Things had settled into a routine for me over the two weeks that had passed since I'd ended up in the hospital. First thing in the morning I was seen by one of the doctors, sometimes accompanied by the strange yellow pegasus mare who I'd come to call “Butterfly”, for the three insects on her flank. Butterfly was an odd sort- when examining me or doing things that seemed directly related to my health, she was as confident and purposeful as anyone I'd ever seen, but outside of that she often became so withdrawn and shy that it would've been comical if I didn't find it somewhat saddening.

After that came breakfast, like every other meal of my day brought to me by the gryphon, who I called “Amber” for the coloring of her fur. I could tell by her interest in how I enjoyed the food that she had some role in making it... and to be honest, I was touched enough by it all that I made sure to give her honest feedback, limited though it was. And I certainly couldn't complain about the food- it tasted great, and was probably the healthiest stuff I'd eaten since I'd moved out on my own.

Once breakfast was finished and I'd had a shower, then came more language lessons with the purple pegacorn, who I'd termed “Six-Star”- or “Sixie” for short. She was... well, “methodical” was one way to put it; she reminded me of one of my college professors, damn near genius but really bad at relating to others. It seemed that Amber- who stuck around for the lessons most days- was sort of a balance for her, and whenever Sixie was stumped on a way to get some concept across to me or seemed to be getting impatient or flustered, Amber would speak to her for a bit, and the pegacorn would come back at the problem from a different angle.

Lunch was when the lesson ended, and from then until dinner I was generally left alone to rest- apparently doctor's orders. I'd been given a clipboard with some paper and a pencil, as well as what looked like children's books, probably intended to give me a little “independent study material”; my afternoons and evenings were thus usually split between doing sketching and reading, interspersed with the medical staff checking up on me. Lights out was at ten o'clock- if clocks here were the same as what I was used to, anyway- and I generally had little trouble falling asleep, my body greedy for all the rest and recuperation it could get.

So it had been for two weeks. And during the first week, I'd been anxiously waiting for the other horseshoe to drop- for a group of those golden-armored guards, or maybe some of those weird batlike ones in the silver armor, to trot in, clap me in irons and drag me off to stand trial, or maybe just execution. It'd been my goal to learn as much about their language as I could so that I might at least say a word or two in my defense, or if nothing else beg them to stop while the axe came down on my neck. And then, at the beginning of the second week, I'd finally realized that my sham trial and death weren't just over the horizon... that the ponies weren't just getting me back towards looking healthy for a kangaroo court, but might actually be trying to heal me.

And as I lay there at ten-thirty at night on the fourteenth day of my stay in this hospital, I was working on a level of introspection I hadn't attempted since I'd graduated high school and had been trying to figure out what career to choose. And all of it revolved around one question.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Sometimes I imagined that I could still feel the barrel of my own gun pressed against my head, could hear the click of the trigger, even the tiny ping of the firing pin hitting the primer. If that round hadn't been a dud, I'd be dead right now, I thought morosely. Why did I do it? Why were my emotions so wild? Has all this driven me crazy? I was so convinced that the Sun Queen was coming to turn my ass to ash, but I was ready to surrender to her twenty minutes before that, before Prince Dickhead made an appearance. I'm starting to see why their response was so forceful- they must've thought they had a maniac on their hands... err, hooves.

...do they?

I heard hoofsteps outside the door, and I laid my head down on the pillow, closing my eyes and slowing my breathing so that I appeared asleep. A moment later, the door swung open, bathing the room in the light from the hallway outside, and I heard the hoofsteps approach my bed, stopping right beside me. The barely-audible chiming sound of magic accompanied the faint scratching of a pencil on paper- probably making a note on my chart. And then I heard a quiet feminine voice murmur something as a hoof gently patted my arm, before the hoofsteps retreated and the door closed.

Well, that's one pony that seems concerned for my welfare, I thought. And Butterfly, and the other doctors... and Sixie, in kind of a weird way. And Amber. Not for the first time, I wondered just what that gryphon's story was, why she was even here, and why Sixie- who was undoubtedly some kind of royalty or high-poobah around here, considering how the staff mostly deferred to her- seemed to regard her as an equal. Not to mention how she ended up in a cage just like me, I mused. I wonder if her story is as crazy as mine....

As I waded about in my thoughts, my mind eventually decided that sleep would be a better use of my time, and I drifted off into slumber.

(-)

“Ladies? How is breakfast coming?”

