"Are you sure there ain't any way we can come along with you?" Applejack asked.
"I already told you Applejack, the griffon princesses want to see the Equestrian princesses and only the Equestrian princess's." Replied Twilight. "You're all allowed in the Griffon Kingdom itself, but you wont be going within a mile of the royal palace. I'm sorry, but if the Griffon monarchs are giving us orders in their own kingdom we have no choice but to go along with them."
"I really don't see why we can't go along." Said Rarity, who was in the process of filing her hooves. "I mean we are your council after all. It doesn't really make much sense."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Trust me Rarity, when you spend enough time with Griffons, you come to expect this sort of behavior."
Twilight sighed as she looked over the rails, watching the small waves crash against the side of the ship. "I still wish that you could all come with me, I don't think I'm ready to tackle overseas politics just yet. Especially considering what I've heard about these princesses."
"You'll be fine darling." Rarity insisted. "You always manage to overcome the really important obstacles when you have to."
"Yeah, but in all those cases we all managed to pull through by hitting a big bad guy with a magic rainbow. Now I have to convince two arguing monarchs not to start a civil war."
"That does sound pretty intimidating." Fluttershy agreed in her usual quiet voice.
"Yeah...no offence Fluttershy, but everything's intimidating to you." Said Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity responded, raising her voice. "Leave the poor girl alone."
"Hey, I said no offence!" Rainbow Dash complained.
"And how does that make it any better?" Applejack asked, her voice retaining normal volume but clearly expressing annoyance.
"Oh come on..."
As her friends descended into their argument, Twilight continued to look off into the distant sea, the morning sun spreading streaks of yellow across the water. It didn't matter how hard her friends tried to support her. The only thing they could do to really help was actually being there, and as stated earlier that wasn't going to happen.
Rarity was right at least in saying that Twilight had always managed overcome the serious challenges. But that wasn't the whole truth. She never would have restored Princess Luna if it weren't for the others, she never would have defeated Discord if it weren't for Celestia, she never have retrieved the crystal heart if it weren't for Spike and Cadance. And it was Cadance and Shining armour who defeated Chrysalis, and while Twilight did save Cadance from the crystal caverns, that didn't change the fact that Twilight and her friends ended up completely useless in the captivity of the Changelings.
And the more she thought about how useless she could be in this situation, the more worried she started to feel.
Scratch that. She was feeling more scared than worried.
If she didn't manage to convince the Griffon princesses to settle things out, the situation in the kingdom could get even worse, to the point of a full on civil war. And in the worse case scenario, Equestria could get involved as well. The chaos and conflict that could arise if Twilight and the Princesses failed was almost too unpleasant to think of.
Twilight continued to gaze at the light that the sun reflected across the sea. The orange and yellow light spread across the opal green water reminded Twilight of Sunset. Which, as nice as it was, wasn't really helping.
It was bad enough to have to wait five days to see Sunset again before. But now, with everything that had happened in the past few days...it just felt wrong in a way. And with all the politics Twilight had to deal with, could really use Sunset's comforting presence at this time.
And it probably would have been better if she wasn't still taking in what Luna had told her the other day...
As Twilight stared further at the water, a sudden gust of wind hit her as an orange shape appeared from under the view of the deck.
"Morning Princess!" Flash called while he flew along side the ship.
"Oh, good morning Flash." She responded. "How are you?"
"I'm just on a morning flight." He did a 360 degree twirl in the air. "Thought my wings could use a stretch, and getting some excercise done is always good on the body. Well...unless you're doing it like...five hours everyday, then it results in horrendous injury."
"Cardio vascular atrial fibrillation, aching quadriceps, depression, and insomnia." Twilight stated.
"You forgot to mention the weakened immune system." Flash corrected, before gliding over the rails and landing beside Twilight.
She smiled. "Looks like someones been doing their homework."
Flash raised is tail high in the air as he stretched his front legs forward, his spine curving and his wings spreading out. It was a stretch Twilight had seen Rainbow Dash do plenty of times.
