shields constituted cheating, but it was certainly nice to know what her limitations were, for both with and without shields.

"Wicked!" the pony exclaimed. "Like Pinkie Pie is always going on about this calls for a celebration!"

"Yes, it does," Panthera replied. "But can we do that a little later? Tomorrow, maybe? I don't want us to overstrain ourselves."

"Sure! I know whatcha mean!" the mare said, the expression of gratitude suddenly plastered on her face. "That was quite a workout!"

"Indeed," Panthera said, nodding.

"Okay! Catcha later!" the pegasus shouted as she broke off and rushed back to the village, leaving the shadowcat to sigh in relief before she turned to fly slowly to Trevar's residence.

"I apologize if I'm not doing this right," Trevar said as his beak dug through the underside of Mitten's wing. Mittens didn't seem to notice his amateurish preening as Pardus was still busy mounting her.

"Cactus dick," indeed, Trevar ruefully thought of Gilda's term for it. He wished Panthera had been a bit more honest about how intense the barbs on a feline's dick could affect a cat. When he had finished inside Mittens, it was very, very nice. But when he tried to withdraw—it was like suddenly riding a bronking horse…with claws!…and a spine that allowed her to twist about with the flexibility of a snake!!

Of course, Pardus untactfully tactfully reminded him that that sort of stimulation was necessary for feline ovulation. Trevar guessed the same must apply to griffons, too.

A bucket of blood, a double-tap of the Gateway, and a slightly weirded out Mittens later, Trevar was back to being a healthy male griffon again. Only this time, it was Pardus' turn with her.

Of course, that flaming shit eater doesn't have to worry about getting sliced to ribbons when he finally gets done with her, Trevar fumed.

But at the very least, if they could wear her out enough to allow Trevar to slip out unnoticed, he could finally track down that report of dragons they got from the purple alicorn and her pet lizard.

Trevar leapt away when Pardus suddenly roared with a snarled hiss as his grip on Mittens clenched so hard, Trevar thought she was going to be broken.

'That—was—real!' Pardus exclaimed in his mind.

Before Trevar could question him, Mittens was trying to shred the shadowcat holding her with her lion's claws and beak. Fortunately, whatever that fruit did to the panther that allowed him actually to cum, it didn't seem to affect the rest of his body. His hide easily stood up to Mittens' attack.

After nearly a minute of her standing enraged and facing Pardus, Mittens suddenly calmed down.

"Oh, yes!" she sighed as she lay down on the mattress. "As much as I enjoyed the touch of your human shape, Lord Trevar, I needed that from you as you are now and from Lord Pardus!"

"Happy to oblige," Trevar said grinning.

But at that moment, her head lowered to the bed and she curled up and began snoring. Trevar and Pardus both stared and blinked.

"Tell me it wasn't that easy!" Trevar muttered.

"Cats just need to get the proper stimulation," Pardus replied, smacking his lips, as he untactfully tactfully reminded his counterpart. "Guess griffons are somewhat related," he finished.

"Am I in time?" Panthera asked from beside them as she decloaked.

"Just," Pardus responded. "Get him out of here and I'll deal with Mittens and the rest while you're away."

Trevar triggered the Gateway and resumed his human form before climbing aboard Panthera's back. They were cloaked again before she flew them out the window.

Meanwhile, Pardus projected a holographic depiction of Trevar as a griffon and both figures crawled into bed with Mittens to lie on either side of her.

They set down a few hundred yards into the orchard behind his house, well out of sight of the guard on his kitchen door. Even so, they knew the flash would be noticed. Once off of Panthera, Trevar triggered the Gateway and he was a fifty-foot long dragon again.

It wasn't the form into which he had started life, but he had grown to like it, even over the extended period that he had been forced to remain in it because he was not aware he had a choice. Now, relishing the feel of having those draconic senses, strength, and abilities once more, his wings and tail fidgeted from his excitement of once more being in what he had come to consider his body.

He sent out his mind to evaluate the risks around him. Sure, enough, Lynard had noticed the flare from among the trees. Going to alert, he notified his comrades, but remained at his post. The pegasus' surface thoughts reminded Trevar that their shift change was soon approaching, so Trevar focused his mind's scan about.

Yes, there were the Lunar Guards: the two unicorns, each in a chariot drawn by a pair of bat-winged ponies. They, too, had seen the flash and were altering their course to investigate.

'You'd better get back inside to assist Pardus with maintaining the illusion of me being there,' Trevar told the still cloaked shadowcat.

'Another is approaching,' she said, lifting off the ground to hover between the tree tops. Trevar turned his head about to look, sending his mental probe out.

'The orange pony,' Trevar reported once he located her. Then he probed slightly deeper. 'She hadn't seen the flare. But she evidently has senses letting her know we're here—well—just me, now. She's puzzled as to where you got to.'

'Anyhow, I'll deal with the incoming,' the dragon told her as Trevar prepared to launch. 'I'll give you all a call when I return.'

