//------------------------------//
// Vital Importance 
// Story: Alive: The Final Pony Evolution 
// by TimeRarity64 
//------------------------------//


II.

‘Our lives are what values most in this world.’




Strange events on the paper had continued leaving Twilight shock and cautious to her surroundings. On the newspaper she had bought along the way to Canterlot, many reports of suicides have been reported with unexplainable causes. It frightened the mare as she began questioning why Celestia had not stepped in yet to resolve the problem. She was at least at ease when she had founded out in one article of the newspaper that Cadence, her foalsitter, and her brother Shining Armor, had taken action to solving this strange, depressing case.

Spike, who had been walking alongside Twilight was too busy reading a comic book named “Golden Dragon” while Twilight read and walked at the same time. She soon stopped and tucked the newspaper that was held by her magic, into her saddle bag and lifted her assistant onto her back, quickly running down the bridge where the Castle resided beyond.

She eventually stopped once she came across royal guards, being commanded by Flash Sentry blocking her path into the kingdom. He was an orange pegasus with a blue mane that cut through his helmet due to its length, and tail that was neatly trimmed. His blues caused the purple mare to blush lightly as they fitted perfectly with his beaming smile.

“Twilight, I’m glad to see you back in Canterlot, the princess has been waiting for you, along with the Gryphon King Tidus.” He said, stopping in front of the mare.

“Thank you, Flash Sentry, I will be sure to hurry up to them as soon as possible, but may I ask why you are guarding the road to the castle?” She asked, curious to blockade.

“Just like the Changeling invasion, we are preparing ourselves for any threats from these “Disturbers” the princess warned us about. Apparently, throughout the pass week on these questionable natural disasters, reports came in on these figures using some strange type of magic only a pony with magic can use. A gryphon was spotted near a forest in the Northern Regions burning away a platoon of gryphon and pony soldiers that were making their way to the Festival being hosted in the great city of Talos.”

Twilight was relieved for hearing the information that the princess had taken action into this sort of trouble, but horrified by the death of many proud soldiers. She began questioning this, finding a gryphon capable of using Pyro-magic so swiftly on a platoon of soldiers unbelievable.

“That’s terrible, I can see why now that you are stationed here.” She said, looking around. The lavender mare soon caught a glimpse of light down an alley before it vanished into the darkness. Looking back at the pegasus guard before her, she gently smiled. “I wish we can talk more, but I don’t want the princess and king to be waiting for too long.”

Flash Sentry chuckled, “I agree, you should go now. Stay safe, okay?”

Twilight nodded her head as he gave passage for her to go through. 

“Oh, and Spike, wait till you read Issue 9, it is going to be crazier than the epic battle in Issue 5!” Flash yelled, causing Spike to become even more excited as he began reading faster with anticipation to hurry off to the next issue.



“What are you trying to say, sister? Does thou not believe we are suitable for scouting through the Gryphon borders?” Luna asked, becoming angry at her alabaster coated sister. They were both alicorns that differ in size and appearance; Luna was smaller by three to four feet than Celestia. She had a dark blue coat with a moon cutie mark that had dark spots. Her eyes were dark blue along with her flowing mane and tail that glimmer.

“It is not that, Luna, it is your safety that I am worry about.” Celestia said in a concerned tone. Her mane was rainbow, along with her tail, and they both flowed just like Luna’s. Celestia’s eyes were purple and her cutie mark was that of a sun, matching her role in the lands in bringing day to her subjects while her sister brought night.

The two were alicorns, siblings, and rulers of the massive land. They had been through strife before, but as years coursed by when the Mane Six came around, their connection grew strong. While their connection grew strong, relationships shared across the lands had, too. Ponies and gryphons had not been the fondest groups together in many years, but when peace came around and understanding one another had grew, each species grew to respect their fellow neighbors.

Celestia and Luna had been arguing on a Scouting Mission which Luna had devised to investigate further into the strange crimes being caused by “Disturbers”, but her sister disagree, finding this sort of mission dangerous. It was still unclear how dangerous and what were these “Disturbers” goal was. She found it best for her to stick by her side in running the kingdom while her kin handled the rest. The two had stopped in front of the meeting room, aware that the Gryphon King Tidus was waiting for them patiently.

“Look, Luna, you must understand that I need you here by my side so that we can maintain the lands. Whatever happens outside of Equestria is of none of our face-to-face concern. We have more important matters to deal with.” Celestia said.

“And what does thou believe is important that she cannot cometh to sending her blood to scout and report back her progress?” Luna questioned, growing irritable at her sister’s dis-agreement with allowing her to fly off and add in some type of support to those in need.

