5. A friend behind the enemy?
“You should see the look on your face, Celly!” He cackled.
Turning around, his smile grew as four ponies, a baby dragon and a group of guards were staring at him, mouths wide opened, pupils reduced to dots. With his talon, he closed the nearest pony’s limp jaw. The mare had a fur as white as Celestia's. Her mane was deep purple, undoubtedly smooth as it was alternating between curled and straightened strands of hair. She had a certain style for the griffon’s tastes.
“What? You really thought I would attack a goddess, my dear Rarity.”
She cocked her head and her ears perked when he spoke her name. Snapping out of her lethargy, Rarity’s stare ran over the griffon’s red and purple toga. Gold, silver, and platinum embroidered the magnificent cloth. She became starry-eyed, having never seen garments of this standing and regal was the only word she could use to define this masterpiece.
“I need this silk.” She mumbled.
The griffon smiled and inspected each of the ponies before him.
“Shall I close those dangling mouths of yours?” He asked amused, tickling Twilight’s chin with the tip of his claw.
Twilight batted the griffin’s talon aside and rubbed her fur where he had scratched it. The creature was tall. Taller than a pony of course, but also taller than the average griffon. She had read a lot of books about them. They were known to be a little larger than ponies, but this one was one and a half the size of his bretheren. The feathers on his forehead were even able to tickle Celestia's muzzle when he finally faced her and her sister.
The audience’s rational mind returned. Terrified, they awaited a clash
“Princess Luna. I’m so honored to meet the Goddess of the Night,” The griffon saluted, extending his talon after an impressively respectful bow.
Luna shook it. She felt she heard a degree of arrogance and contempt in his voice but kept these feelings to herself.
“The pleasure is all mine,” she replied with a forced smile.
“Of the small creatures wandering on this earth, you’re certainly the most mysterious and intriguing,” The griffon continued.
“Small?”
“And you…” the griffon looked to Celestia without heeding Luna’s last word. “You haven’t changed at all.”
“Excuse me,” Celestia finally had the composure to say. “But, who are you? How dare you act like this in front of my subjects.”
The griffon's jaw fell. It was not surprise which could be read on his face, but sadness… a true, moving, deep sorrow. He swallowed a gag.
“You don’t remember me?” He simply uttered with a sigh.
“Should I?”
He breathed out loudly, pouting.
“If I were to say War of the Apples, would that ring any bells?”
Celestia’s eyes became so huge that everypony thought they would swell to the size of bowling balls and explode.
“Andraste? But! But? How…”
“Gotcha,” He winked. “Ninety-five years we haven’t seen each other.”
Were Pinkie Pie present, she would have gone to extreme lengths for a spit-take, displaying the degree of surprise they all felt.
“How… OLD are you,” Twilight stuttered.
“Well…” The griffon drawled, rubbing his feathered beard. “Apart from your two princesses and plants of course, those cheaters, I could say I’m the oldest living being on this world.”
“This doesn’t answer my…”
“Two hundred and four years old miss Sparkle, or should I say, Your Highness.”
Everypony stared at him in disbelief. He was… extremely good-looking for a twenty decades old rag. Their eyes fixed upon him, the old griffon towered on his hindlegs and started showing off his muscles, and of course his claws, sharp as razors. His toga dissimulated his chest, back and wings particularly well, but under the folds there was no doubt of the powerful appendages within.
Once the ponies started studying him, they noticed, little by little, the marks of aging. The feathers on his head, usually white within Griffin’s kind, were silvered, the nut color of his arms were faded to a nearly white and his claws were seemingly beige instead of their natural yellow and brown. However, keeping in mind Granny Smith as an “aging” standard, Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight and of course Applejack and Spike had a hard time believing in it.
Posing with his talons on his hips and still standing on his two lion’s legs, he laughed in front of his ‘old friend’ Celestia. It was an odd stance, like the ones Lyra was always trying to imitate, chasing her pipe dreams of being human. Like this, he stood taller than the princess. The guards gulped, their ability to face such monster, if they had to, conflicted with their instinct of survival.
“You thought I was dead?” The griffon named Andraste asked.
“I presumed you were,” She defended herself with a pinch of hesitation. “… even if I never got an invitation for your funeral. I confess I completely forgot about you.”
This confession embarrassed the princess. She felt like she had failed an old friend. She tried very hard to remember the names and faces of every being she met but she had lived a long time and there were so many.