"Back at camp, I had a bit of a rivalry with this other pegasus cadet. Tried to impress our drill sergeant by doing more push ups than we were instructed to do at the end of an afternoon training session, but this one look he gave me said he was also trying to make me look like a chump. So, to show him who was boss, I was doing push ups till nightfall. I ended up so sick that it was a week before I was back in training. Not a fun experiance, but the look on the his face when he found me still doing push ups that night was more than worth it."
"I'm guessing your place in the Canterlot Royal guard is what gives you the need to excercise?" Twilight presumed.
"You betcha." He answered, before stretching his hind legs out one at a time and finally standing up straight. "The waves of mares swooning over your muscles is also a decent perk."
Twilight chuckled. She was finding it a lot easier to talk to Flash when Sunset wasn't present. It was nice. Though she was still wondering whether or not to really try and befriend him with the possibility of making her relationship with Sunset...problematic.
Speaking of who...
"You seemed to recognise Sunset when we saw you at the Canterlot castle the other day." Twilight recalled. "How's that?"
"Oh yeah, Sunny and me go way back. My mom was in the ESL too, in fact she was in the same squad as her dad, who became good friends with my parents. Unfortunately she was killed in the same ambush that took Sunny's dad."
Twilight was taken by surprise with that last part. "I'm really sorry to hear that."
"Don't be." Flash insisted. "I'm sure she was a nice mare and all, but I was too young to really remember her. My dad eventually remarried. Nice unicorn named Aurora Nightlight. She's been all the mother I've needed. Back to the previous topic, the friendship between my parents and Sunny's dad was what lead to me and Sunset meeting. We were friends in school, and mostly kept in contact when she ended up as Celestia's student. Hadn't seen her since she first left Equestria."
"Are you bothered by what you might have heard about her?"
"What, with the whole plot to take over Equestria and all that? Meh, I was a bit disturbed to hear it, but she seems to be over it by now. Doesn't stop me from keeping alert though..."
He was interrupted by the appearance of a fully armoured pegasus guard from inside the ship.
"Captain Flash Sentry!" He called, saluting. "Its time to brief the troops on their positioning!"
"I'll be right there!" He answered, before facing Twilight again. "Duty calls, princess. It was nice talking to you."
And with that, he followed the other guards into the interior before closing the door behind him.
Twilight spent the next few seconds just standing on the deck, staring at the door that Flash had left through, and further pondering if it would be a good idea to pursue a friendship with him. Sunset was fully aware about how she used to feel about the human Flash, and Sunset herself had once dated him. There was also the fact that the human Flash clearly had a thing for Twilight once as well, and if it was a similar case with the pegasus...well...trying to keep her relationship with Sunset a secret would be hard enough without a stallion trying to win her heart over. Especially one that would be living with her now.
She then realized that the deck had gone awfully quite. Hadn't the girls been arguing just a minute ago.
Suddenly, she felt a hoof go over her wings as Rarity appeared from behind her.
"You know Twilight, you are a princess." She said with a playful smile. "If you like Flash Sentry so much I don't believe he would reject you."
Twilight snorted in slight annoyance. Not this again.
"Rarity's got a point Twi." Applejack joined in. "Its hard to find a man with such a caring personality and amazing muscular physique as him."
"Girls, we've been over this." Twilight insisted. "I like Flash. He's a nice guy. But I have absolutely no interest in dating him."
"Oh Twilight." Rarity responded. "Your denial over your feelings for him are almost adorable as your infatuation with him."
Wow, they really thought she was into Flash Sentry, while completely oblivious to the truth.
Twilight burst into laughter.
"So this is apparently funny to you, is it?" Rarity said, still smiling.
"You...you really think I'm into Flash?"
"It's pretty darn obvious if ya ask me." Answered Applejack.
Oh, if only they knew.
"Unless you're suggesting Twilight, that you have eyes for another stallion?" Rarity wondered.
"Or mare." Pinkie quickly stated after suddenly appearing from behind Rarity.
"Or...mare." Rarity continued, with a facial expression that was either annoyed or distasteful. "Though I don't really think Twilight is...that kind of mare."
