We walk down the road towards Elysium where Twilight and Bright Mind are discussing the potency of the magic in the air while trying a few spells to test their new strength.

"So... what shall we do once we arrive at the City Gates?" Luna asks me.

"We'll approach the gate guards, tell them who we are and ask for an escort to the Castle. There we'll request an audience with the King and negotiate for an alliance," I reply.

"Sounds simple enough, but what if they get aggressive?" Hammer asks.

"Then we leave without fighting, we don't want to get on their bad side," I tell him.

He grumbles but nodded.

We continue walking for a few hours with nothing of interest happening, Luna takes in the sights around us while Twilight and Bright Mind continue their discussion about magic. We then pass a dense area of Forest and hear laughing to our left.

"What's this? Mutant horses or something?" a man in ragged looking leather armour holding a pair of chipped daggers says.

"Maybe some elves tried fusing people with animals again... it's not the first time they've done that," another man in a tattered robe holding a staff says.

"Maybe we can sell them for a lot of gold? I've never seen anything like em before," a tall dark skinned man in rusty chain armour says to the other bandits.

"And just look at all the stuff they have. That one even has gold armour!" More men start showing up, at least ten of them in total.

"And who in Tartarus are you maggots?" Hammer asks them.

"Oh! It talks!" one of them taunts.

"We're now your new masters. Just come along quietly and we'll only hurt you a little," the big guy in chain armour says and they all laugh.

"You dare threaten our King and Queen," Bright Mind says, getting her gem wand ready.

"Oooh you hear that fellas? We's got royalty before us," a short man with a bow says mockingly.

The visor on my helmet is down and covering my face so I guess they think I'm a pony as well. I draw my sword and channel a shield and three air elements and cast the air wings spell on myself. Two wings of flowing air appear on my back and I hover three metres into the air.

"We are on our way to see King Vortigan Llywelyn. Leave while you still have your lives or we'll be forced to kill you," I threaten them.

They're all now staring at me with wide eyes, even our guards are staring at me. Luna joins me in the air and has her scythe at the ready.

Spitfire draws her bow and the fire arrow forms almost instantly while Hammer Strike holds his massive hammer with a grin on his face.

The two changelings, Chitain and Chameleon, to our surprise, change into large dark blue Equestrian manticores still wearing armour and growl menacingly at the bandits.

The unicorn Blade Dancer is a skilled swordswoman. She has two longswords on her hips and six more on her back. She draws the two on her hips with her hands and her horn glows, levitating the other six around her like a shield. Okay, that's cool.

Twilight hides behind Bright Mind but has a gem wand of her own with her. Discord is looking bored and is leaning on his halberd half-asleep.

"So, what will it be? Stay and die, or leave and live?" I ask them.

Their cocky attitudes are gone and they look hesitant to attack. the short one with the bow then panics and fires an arrow at me. I simply raise my shield and block it.

Spitfire reacts and fires her arrow at the short guy where the arrow hits and detonates as his head and half his torso are blown off.

The rest of them go into a frenzy and charge us with crazed looks. So they're just a bunch of thugs with no skills or training of their own.

Hammer grins and pulls his hammer back as the bandit with the daggers leaps at him and Hammer swings his oversized hammer. The bandit is hit right in the ribs and an audible series of cracks and snaps are heard as the bandit is launched back a good twenty metres.

Hammer just stares at where the bandit lands and then at his hammer. I can see a grin spread on his face as he rushes another bandit with a battle cry. "I LOVE MY JOB!" he yells as he slams another bandit into a tree.

Blade Dancer is fighting three of them at once parrying with her eight swords. She moves like a leaf in the wind and cuts the bandits to her left and right in the chest causing them to cry out in pain and drop their weapons. She then points all eight swords to the bandit in front of her and thrusts all of them into his chest as she then twists and pulls the swords and Blood sprays out the wounds.

She then finishes the other two off by decapitating them with two swords each like a pair of scissors .