“Oh come now Celly, dry those yet-to-be tears! Don’t show your weakness to…” He cleared his throat, widened his eyes, and took on a spooky voice. “… the enemy…”
The princess giggled. “At least you never changed.”
The griffon snorted approvingly, looking around him, worries in his eyes. He finally get back on his four limbs. He then took a glance to the chariot where he had gone off few minutes ago.
“Come on lad, get off that ‘charette’ and come here to present yourself.”
“I told you never call me… lad, tutor. Mind your rank.”
The voice had a strong accent and from the chariot stepped out a smaller griffon. Twilight, her friends, the guards, Celestia and her sister stared down at a griffin colt… Or griffon cub… they didn't know the usual griffin-related term. He was wearing the same outfit that his elder but at this shoulder was a brooch sporting a red and purple rose. He also had a strange black bracelet on his wrist, decorated with three big emeralds and one ruby. And pinned upon his left shoulder was a talisman depicting a globe hold between two talons. A sentence, in a too tiny font to read, was engraved upon it.
His claws clicked against the stone as he came forward. Greeted with a long silence, he rolled his eyes and bow as did the first griffon. The child put his claw on the pin and bent until his feathers touched the ground. Raising his head, he glared daggers at his guardian.
“Would you please be so kind as to introduce me to them?”
A heavy talon ruffled the top of the griffin cub’s head and a frank laughter followed. “You too will never change.”
The young griffon extracted himself from the unnerving endearment of his elder.
The older one glanced at Celestia who was standing behind everypony. She inclined her head at her surrounding subjects, trying to disclose the fact that she was the only one here to know who the griffon child really was.
“Oh, notoriety and celebrity don’t cross oceans I guess,” He cackled, stopping Celestia’s goings-on. “My name is…”
The youngster gave his forebearer an elbow to the ribs, his eyes firing bolts of discontentment. The tutor laughed, again.
“Before you stands above the mere beings of every lands his…” The griffon tried to choose his words wisely. “his highness Armand Horace d’Outrevent, son of Eric the sixth, First Heir of Griffonia, First Heir of the Western Marches of Prance, First Heir of the Eastern Marches of Ucrane, Second Heir of…”
“Okay, okay Gott in Himmel stop,” Armand finally protested.
The old griffon chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
“And as said Celly, I’m Andraste. Telling you my whole title would take a complete day and would make my protégée’s look like a surname.”
Andraste gave back the poke to his dependent. He snapped, vexed.
Everypony was now obsessed with the youngest guest of Canterlot, and he was surely enjoying the situation. Being in the center of attention was something the Imperium Court taught him was an inborn right. And now, having multiple pair of eyes from another race staring at him was of the utmost pleasure.
“Andraste,” Celestia raised her voice, breaking the group circling the regal successor. “What is he doing here?”
Her voice was saddened, hesitant and obviously stern. Being mentioned, the heir ducked his head in his toga and retreated two steps from the mighty white alicorn. On his own, the eldest griffon was smirking like a chess-player.
“I only am the liege of my King. And this is a game which is far more complex that it will ever seem to be in your eyes Celly.”
Imperceptibly, he had taken out a small pipe. And when he did, Luna saw, well hidden under the folds of his toga a long metallic tool which shape was strangely similar to a sword. There were also few scrolls and other objects she had not been able to identify. Andraste for his part had witnessed the wandering look of the Princess and gave her a wink.
The silence was starting to overwhelm the attendance, but somepony had other priorities in his mind.
“Andraste? Isn’t that a griffin female name?”
It was Twilight’s voice. She surfaced from the crowd in front of Andraste and with arched brows she was scanning the so-called griffon from tip to tail.
“And you don’t seem very feminine.”
The griffon burst into laughter, unable to stand up, holding his sides. Tears rolled off his cheeks.
Twilight on her own did not feel as easy as the griffon, after calming himself approached her, blocking the sunlight with his intimidating stature.
“You knowledge is amazing,” He said, making Twilight blush. “And indeed it is. My mother thought I would die soon after my birth. And weakness is not something appreciated in Griffon’s society. It is… girly.”
His last word came with a grin, revealing a sharped beak which slammed next to his interlocutor’s ear.
“Unfortunately, I survived and as a consequence, I had to get along with my name. Call it a mother's love mark of affection.”