'Have fun,' Panthera sent as the dragon leapt into the evening sky. She was curious as to what Applejack was looking for, so she remained hovering there to await her arrival.

'You know me,' he retorted. And then he was among the Night Guards.

They were clearly expecting to see a unicorn when they came to investigate the brilliant flare of light, not a freaking large gold dragon rocketing out of the orchard right in front of their noses.

"WHOA!" they all screamed in unison as the pegasi violently veered away in wildly separate directions.

'Good evening,' Trevar absently said to them before promptly ignoring them to focus on reaching his cruising altitude. As the two teams worked to recover and began moving to challenge him, Trevar made his intentions known by clearly skirting the boundary of the Equestrian town to aim to fly toward the area they referred as the Everfree Forest.

"HOLD, DRAGON!" one of the unicorns yelled. Trevar calmly looked behind him, then resumed his focus on his flight. They had taken positions high on his four-thirty and seven-thirty, as any proper military tactic would dictate. He knew they knew they were going to be in every disadvantage if it came to a fight, but they were at least making a show of doing their duty.

"HOLD, DRAGON!" the unicorn yelled once more. There was a bolt of energy that shot by ahead of Trevar's right wing. Trevar did the maddening thing and ignored them.

"DON'T MAKE US—" the unicorn began to yell.

'I'm not making you do anything,' Trevar said, continuing to fly on his course. 'Whether you continue your lives in health or not at all is entirely your decision. However, once you make the unwise choice, I AM in the unique position on deciding just how messy and painful such shall be for you.' Trevar continued to beat his wings a couple times before he finally looked over his shoulder again.

'Shadow Wing, are you not the one in charge? Are you willing to allow your flame-brained colleague decide the fate of you and your troops?' Trevar asked with a growl, before resuming his flight once more. The lead pegasus' face registered his surprise, and Trevar's telepathy let him know just how disrupted the sergeant's plan of attack he had been formulating in his mind. It made the dragon smile.

"Wh-what were you doing in that orchard?" Shadow Wing finally called out.

'Merely getting my bearings before resuming my journey,' Trevar responded. 'Nopony was inconvenienced nor adversely affected by my stopping there, and as you can see, I have taken no hostile action against you, despite the provocations you have already delivered. Indeed, you had seen I even went out of my way to avoid directly overflying the small community back there. I am quite aware of how easily startled your kind are.'

"Where are you headed for?" Shadow Wing finally asked, after considering Trevar's response. It was certainly not the sort of reply he or his team was expecting. For them, dragons are extremely dangerous, barely civil in the best of moods, and creatures to treat with the utmost respect. But it also required periodic challenge to remind them that hostile actions came with severe consequences as the Princesses were not hesitant in exacting retribution on misbehavior.

However, the dragon they were now facing was far more civil than any they had ever encountered, aside from the occasional familiar of unicorn-turned-alicorns.

'I'm evidently late arriving at the Migration that recently occurred,' Trevar told them.

"That was several years ago!" Shadow Wing exclaimed. "Most all the dragons have returned to their lairs!"

'I have considerably further to travel than any other dragon,' Trevar responded. 'I hope to encounter any stragglers that may still be there.'

Panthera continued to hover and remained cloaked as she watched the orange pony arrive where they had landed.

"Whoa!" Applejack exclaimed, seeing the tracks Trevar left after his transformation. "Whut's a dragon doin' landin' here? 'N he's a biggun, too!" She looked up at the trees, checking out their load of apples, and then back to the ground, evidently trying to decide about what to do.

"Well, he didn' take none, so guess no harm done," she muttered, rubbing the back of her head with a fore hoof. The sight fascinated Panthera about how they could move like that, given their general equinoid build. "Still, Ah aughtta report this ta Twilight. If any dragons are startin' ta get squirrelly, she betta be informed."

The pony took off running directly for the town, jumping the fence about her property. Satisfied, Panthera returned to the house, invisibly slipping in through the open upstairs window. She looked back out to see she got there just before the Lunar Guards arrival after their encounter with Trevar.

Good, she thought, sighing. No one got stupid up there.

As they normally did after respectively lowering the Sun and raising the Moon, Celestia and Luna sat together to quietly dine together, each desperate to not allow a repeat of the unfortunate chain of events that had resulted in Luna getting banished to the Moon for a thousand years.

They were both sipping their tea when Discord arrived with his usual flair. However, "usual flair" with Discord was a different event each and every time, otherwise it would get boring.

This time, it was a bowl of exploding beets. And by a bowl of exploding beets, the one remaining in the bowl somehow managed to coat every inch of the ceiling, walls (except for the areas directly behind the diarchs), table, and said diarchs with dripping, red, beet juice and pulp.

Luna had spat out her tea with the explosion, but Celestia had calmly continued sipping from her cup. When she was done, she calmly swallowed, and said, "Good evening, Discord. To what do we owe the pleasure? Oh, and before you begin, this had better not stain!" She went to take another sip, but then her eyes snapped open. She pulled the cup away from her mouth in order to pour the full tea cup onto the table with distain, emptying it of red beet juice.

