*****
Princess Luna had awoken in mid-afternoon like clockwork. And as she had tiredly greeted the guards at her doorway, she noticed they were notably bothered.
Thinking it was just the stress of each day, she had made her way to Quill's office.
Upon entering, she had spotted Quill Feather just standing at her window, looking out to the grounds of Canterlot Castle.
"Good afternoon dear Feather." Luna had poured herself a larger mug of coffee and magicked some donuts to herself, and to her assistant. But Quill had only sat the donuts down to the side of the desk where her reports were haphazardly assembled.
"I somehow doubt today warrants being labeled as 'good', your Highness. 'Disastrous' seems more apt to fit." Quill Feather had swished her tail back and forth in agitation, as she shook her head. "As you know, I'm investigating facts for Ryuuzan's situation. And all I have gotten as far as answers are all quite damning against him. I'm still getting reports in from WhiteTail Woods, it's pretty grim."
Luna had grabbed the top most set of pages and rifled through them. The pages were the contents of what Meadow Mist had told the guards, and to Quill with Starlight Glimmer. "An attorney had already agreed to represent Miss Mist ?" Luna's face soured as she further read the report. The attorney was specifically chosen and well known in some Canterlot circles as being nearly ruthless in each case he defended. But that wasn't what had Luna troubled. It was a brash unicorn F. Hay Baley, otherwise known as "Legal Eagle' that had some close connections with extremist groups voicing concerns against the crown's dealings with the Gryphon Empire in the past.
"Miss Mist's legal council has had a conference with newspapers already, calling for the gryphon to be held on charges, and the release of his client, among other challenges." Quill Feather had lifted the local evening paper that shown pictures of a home destroyed in flames with the headline 'Gryphon being held in investigation of home explosion, 5 Dead.' "At this rate, the populace here in Canterlot, and neighboring cities are going to be against Ryuuzan. Miss Mist wants immunity in exchange for details of the group she is involved with, she is playing the 'victim' pony perfectly, and Ryuuzan is targeted as the planner of this entire mess."
Quill Feather had joined the Princess at last, and chewed half-hearted at a donut. "But bigger concerns here are the guards. They all know what happened at WhiteTail woods, and some have 'strongly' viewed their displeasure at Ryuuzan even being here. I also believe there is a leak to the newspaper from one of the guards here. The one ex-guardian, Night Hooves had appeared with F. Hay Baley calling for the gryphon to be handed over to the Gryphon Kingdom. But before I had the opportunity to apprehend Night Hooves, he had slipped away."
The next set of paged reports was from Ponyville Hospital that was treating the surviving guards and the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, who suffered a concussion, broken rear legs and wing fractures. "We don't have a report from any of the guards that witnessed exactly what happened yet, but I need to see it soon. I may need your help Princess, as I need the other Elements to meet as soon as possible in Ponyville. I was just about to depart there by carriage, but again, some of the guards are refusing to help, as they are holding me, the Gryphon, and you Princess, albeit indirectly responsible for the loss of life at WhiteTail woods."
Quill Feather had also floated a small note to Princess Luna as her voice shook, her lip quivered. "Princess, I had led a team of 10 guardians, and the Element of Loyalty into a trap, where three guards, and two other ponies lost their lives. I feel solely responsible, and I am scared. One of the guards whispered to me after I passed by, that I'd better be careful and watch my back, as one of the ponies killed at WhiteTail Woods was his brother-in-law." Princess Luna had unfolded the note, asking that she wished to tend her resignation when the case was finished.
"Before we accept this note Feather, please know thou are one of our most prized advisors and if we may count, a dear friend as well." Luna had placed the note into her desk, and locked the drawer magically. "We do not hold you responsible, dear Feather tho we understand thy grief. Do not blame oneself when other ponies plan such destruction. However, the issue of ponies making threats against thee, We do take strong issue with, and we will make the needed accomodations to keep thee safe."
*****
Within the next hour, Princess Luna, Quill Feather, and Wind Shear had arrived at the Castle of Friendship, after sending a note to Princess Twilight about their needing to ask for help. Once inside the castle, all three ponies were joined by Spike who led them into the tree-throne map room.
