บท 24: BNS Chapter 24 - One chance
Coming out of the cave, Alan and Chrysalis closed their eyes from the blinding sun, and after a few seconds of getting used to, they were finally able to look around.
First of all, they saw a lot of tree stumps left over from sawed-down trees, due to which the density of the forest was greatly reduced. Such a sight could not fail to surprise the former queen of the changelings, and she said:
"I don't know what these griffins are up to, but even we, the changelings, always uproot the stumps when mining wood to make room for planting new saplings," as she said this, her face showed a clear displeasure with the situation.
Alan was surprised that she cares at all, but decided to remain silent, since at the moment, he was most interested in Starlight's whereabouts.
After examining the surroundings, Alan asked:
"Hey Chrysalis, how far is the Griffin settlement from here?"
"About eight hundred meters, maybe a little more," the mare answered without much enthusiasm.
"That close?" this news strained Alan a little. The alleged enemy was a little less than a kilometer away, and he still needs to find Starlight.
Realizing that they could be detected at any moment, Alan said:
"I suggest we find Starlight as soon as possible, and get out of here until we run into trouble."
Chrysalis nodded, supporting his desire to avoid the griffins. But before they had time to move, they heard a voice in the distance:
"Hey, I think I heard something in that direction," the voice was young and masculine, and sounded very wary.
"Hmm, there must be an animal, but we'd better make sure," a second voice replied, which sounded harsher and more mature.
Realizing that two unknown persons were walking in their direction, Alan began to look around in search of shelter, and seeing a meager amount of vegetation, he dashed towards one of the surviving trees with a small bush to hide behind it.
Thinking that he was safe, Alan suddenly remembered that he was not alone, and looking around tensely, noticed that Chrysalis was still standing in the same place as before. Not understanding what she was doing, he spoke quickly and quietly:
"Hey! What are you doing? Come here quickly!"
But the former queen of the changelings just rolled her eyes, and before the strangers came out from behind the bushes and could see her, the Chrysalis turned into a strange bird with bright plumage and a large beak.
"Oh, right…" Alan finally realized what she wanted to do, and immediately fell silent behind the tree.
It was at this moment that two unusually dressed Griffins emerged from the bushes. They wore suits, in the form of black and brown combat gear with light protective plates, and strange electronic devices on the chest, waist, and forelegs.
They showed a stern and wary look, until they noticed a bird on the ground with a large beak like a parrot, which was trying to dig something with its paws near a stump in the grass.
"What, is it just a bird?" The younger griffin seemed more relaxed.
"Looks like that," the second older griffin seemed to relax a little too, although it was not easy to notice from his frowning face.
"But i'm sure that i heard some voice…" the young griffin was a little embarrassed, and scratched the back of his head.
As soon as he uttered this phrase, the bird seemed to turn its attention to them, and, as if answering his doubts, spoke:
"Some voice! Some voice! Kree…" the bird seemed to parody the manner of a griffin, then flapped its wings and flew away in an unknown direction.
Seeing this, the young griffin chuckled and said:
"Well, that explains it, it seems like a false alarm," with a relaxed sigh, he turned to his partner "Hey, how much more should we patrol until the end of our shift?"
"Hmm," looking at the device, which resembles a kind of smart watch on its paw, the elder griffin replied, "not less than an hour. In any case, we better not lose our vigilance, after the last capture of the intruder, the Knowers demand that we keep other creatures away from our territory"
Hearing the words of the griffin, Alan tensed a little, and thought with concern:
"Catching the intruder? Don't tell me they're about Starlight? It cannot be that she was caught so easily!" hiding behind a tree, Alan tried not to make a sound.
At that moment, the young griffin replied:
"Oh, right, you mean that unicorn mare that one of our patrols stumbled upon? I'm surprised that someone wandered into such a wilderness at all," the young griffin pointed to the environment while talking about it, "and in general, why the authorities are trying so hard to hide our location, we did not care too much about secrecy before."
"Simple patrolmen like us are not supposed to know all the details and secrets kept by the Knowers, but…" looking around warily, as if afraid that they would hear him, the elder griffin replied, "I heard that not so long ago, the thing around which was erected our settlement is finally working."