The staff wielding bandit fires a weak fire beam at me and a shield forms in front of me. Bright Mind's horn is glowing and she then points her wand at the staff bandit as she fires off a bolt of magic that detonates on impact. His staff is broken in half and he has a scorch mark around the area it detonated.

Luna and I continue to hover in the air and I cast a shield around us and boost it to full strength. Twilight's horn glows and a bandit is frozen in place and can't seem to barely move. Spitfire then takes the opportunity to shoot him with another arrow and he gets blown in half.

The two changelings roar and charge at two bandits and pounce on them. They scream as they're torn apart and stabbed with their tails.

The last one in the chainmail armour is staring wide eyed at the carnage that just befell his allies.

I notice Discord still looking bored as he hasn't moved or said anything since we got here.

"Discord, have some fun with him," I say to him.

"Oooooh! Finally! You're going to love this," he teleports next to the bandit and pulls a curtain over him. The bandit struggles and I can hear him scream... which starts getting higher in pitch.

Discord then pulls the curtain away revealing a blonde haired woman with rather big breasts and wide hips. The chainmail armour has been reduced to some sort of bikini.

The bandit looks down and grabs onto his... her, breasts. She then faints on the spot and I raise an eyebrow.

Hammer laughs loudly while Luna just sighs. "Thou and thy pranks..." she says.

"Oh lighten up. I think she'll be just fine with her new lease on life," he says and rejoins us.

I chuckle and Luna glares at me. "Please do not encourage him!" she tells me.

"Sorry," I reply. I then turn back to Discord. "So where is this surprise you said you had for me?" I ask him.

"Oh, it's waiting at Elysium for you. I think you'll want to both hug me and punch me when you see it," he replies making me give him a confused expression.

I can hear Twilight and Bright Mind talk about how their magic was able to effect humans when I was resistant to it in Equestria.

"Maybe it's because of Terra's magic? It's made you stronger thus, able to effect a human? Try lifting me up," I tell them.

Twilight's horn glows and I'm lifted off the ground by a foot. She strains a bit and puts me down.

"You're right, it's still difficult, but your resistance isn't as strong now," she says and starts writing in a notebook again.

"Alright, Hammer, Bright Mind. I need you to pile the corpses so I can burn them. I don't want them starting to rot and spread any diseases," I tell them.

"Yes sir," they say and quickly pile the bodies.

I set them ablaze with four fire elements and after the fire goes on for a few minutes, we then continue down the road.

---

---

The sun starts to set and Luna even tried to raise the moon and started to panic when she said she couldn't connect to it. I had to remind her that it wasn't her moon which got her to blush and sigh.

We then step off the road and into a small clearing to the right.

Hammer and Twilight set up three tents and I set up my two person one. Chitain, Chameleon and Hammer share a tent while Twilight and Bright Mind share one and Blade Dancer and Spitfire share the other. Luna and I use my tent and Discord just lies on a pink cloud with an umbrella over it and a blanket over himself.

Hammer Strike and Blade Dancer have agreed to take the first watch for the night and are standing outside.

I'm laying on the mat with Luna cuddled up beside me, we're both wearing nightwear this time as we don't want to be caught naked by the others. After sleeping nude over the last month... wearing clothes to bed is rather uncomfortable now.

"I miss Tia and Shella already, it just doesn't feel the same without them with us," I say, missing the feeling of them all cuddled up to me.

"We agree, we have grown to enjoy their presence with us, but it won't be for long. We just have to get King Vortigan to agree to the alliance and set up a portal connecting our two Castles. Then we can go home and be with our herd mates again," she tells me.

I smile as she nuzzles into my neck and I try to fall asleep but a few growls from outside gets my attention. I get up and look outside to see two pairs of glowing eyes staring at us. Uh-oh, these are Terran manticores.

I draw my sword and shield and get out the tent. I cast a stone armour spell on myself and have a two inch thick layer of stone covering me. Holy shit this is heavy.

"Errr, my king... what is that? It kinda looks like a manticore... Just more vicious looking... and with horns..." Hammer asks me with his Hammer at the ready.