"I warned you that letting Trevar and those shadowcats remain would be messy," Discord chided, his entire length taking up the dining table. "And look here at what it's done!" he shouted, waving his arms at the room. "But it's not too late for you to fix it!"

"Thou canst not mean to say that the human and the shadowcats are to blame for this!" Luna exclaimed. "A mess that thee hast caused!"

"Oh, but I do!" Discord protested, twisting about to look at the Lunar Princess. "I wouldn't have arrived like this if it weren't for Trevar!"

"That's quite a stretch, even for you, Discord," Celestia said, staring at him unblinking. "Seeing as how you're the one who blew up our meal."

"Do you have any idea of the power of One, dear Celestia?" he asked, smiling. "One little pony chooses to ignore One little warning from One little draconequus. One little beet repainted this entire room. So just think: One little word can paint All Of Equestria this same color! Valleys, mountainsides, fields, and cities! Only it won't be sweet beet juice flowing across the land, now will it?" he finished, taking a talon to wipe off a drop of juice dripping from the end of Celestia's snout to taste the sample.

"What art thou saying?" Luna demanded.

"A single word is all he has to utter to usurp that fat pigeon currently sitting on the Griffon throne and their Empire will be his!" the creature exclaimed as he slinked off the table to stand beside it between the mares. "You cannot afford to play the Long Game with this one, Celestia! Remember, Trevar is only human, after all and you know what humans are like! Besides, you cannot exactly afford to keep what you know about the Cat-Lord from Luna, any longer. Why, he's probably already out there, gathering an army as we speak! You need help, Celestia! And whether you want it or not, I'm going to make sure you get the help you need." And with that, Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving the room still dripping with red juices.

"What doest he mean, Celie?" Luna asked astonished and alarmed.

Celestia picked up a dripping napkin to dab at the red juice dripping from her lips. She was NOT pleased.

Trevar flew on through the night, delighted to savoring the feel of the wind on his wings. He had very few opportunities to experience this sort of freedom since the day he woke up as a dragon in that cave back in February of 1988.

On Earth, nights in the coldest of seasons were the only opportunities that he could safely slip out into the sky and just to become familiar with this form. But this world, where creatures like him could still able to travel relatively free, just the thought of that sort of freedom gave him tremendous joy. What was more, this world wouldn't care if he traveled like this in the daytime! And as he flew, he focused on recalling the beautiful ending music from the episode Mysha from "Game of Thrones", letting it play over and over in his mind.

And so, he began to try his wing at randomly flick his tail, a limb, his neck, just to shift his center of gravity in order to cement the feel of what his body could do.

Many people would simply have assumed that flying was instinctive to dragons, but they would be totally wrong. Flying had to be learned, just as humans, in fact, had to learn to walk! Humans made walking almost instinctive by developing the muscle memories from dozens of years of practice. In the same way, he needed to learn to fly. Much as he would have liked to try this at home, but going out in the dead of night in winter was quite unappealing to him.

Somehow, during those missing days between when his ship disappeared and waking up in that cave, his dragon form had developed some rudimentary muscle memory for flight. That little amount had not only saved his life that day, but the life of one of his long-time friends. But he knew he needed much more than that.

He chided himself for not having done more such practice in the past, but even after learning that he had the Gateway to restore his health, he had no love of discomfort or pain. It was still an effort to resist flinching when taking an injury. After all, Injury was God's way of saying, "you did a stupid thing." And Pain was God's way of saying, "don't do it again, stupid."

But the Gateway changed all that.

Now, crippling and incapacitating injuries no longer bothered him, no matter how bad they were. Nothing was permanent. No scars to worry about, either.

At least, if injuries weren't permanent, then pain no longer mattered, either. Half of all pain was fear. Fear was what kept one from taking risks that would cause injuries. Therefore, there was no need to worry about injuries, no need to fear pain, no need to avoid the risks and actions that would result in either.

The Gateway fixed all of that. Or nearly so. Now, if he could just use that same logic to force his mind to overcome his acrophobia. As it was, he barely had control of his own terror when taking wing.

And two uses of the Gateway would return his body to whatever healthy form of whatever he was when he got injured. Which could very well spell a bad day for whatever was trying to damage him at the moment. Especially, if he was using his dragon form whenever something tried to injure him.

And since half of all pain was fear, it worked both ways. Trevar had little to nothing to fear by fighting something. On the other hand, or claw, whatever was unfortunate enough to fight him, now had much more to fear.

So what, if you could hurt the dragon? When, after a couple of blinding flashes of light, you're back to facing the very same, but now, quite likely, very pissed off dragon, which was now as completely healthy as it was when you started your fight with it? What were the odds you could do the same? Trevar's enemies now had much to fear from him!

And Trevar really liked his dragon form. He knew it was the pinnacle of predators. Everything about his body was a lethal weapon. His claws, his wings, his teeth, his flame, his fists, his tail, his mass, his strength, and his mind. Especially, his mind!