"Sheesh. Homophobe much." Pinkie muttered before disappearing.
"Rarity, I can assure you, I don't have a crush on any guy and I don't intend on having one for a while. The day may come when I do, but that day isn't here."
"Well, I'm convinced." Said Applejack.
"I'm not." Rarity uttered as she walked away. "I know an infatuated mare when I see one, and I see one when I look at you Twilight."
Probably attempting to make her words seem more powerful, Rarity curved around the corner and was gone.
"That was sure dramatic." Applejack said before turning to face Twilight. "You don't need to worry Twi, that was immature of me to join in on Rarity's little love game, and I don't intend on doing it again. I may be your friend, but its still your personal life."
"Thanks Applejack." Twilight replied. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like some time to myself."
"Sure thing Sugarcube."
Once Applejack had gone back to rejoin the others, Twilight walked back over to the rail, and looked out to sea once again.
Something felt horribly wrong about the conversation that she had just had, and it was probably the fact that she had lied to their faces. Well, maybe she didn't straight up lie, but that didn't mean she wasn't being dishonest with them. She had denied the thought that she was in love with anyone to them, when the truth was something else entirely. And the fact that she was keeping a secret this big from her deepest and closest friends, who had been there for her since she had moved to Ponyville, who she had fought evil and saved equestria with, it just felt so wrong. How long could she do it?
And how long could she and Sunset keep the secret up?
***
Of all the places in Equestria and beyond that Twilight had been to, the Griffon capitol of Poulígatá was certainly one of the most interesting.
It was like some strange mix of Canterlot, Manehatten, and Cloudsdale, though it was definitely more reminiscent of the latter, which was to be expected considering the similar nature of Griffons and Pegasi. The docks that they had landed at were nothing spectacular, just your average large wooden beams holding up walkways made up of large planks of wood, all held together with strong bolts of bronze.
But beyond the docks, Twilight gazed upon buildings the size of those in Manehattan, along with the square and cylindrical shapes of that city. What differed it from Manehattan though were the abundance of flat and spherical roofs, decor of strange twirly shapes like wisps of steam, and buildings with ground floors that had no outside walls but beautiful columns keeping everything up. And that was only the first level of the city. Above the ground building were great conifer trees, quite possibly some of the largest that Twilight had ever seen. While some of them grew among the streets of the city, others grew right out of some of the buildings. Most, if not all of the trees were covered in buildings, predominantly made of wood, connected by stairs, walkways, balconies and bridges. But that wasn't all either, the city actually went higher than that, for above even the trees were large thick clouds carrying buildings similar to the ones on the ground, though with design and architecture more similar to cloudsdale. These clouds and buildings upon them could be found above the trees, beside the trees, and even only slightly above ground. But the most incredible thing about Poulígatá was just how connected everything was. From building to building were bridges ranging from small to huge, from tree to tree were roped bridges and even some zip lines. There were even bridges, stairs and walkways that connected ground building to tree buildings, tree buildings to cloud buildings, and cloud buildings to ground building. A notable site was a large beige domed building with a gigantic conifer tree growing out from the centre, covered in so many buildings it was like a big wooden skyscraper. It broke through a large cloud, where the building spread outward, making the top actually bigger than the midsection. In Canterlot such a building would surely end in destructive disaster, but it seemed like Griffon architects could work miracles.
"OOOOOOOOOH! Look at that!" Said Pinkie as she pointed at a building with a giant statue of a nesting Griffon atop the roof.
"Gorgeous! Absolutely stunning!" Rarity proclaimed as she got a closer look at the decor of the nearby buildings once they had left the docking walkway.
"I've never seen such an abundance of plant life in such a big city before." Fluttershy commented quietly yet happily.
It was strange to think that such a beautiful place was apparently the heart of such civil unrest.
The Guards guided them to the road as all around Twilight her friends commented on the beauty of the city before them. All Twilight could think about was the city ablaze, countless bodies strewn throughout the street as two sides tore each other apart, rivers of blood pouring into the sea as...