“Luna, I am not going to argue with you about this any time soon now, I have a meeting to appoint to and if you do not wish to stay, return to your quarters.” Celestia said, her tone becoming stern and direct, causing Luna to grumbled and turned around. She stomped off angrily, disappointed of her sister, but Celestia knew it was the best to disagree with such ideas in order to keep her safe.

The alabaster alicorn pushed open the doors and was greeted to see a young looking gryphon sitting in chair resting his talons on the large round table. He looked up at her and gently smiled. Standing beside the gray, yellow eyes gryphon, was a larger gryphon. He looked older and had purple eyes that bore holes into somepony’s head the longer they stared at them. This gryphon was wearing an officer’s hat and also wielded a sword sheathed in a black scabbard strapped to his back.

Celestia felt a bit threatened by the weapon, but decided to pass it off realizing that the gryphon was the king’s guard. Pulling back a chair after closing the door with her magic, the princess, gently sat down and smiled at the young king.

“King Tidus, forgive me for the wait, I had some stuff to attend to quickly, before coming here.” Celestia said in a calm pleasant tone.

“There is no need to apologize,” Tidus said, “I am a patient one, unlike my father.”

“I am sorry to hear of your father’s passing, he did not finish his last expedition to the great ruins of El Pon’rado.” Celestia said, but the gryphon simply brushed off his passing and rested back against the chair.

“Don’t worry, that old man’s legacy has not died with him. He passed it on to me and so I must continue his search and find this city. It is quite tiresome since I used to tell him many times the city did not exist, but he never took my word for granted. He will usually laugh, pat me on the head, and then say, “You’re too young to understand what a king like I will tend to see in his olden years.” The gryphon stated, finding his father’s last will boring by the lack of his tone.

“Must seem quite trite?” Celestia questioned, causing him to chuckle a little with her.

“Yes, but, to be honest, I think it might get me going somewhere. I am tired being in that castle, I would not mind getting out once and a while and exploring the farther lands like he used to, instead I got the worse thing any ruler despises.”

“Paperwork.” The two rulers both said in unison, chuckling again.

The two became silent before their eyes narrowed. Quietly, the three scanned the area without moving, making sure there were no unnecessary ears eavesdropping. When the coast was clear, Tidus leaned forward and folded his talons together.

“You know as much as I that it is not normal for a gryphon to have magic. What happened to the platoon back in the mountains was completely uncalled for and confusing. I assume you gained any information on that gryphon and the rest of those like him?”

Celestia eyes became laced with concern before she nodded her head. “You see, because of that, my sister insisted on me letting her go on a scouting mission around your borders to investigate these “Disturbers”, but I denied such a dangerous request. I do not know what these types of ponies or creatures are capable of, but they are dangerous and can surely not be taken care of with ease.”

“I agree with you,” he added, but his tone became concerning, “Though, I would say she would not be bad in scouting. What about that student of yours, Twilight was it, “No, under any circumstance, she must not leave the country or take in any part of this situation we are going through.” The princess interrupted him.

“You must really care a lot about her, huh?” Tidus asked, lifting a brow.

“Yes, you know already that she is one of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. To lose her might endanger all of Equestria.” Celestia said.

“That would seem very wise of you to do that, but what if she did not listen and left on her own, will you be able to stop her?” Tidus asked, his tone growing grim.

“What are you implying?” The princess asked, her tone matching his as she felt threatened.

“What I am implying is that you can’t always keep a pony like her down in her place from danger. Especially, your sister, she will surely leave without your consent and endanger herself. It would be best to allow Twilight some freedom but also appoint her escorts if she ever planned on leaving the country.”

“I cannot risk her life so easily for her own personal gain. There are times a ruler needs to step down on something, even if it means being cruel. If it is for the sake of saving her country and protecting millions of her subjects, by my mother, I will surely do so.” Celestia stated proudly.

Tidus gave her a calm nod before backing away to his seat, tapping his talons on the wooden surface. “I understand clearly, Celestia. By the way, where is your student, Twilight?”

“I’m sorry I’m late!” Twilight burst through the door, only to duck down grabbing Spike quickly off her back with her right wing when a sword nearly impaled her. The purple mare and baby dragon trembled in horror when they looked up at Tidus’ guard glaring at them. It took a moment for Celestia to gather her wits and informed him that they were invited.

“They are not enemies, sir; do not frighten them even more.” Celestia said, causing the gryphon guard to look back at her before pulling out his blade from the door and sheathing it into its scabbard.

“I apologize,” he said, “for frightening you two.”