Being a dragon made him also a telepath, that could simply look at an opponent and know what it was thinking and feeling. This gave him a huge tactical advantage. But there was more to it that just that. Quite by accident, he discovered that there was a part of his mind that did sense the pain suffered by his opponents. But instead of making him sympathetic to them, which would've diminished his ability to fight them, that part sought out the pain in others, savored and recorded it, and moreover, he could play it back to the injured or even those that had not yet faced him. In at least a few cases, he had been able to send enough agony to induce a heart attack, killing his enemies without even touching them!

The jungle was teeming with life, much of it in strong competition with each other: predators vs prey; predators vs predators; prey vs prey. Trevar overflew it all, simply noting what was down there. Little there could threaten him, even if he had been walking, and very little could even fly.

Although, one creature that was clearly part lion, part scorpion, and had large bat-like wings did try to attack him, interrupting the running tune in his mind. However, once it heard Trevar speak, it suddenly and clearly wanted to be friends. Very, very friendly and it tried to entice Trevar to come play with it. Trevar was leery at first. He must've initially angered it by overflying its territory and regretfully had to decline and continued to fly on.

He could tell the creature was disappointed and saddened. And Trevar felt a little bad about having to leave it behind. Perhaps, if there was time on the return flight, he considered. Maybe.

But it annoyed Trevar for hours that he should've been able to recall what sort of being it was. Something from mythology, he strongly suspected, but he couldn't remember specifics, and that annoyed him to no end. So much of this world seemed to have some sort of mythological connection to Earth. So far, Greek mythologies were getting a strong representation, but he knew he and the shadowcats had spotted elements of other regional myths.

Plus, there were things that just did not make any logical connection back to Earth. Like those alicorns. And that Discord character…

Spying a lake with a wide, clear shore, Trevar flew into land for a drink. The only minds he could sense were more animal-level mentalities, so he wasn't concerned. He was a dragon. Animals feared stronger predator species, and would avoid something like him at all costs. Intelligent creatures were far more deadly. They knew that powerful creatures like dragons could be taken down, given the right sorts of weapons.

While he sniffed at the water, trying to decide if it was clean enough to drink, he felt the presence of another creature that was angered at being disturbed. It was coming at him in an attack, and Trevar looked up to see what was crazy enough or stupid enough to assault a full-grown dragon. What he saw made him blink in surprise.

At first, he thought it was another dragon, one only slightly larger than an Equestrian, which still made it much smaller than Trevar. But then he noticed the head looked like a rooster. And it was glaring at him.

Something caused him to use the Gateway, because Trevar suddenly found himself as a human once more. The chicken-headed dragon was still there, squalling and reacting as if in pain as it writhed on the ground. Not wanting to be getting into a fight with a strong predator while in his human form, he triggered the Gateway once more.

As a dragon, his mind probed the strange chicken-headed dragon and found slightly above-animal intellect.

Evillittleyellownotmething-mean-scary! Evilbigyellownotmething not evillittleyellownotmething. Must-kill-evilbigyellownotmething-to-rock! Evilbigyellownotmething-break-eyes! Must-kill-evilbigyellownotmething-to-rock-so-no-break-eyes! Despite out-massing it by several dozen times, this creature was still very much hostile and was focused on continuing to attack him.

The flare from the Gateway evidently blinded it while it was trying to use some sort of gaze attack on me! Basalisque—no—something with a similar attack—cockatrice! Trevar recalled. Turns creatures that look at it into stone, like the Medusa. And Trevar had no desire to let it use the attack on him again.

As the cockatrice's vision recovered from the second assault from the intense flare of blinding light, it turned once more to glare at him. However, Trevar calmly spat out a shot of acidic flame into its face. Screaming, the cockatrice began running blind. Fortunately for Trevar and the forest, it ran straight into the water, which kept the fire from spreading. But it was as good as dead anyhow as it had breathed flame into its lungs during its screams. With air still in the lungs, the tissue was seared with fire even as the acid liquefied the flesh. And even in the water, his flame continued to burn away its face and bone, and would keep doing so as long as his flame remained acidic.

Trevar impassively watched the creature expire, recording all its suffering until it expired before finally directing his attention back to the water. After drinking his fill, he resumed his flight.

The instructions from the purple alicorn and her lizard pet gave the general bearing and the distance of a day and night's flight to a volcanic region beyond the Everfree. He estimated that he should at least spy the smoke from the volcanos by midafternoon and that should refine the direction of his search.

Pardus laid on Mittens' left side, while Panthera let herself be their pillow and she directed the griffon image of Trevar to lay on her right side.

When the Sun rose to shine into the room, Mittens sleepily opened her eyes and smiled at seeing how they all were snuggled together.

"Good morning, Mittens," the image of Trevar told her as he nuzzled her with his beak. "How did you sleep?"

However, instead of the expected reaction, the female griffon's face showed alarm. She jumped up, screaming, and drove her hooked beak into the skull of the image of Trevar.

