Several hours had passed by since the negotiations of the two parties came to an end. Both princess Celestia and princess Luna were currently set up in one of the guest rooms of the castle, as the older sister gently held the weeping mare in her grasp before the two drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Down the hall and only a few rooms away, a heated discussion was taking place between one of Celestia’s senior ranking guards and her assistant.
“How the hell did he know about that fucking gryphon?” a masculine mare voice argued. The mare was none to pleased with the situation she was currently facing, since she was losing one of their nation’s most valuable assets. It was true that the daughter of the High King of Gryphonia had been convicted of espionage when visiting Equestria, though the trial was kept out of the public eye for a multitude of reasons. The truth however, was that the princesses feared the overly aggressive patrols and troops near Equestrian borders, only adding to the tension of politics. When war seemed inevitable, both Celestia and Luna made a conscious decision to protect their nation and subjects, by any means necessary. Those means included falsifying evidence against the high king’s daughter, which in turn assured that the gryphons wouldn’t do anything rash until a more permanent agreement could be reached. Though it seems that the human had other plans.
“M-Maybe they had a changeling spy at our installation?” A daintily postured stallion assistant responded. His physical features were polar opposites to that of the physically fit guard mare with unhealthy anger issues. Adding to the statement, the guard mare grumbled in response with a low growl, raising her fist and slamming it against the stone wall before retracting it from the small crater of a hole she had just made from her outburst.
“I want you to compile a list of every employee who has ever worked at that installation since the arrival of that gryphon brat. I don’t care what you have to do or how you do it. I just want that list on my desk first thing as soon as we get back, do you understand?” The mare narrowed her dark green eyes down at the trembling stallion, who could only nod in understanding.
“Good. Now come, I need to blow off a little steam,” she replied aggressively, pulling the helpless stallion along with her. Unable to offer a response, the poor stallion was dragged along the hall and into an adjacent room before his cries of pain and sexual satisfaction were heard a short time later.
On the other side of the castle, near the lower levels, Derrick casually strolled along the familiar stone hallway as he made his way towards a particular destination. Not more than a few minutes passed before the human arrived in front of a door with two guards situated on either side.
“Guards,” Derrick addressed, nodding his head in a greeting as both the guards saluted him. Reaching for the handle, Derrick turned the knob before making his way inside the rather small, but cozy guestroom. His actions were quick to gather the attention of the two occupants of the room, a mare and stallion they had captured alive after the battle a couple of days ago. Both occupants stared at the human with a look of concern, with the mare using one of her wings to hold the stallion close and shield him from the human.
“Relax you two, I mean you no harm,” Derrick stated casually, before grabbing a nearby chair and pulling up to the bed.
“What do you want with us then?” the mare asked, her tone devoid of emotion. Derrick promptly took a seat in the chair with a small smile on his face.
“I just wanted to say that you two are free to go. A deal is a deal after all, and it seems that you were not lying about the gryphon. Though I must add, it would be ill advised for you two to venture back to Equestria. Though I think you were not going to attempt such a thing, were you?” The mare and stallion both took a moment to look at one another again, reassuring each other of their decision.
“We would like to take you up on your offer actually, of staying here,” the stallion replied. Derrick’s smile grew as he clasped his hands together in a cheerful tone.
“Wonderful. I am a man of my word after all. I will have papers drafted for the two of you to become official citizens. Though I have to ask, should I put you two down as a married couple or...?” The mare and stallion once again looked towards one another in thought, though the uneasy expressions they held was an indication that they had yet to really discuss such an issue.
“I think we need more time to decide,” the mare responded.
“That is perfectly alright by me. Take some time to think about it. It will take me at least a couple of weeks to draft all of the necessary documents for you two anyways. So just relax and I will send someone down here in a couple of days to move you to a more permanent residence inside the city. Until then, I bid you two a farewell,” Derrick stated, before getting up from his seat and exiting the room. As soon as the human left, the stallion left out a long sigh he didn’t know he was holding.
“Crimson... did we do the right thing?” the mare was quick to comfort her subordinate with a soft kiss to his forehead.
“Yes we did Streak. I know it will be hard for the first few months, but we will make it through this. We will rebuild our lives together. Besides, as far as anyone knows, we died in that battle. Our families will grieve for us, but they will find others just like we found each other.” Streak quickly nuzzled under his lover’s chin before planting a reassuring kiss upon her lips.