Hearing his words, the eyes of the young griffin widened in shock, and he said:
"Seriously?! Wow! Then... Now it is clear where such caution comes from. I suppose we will soon have another leap in our development? Damn, I can't wait to get revenge on those gold-hungry idiots who kicked our ancestors out of their homeland."
"Hehe, that's right. But do not be happy ahead of time, I am more than sure that this will not go unnoticed for Equestria, and these ponies will obviously want to poke their curious nose into our affairs," with a contemptuous snort, he continued, "even for our devices it will not be so easy deal with their magic. But if our eggheads in the position of Knowers were really able to make that thing work, then we will have a huge advantage over the rest of the world."
Listening to their conversation, Alan asked more and more questions about what these griffins were discussing. Maybe for any other inhabitant of Equestria, the equipment of these griffins will be nothing more than bizarre and unusual, but for Alan, it was an amazing and unpleasant discovery.
"These are definitely electronic devices! Moreover, they are quite modern. Where the hell do griffins have technology that resembles modern technology on earth?" Alan also remembered how they mentioned that the caught intruder was a certain unicorn mare, cultivating even more panic in him.
Finally ending their conversation, the griffins looked around for the last time, and continued their last hour of patrol. They left in the same direction from which they came.
It was at this moment that a bright bird landed next to Alan, which immediately turned into Chrysalis, which looked at the trail of the departed griffins with a cold gaze. Looking at her, Alan said:
"Chrysalis, I'm going to follow them."
Chrysalis's face immediately contorted in such a grimace, as if she heard something so stupid that it is difficult to express in words:
"Are you out of your little pony mind? Why would you do something so stupid?"
As if getting hit by her words, Alan smiled tightly and replied:
"They said they had caught the intruder, and it was a unicorn mare. I'm afraid it could be Starlight," Alan tried to speak as quickly as possible so as not to lose track of these Griffins.
Glancing at Alan without emotion, Chrysalis said:
"Do you really think that a pony who can sneak into my kingdom without magic, who managed to outwit me and turn my kingdom into a good pathetic parody of my people, will be caught by some random griffins on patrol?" Snorting as if to deny the thought, Chrysalis added, "It would be a complete devaluation of all my efforts to keep my kingdom safe. I may hate Starlight Glimmer, but I'm quite confident in her ability to fight back!"
Listening to her speech, Alan even opened his mouth at such a flattering assessment of Starlight, but quickly shaking his head, Alan replied:
"Yes, I know Starlight is amazing and she can take care of herself, but I can't risk it. If the intruder they caught is really her, then I have to get her out of there, besides, they had something that no one else in Equestria should have, so anything could happen."
Moving his gaze to the indecisive Chrysalis, Alan sighed, and smiling said:
"I am grateful for the help you have rendered so far. I know about your attitude towards the ponies, and about this whole situation, so you don't have to go with me any further. You can consider that we're even. But I hope that when I deal with this problem, we can meet with you again to become friends, and this time for real."
Alan said this with a bright smile, and then, without hesitation for a second, he cautiously set off on the trail of the griffins, hoping that he did not lose sight of them.
Chrysalis remained where she was, staring after him with a slightly complex expression. On the one hoove, she really helped him get out of the cave, and remove the suspicions of the griffins by her transformation, but on the other hoove, she was not sure that this was a sufficient price to save her life.
Catching herself thinking that she really thought about the words of this eccentric about friendship, she snorted contemptuously, and shaking her head, slightly irritated, went along the mountain in order to get out of dangerous territory as soon as possible and find a new place for herself.
* * * * * * * * * *
Alan walked slowly in the tracks of the griffins, trying not to make much noise. At some point, he was finally able to catch up with them enough to get them into his field of vision. Oddly enough, from that moment on, these patrolmen no longer spoke, and they conducted their duty as it should and with complete attentiveness, which made it difficult to pursue them.
After about a dozen minutes, the griffins went into a more open part of the forest, where they crossed with other patrolmen, and after a short conversation, they dispersed in different directions.
Because of this, Alan had to stay in place for an indefinite time, since the direction in which the griffins left was extremely inconvenient for pursuit, because the number of trees and bushes became less and less, and the stumps became more and more. Occasionally, some dug holes could be seen, in which, apparently, some resources were being mined.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Alan could not help but ask this question, "they seem to have a strong need for rare materials. I think it has something to do with the gadgets they carry."