He grinned again with contentment.
“Well I’m hungry. Celly, would you please show us the way to the banquet room and display this meal your cooks have been so eager to prepare.”
Wide opened eyes pierced him.
“Oh, just joking,” He added, still smiling. “You’ll soon learn that I’m rather unusual.”
He started heading to the castle with everypony in his tow. Rubbing his chin, he started studying his surroundings. Andraste was indeed a strange griffon.
“Let’s check if my failing memory is still good enough.”
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After having gamboled in every hallway of the castle, trying to keep up with the pace of the old griffon, they all stopped as Andraste stormed through a door. It was the Canterlot’s royal kitchen.
Screams rose.
Glancing inside with only their head breaking through the edge of the gate, everypony saw Andraste standing in the middle of the clean room. The prep-cooks were curled up in a corner, hugging each other in a fearful embrace. For sure the old griffon was scary. And this was even more so since technically, Equestria was at war with the Griffon Empire. But Andraste seemed to be that kind of being, able to make your forget he was your enemy.
“We had a restroom you know?” Celestia got ahead.
A frown wrinkled the griffon’s features.
“No thanks… sincerely I have to suffer this ordeal every day of every year since two centuries when I’m not on a battlefield. If I can enjoy a good time outside with a picnic and a blue sky to stare at without seeing arrows slashing across it, I’m not going to reject such opportunity.”
“Did he say battlefield?” Fluttershy trembled behind everypony.
He pointed his talon to a kitchen employee and ordered a compelling amount of commodities. One of the prep-cooks had the wise idea to take notes. The others stared at Celestia and Luna whose heads was still the only body part they could see in the opening of the door. Both alicorns nodded, indicating to accede to the griffon’s request.
Glancing over the surroundings, Andraste noticed a huge wooden door in the back. An even bigger smile sprung on his face. Narrowing the space between him and the entrance, he gave a smirk. He shattered the lock with his talon.
“Eh! What are you doing?”
His turn having come, the chef had stormed in the kitchen blowing through Celestia and Luna’s mane, anger in his eyes. The griffon raised a claw, asking for silence. The cook’s face went red, gritting his teeth. Once broken into, the door revealed stairs descending in a small whine cave. Everypony followed Andraste.
He started knocking on the tiles of the walls, causing everybody to raise their brows.
“Solid, solid, solid” *Clang* “Empty.”
The griffon sniggered. Sliding the tip of his claw in the joint of the tile, he ripped it off from the wall, snatching away dust and dirt. Plunging his talon in the hole, he took out an old bottle.
“I knew I would see you again, baby.”
Going back to the kitchen, the griffon grasped three glasses and a decanter pot. He showed up the bottle to Celestia, wondering if she was embarrassed because Andraste was becoming comfortable without any manners or because he had left behind him some unnoticed treasures nearly a century ago.
“It would be a shame if it stayed unopened.”
The cook hovered between the princesses and his eyes lay on the bottle. He read the title and nearly fainted, having a seizure. It was a one hundred and three year old Ponish wine, a vintage which was priceless as the product was unaffordable and too rare.
Andraste looked down to him. The cook was a white earth pony with a rolling-pin cutie mark. The griffon went back to the cupboard and took a fourth cup.
“You’ll have yours, as an indemnification.”
The cook fainted a second time. The griffon jumped over him and led everypony out to the garden.
Once they had arrived, they sat between the tall hedges of the few mazes the royal gardens had. Twilight remarked that Andraste had furtively split everypony in two groups. He had dragged away Luna and Celestia deeper in the maze and had left Armand to the care of her, her three friends and Spike, to the heir’s immense discontentment of course. Internally, the regal youngster was swearing.
“Isn’t he cute?” Rarity started.
“He looks like a big eagle.” Fluttershy muttered, hidden behind Applejack.
“Ah think he looks fancy.”
“Are you really the successor of Eric the sixth?” Twilight added to the hullabaloo.
The griffon bit his tongue, evidently pushed into a corner.
“Ruhe!”
His shout was loud, but ended with a squeak as he was still too young to have a grave voice that made every king proud. He started talking in a language nopony could understand. However, he was obviously swearing. It was a guttural language, harsh and rough in anypony’s ears. Seeing that he was not understood he sat and curled his talons around his knees.
“Freaks,” he finally muttered.