He soon returned by his king’s side and stood still, standing guard.

“I apologize for Raijin’s quick attacks, you pretty much startled him. You must be Twilight Sparkle, right?” Tidus asked, gently smiling at her as she cautiously walked by Celestia’s side with Spike sticking behind her frightened.

“Y-yes, and who are you?” She asked.

“I am the Gryphon Kingdom’s king, Tidus of Maximus. I rule the great kingdom in which was founded by the God of Gryphons, Talos.” He said proudly.

“T-Tidus, wait, you’re the new gryphon king!” Twilight shouted, becoming shocked.

“Yeah…I just said that.” Tidus said, becoming confused by her tone of excitement.

“I’ve come to talk about the shifting climates within your country!”

“Oh, that…I find it boring and wish to not hear about it.” He stated causing Twilight to pause and stare at him in a loss of words. Celestia frowned, seeing how her student struggled to set up for this and looked at Tidus in being consenting, allowing her to give a basis in what she learned. However, the gryphon king only smirked as he looked away.

“Wait…but don’t you want to know about your shifting climates?” Twilight asked.

“No, not really, to be honest…not every gryphon, or most, cares about it. They can easily adapt too many types of weather. The reason why we picked such a place where it is always cold is because it has a great viewpoint where we can see the moon so well and clearly as it is shining over us.”

“I…worked for so long on this. Wasted time on researching everything I can possibly find and creating many methods on ways to solve it. You mean to tell me that all that I have been doing…was meant for nothing?” Twilight asked as she sat on the ground, staring at the table shocked.

“Pretty much, Twilight Sparkle,” Tidus answered, “don’t be too sad, I really did not want you to waste a breath on something so…boring. Instead, I wanted to see you for something else.” 

Celestia and Twilight both stared at him confused.

“You wanted to see me for something else?” Twilight repeated as Spike watched her stand up.

“How would you like to become my advisor?” He asked, causing Celestia to glare at him angrily, picking up his plan. She knew she could not allow Twilight leave the kingdom, but also not deny her freedom to choose where she wanted to go.

“Advisor, but why me?” Twilight asked.

“From what Celestia told me, you saved this country many times and have a brain that I would not mind seeing at work, assisting me on my travels in searching for the lost city of El Pon’rado.” Tidus said, causing the mare to blush in embarrassment from the praise.

She soon gasped, “EL PON’RADO?!”

“That’s right, the lost city of dreams, gold, and so much more.” He stated in a poetic tone, enjoying the venomous glare Celestia was giving him as he persuaded the mare to become his advisor. “What do you say?”

“I…” She soon paused and felt something off. She glanced around and froze in fear. What she saw ahead of her, pass over the shoulders of Tidus was that glimpse of light in the dark corner of the room. Something about the light before it vanished had struck fear into her body and made the hairs stand up. She felt the disturbance in the air with the flow of magic and became seriously confused. Celestia noticed her student’s absent response to the king’s order and took action quickly to bring her back into reality.

“Twilight,” Celestia spoke, “Did you feel that disturbance?” Celestia asked, causing Tidus to stare at her confused. The princess gave him a challenging smirk as she added on. “There is something lurking on the lands that many creatures of many species walk on. It is a threat that we are unsure of or incapable of knowing how to stop. Right now, I am sure you heard from rumors that reports of strange suicides and caused disasters have been going on lately and I will tell you that those reports are so very true.”

“They are?” The mare asked as Spike remained confused to what they were talking about.

“Yes, they are. If you decide to go, there will be no telling what might happen to this country since you are an important key to the elements of harmony and student that I can claim as my own granddaughter, losing you might be vital to your friends, country, and me.” She said, causing the lavender mare to look down in deep thought.

‘Smart mare, using words to persuade your student. I now can see why my father told me to be careful around you. You tend to have the words that of a silver tongue devil, exclude the devil part.’ Tidus thought, finding Celestia’s tactics of persuasion remarkable.

“You’re right, Princess Celestia, staying here would be more important than being an advisor.” Twilight said, smiling at her teacher before looking at Tidus. “I apologize, King Tidus, but I must decline the offer in being your advisor. I do hope to visit your kingdom someday, though, and assist on your exploration to the ancient city.”

“Thank you and do not worry, when given the chance, you will be the first to invite.” The young gryphon king said, smiling at the lavender mare. “Now…how about you give me that show and tell lesson of yours with my country’s climate change?” He asked, causing the mare to brightly smile at him as she rushed through her saddle bag, setting everything up. Spike, on the other hand, went back to reading his comic.




-To Be Continued-