"Twilight, are you fantasizing about a horrible worst case scenario again?" Pinkie suddenly asked.
"What?" Twilight replied, shaking her head a bit.
"You have that look on your face. Y'know, when your all like..." Pinkie's face twisted into a fearful expression, her teeth gritting and her eyes twitching. "Oh, Celestia shalt banish us to the depths of hellish Tartarus, where the souls of vanquished demons from bloody wars long past will feast upon our innocence. OH, woe is I!"
"I guess I'm still a bit...nervous. I'm not exactly here for a vacation."
"You don't need to be nervous Twilight." Rainbow Dash cut in. "Even if we can't come with you to the actual conference, there's no way you'll be traveling this city alone."
The corner of Twilight's mouth rose in a slight smile. Rainbow Dash was right. Though they wouldn't be able to be there for her when it was most important, they could certainly stand by her side for everything else.
The Guards brought them to a small chariot reigned to two other Guards. The chariot itself was the typical royal kind, painted purple with red cushions in the seat, along with the usual gold decor. The design seemed to be modeled a bit more after Twilight in particular, as the seats had golden models of her cutie mark imprinted into them along with white and pink borders that mirrored the white and pink highlights in Twilights hair.
She also noticed that it didn't look much bigger than a one seater.
"Princess Twilight." One of the Guards said in a very authoritative voice. "Our orders are to escort you directly to the palace of the Griffon Princesses for the first formal meeting."
"Really? I figured we could just arrive at the hotel first and just...I don't know...settle in a bit." Twilight pointed her hoof at Spike, who was panting from carrying the six large suitcases topped with a very small one.
"This was a direct request from the Griffon Princesses themselves, and Princess Celestia has ordered that any order or request from the Griffon Princesses must be treated like a direct order from herself."
"Am I allowed to take my friends with me?" She asked, looking at the small carriage and doubting that everyone could fit on it. "I get that they can't come with me on the conference but..."
"I'm afraid not Princess. The Griffon Princesses have issued a strict order that no one that isn't on official business is not permitted within the place gates."
"These mares are my council. They're as much on official business as I am."
Suddenly, Flash Sentry landed beside the Guard along with another.
"I'm sorry Princess." He said. "That's not up to us. Rain Shaker here will personally escort your friends to their hotel, where you can rejoin them in a few hours."
Twilight sighed. "I guess as long as I am on Griffon soil I'll have to obey the Princess's command." She turned to her friends. "I'm sorry girls."
"No need to be, Twilight." Rainbow Dash insisted. "There isn't anything you can really do."
"Have a safe trip." Twilight hoped.
"You too." Applejack replied as she hugged her, before the others joined in on the hug.
After watching her friends leave with the Guard that Flash had instructed to escort them, the other Guards beckoned Twilight on to the chariot. After making herself comfortable, the two Guards that the chariot was reigned to galloped at a steady pace into the streets. Aside from the two in front of her, there was one guard at each side, two behind her, and two flying above her, one of them being Flash, who flew down closer to her with a satchel in his hoof.
"Excuse me Princess,but Princess Celestia asked me to give this to you for the journey." He said, giving her the satchel.
"What?" Twilight wondered, opening it to find her crown inside.
"She figured that wearing the crown would offer moral support to the people. Even here the common folk do tend to look up to royalty."
Twilight stared at the crown for a second before placing it on her head. "Thanks."
Flash flew up until he was level with the other flying guard.
Given the space that Twilight had on the chariot, she got a good view of her surroundings. The positive side to this was that she saw plenty of guards surrounding her, which, while a little uncomfortable, certainly made her feel safe. The negative side to this was that she got a good view of the inner city.
From the view of the dock, Poulígatá looked beautiful. Free from any conflicts and turmoils. But now that the dock was far behind her, and she was within the Griffon streets, she saw exactly what this conflict between the princess was causing. At first she saw a single building with a broken door, cracks on the walls, and windows that were either smashed, boarded up, or both. This wasn't too intimidating a site, there were plenty of these buildings in Manehattan, and possibly even one or two in the poorer parts of Canterlot. It could have just been very old or underused.
