Reformation... It's a Pony Thing

by Lets Do This

A Shared Apology

They all stood on the rocky isthmus, gazing up at the immense stone monolith of Mount Aris.

Applejack sighed. "As Rarity might say... did we really need to land at the bottom of the mountain again?"

"We can't take Celaeno's ship to the top," Twilight reminded her. "At least, not until the hippogriffs understand it's no longer the Storm King's. We don't want them thinking they're being invaded again."

"Oh, yeah!" Silverstream agreed. "That would completely freak everyone out. You know, a lot of us didn't even want to come back to Hippogriffia and rebuild? Even Queen Novo spends most of her time in Seaquestria. She just comes up here now and again to oversee things."

"I really hope she's in today," Twilight said.

"What is today? Tuesday? Yeah, she's here today!" Silverstream said confidently.

Rainbow crossed her forehooves, annoyed. "Walking up there is gonna take forever! I could just fly up there in no time. So couldn't Twilight and Silverstream. Even Fluttershy could! Why don't the four of us go talk to the Queen?"

"Twilight's not going anywhere unguarded," Tempest said flatly. She was wearing her body armor and shoes, minus the helmet. "We're too close to whatever's behind all this. We'll walk up. I don't mind a hike."

"All the way up there again, boss?" Grubber peered up at the seemingly endless staircase.

Tempest snorted. "You think this is a cushy job? Time to work off some of that cake... assistant."

"Don't suppose I could get a lift, huh?" He flinched at her look. "Okay, okay, fine! Right with ya, boss."

"Maybe Fred would give us all a lift?" Fluttershy looked up at the soldier in whose arms she was sitting. "Would you mind, Fred?"

"Sorry, Fluttershy," Twilight said. "Again, we don't want this to look like an invasion. I think it should be just us this time."

"Oh. All right. Sorry, Fred!" She hopped down to join the others as they reluctantly started towards the stone staircase. The soldier waved dispiritedly after her. And then, at a curt gesture from Tempest, he disappeared.

As they began climbing, Twilight looked over at Silverstream. "You know, you could go on ahead if you'd like. You don't have to wait for the rest of us."

"Oh, I don't mind!" she said. "It'll help if I'm here to speak up for you." She glanced nervously at Tempest. "I mean, I totally get you're working for Twilight now. But a lot of the older 'griffs might not. And wow, this is all just so exciting! Being with all of you, when I've heard so much about you! And ohmygosh! Look... stairs! You know we don't have these in Seaquestria? It's all just too much!"

Twilight just smiled back at her, grateful for any positive note.

"Hey!" Pinkie called from where she'd been stotting along at the back of the group, "I've got a great idea! Why don't we just wait for those guys to get here?" She pointed skyward. "Maybe they'd give us a lift?"

The others looked up. They saw a flying wing of hippogriff guards, armed with spears, rapidly descending towards them.

"Uh oh!" Spike said. "Time to beat a hasty retreat?"

"No." Twilight stood her ground. "We're here to see Queen Novo. There's nothing we need to run away from."

"If you say so, Princess." Tempest moved to stand next to Twilight. The others nervously clustered around them both, and waited.

The guards swung down, landed, and quickly encircled them, standing tall and proud, wings spread, spears held ready in their foreclaws.

"Good afternoon!" Twilight said, taking a pace toward the blue-coated, golden-armored hippogriff who appeared to be their leader. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. My compliments to her majesty, Queen Novo, and may I request the indulgence of an audience? It's to discuss a matter of some importance..."

"Your Highness," the guard interrupted, coldly. "I am Stratus Skyranger, head of Her Majesty's personal guard. At her request, we have been dispatched to escort you... and your party." He cast a distinctly frosty look at Tempest and Grubber, then returned to looking down his beak at Twilight.

Twilight glanced uncomfortably around at the other guards. Their expressions were neutral, neither friendly nor unfriendly. But she got the sense they weren't exactly an honor guard. "Ah... right. I understand," she said sadly. "Come on, everypony."

