Princess Celestia glided on the warm currents of the wind, finishing her journey to the New Blood’s stronghold. She flew into the eyrie sequestered in a large crag in the mountain, surprising a great many Griffons.
“Who is that white pony?”
“Fool, don’t you know? It’s Sol Invicta, the Empress of Equestria!”
“By the Forefathers, is that the Green Knight in her hooves?”
Princess Celestia hurriedly asked of no one in particular while laying the injured Gawaine down on the cavern floor, “Where is a healer? His wounds are many!”
The crowd of Griffons looked to each other, and then looked back to her.
She impatiently looked back at them, and she stomped one of her hooves. “Well? You don’t want him to die, do you?”
One of the closest Griffons spoke up, “We have no healers. Warriors fall prey to battle and are taken to Elysia’s Halls in honor, or they do not fight and are taken to a shameful death. We all fight for honor and glory; who then is left to heal?”
“Besides,” another Griffon called out, “True warriors can lie down and rise up of their own will. Gawaine has done it before, and he can do it again.”
Starswirl appeared at the mouth of the eyrie with six more wounded Griffons, and those that could walk limped their way to their nests. Seeing the Princess with Gawaine lying before her unmoving, he rushed over to her side. “What has happened?” he breathed heavily from the great strains he had put on his aging body.
“He’s been injured, but there are no healers,” the Princess whispered, “Apparently there is some kind of taboo against the medicinal sciences for Griffons.”
“Yes, it’s the way of the predator; the strong survive and the weak perish. Hello,” the sage unicorn murmured, “What have we here?” The area where Gawaine had been slashed by Ailsa VI was beginning to glow deep purple and sickly green. “Oh no,” Starswirl murmured to himself.
“What?” Princess Celestia hastily asked, “What’s wrong, Starswirl?”
“Things have become infinitely more complicated than I could have anticipated,” He looked down at the wound on the fallen Griffon, “This is evil magic we are dealing with!”
The crowd of Griffons whispered amongst themselves in wonder and anger upon overhearing Starswirl’s declaration.
“The Old Bloods are using dark powers in the field of battle?”
“Dishonorable!”
“Unfair advantage in combat is forbidden by all the Forefathers!”
“Evil magic?” Princess Celestia looked to Starswirl in confusion, “How? Magic is amoral; only the improper usage of magic is considered evil.”
Starswirl nodded his head from side to side vigorously, “No. While most magic is used to create or to alter what already exists, the other kinds, the kinds that can only destroy, those are truly evil magicks. The armored glove Gawaine was sliced by is draining him of his life force. I expect that he will die within the hour if we do not act quickly.”
“What can be done?” the Princess asked hurriedly.
“The only thing that could truly work at this point is to give him a pure transfusion of life energy to counteract the magic that’s draining it out of him.”
The Princess nodded her head to show her understanding, “Fine. I will be the donor.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better one,” Starswirl declared grimly, before conjuring up a thin knife-like blade with his magic, “I’m going to need to take it out of your chest, I’m afraid; the life closest to the heart is the most pure. I’ll seal it immediately after we’re done, but afterwards you may experience some chest pains and minor magic disruption.”
“I’ll be fine,” the Princess said, preparing her body for the incision, “I won’t be in any trouble.”
“If you say so, Tia,” the sagely unicorn said before surgically slicing into her chest, eliciting a small breathless grunt from the Princess.
Even the hardened Griffons in the crowd took a step back; had the two ponies lost their minds? What sort of madness was taking place here?
Taking the magically constructed knife out of the freshly made wound, Starswirl continued, “Now we must apply the...blood-“ the elderly unicorn was confused; he looked down at the blade, but there was no blood on it. It was as if it hadn't touched any flesh at all.
“I can handle it from here,” the Princess said, scooping up the wounded Griffon knight in her forehooves as she did. She placed the hole in her chest near the slash wounds of Gawaine’s, and the golden energy within her billowed out, coalescing into both wounds. The vampiric gashes of the Green Knight began to mend, and as they were bound up, the Princess’ form began to change. Her forelegs became scaly, and clawed digits grew out of what had once become her hooves. Her facial structure grew rigid and avian; where there had once been a horse’s mouth was now something like an eagle’s beak. Her hindhooves became like lion’s paws, and her tail extended into a three foot long whip, with coronal fire on its tip. Plumage in the colors of her mane and tail grew from out of her behind. The entire room was struck silent in awe.
“By all the sacred stars,” Starswirl whispered. He chuckled to himself and smiled deeply, “And now I’ve seen everything.”