But further on, she began to spot more buildings in similar, even worse shape. It was especially noticeable since they were so close to other buildings in perfectly fine condition. One of the ruined buildings she passed had the words 'We're already at war!' painted in large red letters over the walls.
But the buildings were just the start. While passing a run down building that looked like an apartment, she saw a male Griffon wrapped in a ragged cloak sitting on the doorstep. In an alleyway, she saw a female Griffon with several missing feathers lying on a broken mattress, holding a young cub close to her. And at the roots of one the large conifer trees lay a Griffon covered in dirt, scratches and bruises. He wasn't moving.
An indescribably unpleasant feeling built up in Twilight's stomach. Not just in the horror of what she was seeing, but in the guilt she felt at seeing all these people suffering in the streets while she was sat in a comfortable chariot with soft cushions and decor of solid gold, surrounded by eight Guards and with a beautiful crown on her head.
To her left, she saw a Griffon couple digging through a trash can. To her right, she saw a Griffon dressed in armour dragging another Griffon with a bleeding scratch on his face into a large black carriage with barred windows, while another armoured Griffon held back two crying cubs.
"The Griffon Princesses get more paranoid by the day." Flash explained from above. "They use the influence they have over whatever divisions of Griffon military have anyone doing anything remotely suspicious arrested, thrown into the streets or worse."
"Extra! Extra!" Called a young Griffon holding a newspaper in her claws with a pile of other newspapers beside her. "Bankers perish in a fire! Foul play suspected!"
'If I hadn't been with Sunset...' She thought. 'If I was here last week, none of this might be happening...'
She closed her eyes and lowered her head, her mind consumed by this thought. How many people were going hungry, because the Griffon Princesses refused to talk to anyone but every Equestrian Princess at once? How many people were on the streets, because she wasn't there to make it happen? How many people were dying, because she had let her feelings for Sunset get in the way of her duties as Princess?
On the verge of tears, everything went quiet for Twilight.
And that was when she heard it.
Her eyes flung open as her head turned, her horn glowing magenta as she caught an object moving so fast it was a miracle she caught it at all.
An arrow. Inches from her face.
One of the guards beside her caught site of it as his eyes widened. "Men! Defensive formation!"
Within a second the eight guards formed a ring around the chariot. Four Pegasi and four unicorns. Suddenly, several more arrows were shot from the rooftops, flying straight towards Twilight. Each of the unicorn guards managed to catch an arrow each with their magic, missing only one which Twilight herself deflected with a shield.
The Guards scanned the roofs and spotted six Griffons reloading crossbows, one of them finishing up before aiming at Twilight again. Right before he could fire, he was hit by a blue electrical stun spell shot by one of the Guards. He dropped his crossbow while spasming, right before he fell off the roof and fell past several floors before hitting the ground in a sickening thud.
Every Guard with a horn sticking through their helmet shot magical projectiles at the attackers, ranging from stun spells to ice spells to simple force shot spells. Within seconds every Griffon had been hit, resulting in a moment of silence.
Right before a loud bird screech split through the street.
From the rooftops appeared another Griffon, followed by yet another, before they saw multiple Griffons above them. And from the alleyways appeared even more. They were surrounded, by twenty Griffons at the least.
"Engage!" Flash shouted, quickly turning to one of the unicorns. "Aegis, Shield protocol one, now!"
"Yes sir!" He answered.
Twilight suddenly found herself covered in a yellow bubble like forcefield as the Guard's horn began to glow.
"What are you doing?!" She asked loudly, but he did nothing but stand still and stare at her.
She looked around and saw the other Guards take on the Griffons. Flash charged headfirst into the attackers, hitting one hard in the face with his front hooves, right before another one jumped on him from behind and pinned him to the ground, before several others ganged up on the pegasus, covering him in their bodies.
Turning around she saw another pegasus guard desperately trying to fend off three Griffons warriors, before one of them was hit by a magical blast, allowing him to take out the other two. The unicorn Guard that had fired the shot then managed to take out multiple Griffons on the roof, before he was suddenly pierced right above the cutie mark by an arrow. He let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground, blood oozing from the wound as he desperately tried to get up.