The hologram blinked at her, and used a talon to feel at the hole exposing his cranial matter. "Well! This is awkward," he muttered.

"WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE CAT-LORD!?" Mittens screamed, furiously slashing the hologram with her leonine claws.

"Mittens! Calm down!" Pardus and Panthera both yelled. Panthera finally had to dismiss the hologram image to keep her focus on trying to restrain the enraged griffon.

"SOME MONSTER HAS STOLLEN THE CAT-LORD! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM! OH, SQUIT! IF THEY FIND I LOST THE—the Cat-Lord, I'm—I'm—Oh, squit!"

"No one's stolen Trevar!" Pardus sternly told her. "Trevar is out, searching for a matter that is important to him. He instructed us to make that image of him to keep you griffons from getting in his way!"

"But—but—we have our orders! From Ambassador Gustav, I have my orders: 'protect the Cat-Lord!' I've failed! I've lost him! They're going to pluck and tar me and roast me on a spit—"

"No one's touching you!" Panthera growled, grabbing the griffon's face with her wings and paws. "Trevar gave us our orders! And according to your own ambassador, both Pardus and I, as well as Trevar, outrank even your emperor, is that not right?"

"Y-y-yes," Mittens replied. "But—"

"But—NOTHING!" Pardus growled. "TREVAR ordered us to keep you griffons thinking he was still here. That was needed as it keeps those horses outside thinking he's still here! THAT is of paramount importance!"

"But I know that wasn't Trevar!" Mittens protested. "And if I know, then the others will know, too! And I'll be blamed—!"

"You'll be blamed for following orders that countermanded other orders you were given?" Panthera asked. "They won't dare, because they'll have to go through us to get to you!"

"But—but—one of the others is supposed present themselves today to Trevar for mating, using the passionfruit!" Mittens explained.

"Well, that's easy," Pardus said, grinning. "We'll just tell them that Trevar isn't finished with you yet. That he's specifically asked to keep doing it with you."

"That won't matter! Either one-on-one or in an orgy, they'll be here!" Mittens warned.

As if to emphasize that point, Screaming Eagle arrived at the open window at that moment.

Lieutenant Scott knocked on the door to Trevar's home and awaited his response. She idly watched the night and day guards do their shift change and was curious as to the scroll that Sargent Silver Thorn read as he held it in his "magic".

The door opened, and Trevar and one of the inky black shadowcats were there to greet her.

"Good morning," Trevar said pleasantly, standing in a fresh toga, white this time. "Won't you please come in?"

Scott glanced at the pony guards. Silver Thorn had used his telekinesis to scribble something on the parchment, rolled it up and made it vanish in the moment it took her to look at him before taking Trevar up on his offer to enter.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Trevar asked her as he led her to the living room.

"I apologize if I came across as perhaps a bit too hostile these last few days," she told him. "I do know the world doesn't exist in black and white."

"Indeed," Trevar admitted. "I'm certainly under no illusions that I'm any sort of white knight. I do plenty of gray and their shades tend to be on the rather darker realm of them. However, I do try to do the light side of issues as much as I can," he added with a wan smile.

"Have you had breakfast, yet?" he asked. "Pardus! Can you please fix Lieutenant Scott some breakfast?" he called toward the stairs.

"Would oatmeal with milk suffice?" a voice replied from above. The other shadowcat, followed by two unhappy-looking griffons came down the stairs. It meant this shadowcat accompanying her and Trevar was Panthera, if Scott recalled.

"Yes, if you please," Scott replied.

"I imagine it must be maddening that, here I am, such a dark character, being treated with diplomatic kid-gloves, while you as a soldier with a distinguished record is now a felon of the worse kind," Trevar offered.

"The thought has crossed my mind more than once," Scott replied sardonically.

"All I can say, is 'welcome to the Dark Side, Lieutenant'," Trevar said with a shrug and a smile.

"You mentioned," she began, deciding to come to the point, but for a moment, she had to consider that he could get upset with her for doing so. However, what that top horse had pointed out, Trevar could have, and by all rights, should have, been Earth's worst tyrant. She had to try and understand: why hadn't he?

"You mentioned to—" she tried once more, but she faltered again.

"Celestia," Trevar offered.

"Thank you," Scott responded. "You mentioned to Celestia, that you came across my base in the middle of the crisis. And that you knew—you instantly knew—the technology being used. How is that possible?"

"As I explained, I'm not at liberty to divulge everything about how I have such knowledge," Trevar gently told her. "And there are some matters that even I do not know," he added with a haunted look that lasted more than a few moments. Then he looked up at her.

"Please let me tell you a bit of a story," Trevar offered.

"There once was a sailor, an Electronics Technician second class petty officer, to be exact," he began. "Early in his career, he got assigned to a Naval communications station. Prior to joining the Navy, he spent a considerable amount of his childhood on his grandparents' farm.