"So, uh..." Rainbow grumbled. "we're still walking up the mountain?"

"Quit yer yappin', Rainbow," Applejack said mildly. "And let's get a move-on. Sooner started, sooner there."

"Whee! Who's up for a climbing song?"

They all groaned.

"What?"

"Not helpin', Pinkster!"

The climb was long, slow, and depressing. The guards shadowed them closely, flying in formation around them, not saying a word. They didn't object when Rainbow hopped into the air and flew along with them, but did if she got too far ahead of the group. Which meant she had to fly the entire way at a walking pace, forehooves crossed impatiently.

Finally, they reached the top of the stairs and passed through the massive eagle-head gate, into the mountaintop city of Hippogriffia. Twilight was pleased to see that unlike in Abyssinia, substantial progress had been made on cleaning up the damage and restoring both the city and the mountainside around it to something approaching their former beauty. The streets and paths had been swept clean, arborists had repaired most of the damage to the trees, and here and there new grass and flowers had been planted.

And all about them, the hippogriffs, now back in their land forms, were gathered in small groups and talking and laughing... and looking on the new arrivals with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

They eventually reached the city's Great Hall, which was serving as a temporary palace during reconstruction. Soon they were ushered into its audience hall, and finally stood facing the throne... and Queen Novo herself. The ivory white hippogriff monarch was sternly examining a scroll held in her foreclaws, occasionally muttering an order to the secretary at her elbow. And apparently paying no attention at all to Twilight's party.

Happily, there was someone else in the room who did feel like welcoming them. "Silverstream!" Golden-flanked Princess Skystar galloped over from where she'd been standing to one side of the throne, and the two hippogriffs hugged each other warmly. "Omigosh! When Mother heard you were missing, you should've heard her... she was like this close to sending out the entire guard to find you!"

"Princess Twilight and her friends rescued me!" Silverstream replied eagerly. "It was so unbelievable. I'll tell you all about it!"

"Twilight!" Skystar rushed over to hug her, and then each of the ponies in turn, including a somewhat bemused Tempest. "It's great to see you all again! Shelly and Sheldon say hi, too! I'm so glad you came to visit. So much has been happening around here. We should totally have lunch or something, so I can fill you in..."

"Ahem." Queen Novo looked up from the scroll. "Princess Skystar, I'm wondering if you recall whose throne room this is?"

Skystar rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother!" She winked cheekily at Twilight, and then the two hippogriffs withdrew to stand to the Queen's right, whispering and giggling together. Queen Novo smiled indulgently at her daughter and niece.

Then the smile disappeared as she turned her attention to Twilight. "So... Princess. To what do I owe this visit?"

Twilight took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I wish to formally apologize for attempting to steal the Pearl of Transformation. It was wrong of me to do so, and I fear it has seriously damaged the relationship between hippogriffs and ponies. I wish to make amends for my actions, and I hope you won't think they in any way reflect the proper behavior expected of a Princess of Equestria."

The Queen was unmoved. "Uh huh," she said coldly. "And what about your friend there?" She stared pointedly at Tempest. "Cherry Pie, wasn't it?"

Tempest cleared her throat. "If I may, Princess?" She stepped forward to stand beside Twilight, and bowed respectfully. "Queen Novo, my name is Tempest Shadow. And I also wish to apologize, to both you and your citizens, for attempting to steal the Pearl myself... and for the damage that I brought upon your city in the process."

The other ponies gasped in surprise. Tempest nodded to them. "I'm the reason the Hippogriffs were forced into hiding." She looked up at the Queen again. "My actions while in the Storm King's service have brought serious harm to both Hippogriffia and Equestria. I wish to make amends for that, if I can. To that end I have placed myself in Princess Twilight's service, and have been assisting her in locating several of Equestria's citizens who have been kidnapped, as well as pursuing their captors. If there is anything I might similarly do for Hippogriffia...?"

Queen Novo stared at her, sternly and silently, for a long moment. Then she looked at Twilight.