"It's a Terran manticore, and yes, its a lot more vicious than an Equestrian one," I tell him. Its got a more balanced torso shape instead of a large front and tiny backside. Its teeth and claws look sharper and its eyes more crueller looking as well. Its wings are larger and its tail longer, not to mention the horns as well.

They start to stalk and circle around us.

"What do we do?" Blade Dancer asks keeping her eyes on the right one while Hammer watches the left.

"You and I will take the one on the right while Hammer and Luna take the one on the left. Just be careful, killing them one on one is very hard to do, but if you work together, you'll have a better chance," I tell them. Should be a good pairing with one magic user and a melee user combination. "Just don't let it get you with it's tail, we don't have any anti-venom to counter its poison," I warn them.

"Alright, this should be an interesting battle!" Hammer says and gets ready.

I channel two light elements and get ready. "Dancer, I'm going to blind it as Terran Manticores can't handle bright light."

"By your order, my King," she replies. Arg... I'm really not going to get used to that.

I cast the beam and aim at the manticore's eyes. It roars in pain and I keep the beam focused on it.

Dancer then runs towards it and raises her swords. She swings the ones in her hands and cuts off its front right leg while her other swords cut off it's right wing and tail.

I cancel the beam and channel an arcane and three lightning elements. "Dancer get back!" I tell her. She leaps back and I cast the Lightning beam now that the manticore has lost its mobility. The beam hits and it spasms on the ground. I keep it going for a few seconds and then cancel it.

The manticore lies unmoving so I turn around and see Luna impale the other in the skull with her scythe. It seems to have had it's back smashed in, no doubt Hammer's work.

"What's going on!?" Twilight yells as her head pops out of her tent.

"Oh not much, just killed a couple of manticores," I reply calmly.

"Manticores?" she asks and looks at the corpses. "Wow! They look so different from Equestrian manticores!" she says and pulls out a notebook and starts scribbling in it.

I cancel my stone armour spell and yawn as the stone breaks away. "Yup. Now while you have fun with that, I'm going back to bed. Good night," I tell them as Luna and I return to our tent. I put my sword and shield away and get under the blanket with Luna beside me.

---

After waking up and eating breakfast, I then strip the manticores of anything I could find useful. I take their horns and some teeth. I extract some of their poison and put them in vials. I skin them, much to the disgust of the others where I explained to them that manticore hide sells for quite a bit of gold and that we might need to get our hands on some Terran currency. Also I guess my old habits for earning a bit of extra coin are coming back to me.

We continue down the path for three hours with no problems. Twilight is going over her notes on the manticores and comparing them to Equestria's breed. Hammer and Dancer also traded shifts with Chitain and Chameleon during the night.

Spitfire is flying above us as our lookout while we all walk down the road. "Princess!... Oh er, I mean, Queen Luna! There's some sort of carriage heading our way!" she calls down to us. In the distance is what appears to be a horse drawn carriage... this will certainly be interesting.

After ten minutes of walking, the carriage is now in front of us and we step aside to let it pass. Luna and the others stare slack jawed at the two large horses pulling the carriage. They're both mares, one is white, the other light brown with white patches on its muzzle and hooves.

The driver in turn stares at us with his own dumbstruck expression.

"Was that a pony?" Twilight asks confused.

"No, that was a horse," I reply.

"Why was she tied up in... bondage equipment and had her vision reduced?" she asks again with tinted cheeks.

Oh gods, ponies consider that sexual?... Now I kind of want to see Celestia, Luna, and Shella in something like that... I shake my head to clear my thoughts of such images.

"No, it's just a harness to pull the carriage. The blinders are to keep the horse going straight and the reins are for steering the horse," I tell her.

"Isn't that slavery!?" she asks disgusted.

"They aren't sapient, Twilight. They can't talk, read, or write. They can't even show facial expressions or emotions, but we keep them well fed, groomed, clean, and sheltered in stables. I know this as I was sometimes made to shovel horse manure out of my home town's stable between my magic and swordsmanship lessons," I tell her. The smell alone was enough to be considered torture.