Fluttershy who, of course, was the shyest pony in Ponyville and probably in Equestria burst into tears, struck hard by the nastiness of the griffon’s statement, a malice that was not hidden by his strong and gruff accent. Everypony glared at him and he had clearly no will to apologize. The pressure on him grew little by little until he finally got up and walked into the nearest maze, muted.
“He’s like Gilda. Damn apples I thought that A’draste ain’t an exception,” Applejack growled, mispronouncing the emissary’s name.
“We should go find him,” Twilight guessed. “He is an heir. It would be bad if something happens to him, really bad.”
Rarity and Applejack gulped the newborn stress crawling inside of their throat. Fluttershy was still trying to dry her tears.
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Andraste conducted both Princesses in a remote place of the biggest maze of Canterlot. There was an old table circled by a couple of benches. On the right end of the clearing, a pedestal was surging off the ground but with no statue to host. The griffon stood up, silent for few seconds.
“You finally freed him.”
“I don’t know if it is for the better,” Celestia growled.
They sat. The griffon sliced the top of the bottle after becoming aware he had forgotten to bring an opener. He gently poured the dark red liquid in the decanting jar and started agitating it, twisting and turning the alcoholic nectar which smell was incredibly… chafing.
“Walls have ears,” he finally sighed surprising both Princesses. He raised a brow. “It’s an expression from Griffonia. I think in Equestrian it is… loose lips sink ships.”
“Why all this fuss Andraste?” Celestia asked, stern as always since he had stepped on Equestrian soil. “And why did you bring… him here.”
The griffon poured the wine in the four glasses and snapped with his claws. A waiter came out of nowhere, took the fourth and then withdrew to the castle.
“Things are getting pretty dangerous currently in Warclaw. You know that Griffonia, apart from being ruled by griffons is a cosmopolitan society. You can find ponies, zebras, minotaurs and so on. Two weeks ago a pony, a pegasus, sneaked in the Imperial castle and tried to kill Armand and his mother. The assassin killed the latter and nearly got my Lord’s son.”
Luna and Celestia were horrified.
“The pony slit his throat when we blocked him with a net,” Andraste’s talon went searching something in the folds of his garment. “He had this on him.”
The griffon dropped a heavy object on the desk. It was a necklace of gold and silver whose medallion was a small symbol polymerizing a sun and a moon into a single shape. Stupor etched Luna’s and Celestia’s faces.
“This is… so old,” Luna finally concealed. “Before even my banishment…”
The medallion glowed with a blue aura, the same as her horn. She wanted to examine it from a closer point of view. A harsh bang echoed. Andraste had encased it with his left talon.
“Sorry Princess Luna, but this evidence is too important to let you… touch it.”
Celestia nodded to her sister, forced to assent. The griffon returned the jewelry into his toga and drew out a small scroll, broke the red wax seal with a snap. He unfolded it and gave it to Celestia and Luna to view. It was a drawing replicating the medallion from every angle.
“Keep it for your own services.”
Luna inspected the whole parchment, she pointed out that something had been written on the other side of the symbol. She could not read it. She asked her sister for an advice, making Celestia frown once her stare lay on the notes. The griffon smiled internally, he could recognize genuine confusion when he saw it.
“Nopony, nogriffin and clearly nobody knows about this scripture. It could be a code but we haven’t been able to break it.”
Luna bit her lips, thinking deeply.
“By the way, we’ve got serious issues within the Empire. And a majority of the Prince-electors are searching for a scapegoat. Unfortunately the assassination of the Empress was far too tempting to use as a political means for them. Your kind was in the wrong place at the wrong moment.”
“You said you are having… problems?” Celestia tilted.
“The number of murders in the biggest cities has never been so low, but the rate has exploded in the majority of towns throughout the land. Cases of mass insanity has risen up for few months and… the police and the army had to face uprising and maddened rioters.”
Celestia and Luna had glanced at each other when the word insanity had been brought in the conversation. And the griffon had clearly seen it. But he swept it off and shared the exquisite drink with his two interlocutors as a waiter came to serve them some commodities.
After a first look, the wine, red as brick, appeared rough and smelly, printing a burgundy mark on the wall of the cups. The alicorns, used to drinking sweet alcohol frowned when their nostrils took the leathery aroma of the old liquor. On the second try, a pinch of spiciness tickled their muzzle.
Bringing the cups to their lips, Celestia, Luna and Andraste drank a small swallow and took time to savor it.
