Chapter 4: Long Day
King Appolyinia was furious. “What do you mean you lost the prisoner?” He yells at a griffon bowed at his feet.
“I was bringing him here to be questioned when he used his magic to attack me mid-flight. I dropped him in response, my liege.” The griffon answers.
Appolyinia places one of his razor-sharp talons against the offending griffons neck. “And why did you not swoop down and grab him again?”
“I saw another pony my liege, I thought it best that I get out of there before too many questions were asked.”
“You were seen by another pony?” Appolyinia asks angrily. “You fool!” Then without a second thought he uses his talons to rip out the griffon’s throat. Another griffon comes up and cleans his talons, as a couple more very quickly and quietly take the body away. Apppolyinia looks at the griffon with the cleaning cloth. “Get me Gilda.”
“Of course, my liege.” The servant griffon bows before quickly going to find Gilda.
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Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne just getting ready for day court when a letter appears by her side. “Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia muses to herself and chuckles. “And here I thought you didn’t feel like you needed to send me friendship reports anymore.” She smiles and opens the letter, only for the smile to quickly fade from her face, she quickly gets up from her throne. “Royal Aide!” she calls out and an turquoise unicorn pokes her head through the doors.
“Your majesty?” Royal Aide asks as she steps in. “Is something the matter?”
“I need you to cancel Day Court and send someone to awaken my sister.” Celestia answers.
“What has happened?”
“I need to confer with my sister and then we need to go check these allegations for ourselves before we jump to conclusions, but if everything I read is correct the Griffon Empire may have just declared war.”
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Gilda flies to Ponyville, another griffon following behind her. Rainbow Dash flies up to meet them. “Hello Gilda.” Rainbow Dash says coldly.
“Look Rainbow, I’m here as an escort to the Prince.” Gilda says. “So show us where to land.”
“Yeah, of course.” Rainbow says and the three of them all fly to outside Twilight’s castle where Celestia, Twilight and Mayor Mare await.
“Welcome back to Ponyville Gilda.” Twilight greets.
Gilda lands, “Greetings Twilight.” Gilda says and then Twilight flashes her wings. “I apologize, I mean Princess Twilight, and of course Princess Celestia.” She looks at Mayor Mare. “And you are?”
“Mayor Mare, the Mayor of Ponyville.” She answers,
“I of course am Gilda, and this is Prince Bastion.” Gilda says introducing the griffon with her.
“Greetings your majesties," Bastion says as he bows. "I am sorry we are meeting under such circumstances."
"Unfortunately these meetings hardly ever happen under pleasant circumstances Prince Bastion." Celestia says.
"To that you are right, and please call me Bastion. If we all insist on titles this will be a rather tedious conversation."
"Very well, then I insist you address me simply as Celestia."
"And me as Twilight."
"Very well, now that we have that out of the way let's get down to business." Bastion says.
“Very well,” Twilight says. “I have reports of a griffon carrying a pony over the Everfree Forest, do you know if there’s any truth to this statement?”
“Yes, a unicorn was found near one of our Outposts, and was being brought to the Empire for questioning as the Outpost in question is some distance away from any pony towns.”
“I can’t blame you for wanting to question a potential spy,” Celestia admits. “Are you aware of what happened next?”
Bastion shakes his head and lies. “The griffon that flew ahead to make us aware that the captive was on his way arrived fine, but when the second griffon did not arrive we sent out a search party. We found him dead from an injury, from what it appears the unicorn struck him in the wing with magic making him crash. He died from his injuries in the crash. I can only assume that the griffon dropped the unicorn when he was stuck by the magic. I also assume that the unicorn in question also died by results of injuries sustained in the fall.”
“We are saddened to hear that the griffon in question perished due to his injury, we offer our condolences, and ask if you feel reparations are necessary as his death was inadvertently caused by a pony.” Celestia asks.
“In this instance we do not, but we thank you for your consideration. We in the griffon empire offer condolences for the unicorn the surely passed when dropped by the griffon in exchange though, and also offer reparations if necessary.” Bastion says.
“That will not be necessary,” Celestia says. “The pony is alive.”
“He survived the fall? How?” Bastion asks incredulously.
“Another unicorn spotted him and managed to use their magic to cushion his fall.” Twilight answers.
“I need to see him and talk to him!” Bastion demands.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Twilight states.
“You dare deny me access to a possible spy?” Bastion asks angrily. “I thought our agreement was for full cooperation Princesses.”
“It is, “ Twilight says. “But the pony in question did not survive the fall unharmed, he hit his head rather hard and is unconscious, and we have no clue as to whether or not he will awaken.”
“Oh,” Bastion says as he backs down. “So you meant speaking to him would literally be impossible.”
“That is correct,” Twilight says. “And until such time as he has fully recovered from his wounds he will be kept here under our watch, I assume you have no problem with that.”
“Of course not, I only wished to know what he was doing at our outpost.”
“We will gladly let you question him once he is awakened, and we have made sure that there’s no damage from his fall.”
“Of course, I understand” Bastion nods.
“Now that that’s all settled will you be flying back now?”
“I’d like to see the pony if I could, and then I’d like to stay the night if possible.”
“Of course, I’m not sure where you’ll stay at this moment as most of our dwellings are suited for ponies, and not big enough for your comfort.” Twilight states.
“I appreciate your concern Twilight, perhaps your friend Rainbow Dash would be kind enough to lend me a room in her Cloudominium?