"I see," she says, still looking at the carriage we passed.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure no one will treat you like that, you're an intelligent woman. If they treat you any less, I'll punch them in the face for you," I tell her getting a smile from her. "Come on, we still have at least another day of walking ahead of us," I tell them and continue down the road.

---

---

We're sitting by the side of the road eating our lunch. We have enough supplies to last us a week, but I also brought some of the gold and gems from the hoard I got from that dragon in the Everfree Forest with me for trading if need be.

"I don't think we're that much farther now. I saw what looked like a Castle surrounded by buildings and a tall, thick stone wall while flying," Spitfire says, pointing towards the direction of Elysium.

"That would be Elysium. We could probably make it before night fall if we pick up the pace." I say as I finish my lunch and stand up to stretch. I then sit back down next to Luna and wrap my arm around her waist. "So what do you think of Terra so far?" I ask her.

"Tis very beautiful. Though we never thought it would be this... exotic," she says, watching an animal in the distance. It's a tall herbivore like bird that eats fruits and seeds. It can't fly, but it has long legs to run fast and can carry heavy loads. It's feathers are a dark red with white patterns on its wings feather tips.

"That's a Plane Runner. People use them for travelling long distances or to carry packs too heavy for carrying themselves long distances... I've always wanted one as a child. Would have been nice for when I was travelling a lot before arriving in Equestria," I tell her.

"Then why not just tame it?" she asks.

"It's too wild and we don't have time, maybe I could get one at Elysium as they're easy to care for as well. You just need to spend time with them, feed them plenty of fruits, seeds, and water as well as give them the materials to build their own nests, clean up their mess and they'll be loyal to you," I reply.

"I see. Then we could find thee one before we return home," she says.

"Sounds goo..." I start to reply, but the sound of a girl screaming gets our attention.

Spitfire is already in the air looking around. "There's a filly over there being chased by some sort of large wolf," she tells us.

"Might be a dire wolf, come on!" I say and we follow Spitfire to the location.

A little girl no older than twelve is running from a wolf that's quickly gaining on her.

I teleport between them and cast a stone wall spell where the wolf leaps at me, only to smash face first into the wall. I cast a haste spell on myself and grab the girl and run back to the others.

"Spitfire! Shoot it!" I tell her.

She aims her bow at the stunned wolf and fires as a small explosion takes off the wolf's head and it goes limp. I can hear growling as more show up.

"Drive them back or kill them! They should flee once they start losing some of their numbers," I tell the others.

Hammer Strike leaps into the air and slams his hammer down onto one of the wolves, instantly killing it.

Bright Mind fires a barrage of magic bolts at another, filling it with holes.

One leaps at Twilight who panics and unwittingly, launches the wolf with her magic into the air. Well holy shit, that wolf isn't coming back down for awhile.

Luna has her dual swords out and is carving into one of the larger wolves.

I channel four air elements into my sword and swing it vertically down. A blade of razor sharp air quickly hurtles towards a wolf and slices it in half.

Spitfire is taking more shots at the wolves towards the back.

Blade Dancer is fighting two wolves at once and cutting them up really good.

The two changelings after watching them for awhile turn into manticores again, but this time, they're the Terran breed. Looks like they got an upgrade.

They rip through the wolves who flee at the sight of stronger predators. The changelings roar in victory and then shift back into their natural forms. Seeing armoured Terran manticores was pretty cool actually.

"I'm going to admit it, but I'm kinda jealous of changelings now," Hammer says.

Chitain and Chameleon chuckle as I turn towards the girl.

"Are you alright?" I ask her.

She's shaking in fear and is looking at Luna with wide eyes.

"Hello, little one, are thou hurt?" Luna asks her.

The girl shakes her head.

"Was there anyone else with you?" I ask her.

She slowly nodded. "Mama and Papa," she says and sniffles. "T-They told me to r-run while they distracted t-the wolves," she tells me.

"And where are they?" I ask her. She points to the left towards some trees. "Can you take us there? We'll keep you safe," I ask.

She nodded and we follow her. After a few minutes of searching... we found her parents... or at least what's left of them.