“I love you so much Crimson,” Streak whispered after the kiss. The mare could only smile as she wrapped the stallion in her arms and wings, pulling him into bed with a look of satisfaction.
“I love you too Streak,” Crimson replied, as the two equines shared a passionate moment of lovemaking with one another before falling into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, only a thousand miles away or so, a lone carriage flew through the sky with a rather confused gryphon in attendance.
“So where are we headed?” the gryphon curiously asked. Her tone was filled with nervousness, though also a hint of excitement. She wasn’t too sure, though she knew something major must have happened if she was pulled from her cell in the middle of the night and stuffed into a flying carriage to parts unknown.
“Come on, I won’t tell anyone. Where are we headed too?” she curiously questioned again, more so for the fact of annoying the guard. The gryphon was met with a glare from the stallion opposite of her, though he offered no comment about the question.
“Fine, don’t tell me. I like surprises anyway,” she added before fluffing her feathers and staring out the window of the carriage. She knew she was headed in the Western direction, thanks to landmarks and her natural instinct of flying. But she couldn’t quite make out what there was in this sort of direction. One thing was for sure though, wherever she was heading, it wasn’t towards her home kingdom of Gryphonia. So with nothing else to do, the Gryphon continued to stare out the window for the ten hours or so before finally arriving at her destination.
The time was rather early in the morning when the carriage arrived. The sun was just peaking over the horizon when the call when out that the carriage had been spotted coming in for a landing. Within minutes, the carriage was on the ground as two soldiers opened the door of the carriage before escorting the gryphon in question up the stairs of the castle and into a large conference room with princess Celestia, Derrick, and Queen Chrysalis. The Gryphon’s quickly fixated on the princess as she gave a glare of contempt, though her focus soon switched the oddity in the room that happened to be rubbing the sleep out of his eyes at the moment.
“Here she is, Terra Skywind,” Celestia said with annoyance. The human took this opportunity to let out a loud yawn before turning towards his friend.
“Hey Chrissy, you don’t need me anymore, so I'm going back to bed.” Before the human could make it two steps, a green aura gripped him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back into position.
“If I have to be up at this ungodly hour, then so do you. Besides, it was you who traded this gryphon for Luna. The least you could do is welcome her here and explain everything that is going on.”
“Or I could let you do all that while I get back into bed with Lumen, who and I quote, ‘I will come hunt you down and have my way with you if you are not back by the time I wake up again.’ And as much as I would love to see where that is going, I’m too tired for this shit.” Chrysalis offered a frown before holding the human in place with her magic still.
“You are not going anywhere. Now let us hurry this along so that we may all go back to sleep, and that bitch can take her sister and leave.”
“Fine, fine. Just hurry up and do your little brain scan thingy,” Derrick said with a wave of his hand. At this point, the Gryphon was at a loss for words. She had no idea what was going on, though she did know about Queen Chrysalis from tabloids after the failed invasion. Suffice to say, she didn’t like the situation she was just put in.
“Ahem. My name is Queen Chrysalis. This will only take a moment of your time, but I need to confirm your identity. I ask that you please don’t move and try to remain as relaxed as possible. This will only take a few minutes.” Before Terra could object to such a thing, Chrysalis’s horn lightly touched the top of the gryphon’s head, sending the gryphon into a state of numbness. She couldn’t move though she could feel everything that was happening within her head. Past memories of her as a child, all the way through the most recent events of being taken from her cell and led into a carriage. Satisfied with the information, Chrysalis released her spell before turning towards her friend.
“This is in fact Terra. I hope she was worth the trade,” Chrysalis stated, walking out of the conference room and presumably back to bed.
“You have your prisoner, now remove Luna’s collar at once,” Celestia demanded. If it were another time of the day, Derrick would have made a smart-ass comment to the mare. Though he was far too tired to really care at the moment.
“I will. The collar will be removed by the time you get back to your room,” Derrick stated, pulling out a small remote control and flipping one of the switches. Celestia quickly left the room without a further word; leaving a confused and even if she didn’t want to admit it, scared gryphon alone with the human.
“Well, that takes care of that,” Derrick added before turning his attention to his new guest.
“I'm sure you have many questions about what is going on right now, and I will answer them all in good time. But right now, I could use a cup of coffee to wake me up a little bit. Are you hungry perchance? I’m sure you haven’t had a decent meal in a while.” Before the gryphon could comment on the subject, her stomach let out a loud growl of acknowledgement, sending the human into a fit of laughter.
“I will take that as a yes. Come along then Terra, we have much to discuss.”