With these thoughts, Alan carefully raised his head out of the bushes, in which he had been waiting all this time, and not finding anyone, finally quietly got out, and followed in the same direction in which a couple of griffins had gone, which he had followed earlier. Obviously, he had already lost sight of them, but he still hoped to catch up with them, following in their footsteps.
And after a while, he managed to find them, but there was nothing to be happy about, because he finally saw the very "settlement" of these griffins. Standing with his mouth open, Alan looked at a huge steel wall, equipped with all modern means of detection, such as cameras, various sensors, and even watch towers with the griffins themselves on them.
"Holy shit…" Alan only now realized how seriously these griffins take their safety.
Finally closing his mouth, he thought:
«What are they hiding there that they spent so much effort on the construction of such a wall?» then shifting his gaze to the cameras and sensors, he thought. «It's good that their security systems are located so openly that they can be seen with the naked eye. And the devices themselves look like crafts from some silly... cartoon…»
Then suddenly realizing what kind of world he is in, Alan smiled and remarked to himself:
«Oh, that's right, I'm literally in a cartoon. On the other hand, I believe that they do not expect that someone will be able to understand what it is. The one thing that other inhabitants of Equestria will be able to recognize is the cameras, but nothing more.»
Watching the patrolmen scan some electronic card on their belt, and then were allowed inside, Alan finally understood why Chrysalis' disguise did not save her from detection.
«Now it's clear that Chrysalis's disguise is simply unable to replicate the identification devices of these griffins. This raises the question - how the hell do I get there?»
Scratching the back of his head, Alan tried to draw up a plan, until he noticed the hoof with which he was scratching his head, or rather, the bracelet he was wearing. With a sly grin, Alan quietly said:
"Well, I think it's time for me to show my acting skills by playing a kind of Trojan horse. Wait a little more Starlight, I'll get you out of there soon."
With these words, Alan took a deep breath and exhale, after which he left the bushes in the direction of the guards who recently checked the patrolmen at the entrance to their secret town.
Having decided to be the first to declare his presence, Alan spoke loudly and affably, and at the same time, in an absolutely uncharacteristic manner for him:
"Sweet Celestia, what a wonderful place you have here!"
As soon as his voice sounded, all three griffins of the guard at the entrance, and several griffins on the observation towers turned their attention to him, after which, with a stern look, they immediately pointed their apparently weapon at him, giving Alan a note in his head that they have some kind of firearms.
One of the guards at the entrance with a frown, a mustache over his beak, and a special patch on his shoulders, spoke up:
"Hey, you! Stay where you are! If you try to run or do something suspicious, we will open fire!" having said so, he signaled to his two companions.
Seeing this, the two griffins nodded and went to Alan, surrounding him so that he could not leave.
Alan, at this time, looked confused, and asked:
"Open fire? What do you mean?" then, as if understanding something, he laughed and said, "Ah! Do you mean THIS fire?" having said so, he pointed to the weapon in the hands of the griffins, and continued, "are these some fancy lighters? Excuse me gentlegriffs, but I do not smoke, and I don't advise you either. This is a terrible and bad habit, and it would be better for you to get rid of it! Otherwise, your health may suffer greatly, which will affect the productivity of your work, and as they say in my homeland, in a healthy body there is a healthy mind!"
Hearing Alan's words, the griffins put on strange expressions. Someone misunderstanding, someone mockery and contempt, and someone really thought about it, which surprised even Alan.
Rolling his eyes, the griffin, which apparently had the highest rank among the other griffins, sighed irritably, and commanded:
"Grab this idiot, and take him to the captain, let him deal with this brainless pony himself, the previous captive was enough for me."
Having said this, the griffins surrounding Alan grabbed him and rudely led him through large and technological doors, behind which Alan opened a view of rather large hangars, consisting of a mixture of metal and stone, to each of which were laid the power lines.
Looking at this with an enthusiastic and surprised face, Alan spoke up:
"Wow, everything is so unusual here! The last time I saw something close to this was in Mainhattan. How interesting…" Alan's admiration and surprise looked really sincere.
The griffins that were leading him only rolled their eyes, wanting to throw it off to the captain as soon as possible, and return to the quiet and calm guard post.