Sveti and Wisk both looked up from the counter at Twilight's approach; the differences in their reactions were telling- the griffin smiled as if seeing an old friend, while the pony shrank back and avoided looking her in the eyes. “We're just finishing up, Princess,” Sveti replied, removing an apron and draping it over the counter. “The doctors asked us to start cutting back a bit on his protein intake since it seems he's recovered from his deficiency, so we're going mostly meatless today. Prench toast with egg and avocado burritos for breakfast, then a cheese panini on wheat bread for lunch and probably something with fish tonight just so he at least gets some protein intake.”

“Well, aside from the fish, that's enough to get my mouth watering.” Twilight turned to the other pony. “Wisk, I'll need to speak to you and the others later today. Can you have everypony gathered up in the west observation room at, say, two in the afternoon?”

“Of course, Princess.” Wisk bowed her head quickly before backing away and then cantering towards the nearest door. Twilight frowned to herself, but went without commenting as she trotted towards the hospital wing, tugging the food cart along as Sveti followed closely behind.

Twilight decided to break the silence along the way. “Sveti, if he agrees to it, I'm going to be starting tests on Peter today, involving the strange magic-nullification ability he has. I'll be running some of them concurrent to his lessons, so if you could take the lead on teaching him during those times, I'd appreciate it.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Sveti looked thoughtful for a moment. “I've really been wondering about that magic thing myself. I've never heard of anything like it; I would've thought you'd be all over that, being the Princess of Magic and all.”

“Well... I'll admit that the curiosity has been killing me, but I wanted to give him time to recover and heal before performing any tests on him physically. They shouldn't be any sort of strain on him, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.”

“I'm curious as to just how you're going to ask him that. I mean, he's doing well with the lessons so far, but still....”

“I've got a few ideas on how to get the idea across to him. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything unless I get something from him that I can unquestionably qualify as informed consent. I'm not looking to give him another reason to distrust ponies.” Twilight went quiet for a moment, considering. “Speaking of distrust....”

“Hm?”

“Silver Wisk seems to get more and more nervous around me every day. Do you know why?”

“Her and her cohorts have been wondering about just what you've got planned for them. She complains about feeling left hung out to dry sometimes.” Sveti shrugged. “I guess it's understandable... they've been here for a while, haven't they?”

Twilight nodded. “And I've ordered Wisk not to tell her friends about Peter. I'd rather they not know he's here... and vice versa. I'd like to keep that 'relationship' severed.”

“Well, I understand not wanting Peter to know about them... but why the other way around?”

“Because Big Top still hasn't been found, and if he's looking for revenge against Peter, his former employees will be his first target for information. Wisk is a calculated risk, and I believe I can depend on her to report to me if she sees Top again- but I see no reason to extend that risk to the others.”

The griffin nodded. “I guess I see the logic in that. If I may ask, Princess... just what do you plan to do with them?”

“I... haven't made a decision on that yet.”

Sveti apparently had the wisdom to let the conversation drop there, and the pair remained quiet until they reached Peter's room. As had become custom, Twilight knocked, and he called out for them to enter. The alicorn still couldn't help but be surprised at how much healthier he looked now than before, not to mention just generally different than she'd gotten used to after he'd received a mane-cut- which he'd asked for via a sketch of him with long hair and a sad face, a pair of scissors, and then him with short hair and a smile. He's certainly clever enough to ask for things, she thought.

He was holding his clipboard and pencil as they walked in, giving them both a slight smile that they returned. As Twilight rolled the cart up to his bedside, he gave the clipboard to Sveti, who took it in her claws and looked over it with a confused expression. “I don't think I understand this,” she murmured.

“Let me have a look.” Twilight's eyes scanned over the short series of pictures- Peter's and Sveti's faces in cages, followed by Sveti's face, an arrow, another sketch of her in a cage, and then a question mark. He knows what question marks and exclamation points are, she mused. So he's asking.... “Ahh, I see... I think he's asking how you ended up being captured.”

An unreadable expression crossed the hen's face for a moment. “Uhm....” she murmured, taking back the clipboard and scribbling something on it; Twilight caught a glimpse of what when she handed it back; a picture of her own face with a word bubble surrounding a picture of herself in a cage, followed by an arrow and a clock face with a circular arrow on it- a symbol they'd devised to mean “later”. “You don't want to tell him right now?” she asked.

“I'd... rather not go into it right now, no,” Sveti replied quietly.

Peter gently reached out and patted her claw with a hand, nodding slowly with a gentle smile on his face. Twilight had to stifle a giggle as the hen visibly blushed. “Err... well, then,” she murmured. “Lessons. We should get those going.”

