"I do not think that Veritas has given you a straight answer... or if she fully comprehends what she is demanding."
"What do you mean?" Sapphire asked as they were walking towards the dining room to have breakfast with the griffon delegation.
"Veritas is in the belief that you must fight that monster that is linked with the green inferno, and potentially any other monsters that could be linked to the other two. However, often times in the dream realm, they are normally nightmares that represent some hidden fear or trauma that the dreamer possesses," Luna replied.
"But don't you have absolute control over the dream realm?" Sapphire asked as she noticed that they were nearly at the dining room doors, and hence at the end of their discussion.
"Not exactly. I can't simply vanquish the strongest nightmares that a pony can have, only restrain them in order to aid the dreamer in overcoming them. However, that nightmarish beast that we faced seemed to have both qualities of a nightmare and a memory. Hence, my magic is less effective on it, but it does lend credence to Veritas's claims. Either its defeat could cause you to remember a significant portion of your memories, or perhaps you need to remember some key memory that is linked to the beast, which could weaken it upon the recovery of said memory. Sadly, this is something I haven't encountered before, so this is all speculation until we know more," Luna answered before looking at the door. "But for now, we must attend to the matters of the present, breakfast with the delegation."
"Oh goodie, more politics," Sapphire mumbled, only to receive a swat from Luna's wing to the back of her head.
"You are a princess Sapphire, and I know what you're going to say. Even if we didn't force the crown upon you, the fact that you're an alicorn would still have drawn attention to you from unwanted sources. At least being a princess means you could rely on your guard to prevent ponies from swarming you at the very moment you step out of your home. Furthermore, even if you were to develop a disguise, your appetite, strength, endurance, and magical might would eventually cause ponies to become suspicious of you. So unless you want to be a hermit on your own for the rest of your life, becoming a princess is one of the lesser evils," Luna explained as she engulfed the doors with her magic.
"Wait, are you saying that there were other choices?" Sapphire stated, causing Luna to pause with a deadpanned expression before letting out a sigh as she opened the doors. Sitting at the table were the griffons, who had taken the exact same seating arrangement that they had on the day of their arrival. After greeting the delegation, Luna and Sapphire took to their seats as the staff came in with the meals. They served some omelets and sausages for the griffons with salad to the side. Luna had her own bowl of salad with some fruit mixed in, and Sapphire had a stack of waffles along with a rather large bottle of syrup.
Eying Sapphire's meal for a moment, Gernevie stood up from her seat as she looked at Sapphire, who paused in the midst of stuffing an entire pancake into her mouth. Frowning, the griffon princess asked, "Alright, just how are you able to eat so much food per meal, yet not put on a single pound?"
"Princess Gernevie! That isn't how you talk to your host!" Gilfred exclaimed in shock as even Gunther looked alarmed at Gernevie's outburst.
"But look at her! She's even eating more than Princess Luna and yet she doesn't appear to be gaining weight! It defies all logic!" Gernevie countered as she held her claws out for emphasis.
Bearing an amused smile, Luna explained, "Ah, the reasoning for Sapphire's consumption is quite simple. She's a growing alicorn, and her high intake volume is a result of her body's need for nutrients in order to keep up her growth. Already in a few mere weeks, she had shown some signs of growth according to her medical examinations," Luna explained. However, Sapphire glanced at Luna, knowing that she omitted that another reason was due to her being somewhat starved before her arrival at Ponyville.
"Excuse me Princess Luna, but if Sapphire is still growing despite already being bigger than the average pony, just how big do you expect her to be?" Gilfred asked while keeping an eye on Gernevie, who was doubting Luna's explanation.
"Honestly, I don't know since there are only three previous known examples of alicorns before Sapphire's appearance. But, I'm fairly certain that Sapphire will grow to at least be bigger than Princess Cadance herself," Luna answered, causing Gilfred to nod his head slowly in response.
Seeing that both Gilfred and Gernevia were done asking questions about herself, Sapphire returned to devouring her meal before pausing as she noticed Gunther staring at her while he was eating, prompting her to ask, "Umm... is something the matter, Gunther?"
Straightening up, Gunther replied, "No, your highness. Though I will admit, I have heard of you having a sparring match with Princess Luna, which made me wonder how I myself would hold up against an alicorn."
As Sapphire was about to make a reply, Luna slammed her hoof on the table, saying, "If you want to see how you would fare against one, how about you challenge young Sapphire to a sparring match?"
"Wait, what?" Sapphire interjected, looking at Luna in utter surprise.
"Wait, is that a serious offer?" Gunther asked, surprise clear on his face as well.
"Why yes. For you see, Sapphire needs to display more of her combat training, and having an opponent that she never seen in combat before nor has that many expectations would be a good lesson for her. In fact, you may even use your weapons instead of the practice ones if you so desire," Luna calmly replied as Sapphire looked at her in outright horror.
Cocking an eyebrow, Gilfred said, "Well, normally I would be against the idea of the idea of a griffon in my delegation dueling a princess, but since you're showing approval towards it, I will allow it. That is, if Gunther would want to challenge Sapphire to a duel."
