Bonds Beyond Species: Episode One: Meet the Heroes

The first thing I found in the morning was the insufferable heat of the sun on my face. I attempted to ignore it, to go back to sleep, yet the sun’s rays kept aiming for my eyelids. A groan filled the air as I realized that going back to sleep would be impossible. I opened my eyes and glared at the half open flap of the tent. Standing up came afterwards.

However, I couldn’t even manage to do that as my hand was pinned down to the floor of the tent by a mint green unicorn who was sleeping on it like it was a pillow.

The fact that I didn’t freak out this time said a lot about me.

“Lyra…” I whispered “Lyra, wake up.”

She responded by cuddling further into my hand in her sleep. I sighed as I reached with my other hand and started scratching behind her ears. Her body immediately relaxed further. I could tell she was going to start purring like a kitty. I abruptly stopped this by pinching her on the neck.

That managed to wake her up. She yelped and got off my hand, confused as to what was happening. I chuckled.

“Lyra, you really need to stop doing that.” I commented as I started waving my hand around, trying to get the blood flowing again. While Lyra was a cute little thing, she was a bit heavy.

She blushed, “But… We met just few days ago. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m traveling with a real human!”

I sighed. That was true, humans were some sort of myth here. ‘Then how come you’re here’ you may ask.

“Let’s just eat our breakfast.”

But that’s quite a story.

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Bonds Beyond Species

A My Little Pony: FiM Fanfiction

As presented by Yasahiro

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit, fan based story. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro, reimagined by Lauren Faust. Please support the official release.

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Actually, it’s not that long of a story. From what Lyra told me, she was headed towards the Griffin Mountains. Oddly enough, she wanted to study the structure of their claws and their body language. The other aim was more or less to convince her friends that she had an actual reason to go there. She promised a pony named Rainbow Dash to find her old acquaintance named Gilda. Something about apologizing.

As for me, I had no reason like that for being here. I was just chillaxing in my room like a baller, then all of sudden, this portal appears there. It started sucking stuff in my room towards itself, along with me. Just before I got through, I managed to yell out “Just like your mother last night!”

Okay, I screamed like a little girl. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

If portals could read minds, then that’s probably why it threw me out on the other side like it did and collapsed on itself, yeah…

I started pinching myself to see whether or not this was a dream. When the test came negative, I wanted to calmly assess the situation. Be the cool guy. I didn’t account for a unicorn glomping me the moment it noticed me.

I freaked out. But just a little bit!

That little incident behind me, it turned out that Lyra was just a few days into her journey and, by appearing, I took care of one of her aims. And since then, we’ve been travelling together. Most of the time, she either asked me about humans or I asked her about the world around us.

“Kaisei, what time is it?” She asked me in between the bites of her food. Kaisei wasn’t my real name, just something I decided on when I got to Equestria. After all, if you have a chance to choose what people know you by, better make it something that sounds cool. And considering my companion’s cutie mark is a lyre, I guessed a word that stands for ‘vocal harmony’ would fit perfectly.

Getting back on track, remember when I said the portal sucked in some of my stuff? One of these things was my iPhone. I didn’t even need a charger, there was something in Equestria that kept it in eternal charging state. Magic, I guess? I thumbed the main button, vaguely aware that Lyra managed to not watch my fingers this time. Progress!

“It’s nearly half past eight. We slept in.” Her eyes widened at this and she rushed to finish her food.

“We need to hurry, I want to go through those cities as fast as we can so I can bring you home and tell Bon-Bon ‘I told you that humans exist!’” I merely shook my head at this and took a second to check the reception on my phone. Still empty.

“Don’t forget to do a little dance during that.” She nodded at my words, not noticing the sarcasm. At the same time I got a mental image of Lyra shuffling while saying “I told you so” over and over again. It was hilarious.

“I don’t think one or two hours are going to make such a big difference. But… I do wonder about those griffon cities. Griffon, Griffins…fons.” I shook my head. “Never mind.”

I quickly ate my own breakfast. It was a good thing that we were getting close to our first destination as we definitely needed more food. Lyra expected that she will be traveling alone and even though she did pack more food than needed, it still wasn’t enough.

We packed the camp together and were ready to go. I covered my head with the hood of my hoodie and stood up, one leg placed at a nearby rock and bent at the knee, fingers of one hand pointed towards the horizon.

“Onward to the adventure!” I yelled out in what I thought was an epic pose.