The lessons began in earnest along with breakfast, with Twilight quizzing Peter on the foal's books she'd left for him, hoping to see improvement in his comprehension; she'd also gotten him to write his own words for the pictures in the books, to find that he stuck to the same strange two-group pattern of letters as was used in the materials that had been recovered from the carriage. “Gah, I can't wait until I can ask him about his bizarre written language!” she grumbled.

Breakfast had long since been finished, and they were two hours into lessons when Twilight broached the idea of beginning her testing to Peter- or tried to, anyway; it ended up taking half an hour to “phrase” things in a way he could grasp, Sveti resorting to an almost comic-strip-like sequence of sketches with Twilight's input in order to show what the alicorn wanted to do. He seemed rather cautious about the idea, but agreed, making it clear via pantomime that he didn't know how his own magic-nullification ability worked. Strange, Twilight thought. That implies it's passive, potentially permanent... oh, that's going to complicate things for him and us. But we'll work through it!

She had teleported in a number of small measuring devices to set up around the room- after giving one to Peter so that he could have a close look at it; he seemed more comfortable with things he was unfamiliar with when given the opportunity to examine them- and had just finished activating them when a knock came on the door. Twilight made a point of glancing between the door and Peter to show that it was his decision as to if others were allowed inside, and after he called out his customary greeting, she followed up with “come in”.

The helm-covered head of one of the Guard poked in. “I have a message for Miss Windwhisper from Princess Celestia,” he said.

Sveti raised her claw. “Right here, Corporal. What is it?”

“Her Highness requests your presence in the Lilac Lounge at two o'clock in the afternoon. Will you be able to oblige?”

The hen gave Twilight an askance glance; she responded with a brief nod. “That shouldn't be a problem,” Sveti answered. “Thank you, Corporal.”

“Yes, ma'am.” The Guard stepped back outside and closed the door, and Twilight, Sveti and Peter got back to work.

(-)

“Sveti! I'm so glad you could join us.” Celestia gave her a bright smile as she entered the room. “I trust you're well?”

“That I am, Your Highness.” Sveti bowed her head respectfully before looking to her left, to see a large, white-coated unicorn stallion in dress uniform seated on the couch.

Celestia motioned towards him with a sweep of her hoof. “Sveti Windwhisper, allow me to introduce Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and Regent of the Crystal Empire.”

“Though things will go much faster if you just call me Shining, Miss Windwhisper,” the stallion chuckled.

She gave him a smile. “And faster still if you just call me Sveti. Glad to meet you- though I feel like I already know you through reputation.”

“A good reputation, I hope,” he joked.

Celestia smiled warmly as Sveti took a seat opposite Shining. “Sveti, firstly, allow me to thank you for being so helpful to Twilight in her efforts with our friend Peter. She praises you highly in her daily reports to me.”

She found herself blushing for the second time that day. “I've been glad to help, Your Highness,” she replied. “I've wanted to repay him for letting me out of that cage... it's hard to think of a better way to do so than this.”

Both ponies smiled at that. “I'm pleased to hear that,” Celestia said, before letting the smile drop just a little a moment later. “I've also asked you here to discuss your future here in Equestria, Sveti. As you likely know, we now have no official contact with your government now that the Embassy here is closed; the Emperor has given us no permission to open one within Stormshatter Aerie.”

“I wish I could say I found that surprising, Your Highness.” She couldn't; the policy against hosting foreign embassies had been in place for at least the last three hundred years, and Emperor Drottin was a far cry from liberal.

“Yes, I know that tradition is a strong force amongst griffins. However, this does leave Equestria with an unresolved issue. By treaty, the Embassy must remain closed and vacant unless a citizen of the Empire is present to administrate it- and with the White Plains War escalating, assigning a new ambassador to our nation is probably very low on the Emperor's list of priorities.”

Sveti cocked her head to the side slightly. “Is... there something I can do about the situation, Your Highness?” she asked. “I mean... I know I can't serve as an ambassador myself....”

“Unfortunately, that's correct. There are a number of precedents and rules that effectively forbid you from that position, at least as the situation stands now. However....” Celestia leaned back lightly in her seat, a slight smile decorating her lips. “The treaty does allow for the Equestrian government to provide for the day-to-day maintenance of the building, at its own expense, of course.”

Sveti blinked in surprise. “Meaning... me?”