Their first impression was right. The wine was raspy and acrid. But bit by bit, the unpleasant taste of oxidization gave way to hundreds of delightful fragrances. The flavor of nut, aroma of rose, hints of clove and pinches of aniseed was among the savors that enshrouded their taste buds and olfactory bulbs.
Its musk was glued to their palate and muzzle as the sweetness, the acidity and the tannin were perfectly melted and balanced in the core of the red liquid. First lively with mellowness, the strong wine unveiled itself as powerful and long-lasting once it was swallowed.
Andraste stirred the wine held between his cheeks a last time and spat it on the grass. Luna and Celestia looked at themselves, unable to say if they were expected to mimic him or not.
“I’ve had better… but it’s still a good one,” The griffon chortled.
He stared at the two Princesses, their mouth swelled by the wine rekindling their taste in oenology. They stared back.
“Wine is meant to be drunk you know,” he laughed.
They all took a second mouthful of the divine drink.
“Why did you come here with him?” Celestia finally asked.
“The child is safe while he is here with me or with the Elements of Harmony. By the way, I only saw four of them today. Where are the last two? I need… I need to talk to Rainbow Dash.”
Luna’s and Celestia’s eyes widened, surprised and horrified. Andraste understood that something was afoot. Something had clearly gone wrong in Equestria too.
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“Armand?” high-pitched voices called in the maze. “Armand!?”
“Where did he go?” Spike gritted.
“He walked in here for sure. His toga would not let him fly,” Twilight said to herself.
“You’re not helping Twilight,” Applejack grumbled. “You’d use ya fancy magic to find him.”
“Actually, it’s not stupid Applejack.”
Applejack’s features straightened.
“Does that mean I’m stupid most of the time?” She chimed.
Twilight blabbered a mediocre apology.
“One could say that you’re much of a short-tempered kind of pony.”
They rounded the next corner. The path ended up in a vast clearing in the maze. A massive pond sporting a mythical sea pony whose hooves acted as water jets, was built in the middle. The water was clear and with the sunbeams reflected on it as a mirror, the pond was spreading the multiple shades of a rainbow on the surroundings.
Sitting on the side of the fountain, the young griffin was looking at his own reflection, his lion’s paws soaking in the water. He had put off his toga.
His left ribcage was scarred by a long, relatively fresh, and disgusting slash which began above his groin to end at the mid-joint of his left wing. Rubbing it, he was winced. Apparently it still pained him.
Looking behind him, his eyes stopped on the four ponies and a baby dragon. His eyes opened wide in surprise and he rushed to his toga, quickly hiding his wound.
“You saw nothing,” he growled, lifting up one of his coat-tails.
He finally readjusted his black wristband and the golden regalia dangling around his neck. The heir was obviously mad at them.
“Would ya at least apologize to Fluttershy?” Applejack queried harshly, stomping the ground with her hoof, impatient.
The griffon shook his head.
“Will your kind be ever sorry for the unspeakable crime and shame you committed and spread upon my kin? This is the real question,” He spat back.
He then went mute and passed through the group of pony, bumping into Rarity and Twilight. He paused in front of Spike.
“I would never think a dragon would lower himself to serve ponies or even dare walk among us.”
Armand’s voice was a savant and strange mix between arrogance, respect for the dragon and disrespect for the ponies surrounding him.
“Hey! Twilight and everypony is my family, I would go through Tartarus for them,” Spike replied spitefully.
The griffon rolled his eyes.
“Peasants…”
A hoof smacked his forehead. Looking up, he saw… Rarity standing in front of him. She was frowning angrily. Armand’s eyes narrowed. Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike held their breath.
“How. Dare. You?” He hissed through his gritted beak.
“You’ll change this behavior! Even Prince Blueblood hadn't gotten this far.”
“How. Dare. You?” He repeated.
His anger was so obvious on his features that Rarity took a step back. He lifted his talon, only to see his wrist stopped in the severe grasp of Andraste, and there, before the horrified eyes of Luna and Celestia, the old griffon assessed the situation, scornful.
He ended the long-lasting silence which followed his miraculous intervention.
“You will apologize now, to all our hosts.” He spelled clearly, glaring daggers at his protégée.
Andraste’s voice was light years away from the joyful tone he had sported since his arrival. It was a soldier’s one, harsh, inflexible and assailing. The atmosphere cooled down instantly. Everyone gulped a gag and Armand started mumbling.