The girl starts crying her eyes out as Luna tries to comfort her.

I kneel down and examine the corpses. Too much damage to revive them, missing limbs, organs on the floor. I see a pendant on the woman's corpse and take it off. I open it to see a picture of the family. I frown sadly and use a single water element to wash the blood off it before I turn back to the girl and hand it to her.

"Here, you should have this," I tell her.

She takes it and looks at the picture. She starts crying again and cuddles up to Luna.

I gather the pieces of her parents and place twigs and bits of dead wood around them. I then use a fire element to set it on fire and hang my head in respect, it must have been a brutal choice to sacrifice themselves for their daughter.

After a minute, I turn back to the girl. "What's your name?" I ask her.

"Jasmine," she replies, her eyes are bloodshot from her crying.

"Do you have any other family nearby?" I ask her.

She nodded. "I h-have an *hic* uncle in the C-City," she tells me.

"Alright, that's where we're heading, we'll take you there okay?" I tell her.

She nodded and clung onto Luna. I smile sadly and we make our way to the road again.

---

We walk for an hour and the girl has calmed down now but still upset.

"You're a pretty horsey," Jasmine says to Luna as she plays with Luna's flowing hair.

Luna goes wide eyed and I chuckle. "We art a pony, and we thank thee for the compliment," Luna replies with a smile.

"You talk funny," the girl says with a little giggle. At least she isn't depressed as much anymore.

"Thou finds our speech amusing?" Luna asks with a raised brow.

"Uh-huh," Jasmine replies. "Where did you come from? I never seen people like you before."

"We come from a land called Equestria. I am Queen Luna," she says and the points to me. "And he is my Husband, King Adrian."

I lift my helmet's visor up and smile at Jasmine.

"But he doesn't look like you," she says.

"I was sent to Equestria from here, where I met Luna and we fell in love," I tell her.

"Oh," Jasmine says and returns to playing with Luna's hair.

---

It was now night fall but the City was still about half a day's travel away. We had dinner and set up camp where the changelings took the first watch tonight.

Jasmine is sleeping with us in the tent and is cuddling up to Luna.

"You're soft," she says to Luna.

Luna smiles and wraps her arms around the girl while I spoon up behind Luna and wrap my arms around her.

"Good night," I say to them.

"Good night," they reply.

I yawn and slowly drift off to sleep.

---

I wake up alone in the tent and look around; Luna's armour is still here so she must be nearby. I exit the tent and stretch my arms and legs.

Luna is sitting next to Jasmine and is brushing her hair. I smile as I walk over and sit next to them. "Good morning," I say and kiss Luna on her cheek.

"Good morning, our love. Did thou sleep well?" she asks me.

"As well as one can next to a beautiful woman," I reply, making her giggle.

The others start to wake up as Hammer and Dancer must have swapped places with Chitain and Chameleon at some point during the night.

"That is good," Luna says and continues to brush Jasmines hair.

I return to the tent and get all my gear on. I then place Luna's stuff to the side and pack up the tent as the others also pack up theirs and we all eat a quick breakfast.

Once we're all ready to go, we head down the road and the City comes into view.

We walk for a few hours, greeting a few passersby who were shocked to see a new race walking to Elysium.

We finally arrived at the large sturdy wooden gate reinforced with steel plating sitting in a grand stone archway with a guardhouse to the right where two guards watch us like hawks.

"State your business," one of them says warily.

"I am King Adrian Stormsword of Equestria, and this is my wife Queen Luna. We have come seeking an audience with King Vortigan Llywelyn for an alliance between our two worlds," I tell them as Luna and I bow slightly.

"King? Equestria? Wait... worlds? Are you pulling some kind of joke?" a guard asks.

"Nay, we wish to request the aid of thy King," Luna replies.

They look at each other for a second before speaking. "Go get the Captain. I don't know what we should do in this situation," the right guard says to the other.

Argh. 'This is going to take awhile,' I think to myself.

Next Chapter: Chapter 44: Meeting the King and Discord's Surprise! Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 20 Minutes