Lyra blinked.

“The Griffon cities are the other way.”

I quickly turned around. “Right! Let’s go!”

-----

We managed to get to the town just before the sun set. The first Griffin City we have gotten to on our journey. Even the name got me hyped, Steelpeak.

Wearing my hoodie allowed me to easily conceal my face. Lyra told me about several myths she found out about humans and, while most of them were contradicting each other, I didn’t want to risk anything, not yet. I’m not that stupid.

The buildings were made out of stone and brick, made to withstand the harsh conditions, perhaps something more. The Griffons looked like they were a warfare species and it was reflected in their cities. The edges of the houses were sharp, with the roofs being triangular and steep. My attention was directed towards the bazaar, though.

There were lanterns, ropes , the usual. However, I focused on the food. Considering the Griffons were carnivorous, they were selling something else than the usual for the ponies that wandered to their countries. They sold smoked meat.

That’s right, meat. Something I haven’t ate since I came to Equestria.

“Lyra, could I borrow some money?” I asked her with hope in my eyes. She seemed a bit uneasy when she realized where I was looking towards earlier. Her face had an uneasy look to it.

“Forgot you’re an omnivore…” She closed her eyes and her green magic aura lifted the flap of one of the saddlebags. Afterwards a small sack floated out and landed on my hand.

“It should be enough, I think. I’ve never bought...” She shuddered as she uttered that word “...meat, but it can’t be that expensive.”

I simply ruffled her mane with my free hand and smiled at her.

“Thank you Lyra, I really appreciate it.” She gave me a smile on her own and that already made my spirits lift. I didn’t want to make her sad with my diet, she’s too beautiful to look sad, in my opinion.

Don’t judge me, you traitors.

My unicorn companion trotted away towards one of the stands with the food that involved less murder while I confidently walked towards one of the booths . A big griffin with dark grey feathers sat there, looking for potential customers. It raised one of its eyebrows as it took in my figure, my shape and then simply shrugged. It probably didn’t matter to him what sort of being was buying. A plus for me. It was time to put my Speech skill points to use.

“Hello stranger, what’re you buyin’?”

At that sentence, I realized he outclassed me in Speech. It took all my willpower to keep myself from bursting out laughing at what he said.

“Some smoked meat will do.”

He swiped his stare over his table and asked me “What kind?”

Now, all I knew was that cows were sentient in Equestria, according to Lyra. That’s why I was completely clueless as to what exactly are they selling.

“I’d like to hear your own opinion on the meat you’re selling.”

He smirked. That was the kind of smirk that said ‘All your money is belong to me’. It felt like Lyra’s sack full of money was shivering in fear.

If I had my own wallet, it would do the same.

-----

“I thought it wasn’t expensive!”

That griffin was much better at haggling than I expected. The only way I convinced him to lower the prices were by buying a pretty huge amount of it. And when I say huge amount, I mean HUGE!

The saddlebags I had hung over my shoulder were filled. The sack of money was nearly an empty husk of its former self.

“I didn’t know what animals here could talk and what couldn’t. He outsmarted me here!” I shot back at her.

“Well, maybe if you asked me about it, you would know!”

I sighed and shook my head. “Well excuse me for trying to come to terms with the fact that I may be the last of my kind in this world! Your ‘Research’ keeps making me feel like a lab rat, not a person anymore!” I should’ve simply gave up and stopped arguing. Sadly, it’s in my nature to not allow such things end unresolved. It usually antagonized me towards people.

Lyra’s eyes widened as I said it. “You’ve… never told me about this.” She genuinely seemed to care about my wellbeing , trying to help me fit in and that was how I repaid her.

“It’s… don’t worry. It’s not your fault. I just need some time. It’s been a rough few days for both of us.” We walked silently through the streets, stopping only to ask a passerby if they knew anything about Gilda’s whereabouts. We had to begin the search somewhere and the sun was setting. At least we will get the most out of a day.

After an hour or so, we were ready to go to an inn and just call it a day, try again tomorrow.

“Excuse me, I heard that you are looking for a griffon called Gilda, is that right?”

We turned around. An athletic young male griffon was hovering there, slowly flapping his wings. Most of his body was colored in a pale red, his head feather however being closer to blondish yellow. I wanted to yell 'Griffindor' at that time. These guys always managed to save the day.

“Yeah, we are. Have you heard of her?”