"Now, in the course of this isolated communications station, the base commander, a lieutenant, needed to find a way of reducing the operating and maintenance costs of the base. One of those expenses was the job of grass cutting about the antennas. This base was in a rural area and she sought suggestions from her crew about what to do. Several people came up with ideas, but none of them had any experience of farming or what animals on farms ate. Save this one aforementioned second class petty officer.

"Some of the suggestions involved having the local farms loan them herds of cattle, horses, sheep, or goats. He listened to the suggestions from his colleagues and pointed out the flaws and advantages to them. Cattle, horses, and sheep all ate grass. But shit from cattle was a real mess to deal with, and horses weren't much better. Of the options, sheep was the best, so he explained those factors to her. She then asked about the goats. He warned her that goats would eat grass, but only after eating everything else first.

"So, naturally, not having any sort of farming experience herself, the lieutenant chose the goats," Trevar said with disgust as Pardus brought out the bowls of oatmeal.

"Wait. Didn't he warn her off of the goats?" Scott asked, perplexed.

"Yes, he did," Trevar muttered.

"Then why did she—" Scott began to ask.

"Because, in her words, 'they were cute'," Trevar responded with distain. They looked at each other as that sunk in.

"That is—" Scott began.

"Yes, it was," Trevar continued. "And, naturally, she blamed him for the goat eating up everything but the grass. She even went so far as threaten to write the petty officer up for failing to obey her lawful order to make the goats eat the grass."

"Oh, that sucks!" Scott whispered.

"Oh, it gets worse," Trevar said with a wan smile. "Fortunately for the second class petty officer, this lieutenant transferred out from the base. In comes a former warrant officer, recently promoted to Lieutenant JG. And one of his first orders to the crew was 'where the fuck did these goats come from?'," Trevar happily said.

"I should hope so!" Scott exclaimed.

"Of course, the second class petty officer explained the history," Trevar said, resuming his story, "and suggested that here was an opportunity to correct the decision."

"And did he?"

"No, he did not."

"Wh-WHAT!?" Scott asked, spitting out a mouthful. "Why!?"

"Because, in his words, 'it would make the lieutenant look bad'," Trevar snarled. "In fact, he reiterated his predecessor's orders to him."

"I don't believe it!" Scott yelled. Then she blinked. "Yes. Yes, I do," she had to admit. "I've seen the like, myself," she said with a sigh.

"Oh, it was real," Trevar said. "And, yes, the petty officer got blamed for not making the goats accept the Lieutenant JG's orders for them to eat the grass."

"He didn't—"

"Yes, he did. And this time, he did have to go through Captain's Mast. Fortunately, the Captain declared those orders not only unlawful, but stupid. So instead of his predecessor, it was the JG who now looked like an idiot, and the man held a serious grudge against the petty officer for it."

"A man that came up through the ranks like that?" Scott asked with disbelief.

"It matches a theory that several of his colleagues came up with that chiefs generally got a lobotomy when they make chief," Trevar explained. Scott shook her head. "That petty officer came into the service as an Electronics Technician. What that entails is his job is to find faulty components and equipment and fix or replace them. Unfortunately, no one can fix that sort of stupid.

"Anyhow, this petty officer got lucky," Trevar said resuming his tale. "Or so he thought. He managed to get transferred to a ship, a USS Josephus Daniels."

"And—?" Scott prompted.

"Well, suffice to say, the crew of that ship had their own set of issues that actually made the communications station look intelligent," Trevar told her. "However, that isn't really relevant to the story. What is relevant was this ship, one day on one of its cruises, just simply—disappeared. With all hands never to be seen again. With one exception," Trevar finished.

"What the fuck?" Scott exclaimed. "What happened?"

"No one knows," Trevar explained, shrugging. "Not even the petty officer. All he knows, is that several weeks later, in a cave, somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, he woke up—changed. And he had a couple pieces of hardware that not only convinced him of incontrovertible proof that humanity wasn't alone in the universe, but gave him a means by which to act on that knowledge.

"But much beyond that, I'm not at liberty to say," Trevar finished. "Even to you, who cannot take this knowledge back to Earth. What you have to understand, there are others involved who were also changed. And I don't have their permission to divulge what I know of them, to you or to Celestia."

"But—those devices—they gave you knowledge of warp drives? And nuclear weapons?" Scott asked.

"Warp drives, inertial dampers, artificial gravity, shields and a few other bits of ultra-high tech, yes," Trevar replied, nodding. "The nukes, I got when I was in high school."

"Huh? Nukes? In school?"

"History and science projects," Trevar said dismissively. "Pre-Internet. Now, they're trying to scrub that shit because of 9/11, but your basic high school physics text book, at least those from mid-1970's, had 'how to build an A-bomb for dummies' instructions in all of them."

"Wait," she protested. "Nukes in high school!? When the fuck was that being taught?"

"Well, I gradurated in 1979," Trevar told her. "That should give you some idea." Scott looked at him dumbfounded.

"Th-that—that would make you over seventy!" she exclaimed.

"Seventy-seven, actually," Trevar replied. "Although, in a few weeks, it'll be officially seventy-eight, as my birthday is on the 26^th."