Having reached the only building in this area, the griffins led Alan inside, and after passing several rooms, entered a spacious room where a griffin in a slightly different uniform sits at a table in front of something like a thick tablet computer. Looking at the arrivals, and noticing Alan, his gaze frowned, and he asked:
"What? Another pony?" from his look and harsh manner of speech, it was obvious that he was definitely not happy with what he saw.
"That's right, captain. The sergeant ordered to hand it over to you, considering you more competent in the field of interrogation and decision-making on this situation," said one of the griffins that brought Alan.
Hearing his words, the captain just snorted and said:
"Pff, yeah, sure. I'm not falling for that lazy bastard's words. If not for his good track record, I would have dismissed him on the spot!" snorting again, he turned his gaze to Alan, and asked, "so, who are you, and how did you find this place?"
Alan, who all this time looked extremely curious, inspecting the surroundings, replied:
"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Tor Labe, nice to meet you! I came from distant lands to visit my family in the town of Hoovesville, but got lost a little on the way. I already thought that I could not get out of this forest, but it's great that I stumbled upon your beautiful and quaint town. Hope you can help me find my way to Hoovesville."
(Author's Note: About name chosen by Alan "Tor Labe", if you read it backwards, then in Russian it is an insult, meaning something like (Fuck your mouth). I know this is childish, but damn it amuses me so much. And yes, I couldn't find a good sounding analogue in English, so I left the original version, sorry ^^.)
Hearing his speech, the captain only grinned, and with feigned concern in his voice replied:
"Oh, how sad, you really got into a difficult position, but you were really lucky to stumble upon us! Moreover, you are not the only lost traveler in our area," he continued under the chuckle of the other two griffins, "but don't worry, we will help you both when we finish some of our affairs." Then, shifting his gaze to his subordinates, he said, "Gentlegriffs, lead our victim into the chamb... I mean, to the room of our other guest."
"Yes, captain!" the griffins with an amused smile immediately obeyed.
"Oh, thank you very much! Glad to have met such good griffins as you!" Alan continued to portray a naive pony, while rolling his eyes in his mind, from the obvious sarcasm of the captain's griffin.
"Oh, why, you shouldn't thank me. You really shouldn't." He spoke the last part with a sort of wicked mockery.
After passing through the next gate, Alan discovered that everything began to resemble a more or less ordinary town with residential buildings, except that the abundance of electronic devices and wiring was a clear distinguishing feature of this place.
Unfortunately, Alan was not taken inside the city, but along the inside of the wall, where a strange dark building was located, with a couple of guards who saluted and let the griffins and Alan inside.
Inside there were several prison cells, in which sat weakened griffins, with a lost look. The sight was not pleasant, and therefore Alan even stopped pretending to be cheerful, since even an idiot would have understood what would happen now. And of course, this could not but amuse the griffins leading him.
One of them spoke:
"Just look, it looks like our mister positive traveler finally realized that he did not quite get where he wanted to, hehe!"
"I think he'll be happy again soon, because this is 'such a quaint place!' ha-ha-ha!"
Under the mockery of the griffins, Alan was taken to an isolated dark cell, where someone was sleeping on a bunk under a blanket, and judging by the outlines, this must definitely be the same captured pony.
«Starlight!» Alan was glad that his plan was still working as it should, and all this was not in vain.
After pushing Alan inside, the griffins quickly checked his bag, and took away anything dangerous, like knives, forks, etc. Then they threw the bag to Alan and closed the door. Then one of them thought, and asked the other:
"Wait, don't we need to put a magic blocker on him like we did on the second inmate?"
"And why the hell do we need to do this? He's an ordinary earth pony, what's the point?"
"Hah, you're right! Okay, let's go outta here"
With these words, the griffins left this place, leaving Alan in the cell with the mare starting to wake up. Alan chuckled and said:
"Pfft... idiots," then turning to the mare lying on the bed, Alan said, "get up, sleepyhead, it's time to get out of here... wait a minute... you are…"
* * * * * * * * * *
Walking along the mountain, Chrysalis still could not get rid of the thought that this eccentric stallion acted too stupidly, having gone to the territory of such dangerous griffins, without even making sure that his friend was there. But what annoyed her most of all was that she still thought about it.
"Argh! Why can't I get this freak out of my head in any way, I have already repaid the debt to him, he said it himself!" Chrysalis continued to argue with herself, shaking her head in displeasure.