Princess Celestia placed Gawaine back down on the floor, and began to examine her body. She brought up a set of talons and flexed them experimentally, and she looked down at her newly created beak in surprise. She flicked her whip-like tail in agitation, “Well, I certainly didn’t intend for this to happen!”
Gawaine slowly began to open up his eyes. He looked up to find himself in the presence of a large white griffon. He got up on all fours to quickly bow before her, his beak almost touching the ground, “I praise you, mighty Elysia, for bringing me into glory from great battle.”
“Rise up, Green Knight,” the white griffon said, “You are not dead.”
Gawaine looked up in confusion, “I am not, fair Elysia?”
“Well if you were, I certainly wouldn’t be here!” Starswirl said, coming into Gawaine’s vision from behind the white griffon.
“Starswirl! Is it truly you?”
“Oh it is,” the old unicorn chuckled, “and you owe Princess Celestia a great debt for returning you to us.”
The griffon knight looked once again to the white griffon, but now with dawning comprehension, “You are Sol Invicta? Your power is spoken of with both wonder and fear! You are a great warrior in my eyes, even if you are a female.”
The Princess’ eyebrow arched. “I’ll choose to take that as a compliment," she replied flatly.
“You have saved my life twice; first in battle with my dishonorable foes, and then you helped me to rise again, even against the intervention of my enemies,” he bowed once again to her, “I am in your debt, as the unicorn scholar says. Ask anything of me, and your kindness I will hope to repay.”
The Princess glanced over at Starswirl, and he nodded his head in the direction of Gawaine, as if to say, What are you waiting for? Get on with it!
“I wish to provide you continued support in your war,” Princess Celestia declared, “But I first wish for you to retake and safeguard the pony city of Cloudsdale for Equestria from the clutches of the Old Bloods. If you do this and promise to allow no harm to come to the Cloudsdalians in any way, I will supply your warriors and you with food and water throughout the winter months and beyond, in the hopes that you and your cause achieve victory.”
Gawaine’s eyes widened in surprise, “That is a most generous offer! I accept your terms of repayment. I hope that this can be the start of a great harmony between both the New Bloods and the Solar Empire.”
“No,” the Princess raised her clawed paw to Gawaine, “Between the New Bloods and Equestria,” and the griffon and the pony-griffon shook claws.
In a burst of magic, Starswirl and the Princess, still in her griffon body, reappeared in the guest tower of Canterlot.
“Well, I must say that the day went spectacularly,” Starswirl said with a grin, “Though the lesson I truly had in mind for today went completely out the window!”
The Princess clicked her beak and smiled, “I think you might have found a way for me to learn about Kindness, even if the lesson didn’t go as you’d hoped. Let me see if I might have learned it by accident.”
“Alright,” Starswirl sighed contently as he walked over to the fireplace and stoked a fire with his magic. He trotted behind his small wooden desk and sat down on the soft pillow located there, “Let’s hear it!”
“Kindness is sort of like a form of Generosity. Life is unfair, but Kindness is a way that anypony can make life just a little bit better for everypony around them, whether by sacrificing their possessions, time, or even their very lives for others. It’s a way to both give and receive happiness, and it can give ponies better opportunities to live their lives more freely than they otherwise could have.”
Starswirl sat quietly on his pillow for a while, thinking over the statement, and then he slowly began to nod his head up and down, “That’s not bad. That’s actually a very good summation of what I wanted to teach!”
The Princess smiled, and then she looked down at her beak. She had temporarily forgotten about her transformation. Perhaps if..
Princess Celestia was surrounded by golden light, and she saw her talons were beginning to return to hooves, and her beak was becoming a snout. She whirled about and saw her tail was returned to its regular shape and style; she was alicorn again! She gave herself a shake all over, “Oh, it feels wonderful to be a pony again!”
“How did you do that?” Starswirl asked inquisitively, “How did you change back? For that matter, how did you change at all?”
The Princess shrugged her shoulders and wings, “I assumed that if I thought about my original form hard enough, and if I tried to use my magic, I would become the correct ‘me’ again. I’ve never done whatever it was I did today, so it’s as much of a mystery to me as it is to you!”
Starswirl shook his head and chuckled, “You never cease to amaze me, Princess!” The sage stroked his beard for a while before he continued, “Would you mind if I studied you tomorrow? Your biology is simply remarkable, and I must know how it works!”
Princess Celestia faked shock as she put a hoof to her mouth, “You want to study my body? All these years I’ve known you, and I didn’t think you were such a dirty old unicorn, Starswirl!”
The unicorn paused as he thought about what the Princess had said, and then he realized what she had meant. The Princess burst out laughing as she ran out the doors of the suite, and Starswirl quickly grew a very grumpy expression, “Very funny, you old fox,” and in a while he began to laugh a little to himself as well.