“I cannot hear you,” the old griffon vented.
“I’m deeply sorry for my previous behavior and hope you won’t keep resent against me and my past deeds.”
“Good.”
He released Armand’s forearm. Twilight caught out of the corner of her eye that he had ripped off the black bracelet from the heir’s limb. Andraste glanced at the two princesses and looked down at the ponies, his face was darkened by his anger.
“I want you to apologize too.”
Surprised stares greeted his demand.
“But… why?” Rarity asked, offended. “He hurt Fluttershy and disrespected us!”
Casting away his protégée Andraste brought his face closer to Rarity’s.
“He is a child,” He tilted his head, glaring at Spike, Twilight and Applejack, avoiding Fluttershy who was crying. “And I think he has seen and experienced things that you’ll never wish to. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want you to apologize to him or me, but to your Princesses, Celestia and Luna.”
Both Princesses jumped slightly when they heard their name.
“If it hadn’t been for me, your behavior would have settled the war between our two nations because you… couldn’t stand a stubborn child.”
A freezing silence blew between the remaining Elements Bearers and the diplomat. Finally Twilight and her friends walked half-heartedly toward Luna and Celestia and asked for their forgiveness. Celestia sought for a nod from Andraste. He shrugged.
“Never drift away again,” Luna commanded.
After the ambiance had calmed down, the old griffon pulled Twilight aside. His two piercing eyes were unpleasant and gave the young alicorn the impression he could read her mind.
“His mother has been killed,” he stressed on this last word. “…by a pony, few days ago. Keep this clear somewhere in your mind… Your Highness.”
He went looking after the griffon cub. Twilight felt dizzy and let out a long breath. The griffon was really intimidating. Celestia came closer to her faithful student.
“Are you okay Twilight?”
“It was nothing, he just shook me a little. He can be oppressive when he wants.”
“There is no doubt that he is the Marshall of Warclaw’s Armies. He had nations bent at his talons in the past.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed, he casted a glance at Andraste. He was comforting the young prince. ‘Him, a Marshall?’ She tried to picture him going to war, armored and armed to the teeth, slashing through his enemies. A question popped in her mind, ‘how many marks the griffon had on his tally?’
“By the way,” Celestia added, mindful. “Sir Andraste is going to Ponyville today and will come back tomorrow afternoon to be present the day after it for the Gathering. He has… business with… Rainbow.”
Twilight goggled. She wanted to protest but Celestia put her hoof on her lips.
“I want you to go with him while everypony else remains to look after the Prince,” She paused. “I don’t want you to spy on him, just to make sure he stays out of trouble.”
Twilight wondered how she could best such imposing being. She doubted even her magic would be any help. Glancing back to the griffon’s commander, she saw him tie back the dark bracelet on Armand’s wrist and ruffled his feathers, a paternal smile clearing his face.
He left his charge to the good care of the others and trotted to Twilight.
“Well, whenever you're ready to leave,” Andraste asked.
“But we haven’t booked a train or a chariot.”
“You’ve got wings, haven’t you Princess?”
She hesitantly nodded.
“Well here we go!” Andraste shouted.
Folding his toga, the griffon stretched his wings. Stares scanned him as he displayed multiples scars and old wounds he had masterfully hidden until now. Few seemed to be due to burns, other were clearly the traces of different kinds of edges and finally an eerie burned round mark plagued his shoulder. The weapon used had pierced him from side to side. Twilight thought a fine spear should have been used against him.
“I… I still don’t know how to fly.”
“Better now than ever!” He sniggered with an amused smirk on his lips.
He grabbed Twilight and held her under his arm. Spreading his wings, he took off in a heavy blow. Celestia giggled when she heard Twilight calling for help as she disappeared with the griffon behind the clouds.
“Dost thou think she will be okay?” Luna risked herself.
“Of course Luna, Sir Andraste is one of the wisest griffons. He won’t harm anybody and he owes me some favors. The only thing that titillates me is how he has pulled everything off. He didn’t even say why he wanted to see Rainbow.”
“He is rather… dangerous.”
Celestia nodded silently and then withdrew to Armand. And with everypony in tow, she led him to his suite.
High above the cloud, Twilight’s cry for help faded and, between the walls of the Canterlot mazes, only the chirping of the birds could now be heard.