After a while, Chrysalis stopped abruptly, and staring at the slightly rustling bush, she threateningly lit her horn, and spoke menacingly:
"Whoever you are, you'd better show yourself now, otherwise I will destroy you along with your shelter!" Narrowing her eyes, Chrysalis waited for an answer.
As if hearing not a threat, but salvation, a relaxed sigh came from the bushes, and then a purple mare came out, saying:
"Relax, Chrysalis, it's me, Starlight!" the mare was glad that she finally found them, but then, as if noticing Alan's absence, she asked, "stop, Chrysalis, where is Alan?"
This time, Starlight's voice sounded menacing, and her horn also ignited with streams of concentrated magic.
Not giving it much thought, Chrysalis laughed and said:
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! I knew that you could not get caught so easily, not after you were able to get into my swarm," Chrysalis even seemed to puff out a little from pride in her judgments and the safety of the swarm.
Not understanding what was going on, Starlight turned off the horn, and warily asked:
"What? Get caught? What are you talking about, where is Alan?"
"Pfft, your idiot stallion found out that the griffins had caught a certain unicorn mare, and guessing that it could be you, went to rescue her," Chrysalis replied with a slight grin.
"He's not my stallion!" Starlight blushed slightly as she said that, but then, as if realizing the rest of the words, she shouted, "Wait, WHAT?" WHY? Couldn't he have just waited a little before taking such a stupid step! I had to go around the whole mountain, obviously it will take a lot of time! Couldn't you dissuade him?"
Surprised by this statement, Chrysalis frowned, and answered:
"Dissuade? Who do you think I am, his mother?" rolling her eyes, the former queen of changelings continued, "I already organized a temporary truce with you, took him out of the cave, and even helped to avoid being caught by patrol griffins. It's not my problem if he's stupid enough to enter the territory of crazy griffins in order to save someone he's not even convinced of catching."
"But… he saved your life. Was it really not enough to try to reason with him?" Starlight was trying to figure out why Chrysalis hadn't done at least this?
Chrysalis sighed and replied:
"Not that he was going to listen to me anyway. He literally put me in front of the fact, like (I'm going to save Starlight, thanks for your help, bye!)" slightly mimicking Alan's manner, she continued to explain, "he left so quickly that I didn't even have time to say anything. Maybe I would have tried to stop him, but he made it clear that we're even, so what are your complaints against me?"
Looking down at the ground, Starlight replied with a sad smile:
"Do you really think that by saving you, Alan was taking care of some debts, or other things? Friends don't need a reason to help each other. Knowing Alan, he would definitely try to befriend you when you were together, and I can see that he did it much better than me, considering that you even thought about stopping him."
Chrysalis averted her gaze, not wanting to admit that Starlight was right in some way. Seeing this, the unicorn smiled and asked:
"You know, I'm going to go after Alan now, to get him out of possible trouble. And I wouldn't mind your help. I'm not talking about friendship between us now, because I understand that it is too early for that, given what happened before, but if not for me, then at least for Alan's sake, I ask you not to reject my request. And who knows, maybe in the future we can really become friends, what do you say?"
With these words, Starlight extended her hoof towards Chrysalis, who, looking at this, seemed to have returned to the past, at the moment when Starlight also held out the hoof of friendship to her after her swarm had changed.
Remembering all these feelings as if she was betrayed, Chrysalis was about to push her away again, but then, Alan's words about giving a chance to the good things that the present could bring, flooded into her head. Biting her lip, Chrysalis shook Starlight's hoof with great difficulty, and said:
"One chance. I'll give it one single damne chance. If all this nonsense with friendship doesn't justify itself, then immediately after the rescue of Alan's butt, we will return to where we started, is that clear?"
Smiling brightly, Starlight nodded and replied:
"Yes! Thanks for the chance. Together, we will definitely handle any problem!"
"Hah…" Chrysalis answered with a sigh, "Okay, enough of this rainbow speech, follow me, I'll show you where these griffins have an entrance to their iron city."
With these words, the mares went to the rescue of the rescuer.
* * * * * * * * * *
Author's Note:
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Thanks to everyone who is still with me!
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Silent_Dude The chapters that follow in this arc are going to be some of my favorites as they build a good story for the future and build on character interactions. Hope to read your opinion in the comments.
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