Once inside, Starlight Glimmer, Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy was already at their seats when Princess Luna arrived with Quill Feather and Wind-Shear. Starlight was filling in Twilight about some of the happenings in the case, and the more Twilight listened, the more she frowned.
"It's an honour seeing you again, Princess Sparkle, along with Miss Fluttershy, Miss Glimmer, and dear Spike. We have some things to discuss with thee, and we need expertise of the friends here as well." Luna had walked to one side of the map table and highlighted WhiteTail Woods with her aura from her horn. "We need advice to some bothersome questions we have, concerning a gryphon, and what happened at WhiteTail Woods earlier this morning."
"Starlight was filling me in on what happened." Twilight had replied with a long face, nearly disbelieving what had happened. "We were all going to Ponyville Hospital to see Rainbow Dash when I got your message, so I figured we all would go together. Rarity said she would be meeting us there after getting hold of Pinkie Pie and AppleJack."
"I'm sure Rainbow Dash would love to see some friendly faces." Fluttershy added softly as she spoke up.
"Before we depart, Princess Sparkle, we would need you to bring a couple of reference books about explosives, as we want to comb over that scene at WhiteTail woods, if possible." Quill Feather had brought out a note, as a reminder to herself.
"Spike, can you get the books from aisle two of the central library. Shelf 37 and 38." Twilight had reached for her saddlebags with her aura from a wall hook, along with quills, ink, and parchment to make notes. "Two military guides about explosives, and one book explaining demolitions and magic, used by Unicorn developers for buildings and homes. Should be green for the military guides, and the Magics one should be a blue hardback."
"Ok, I'll be right back, give me a few minutes." Spike headed out on his way to get the needed books.
And as soon as Spike returned, every pony was then teleported to Ponyville Hospital, where they assembled in the waiting room to check in and visit Rainbow Dash.
Dash was awake, and resting in a solo room when everyone arrived. Her legs were wrapped in heavy gauze and splinted, while her wings were splint closed, as some bones in her wings were broken and needed resetting. Doctors had used Unicorn healing magics to reset the broken bones to the point of being perfectly still, but any tissue damage at the break was still 'very' painful, as soft tissue usually took a few weeks to fully heal. And that meant Rainbow was grounded for the first two weeks, and she had reacted accordingly.
"Hey Twilight, Glimmer, Spike, Flutters, oh Miss Quill Feather and Princess Luna, you're here too?" Dash had looked up when she heard the door open. She was battered and bruised, but she was alive.
"We all had come here when we found out what happened at WhiteTail Woods." Quill-Feather spoke up after everyone gave Dash hugs. "But some questions remain unanswered, as we couldn't interview any guards that were there as they have not fully recovered and awoken yet. Could you fill us in on what happened?"
Just as Rainbow had started recalling the events, Rarity arrived with Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack in tow.
"Yeah, the Lead Guardian had asked me to chase down any pony that tried getting away, and I did grab one. She was a pegasus, mid 30's slight tan coat with medium black mane." Dash greeted the others as they filed into the room. "Didn't see her cutie mark tho, think it was some kind of bird head, and she was actin' strange. She started whistling a weird song then the house blew. Even that looked weird, I never seen a pink explosion before."
"Oooo a pink explosion? Sounds like my confetti cannon." Pinkie Pie had bounced up to Rainbow Dash and gave her a massive cupcake with a sign in it saying 'I'm happy you didn't get blown up.' "But I have to have that registered in Ponyville, as it isn't covered under 'used military equipment' insurance."
"Pink? Ok, that's definitely unorthodox. Usually for demolitions per building codes, section 43: smaller detonations require unicorns and teams to use a safety green tint whenever leveling buildings and giving a timed countdown before blastings." Twilight had started making notes onto some parchment, but then everyone was staring at her with their muzzles hanging open. "What? As Princess I needed to be current with building codes for Canterlot and Ponyville. It was something I had to brush up on. Some light reading never hurt before bed."
"You are 'such' an Egghead.!!" Dash threw her arms up. "Light reading?, I'd hate to see if you had gotten bored, or you had trouble finding an answer like in Calculus or Latin or something."