"Let me out!" Twilight shouted at the Guard that was surrounding her with the shield, banging on the forcefield as she did. "You need help!"
But he just stood there, still as a statue. Behind him, Twilight saw another pegasus Guard beat a Griffon into the ground before another one flew down, scratching him across the back. He winced and stumbled for a second, then tried to fly after the Griffon, but fell to the ground as his wing went red.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle! I went up against countless changelings! Fought Tirek to a standstill! I'm an alicorn for Pete's sake! Now turn this shield off! I command you!"
She still received nothing but a blank stare.
Four Griffons flew straight at one of the unicorn Guards, who surrounded himself in his own bubble shield. While every strike they made against it did nothing, he clearly had no idea on what to do.
Twilight tried to take matters into her own hooves and hit the forcefield with a shield breaking spell. After this did nothing she tried a different one, which also failed. This Guard had clearly trained to master shield spells. It was likely that any spell that she could break it with would be too dangerous to use in such an enclosed space.
After she decided that her attempts at breaking the shield were futile, she spotted a Griffon charging right for the Guard shielding her.
"Look out!" Twilight yelled at him.
A gold and cobalt streak suddenly slammed into the Griffon, knocking him to the ground. The streak revealed itself to be Flash, who gave the Griffon a quick jab to the neck, which made him go limp. Twilight looked at the spot where Flash had been pinned down, only to find a pile of unconscious Griffons.
"Alright boys!" He called. "Let's show these chickens how ponies can deliver a hurting!"
Flash charged at the Griffons that surrounded the shielded unicorn, sidestepping right to dodge an arrow as he ran. Upon reaching the shield he slammed his armoured body against one Griffon, crushing them against the forcefield. The other three Griffons trying to break through it then focused on him. He quickly spun around, slamming his hind hooves into the closest Griffon's beak, then somersaulting as he hit another Griffon on the head with a downward kick. As the last Griffon ran towards him, he picked up one of the fallen Griffons and whacked it against the one charging at him.
With the Griffons surrounding him down, the unicorn Guard lowered the shield surround him and started firing at the attackers on the rooftops. As for Flash, he ran over to assist another unicorn Guard that was using an energy weapon he had conjured to fight off a Griffon that was wearing homemade but effective armour.
As Flash sprinted, he quickly took off his helmet and threw it. The helmet flew through the air before hitting a Griffon in the head, knocking them out as the helmet ricocheted back into Flash's hooves.
As the other unicorn was backed against the wall by the armoured griffon, Flash hit it with a sweeping kick to the feet that knocked it off balance. As the Griffon tried to get up, the unicorn hit it in the face with a freeze spell that froze it onto the ground.
"Gadman, go help Knoedel!" He pointed at the Guard with an arrow in his flank.
Gadman gave a quick salute before running over to Knoedel. Looking around again, Twilight could see that her Guards had managed to turn the tides against the Griffons, all the attackers on the roofs had been taken down, and the Guards that weren't injured were finishing off the ground forces.
As for Flash, Twilight saw him going face to face with a very different sort of Griffon. It was clearly a female, dressed in navy coloured leathery armour. There was a strap across her chest displaying several knives, her claws covered in sharp metallic armour, and a short but thick cowl covered everything on her head above the eyes.
She dramatically slashed her claws in a display of skill that demonstrated Kóndôr Pálīs, a Griffon fighting style that Twilight had looked up a while back. The scary thing was that it was a fighting style created for the sole purpose of going up against pony fighting styles.
The Griffon warrior let out a piercing screech at Flash that echoed through the streets.
The corner of Flash's mouth twisted upwards in a side grin. "If thats bird call for 'Come and kick my ass' I'd be more than happy to oblige!"