"Are you like that comic book character, Wolverine!?"

"Not at all," he said. "My younger brother is way shorter than I am."

Scott just stared at him until he broke down laughing.

"I'm teasing you," he said, still laughing. "No, this is another of those side effects from those changes when I woke up in Kentucky. All the rest of my immediate family died years ago of old age or other causes. Any blood relations still living are very distant cousins several steps removed."

"Oh," she finally said.

"So, with all that, how is it you didn't try taking over the world?" Scott had to ask.

"Really? Is that what's bothering you about me?" Trevar asked with a laugh. "Besides, even if I did, there'd be my conscience to deal with, for one," Trevar explained.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," she pointed out.

"Well, I frequently notice that's something the corrupt love to tell everyone to justify keeping anyone from usurping power away from them," Trevar muttered. "But, honestly? I'm not interested. Just think about it. If I did try to take over the world, I'd have to rely on idiots like those lieutenants from my previous commands to help me run all the shit in the world. Think I'd want that headache?

"In addition, I know there's a power much greater than me out there. If I tried abusing those abilities I have, I'd have to answer to that."

"What? You mean, 'God'?"

"I mean, whatever it was that changed me!" Trevar snapped. "Whether that was 'God', or something else entirely, it's out there! And I do have reason to believe it's coming. And perhaps whatever we think of that is 'God' is just another one of those 'aliens'.

"But wherever this knowledge and power came from, it doesn't change who I am. That old adage you're fond of about, 'power corrupts', it doesn't apply to me. I know, that no matter how much power I got as a result, so long as I don't abuse it, I should be okay with who or whatever is coming to judge us."

"So, you're a believer? How is that possible?" she asked. "It goes against everything you believers are supposed to adhere to!"

"I think I know a little more of what 'we believers' are supposed to adhere to. My grandparents were devout believers," Trevar admitted with a shrug. "They were Mennonites. Sort of like the Amish," he said to explain when he saw Scott's puzzlement, "but willing to use things like cars or tractors, while still shunning frivolous entertainment like television. Myself, I'm rather agnostic about it all.

"But in my heart, I know that whatever it was that gave me this power for whatever capricious reasons it had, it probably still has the means to take it away whenever it feels like. Maybe even kill me if it desires. I don't know. But even if that's the case, I know one thing: I'm not giving it a valid reason for ending me. If it does so, it will be for reasons just as capricious as it was when I was given it all.

"Yeah, I know I tend to walk a rather dark path," he continued. "Preying on monsters like drug dealers and organized crime to fund my development of those technologies is something I'm willing to accept responsibility for. Those ships won't build themselves and the tech doesn't come cheap. However, I'm not about to let this shit fall into the hands of the corrupt, the politicians, or the industrialists or even the psycho-eco terrorists on the other end of the spectrum for that matter."

"But then, who are you to decide has access to that sort of development?" Scott challenged.

"Who do I have to be? Who should get to decide? Them? Or someone who has at least some mediocrity of understanding what 'responsibility' means?" Trevar countered. "The knowledge is up here," he said, pointing to his own head. "Who has the authority to take it away from me to divvy out as they see fit? Or worse, keep it for themselves in order to ensure the suffering of others? At least I'm trying to clean up the neighborhood before opening up the flood gates.

"Look what happened with the Internet," he told her. "Yeah, it started out sounding all utopic and wonderful, but criminals had already laid claim to it all by the time anyone of the public had even got their first IP addresses. Before banking and shopping online got started, the crooks had already put in the virus and tampers to break any system security that would come after.

"Just imagine what would happen if a Jihadist or any other psycho got ahold of a warp-capable ship," he demanded. "A single suicide bomber and you can kiss Earth good-bye! Or, even just your general crook.

"That's not going to happen with my shit! I'm not going to allow it!" he declared.

"How would you prevent it?" Scott asked. But Trevar smiled, and tapped his temple.

"There are ways. It will take time, but I'm nothing if not patient," was all he said about it.

As soon as Scott left and the image of Trevar dispelled, Mittens and Screaming Eagle resumed their argument with Panthera and Pardus over Trevar's absence.

"You haven't answered our demands! Where is the Cat-Lord!?" Screaming Eagle screamed.

"Trevar is out hunting for something that he's very interested in acquiring," Pardus told them.

"Then we should be out there, helping him to get it!" Screaming Eagle yelled.

"And that's exactly why he doesn't want you out there with him," Panthera countered. "If you were there, then the ponies out there would know, too! Trevar wants it kept quiet!"

"WHAT IS IT!?" shouted Screaming Eagle.

"A dragon to mate with," Pardus finally said, showing his exasperation.

As reluctant the revelation was, it did have the desired effect of momentarily silencing the griffon.

"Are you serious?" both Mittens and Screaming asked, astonished.

"Yes," Panthera replied. "If he's lucky, he's probably out there right this moment getting laid."