"Princess," she said, "you still trust this one, knowing everything she's done?"

Twilight nodded. "Enough to make her my bodyguard, Your Highness. Tempest has proven herself on more than one occasion. She's already helped us recover most of the ponies who were taken. And I believe she honestly wants to redeem herself... to everyone she's harmed."

"Hmph." Queen Novo looked displeased. She shook her head. "Why is nothing ever simple?" she asked. "I mean, really! It would just be so easy to have 'Cherry Pie' here and her associate imprisoned... and the rest of you shipped off back home! Where you belong!"

The ponies all held their breath tensely.

Then Queen Novo smirked. "But nothing's ever easy, is it? And it seems to me the Storm King cast a pretty deep shadow... leading more than one pony to make some pretty serious mistakes." She glared at Twilight.

Twilight winced, and bowed her head. "Yes, Your Highness. Mistakes that Tempest and I both regret."

"Hmmm... now, as I understand things from Princess Celestia, the two of you working together pretty much brought the Storm King down."

Twilight glanced at the rest of her friends. "We had a lot of help, Your Majesty!"

"I'm sure you did. And in taking out the Storm King, it's fair to say both of you have already done the hippogriffs a great service. It'd be pretty small-minded of me not to acknowledge that, at least to the extent of hearing you out... because I very much doubt you showed up on our doorstep merely to say you were sorry!" She held up a claw, to forestall Twilight's explanation. "Now, I'm not sayin' it's all water under the bridge, mind! But..." She shrugged. "...well... what say we put it in the past for now? See if it stays there, hmmm?"

Twilight let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Don't thank me yet," Queen Novo warned. "Because you might just be able to render us another service. You mentioned ponies being taken captive? A number of seaponies have also gone missing over the past few weeks... and now it seems hippogriffs are being taken as well. In fact if it wasn't for you, Silverstream here might be one of them!"

"Yay for Princess Twilight!" Silverstream cried. Then she looked around sheepishly. "Oops, sorry! Talking out of turn again!"

Queen Novo glared her into silence, then looked to Twilight again.

"Our relations with our neighbors in Seaquestria are a little... "fins-off", you might say. We don't interfere with the sharks, and they don't hassle us. Which basically means we have no idea who's behind these disappearances, any more than you do. So... while you're looking for the ponies who've been captured," she went on, "if you could also locate our missing citizens... well, it would go a long way toward mending any damage to relationships between hippogriffs and ponies... if you take my meaning?"

"Not a problem, Your Majesty," Twilight said quickly. "It'll be a pleasure!"

"It'll be our pleasure," Tempest added, bowing respectfully.

Queen Novo looked from one of them to the other, clearly uncertain whether to smile or frown in response. Then she sighed, and sat back in her throne. She gestured with the scroll in her claw. "Now, before you arrived, I was reading this very nice letter," she said, "from your Princess Celestia. Among other things, she let me know that you might be turning up here at some point... possibly looking for our help."

Twilight exchanged a relieved look with the others. At least Celestia's not mad at us for running off!

"And she requested, as a personal favor, that I provide the Princess of Friendship -- and her associates -- such aid and assistance as I deem appropriate..."

Queen Novo leaned forward again, staring Twilight straight in the eye.

"So tell me... Princess... exactly what aid and assistance should I deem appropriate?"

To Be Continued...

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.

Author's Note:

Next week... swimming with the sharks, and the true power of the Deeps...

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

9420768
There a reason why you didn't respond by replying to my comment?

[Lets Do This]

9446290
Nope, sorry... must have hit the main reply button rather than the message reply!

[Hobbestc]

At least they didn't just get kicked to the curb .

[SilverDiamond]

"So tell me... Princess... exactly what aid and assistance should I deem appropriate?"

Oh, I dunno. Maybe every stinking thing you CAN do? Seeing as you left Twilight with NOTHING the last time you saw her? You know. Her kingdom was doomed... She had NOTHING going for her. And with your denial...