“Sveti Windwhisper, I am prepared to offer you the position of official maintenance administrator of the Griffin Empire Embassy building. This position includes residence within the Embassy itself, monthly compensation from the coffers of the Equestrian government, control over the embassy's maintenance budget- also provided by the Crowns until such time as another ambassador is appointed- and a staff of no more than six individuals to see to the upkeep of the building and grounds. As you are a citizen of the Empire, I find this to be both fair and legal within the bounds of the treaty between your nation and ours.” The smile on the Sun Goddess's face grew. “Will you accept the position?”

Sveti needed a moment- not to decide, but simply to shake herself out of surprise. She'd heard that Celestia was shrewd, but this offer accomplished a raftload of things- it reopened the Embassy, if only to keep it clean; it gave Sveti an actual job, instead of leaving her feeling as though she was relying on the largess of the Princesses... and if she was understanding Celestia's offer correctly....

“Your Highness,” she said carefully, “are there restrictions as to whom I can hire on for staff? Would it matter if, say, I chose someone who was a citizen of neither the Empire nor Equestria?”

“I've studied the treaty extensively, and there is no provision for or against it, so I am only bound to Equestrian law, which states that the candidate must be in good standing with our government.”

“Then I gladly accept the position, Your Highness. And I have two requests for staff immediately.”

“Two?” One of Celestia's thin eyebrows arched in curiosity. “Please, let me hear them.”

“The first, of course, would be the human we know as Peter. He's without a home, neither of our nations has any contact with his own, and he's in need of gainful employment to provide for himself once he's released from hospital care- which, I understand, will occur shortly.”

“Your reasoning is excellent, but I must posit one protest- Peter's involvement in the injury of Aircolt Swift Wind. He is technically wanted for questioning by the Royal Guard, though that is pending due to his inability to understand our language. If you'll agree to allow him to be interviewed by a member of Equestrian royalty, Captain Armor, or a duly-designated agent of the Crowns once he is capable of giving an informed deposition, then I will rescind that protest.”

“And if Equestria chooses to pursue legal action against him?”

“Then, as his immediate superior within the Embassy, it would fall upon you to assign a legal aide of your choosing to his defense.”

This mare must wrestle hydras for fun to relax from the kind of legal wrangling all this must've required. “I agree, Your Highness, and give you my deepest thanks.”

Celestia gave a gentle nod. “And your second request?”

“I've heard from some of the castle staff that there was a pony who contradicted Prince Blueblood's account of what happened when Peter was being pursued through the castle. What was her name?”

“Ensemble, if I'm remembering correctly,” Shining answered.

Sveti nodded to him. “Thank you. I've also heard that she's being... harassed by some of the lower nobility for her refusal to 'knuckle under', as we griffins like to say.”

Celestia's smile vanished for a moment as a soft sigh escaped her lips. “To my disappointment, I cannot deny that rumor.”

“Can I request that she be transferred to my staff? A mare with a backbone like that is good to have around.”

The smile returned to the Princess's face, as well as to Shining's. “Should she agree to it, consider it done,” Celestia said. “I'll have paperwork drawn up for the appointments by dinnertime.”

“I'll look forward to that.” She smiled for a moment before turning to look at Shining for a moment. “Was there something else?” she asked.

“Err, yes.” The stallion looked away for a moment. “I actually requested my own meeting with you, and once I'd told the Princess what it was for, she suggested that I attend this one. It's something both of us would like to discuss with you.”

“Alright,” she said uncertainly, feeling the flush of victory from earlier fade. “What is this about?”

Shining took in a deep breath. “Sveti, you're free not to discuss this if you wish, but I'd be appreciative if you at least heard my questions. What I'd like to speak to you about... involves both Peter and your father.”

“My father...?” Emotions warred within her, and she was honestly surprised when her reluctance to talk about what happened to her father lost out to wanting to know how Peter was involved. “Okay, I'm listening.”

“I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but... suicide is almost unheard of amongst ponies. When we lost your father in June, and the cause was determined...well, it left a lot of us confused and disturbed, if I can be frank.”

“I considered Arnfrodr to be a friend, Sveti,” Celestia added. “Perhaps not as close a friend as I would have wished, but... I would have liked to believe that he would feel free to come to me with any pressing issues. I lent him what support I could when you were reported missing, but he seemed... distant.”

“Dad wasn't much of one for relying on others for help.” Sveti took in a long, shaky breath, her earlier elation now buried under sad memories. “Look... if there's one thing you ponies stand out for, it's your unity. The herd is the basic underpinning of how you live, right?” Both ponies nodded. “Griffins... we don't have that. We're much more individualistic; we build our relationships around us according to a lot of different things, but the implicit trust ponies have for one another- it doesn't exist for us. We're much too competitive with each other, and blind trust is an exploitable weakness in all but a special few cases.”

