My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Of Ponies and Humans

Chapter 11

Arrival

46 Days after Zero Hour

After receiving the letter from Cadence; Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Halo, Zilver, Shadow, Derpy, Requiem, Aura, Ash, Jax, Bahamut, Spike, and Sora left for the Gryphon Kingdom to find the Reversal Spell for the human-turned Ponies. What they don’t know is that this journey is going to be a lot tougher then it sounds.

The GKS Bright-Wings pulled into Port BedFeather, the Gryphon port on the other side of a 10 mile wide river.

A quesy Applejack walked away from the water, her face green in illness.

“Guess you’re not much of a boat person, are ya?” Sora asked.

“no…” A.J. gagged as she felt bile rise up. “…I’m not. Never even knew I could get seasick till now.”

“now you know.” Zilver chuckled.

A.J. looked at him with the evil eye. “you think this is funny?”

“well…” A.J. tried to hit him in the shoulder but was stopped short by another vomit false alarm.

Jax cracked her back as the group walked towards the port town. She looked up at the sign above that read ‘welcome to Port BedFeather. One heck of a place.’ “how original.” she muttered.

“Gryphon’s aren’t exactly known for there originality.” Twilight said as then entered the town.

As soon as they entered the town, they could immediately feel every eye fall on them.

“Why are they all looking at us?” a nervous Sora asked.

“they never saw humans before. That answer your question or do you have another stupid one?” Dash asked.

“no, but I do have a observation. Look.” Requiem said, pointing ahead of them. Ahead of them were unaffected ponies. They weren’t human in any way, shape, or form. “Why aren’t they affected?”

“remember what Cadence said in her letter? She and Armor are also unaffected. Guess it was just the country of Equestria that was affected.” Twilight explained.

“Argh!!! This spell is starting to give me a headache.” Jax exclaimed.

“tell me about it.” Derpy groaned. “I’m starting to get one too.”

“Same here.” Rarity said, rubbing her forehead.

Requiem and Ash looked at each other with worried expressions. “Sure it’s just a coincidence. After all, we were on a boat for a full day.” Ash pointed out.

Bahamut just shrugged and took a few steps before he spotted a Gryphon heading towards them. “heads up. We got company.”

Everyone took notice of the Gryphon. Jax secretly got a fireball ready as it approached. “are you Ms. Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.

Twilight was nervous about this. “Yeeeeah. What of it?”

“The name is Jason. Captain Jason. I’ve been assigned by King Zaltan to escort you to the capital city.”

“oh. Oh, well, thank you.” Twi said. Jax snapped her fingers, extinguishing the fireball she hid behind her back. “but… how did you know I was me?”

“A couple of friends of yours, a Ms. Vinyl Scratch and a Ms. Octavia Philharmonica, provided a description of your likeness.”

“Vinyl and Octavia? What are they doing here?” Zilver wondered.

“I remember them saying they were taking a vacation. Guess it was to this place.” Derpy explained.

“oh.”

Jason gestured to the way he came. “if you’ll follow me.” he walked back the way he came. Everyone else soon followed.

A train pulled out of the port and headed towards the capital city, which lays 30 miles east.

The train was a private train, belonging to the king himself. It consisted of just the engine and a long luxury car.

“have ever told you guys how much I LOVE luxury cars?” Rarity swoon fully asked while laying on a futon.

“10 times in the past 5 minutes.” Sora groaned, plugging her ears.

“you’ll be meeting with the King tomorrow evening. You’ll have the next 24 hours to relax, recharge, and take in the sights.” Jason explained.

“Good. I was hoping to see my old stomping grounds.” Dash sighed, sitting back on a bean-bag chair.

“Stomping Grounds?” Jason asked.

“born and raised in the cap. I wonder what everyone’s doing now.” Dash wondered.

“Guess you’ll find out when you get there.” Ash said, pouring himself some bourbon.

Requiem took a bite out of a corn-cob. “it’ll take us around 3 hours to reach the Capital City.” Jason explained. “then you’ll be given a tour of the city then I’ll show you to your quarters for your stay. I trust that’ll be satisfactory?”