As Sapphire was coming out of her shock of the events occurring around her, Gunther nodded as he responded, "It would be an honor to fight an alicorn in a duel, especially since this would be an once in a lifetime opportunity."
Finally collecting her wits back together, Sapphire raised a hoof as she was about to say something as Luna slapped her in the back, causing her words to be trapped in her mouth as Luna declared, "Then the duel has been set! It will begin in two hours in the southern outskirts of Vanhoover! But prepare yourself Sir Gunther, for Sapphire isn't an alicorn to be trifled with!"
"I still can't believe that you decided to rope me into this against my will," Sapphire complained as she was standing in the grassy fields, watching Gunther who was checking his armor to make certain that nothing was loose. After breakfast, where Luna manage to keep Sapphire from protesting about her upcoming duel, they had a discussion in Luna's office. Which was really more of Sapphire yelling in frustration while Luna kept up a silence spell on the room.
"And as I explained before, this would be a rare training exercise for you, as well as an easier challenge compared to fighting me," Luna stated with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, I'm following on Veritas's advice, and this is a way for you to impress the griffons with your power."
"I can just do that by lifting part of the bay again, and he has a mace!" Sapphire protested, pointing at Gunther who was swinging his mace around as Gilfred and Gernevie were waiting in some chairs that were set up on a blanket that was spread on the grass underneath a portable gazebo. Around the entire area, was half of the guard and all of Sapphire's new guard, the former there for protection while the latter was there for observation.
"Oh, will you relax?! You're far tougher than you look. Now, good luck!" Luna declared before trotting over to the provided seating to take her own seat.
Sapphire just stared at Luna with her mouth partly open, before snapping it shut when Gunther stepped towards her, a shield on his left arm while his right was pointing his mace at her as he asked, "Are you ready for our duel, Princess Sapphire?"
"As much as I want to say no, I doubt Luna would let me off so easily, so let's just get this over with," Sapphire stated as she lit her horn up with her magic.
"If you say so, princess. I guess we're both serving the same role here," Gunther replied with a mild nod before looking at Luna, who raised a hoof into the air.
"Let the duel, begin!" Luna exclaimed as she brought her hoof down. Instantly, Gunther charged at Sapphire, who's pupils widen before she jumped backward just as Gunther swung his mace overhead to smash it into the ground. Focusing on the water vapor in the air before remembering that Luna told her to keep it a secret, Sapphire took to the air as she reached towards the bay to get some water. However, she then heard the sounds of Gunther flying below her, causing her to look down to see that he nearly caught up with her. Shifting her wings to force herself into a sudden dive, she could feel Gunther's mace barely missing her as it hit the tip of her tail, where she could feel the ends of it being frozen.
His mace is enchanted‽ Sapphire thought to herself as she landed on the ground, looking up at Gunther who was diving at her. Thankfully for Sapphire, she could feel that her water was close enough for her to swing her horn to the side, bringing a surge of water onto Gunther, causing him to crash into the ground to her right. Turning to face Gunther, Sapphire shifted the water into a barrier as she was pulling another mass of water from the bay, only to be surprised when Gunther recovered to swing his mace at the barrier, freezing it.
His mace has a... frost enchantment? Sapphire thought to herself as she froze in surprise, giving Gunther the time he needed to charge straight through the frozen barrier, before doing an underhand swing at Sapphire's chest. Upon impact, Sapphire could feel her coat freezing as the momentum of the mace sent her up into the air, her magic ending from the shock of the entire maneuver. Before Sapphire could light her horn up again, Gunther launched into the air with his wings flapping down, his shield in front of him as he smashed into Sapphire, causing her to lose her hold on her magic again. Grunting in pain, Sapphire squint her eyes as she looked down at Gunther while trying to roll off of the shield. However, before she could get a grip on the shield to roll off it, she felt something hit her back, as everything became white and fluffy.
"Clouds!" Sapphire shrieked in fear, before bringing her forehooves together, pulling them back as fear and instinct took control before slamming them down on the shield, producing an audible clang as the shield and Gunther suddenly disappeared before her. Flapping her wings in terror, Sapphire pulled herself into a dive, but right before exiting the cloud, she heard some voice in her head saying, Animum Despondeo.
Finally coming out of the cloud, Sapphire's stopped her dive to put a hoof against her chest to calm herself, before remembering that she was still in a sparring match. Looking around herself for any signs of Gunther returning to strike her again, she found no presence of the griffon. Until she looked down, where she saw that Luna and the other two griffons where standing over Gunther, who had crashed into the ground. His mace and shield were nearby as he just stared at Sapphire in utter surprise before the other two griffons tried to help him off his back.
"Okay... maybe I should duel next time when the sky is clear," Sapphire said to herself, as she wondered about just how strong she physically is. Sapphire's mind then drifted to the words as heard, as she said, "Animum Despondeo... just what does that mean, and is it like the other phrase?" as she felt her spine shiver, making her feel dread at the thought of what the phrase would summon when she used it in her dreams.