“You can use the whole place,” Rainbow Dash says. “I’ll find somewhere else to crash for awhile.”
“Are you sure?” Bastion asks.
“Yeah, make yourself at home, least I can do for a royal visitor.”
“Now that’s settled, let’s head on to the hospital so you can see the pony.” Twilight says.
“Of course,” Bastion says and follows Twilight to the hospital. They enter the hospital and to the pony’s room where two royal guards are standing,
“Halt!” one of them commands. “Princess Celestia as ordered us to not let anyone other than doctors enter or leave this room until her return.”
Twilight unfurls her wings. “Does that include other princesses?”
“That includes her if she doesn’t give us the preordained code word” the guard answers.
"Seems like she's taken a lot of precautions," Bastion states.
"After the changeling invasion can you blame her?" Twilight asks.
"I suppose not," Bastion says. "I take it you aren't aware of this code word?"
Twilight shakes her head, "I could guess, but it would probably be a better idea to go ask Celestia and get the code word."
"True, perhap.s we should just wait until the morrow then? I did have a long flight here."
Twilight nods. "That is a very good idea. When you are ready to see the pony come let me know.”
“Where will you be?”
“Either at my castle or the new library, we’re still trying to get it up and running.”
"Very well, I will see you tomorrow then.” Bastion says as he turns and leaves.
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Sweetie sits at Rarity's sewing machine carefully guiding the dress through the machine using a combination of her hooves and magic. "Now lift the dress with your magic, and grab the scissors and snip the thread." Rarity instructs her sister who follows her directions.
"What's next?" Sweetie asks.
"That dress is ready," Rarity says. "You did rather well."
Sweetie grins. "I did?"
"You did, but I must be honest with you Sweetie I'm not sure you'll get your cutie mark in dressmaking."
"That's fine Rarity, to be honest I found it kinda tedious and wouldn't want to do it for the rest of my life."
"It's certainly not for everypony," Rarity admits. "Would you like to know what I think your talent could be?”
Sweetie smiles. “Of course!”
“Do you remember when you and your crusader friends put on your show?” Rarity asks.
“How could I forget?” Sweetie asks. “We won the prize for best comedy act!”
“Do you remember when everypony kept asking if it was you who was singing?”
“Yeah, I never did understand that.”
“Sweetie, you’re a natural singer, you should embrace it.”
"I do enjoy singing, but I'm too nervous to sing in front of anypony.” Sweetie admits.
“Well we just need to build up your confidence, why don’t we start with you singing something for me?”
Sweetie looks at her sister nervously and sighs before she starts singing:
When you are sad,
Feeling lost and alone,
Look to the sky,
And know I am here.
I'll hold you close,
Close to my heart,
I know you can’t see,
But know I am here.
Surround you with love,
To help you grow strong,
I'll guide your way,
To where you belong.
Take my hand,
Together we'll fly,
The depths of the sky,
Where we belong.
Sweetie ends the song and looks at Rarity. “Well, what you think?”
“Sweetie!” Rarity exclaims. “That was simply marvelous.”
“I’ll say,” Twilight says.
Sweetie turns and sees Twilight and blushes furiously. “Twilight, you… you heard me?”
“I certainly did Sweetie, clear as a bell.” Twilight chuckles at the joke. “You have real talent, I think if you believe it yourself when you sing it’s just possible that you could get your cutie mark in singing.”
Sweetie grins. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do,” Twilight answers. “Now where’s my dress?”
“Oh yes,” Rarity says. “Sweetie had just finished it up before she sang for me.”
“I made a dress for a princess?” Sweetie asks looking mortified.
“Dont’ worry about it Sweetie,” Twilight says. “Rarity knows I like my dresses relatively simple so she probably figured my dress would be a good one for you to try making.”
“But what if I had messed up?” Sweetie asks.
“There’s a reason I was watching you the entire time Sweetie,” Rarity says. “I was watching to make sure that you didn’t hurt yourself, and that you didn't mess the dress up. It’s actually easier to do either one that you’d think.”
Twilight grabs the dress in her magic and slips in on. “Looks like you did a good job Sweetie.”
“I couldn't have done it without Rarity watching over me.” Sweetie admits.
“Well then the two of you did an excellent job”
“So what do you need the dress for anyway?” Sweetie asks.
“Sweetie, I told you it’s rude to ask the customers that.” Rarity groans.
“I don’t mind Rarity.” Twilight says. “I need the dress for a date in the Crystal Empire.”
“You going out with that guard pony who’s the double of the guy you felt for in the human world?” Sweetie asks.
Twilight looks at Rarity accusingly. “I didn’t say a word I swear” Rarity says.
“Pinkie Pie told us the who story over cupcakes one day.” Sweetie says.
“Somehow I should’ve known it would be Pinkie that would tell everypony.” Twilight says as she presses her hoof against her face and sighs. “The answer is yes, I’m going on a date with Flash Sentry, I highly doubt it’ll work out as he and his double are more than likely vastly different, but I figure I should give it a try.”
“Good luck on your date then,” Sweetie says.
Twilight carefully pulls the dress off and folds it up before placing it in her saddlebags. ”To be honest I’m nervous, I’ve never been a date before.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine Twilight,” Rarity says. “You’ll knock him out of his horseshoes.”
Twilight blushes. “We’ll see Rarity, we’ll see.”