“sounds good.” Req said with her mouth full. “so far, the only town we’ve seen was Ponyville.”

“huh? Ah, you must be one of the humans that came to our world before the spell.”

“bingo!”

“Ah. Pleasure to make the acquaintance of visitors from another planet. You’ve all gotten quite the reputation across out world.”

“how so?” Aura asked, laying back on a rocker.

“the story of your crash-landing at the hands of that giant shadow-cloaked monster. One of you single handedly fighting off a entire hoard of Changelings. And Princess Luna being obsessed with the past, claiming to have heard of humans before.”

“From what we heard, we mostly exist in fairy tales and legends.” Jax said, playing pool with Whooves and A.J.

“well, some people accept those tales as truth. Lyra, for instance.” Whooves explained. He aimed his pool cue with the white ball and it with the 10 ball and shot. The white ball hit the 10 ball and the 10 ball went in the corner pocket.

“Guess that explains that obsession with me.” Ash muttered.

“what of you?” Rare asked Jason.

“put me in the Fairy Tale camp. Until you arrived, no humans existed on Equestria before or ever.” Jason pulled out a pocket-watch, which read 5:00. “it’s still gonna be a couple of hours before we arrive. I suggest you make yourselves comfortable.” Jason left their room and entered the adjacent one.

The train continued down it’s only course as a shadow passed over it; a very big shadow.

HIGH up in the sky, the giant monster that had stranded Requiem and her friends on Equestria followed. It stared down at the train. It let out a small guttural growl before flapping it’s wings and flying up into the clouds.

Pinkie stuck her head out a window. “we’re here, we’re here!” she squeaked in her usual matter. Everyone leaned out of the windows to see the capital city.

“Wow!” the human-turned ponies, Requiem, and Sora gasped in exclaim.

The Capital City lay before them. A walled community, the city consisted of towers that stretched into the sky. The tallest of them all sat in the exact center, serving as the palace for the King of the Gryphon’s.

If looked at from above, it looks like a Medallion.

“WOW!”

Jason looked at them all and smiled. “impressed, are ya?”

“Very!” they all exclaimed in excitement.

“this place is even more impressive then Canterlot. And that’s something I never thought I’d say.” Twilight exclaimed.

The train rolled into the station, squealing and hissing to a halt. The door on the car opened and everyone departed from it.

“Man, I can’t wait to see my old friends.” Dash exclaimed with excitement. She rubbed her hands together and flexed her wings.

“HOLD IT!” Dash screeched to a halt in mid-air when Jason yelled out like that. “I’m sorry, but you can’t go out. There’s a curfew in place.”

“A curfew? At 8 at night?” Dash angrily exclaimed.

“This is probably what Cadence mentioned in her letter.” Twi mentioned as she pulled it out. “yeah, something about a slave trade.”

“she is… partially correct.” Jason said. “they do kidnap Ponies, Gryphon’s, Dragon’s, and even Changelings, but… I wouldn’t exactly call it a slave trade.”

“then what would you call it?” Rarity asked.

“Eh… ooo, how do I explain it?” Jason thought for a moment. “eh… *makes bed-squeaking sound*”

“EW!!!” everyone exclaimed at once. Guess they didn’t need to think about it.

“I can see why you want it abolished.” a disgusted Applejack said.

Jason turned around and gestured to the door. “I’ll explain the rest in the limo.”

“All right. Limo.” a intrigued Aura said.

The limo, which is just a extended carriage pulled by 8 Gryphon’s and Ponies, pulled away from the train station and cut though the middle of the city.

“first a posh train car now a comfy limo?” Rarity excitedly squealed. “I’m falling in love with this king.” she passionately sighed.

Spike got nervous. “y-you are?” he mutter.

“So what else can tell us about this… *cough* sex trade?” Ash asked.

“it mostly always happens at night. Doesn’t matter where, they always get you. And they don’t care about status. If they want you, they’ll take you. Hence the curfew. Helped lower the crime rate on more then one aspect.”