He landed on the ground and nodded. “I know where she lives. Please, follow me.”

Lyra looked at me, happiness in her eyes and I grinned, though I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something fishy was going on here.

-----

The griffon stopped. Before us was a dead end.

“Here we are.”

I raised an eyebrow. “But there’s noone here.”

Our guide chuckled and turned around.

“Oh, there are. Just not the griffon you’re looking for.”

As if on cue, three griffons landed at the entrance to the alley we were standing in. This was clearly a trap. And we fell into one.

“Now, if you would be so kind to hand over your bits.” He extended his claw towards us. I simply stared at it before looking him straight in the eyes.

“I think you’ve made a big mistake.”

“Oh?” He lowered his arm in confusion and breathed in. At that moment I jumped towards him. According to what I read, an opponent’s attention wavers slightly just as they start to inhale. Not by much, but anything helps. I spun around and elbowed him in the gut. The griffon bent over in pain, his eyes widening in surprise. Knowing the basics of kung fu helped better than I expected. I at least knew where to hit.

“Wha-” I grabbed his head and slammed my knee into his face, finishing off with an uppercut to his chin.

Yes, I did a Shoryuken. Sue me Capcom.

I took off my hood and turned towards the three griffons stopping us from leaving the alley. I clenched my fist, resisting the urge to wave the pain off. Griffons are tough. I had to try to intimidate them somehow and the myths could help me. I took a deep breath and prepared to shout.

I will have to thank a certain prince later for being an inspiration.

“You see that? That is what is going to happen to you all. The Humans are true warrior race! Don’t underestimate us!” My attempt at intimidation should’ve sent them running. I put on my war face during it.

Instead, they all shot off towards me. Now, I managed to take on one griffon by surprise, mainly because I focus on speed. That’s why I didn’t want to give him a chance to react. However, as three griffons attacking me at the same time proved, I can’t take the pain. One of them gave a shrill shriek that hurt my ears and shot straight at me. I tried to sidestep to the left but he still managed to take a swipe at my right side.

I hissed and tried to turn around to keep him in my sight. I didn’t account for the second griffon attacking me, launching himself at me just then. He hit me in the back, pinning me down to the ground. The last one punched me in the face. I could feel that I’d get a black eye from this. However at the moment, I was busy screaming in pain as he punched me again. The first griffon was getting up to help with the beating.

No one was looking towards a certain green unicorn. A pissed off unicorn whose human was being beaten up. Her green aura engulfed her horn as she grit her teeth.

One of the griffons gave a surprised yelp as he was lifted by green magical aura. He was immediately followed by his companions.

“Nopony. Hurts. The human!”

----

“I could’ve taken care of myself.” I grumbled to myself.

“Those injuries are saying something else.”

That’s how I learned that you don’t piss off a unicorn. However, while I managed to avoid any serious harm to my body, my pride was probably dying. I was saved from a fight by a small green pony.

We walked out of the alley to call it a day and find a hotel.

“A little help here?”

After what Lyra did to them, we left the griffons alone. She managed to use her magic to tie them up into a ball, something I’ve only seen on cartoons.

“Somegriffon?”

And it looked like they couldn’t get out. One of them was calling for help, another was trying his best to wiggle out of the situation.

“Anygriffon?”

“Just shut up and try to move a bit to the right.”

The third griffon was oddly silent until then.

“Guys?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to pee.”

Their struggles to get free increased.

----

I jumped face first towards the bed. Even though the day wasn’t that great, we managed

to get a good room in an inn. I turned around and placed my arms behind my head.

“We need to find a real lead. Wandering about at random gives us a small chance of finding Gilda.”

“I know, but Rainbow Dash didn’t know where she is living now.”

“What about where she lived when they were still friends?”

Lyra tapped her chin in thought. “I think that would be Silvercrest. About a day’s travel from here if we buy a ticket for a trip on one of the griffon zeppelins.” She shook her head. “But we don’t have enough bits to buy two tickets. So it’s two weeks on hoof.”

I thought a bit, then I merely smiled at her. “We can still take the zeppelin, it will just take some planning.”

She raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

I chuckled. “You will see. Let’s just go to sleep for now, we deserve it.”

I didn’t know it was possible to shrug when you’re on four legs, but that’s what Lyra did before she snuggled into the bed.

“Goodnight Kaisei”

I took a breath.

“Lyra?”

“Yes?”

“This is my bed.”

“I know.”