"Bu—but—but why would the Cat-Lord do such a thing?" Screaming Eagle asked.

"Because he is the Cat-Lord," Pardus replied.

*WHAM!!*

Trevar barely had time to register that his spine had slammed into the rough rock cavern wall before he was desperately trying to S-bend his neck sideways to avoid the claws that were about to smash into his face.

She was seriously out for his blood, and doing a damned good job collecting it!

Her other set of claws caught him in the upper left pectoral.

Swinging his wings out then in and down, he swept aside her forelimbs, opening her to a surprise counterattack. He instantly drove his right fist into her jaw with an uppercut, kicked out with a foot to her belly to bend her forward, and then backhanded the right side of her face with his right fist again.

Pressing his advantage, he jumped forward, spinning about on his feet to the left in order to slam his tail into the left side of her head, and continued his spin to drive his right wing into her ribs when he faced her again and followed up with a left wing punch on her face once more. Then he closed, crouching down to grab and use a judo throw to lay her out hard on her right side.

His flight through the night had yielded better than expected distance and he had arrived at the site of the Dragon Migration by sunup. A quick mental scan let him know there were a few dragons still remaining, one being a female that had reached breeding age several decades ago, but had no steady mate as of yet.

Negotiations with her were surprisingly productive. She had not been satisfied with any other prospective males and when he propositioned her, she readily agreed.

"Provided you meet my criteria," she told him.

Hence, the beating, shredding, and pounding he had endured for the better part of an hour.

Of course, she had no qualms in drawing his blood. After all, he had to prove to her that he was worthy to mate with her. His goal was to subdue her, which meant no claws!

So far, it had been a pretty even contest, despite him taking the worse of the engagement. She ripped into him pretty thoroughly and good with her bull-rush charge, but his unorthodox fighting moves incorporating human martial arts helped even the score.

As she struggled to shake off the slams he had delivered, he followed up by rapidly raining blows to her head and shoulders with his wings and fists until she was finally unconscious.

Catching his breath, he settled down alongside her to rest.

'Fuck! That was workout and a half!' he exclaimed.

After about an hour, she stirred, waking him from his slumber.

'Ready to have a go at this?' he eagerly asked as she blinked uncertainly at him.

"W-was—wasn't it—?" she stammered, continuing to blink at him. Suddenly, she sat up and nosed her nether reaches and then sat up again to glare at him.

"Y-you—you didn't—?" she demanded.

'Of course not,' he told her grinning. 'I wanted you to be awake to enjoy it with me.'

"WHAT!?" she angrily roared, ripping her claws at him once more. "I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!?"

'HEY!' Trevar roared, jumping to his four feet to back away from her.

"What sort of pervert are you?" she roared, still pressing her attack. "You come into my cave, beat me in combat as we agreed, BUT YOU DON'T MATE WITH ME!?"

'WHAT?' Trevar exclaimed. 'Mate with you while you're in a coma? Where I come from, that's called "rape"! Fighting you to confirm I'm good enough to mate with you, I can accept! But to take you when you can't enjoy the sex along with me? That's just wrong!'

"GET OUT!" she screamed, charging him. To emphasize the matter was beyond discussion, she flamed at him. "GET OUT! GET OUT!! GET OUT!!!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU PERVERT!" she screamed as he stood away from the entrance to her cavern. His mental scans confirmed she was beyond pissed at him. And all due to a cultural misunderstanding. He could sense her disappointment that, from her perspective, he hadn't done as any other dragon male should've and mated with her after succeeding in beating her in physical combat.

And it disappointed Trevar that she expected exactly that sort of conquest. It stunned him speechless.

"GET AWAY FROM MY CAVE!" she screamed, rushing at him, and he retreated several paces. When he was several lengths further away, she stopped chasing him away.

"Pervert!" she growled at him as he stared at her in disbelief.

He had certainly hoped for a better outcome than this. He suppose he could fight her again, beat her and take her like she wished him to. But he wasn't about to violate his principles, no matter how weird anyone might think of them.

Disappointed, he was about to leave, but something in him couldn't let it go. He was a dragon, after all.

He spat out a short blast of flame beside him. Glaring at her, he stuck his hand into the pool of raging fire. It hurt like nobody's business, and while he was no fan of pain, he had endured much worse. This was only temporary, after all.

Lifting his arm, he showed her how the flesh was melting away, leaving the naked burning bones of his hand.

'I don't know what happened to your lot,' he said to her, and she flinched as his telepathic broadcast unavoidably conveyed the agony he experienced. 'There's sex. And then there's beating the crap out of each other. In my experience, sex is a pleasure that is unsurpassed by anything. I can fully understand wanting to have the best mate for your offspring. That's a hell of an investment any female has to put up with. But doing it your way eliminates the pleasure that you can and should enjoy. So guess which one you're doing wrong?'

Quickly triggering the Gateway twice restored his dragon form to its former healthy and uninjured state. Then he turned and launched up into the sky, leaving the female dragon to stare after him.

¹Courtesy of Sickipedia.org