“And considering the alternative, I think nobodies gonna argue.” Req said.

“right. We found and shut down a few of their nests but they’re so wide-spread throughout the entire kingdom, it’s been difficult.”

“So how do Shining Armor and Princess Cadence fit into this?” Whooves asked.

“well, they were honeymooning in the islands to the south when the princess met with them and filled them in on the situation. They agreed to help. They’ve been extremely helpful. Their magic has found more of their hideouts in 5 days then during weeks of investigations.”

“what do you expect from my big brother and sister-in-law?” Twilight snickered, leaning back.

Sora pulled open the shades to look out at the streets. The lamps were on, showing that the streets were deserted. “Dang. such a desolate place.”

“only at night until the trade is taken care of. You should see this place shine during the day. It’s more impressive then Canterlot, I assure you.”

“it’s certainly bigger then it. We’ll give it that.” Derpy said, looking out.

“if you do have to leave past the curfew, make sure it’s in a large group; 3 at least. Or under the escort of a royal guard.”

“Got it.” Bahamut said, pretending to write it down.

“I’m not joking. These are some dangerous people.”

“and what do we look like, chopped liver?” Jax asked, spinning a Chakram around on her finger. She stopped spinning it. “we off-worlders aren’t exactly weaklings.”

“So we’ve heard.” Jason muttered.

The Limo went out of a gate and headed away from the city.

“Where’re we going?” Ash asked.

“to Shining Armor’s and Princess Cadence’s residence while they’re here. They offered it to you all while you’re all here.”

“Really?” Halo said. “how nice of them.”

The limo turned onto a dirt road following a cliff overlooking…

“THE OCEAN!!” Req exclaimed.

“not really. That’s Lake Quill-feather. Quite a nice place and quite the tourist attraction.” Jason explained.

A grinning Req turned to Sora and Jax, who were equally as excited.

The carriage approached a stunning looking and charming beach house that’s located between the ground and the beach itself.
(example pic:

“HELLOOOOOO, Tropics!” Req and Pinkie happily exclaimed.

The group entered the house and were immediately impressed.

“We call the deck!” Req, Jax, and Sora all exclaimed, carrying their bags out towards it.

Twilight looked around and, except for them, the place was pretty empty. “where’s Cadence and Armor?” she asked Jason.

“meeting with the king, which you will be doing tomorrow at 6 P.M. till then, you can relax, tour the town, and see the sights.”

“I can live with that.” Shadow said from a distance.

Jason bowed to them. “till tomorrow, Ms. Sparkle.” he turned and left, leaving everyone to the house. Pinkie walked up and watched him leave with Twi.

“He’s certainly a lot nicer then Gilda.” she said.

“that’s certainly true.” Twi muttered.

Everyone reached into their bags and started pulling out sleeping bags and rolling them out. Twi, instead, reached into hers and pulled out a quill, ink, and paper.

“What’cha doing, Twi?” Halo asked.

“writing home to the gang in Ponyville and Celestia. Letting them know we arrived safely and will be meeting with the King soon.” she explained.

“Well, can’t it wait till morning?”

Twi paused and thought for a moment. “guess you’re right.” she yawned. “I am feeling a little tired.” she rolled up the paper and put it and the rest of the supplies away.

She started for the deck when Halo stopped her. “Oh, and when you do write it, can you ask about Trixie?” Halo asked.

“still worried about her?” Twi asked. Halo nodded. “I don’t blame ya. I’m worried as well. We didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms with her.”

“no argument here.” Zil said as he jumped onto the couch. “I just hope she didn’t do anything stupid, like make this permanent.” he said, looking at the human hands.

“no, we have to worry about Lyra doing that. Thankfully, best she can do is a light spell.” Twi explained, rubbing her eyes. She left for the deck again, yawning.

Before long, everyone fell asleep, tired from the trek they took to get here. Twi, Req, Sora, Jax, Derpy, and Spike slept out on the deck while everyone else slept inside.

A shadow cast over them as something flew in front of the full moon.

Whatever it was, it flew far out, way out of earshot, before diving into the water.