She let out a quicker shriek before flying towards him. Flash then kicked himself off the ground and flew towards her. Both of them were flying towards each other at high velocity, and right before crashing, the Griffon slashed her claws out in a double arc. But as she did this, Flash suddenly dropped from the air and ran underneath her before spin kicking around and hitting her from behind. She grunted and crashed onto the pavement, but was quickly back on her feet. As Flash ran towards her she readied her claws once more. Before he could reach her she leapt forward, slashing rapidly. With tremendous speed and reflexes Flash dodged and blocked every strike. She brought both of her claws down on him at once, which would have fatally struck his neck had he not blocked the palms of her claws with his front hooves. Before she could react, he lifted his hind legs up and thrust them into her chest, knocking her backwards. Hard. Before she could get back up, Flash gave her a light kick right in the face, knocking her out cold like the rest of her comrades.
"And that's what you get for sucking!" Flash proclaimed with one hoof held triumphantly in the air.
As the yellow forcefield dissipated around her, Twilight gave another look at the area around her. The Guards that had been injured were being assisted by the others, and those who were unscathed were panting heavily, clearly out of breath. Around them, the street was littered with countless unconscious Griffons.
***
"We are so sorry for what happened during your journey Princess." Said Pidgeo, the Griffon royal family's butler. "We are truly ashamed that this happened within the streets of our fair city."
"I'm fine." Twilight insisted. "I spent the entire ordeal trapped in a bubble shield, though not out of my choice I have to say. Its my Guards that have to be apologised to. I'm not even sure if all of them are going to survive the wounds they received."
"Let us hope for the best. Now I hope you don't mind waiting for your first meeting with the Princesses. I am afraid that in spite of their differences, they do both have high tastes for good presentation."
The room that Twilight was waiting was quite nice looking, with spotless white walls and chocolate brown wooden beams all curving inwards to form a round ceiling. But as nice as it was, the situation that she was in and the fact that a large number of Griffons had just tried to kill her made the entire castle seem very intimidating.
The dark brown double doors then flung open as Flash walked inside. Getting a closer look at him, Twilight could see that he was covered in scratches and bruises while parts of his armour were dented. Pidgeo clearly wasn't fond of this site, stepping back and grimacing.
"Perhaps I should go and see when the Princesses will be ready." He said, quickly leaving the room out one of the other doors.
"How are the other Guards?" Twilight asked.
"They'll be fine." Answered Flash, checking out the damage his helmet took. "Knoedel took an arrow in the flank, and Voxeltron and Stormie-Squall were scratched up pretty badly, but Gadman's a good healer, so they should all be fine."
"And you?"
"Oh, I'm fine. The scratches and bruises initially hurt bad, but I just needed the smallest of healing."
"Do you know why all those Griffons tried to...take me out?"
"From what we've gathered they're some kind of insurgency that had the intention of making sure you or any of the other Princesses don't end up letting the wrong Griffon Princess take the throne. Hopefully we can find out if either of the two Princesses was directly supporting them. An action like that would prevent them from ever taking the throne, and all this political crap would be over."
"Hopefully I can end it all myself." Twilight then remembered how Flash had fended off all those Griffons and taken out the Kóndôr Pálīs fighter all by himself. "Those were some amazing fighting skills there. I don't think I've ever seen someone moving that fast. Well, in close range I mean. If you were the fastest pony I had ever seen you'd be faster than Rainbow Dash, but if you were faster than Rainbow Dash you would've accomplished a sonic rainboom, which you didn't, so..."
Flash chuckled. "Well if I couldn't beat all those Griffons than I'd make for a pretty crappy captain of the guard then wouldn't I?"
It was Twilight's turn to chuckle. Perhaps if Sunset wasn't happy with the idea of Flash protecting her, she could always bring this up as a point.
One of the double doors than creaked open to reveal Pidgeo.
"Excuse me Princess Twilight Sparkle, our Princesses will see you now."
Flash saw this as a good time to leave, walking out the doorway. "Good luck." He said to her, before the doors closed behind him.
Twilight let out a deep breath. Even if this wasn't the official conference, she would do her best to work something out between the Griffon Princesses. Everything that was going on out there, in Poulígatá and the rest of the Griffon Kingdom, it had to end.