"Calculus section of the library is upstairs section 3, shelf 4, and 9 books, directly across the aisle from the Latin section." Twilight kept writing without looking up. Just as Quill Feather was motioned outside by the attending doctor with more reports about the other guardians.
"How about Latin? I'd bet that's even hard for you to figure out." Rainbow crossed her arms in front of her bandaged chest, nodding to Starlight and Apple-Jack.
"Non possum credere me, et ut vocant, egghead?" Twilight side whispered to Luna, but enough for Rainbow to hear. "Latin's my second language. I love reading Mevreaus."
"Prench" Rarity offered.
"Je ne peux pas croire que tu continues à m'appeler 'egghead'?"
"Ok... Try.. Prussian.. "Apple Jack spoke up. Grinning.
"Я не могу поверить, что ты продолжаешь называть меня «яйцо»?." Twilight had to pause a moment before answering. "YA ne mogu poverit', chto ty prodolzhayesh' nazyvat' menya «yaytso»?"
"Neighponese"
"私はあなたが「インテリ」私を呼んでおく信じることができません?。Watashi wa anata ga `interi' watashiwoyonde oku shinjirukoto ga dekimasen?."
"What in Tartarus are you 'even' saying?" Rainbow Dash hung her head. "Why do I even try. It's no good trying to fool you Twilight."
"Why do you keep calling me 'egghead'? Translated four ways." Twilight pointed her quill at Rainbow, then tipped her head sideways as she seen Rainbow calling for the nurse, pressing for the buzzer.
"I'm calling to have you committed and for me to be put out of my misery, EGGHEAD." Rainbow had rubbed her face tiredly with a hoof. "Wait, what happened to the other guards, or the pony I tackled? One of them was Granite Pie."
"Oooo Uncle Granite?" Pinkie bounced to Rainbow's side, eyes huge as she grinned. Rainbow quickly moved her hoof behind Pinkie's knee and tickled, causing the pink mare to roll on the floor, kicking her legs and laughing.
"Umm, Miss Pie about Granite Pie." Quill Feather pulled up his name on her reports. "I'm deeply sorry, but he is downstairs in intensive care. From what I know, he was partially buried by a side wall after the home exploded. The doctors are working on him now."
Pinkie stopped laughing when she heard this, and her hair flattened out to bone straight. "I... I need to go to be with him." She then galloped out of the room with Wind Shear following behind. "I'll be back Rainbow, us Pie's need to stick together."
"About the mare you tackled, she managed to get away, but the surviving guardian's have identified her as 'Swan Song', a noted pegasus that has ties with a group calling themselves 'Ponies for Purity.' They are one of the loudest anti-species-ist groups trying to create incidents to undermine 'any' talks with the Gryphon Empire." Quill Feather had scanned her notes pulling up a full description, and photo. "This mare is bad news and is deadly dangerous. If she is in the group with Ryuuzan, then he and us are under terrible danger for more attempts at his life. Their group numbers in the hundreds."
After the information was given, Princess Luna suggested that Quill Feather take residence at the castle, and the gryphon was going to be moved to a maximum security room under 24 hour guard and rotating shifts.
About 20 minutes later, Pinkie Pie arrived back in the room, out of breath. Her eyes red from tears, and a deep scowl on her face. "Princess Luna, Quill Feather, Granite Pie didn't make it. The doctors did have some items he held on to when he arrived here. He said it was important." She reached into her hair and pulled out a small section of wood with an eyebolt attached to it, and two folders of paperwork saved from the explosion. "The ponies that did this, aren't going to get any smiles from Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie ! I Pinkie Promise !"
Pinkie Pie stood back from every pony else, and spoke so slowly, it was almost creepy.
"Cross my hoof over my heart, and I hope to flap my wings and fly.
Open my eyes nice and wide, Stick a sweet cupcake in my eye.
For if any pony lie and break this promise that they bind.
They shall get to kiss their flank goodbye for upsetting Pinkie Pie.
Any pony can run and any can hide, try as they will try as they might,
Because their knees will knock and they will shiver and cry,
When shall a visitor come to meet them day or in the night,
Then face to face they will meet their fate, from Pinkamena Diane PIE."
*****