Both ponies seemed to digest that. “It sounds like... an incredibly lonely way to live,” Shining said quietly.

“It strikes me as somewhat akin to the solitary lifestyle of grown dragons,” Celestia added.

“But dragons aren't known for going for flights without opening their wings,” Sveti said flatly; she saw both ponies recoil a bit, and frowned. “...I'm sorry, that was a bit more bitter than I meant it to be.”

“It's okay.” Shining gave her a slight smile. “I can't say I'd do any better in your position.”

She nodded, going quiet for a moment. “Suicide is heavily frowned upon by griffins. It's considered the ultimate sign of weakness, running away from life itself; there's a lot of shame attached to the family if a member takes their own life.”

“You need not fear that stigma,” Celestia said. “The cause of your father's death was kept from the press and the Empire. As far as anyone outside of the royalty and a small group within the Guard knows, it was an accident.”

“I appreciate that, Princess, but I'm not sure it'll matter much.” She could see questions on their faces and hastened to proceed. “Anyway. Despite the ramifications of suicide in griffin culture... sometimes, when the situation at claw is desperate enough, or if no solution seems possible, a griffin will feel that there's only one choice left to him- an act of defiance, of taking the one path that his adversaries can't deny him. Choosing his death rather than allowing another to, or removing himself from the hopeless situation the only way he has left.”

“Defiance,” Celestia echoed, looking deeply thoughtful.

Sveti spent a moment wondering just what was on the Princess's mind before she remembered something. “Wait,” she said. “You told me that this had something to do with Peter.”

Celestia nodded solemnly. “There were... events, that were left out of the official reports of his flight through the castle. One of them involved me.” She paused for a moment, each second feeling like torture to Sveti's need to know what happened. “After he fled the castle proper and escaped into the city itself, I left to find him, hoping that he would turn himself over to me if I showed myself to him without guards, without interference from others. Instead... when he saw me approach, he placed his weapon against his head and attempted to take his own life.”

Sveti's blood went colder than the harshest northern winter. “He....”

“Sveti, Peter's only alive today because the last shell in his weapon didn't work as it should've.” Shining's expression wasn't quite as neutral as he perhaps thought it was; she could see how disturbed he was. “And I will freely admit that I don't- I can't- understand that. And as I'm responsible for the security of both him and the ponies around him, I need to understand that- I have to know how his mind works, how he'll react to things, to properly judge him as to whether he's safe, or a security risk.”

She forced her mind back into gear. As hard as it was for her to face the feelings she still held over what had happened to her father, Shining's concerns were completely justified- and it was plain that the stallion had Peter's safety in mind as well as that of other ponies. “I understand,” she said quietly, not quite able to keep her voice from hitching a little. “I... I can't speak for him, of course, but I can conjecture a little. Given how much effort he put into escaping and staying free, I think it's clear that he values his freedom above just about anything else- maybe even above his own life, if forced to choose between the two. When he saw you, Princess, he may have believed that you had come to destroy him for threatening your ponies-” she saw a brief look of shock cross Celestia's face, almost too quickly to catch- “and so decided that, absent any chance of survival, he could at least give himself a swift death rather than suffer a slow one.”

Celestia was silent for more than a minute, gazing down at the floor, while Shining watched her with an expression of concern. “I see....” she said quietly. “Sveti, as you aren't a pony, perhaps you can give me an unbiased opinion... could I truly be seen as so frightening, so merciless, to a creature unfamiliar with me?”

“Knowing what you can do, but not who you are? I'm afraid so, Your Highness, quite easily. I don't mean any disrespect, but knowing that you have complete control over a giant ball of fire in the sky has probably done more to get potential enemies to the negotiating table than anything else.” It actually hurt Sveti to say that; she liked Celestia. But honest truth was the only thing that would help in this situation. “Though, Your Highness, I'll also say that anyone who does get to know you at all understands that, for all your power, you're one of the gentlest and most understanding creatures to walk this world.”

“You flatter me, Sveti.” A ghost of a smile decorated the Princess's lips. “But thank you for your honesty. Your help has been invaluable, and I truly appreciate all you've done.”

“I'll second that,” Shining said. “Though, Sveti, there's still some grey area for me here. He seems to have a hair-trigger fight-or-flight reflex that, thankfully for us, seems to shift towards 'flight' most of the time. But letting him just run free is out of the question- I think we've seen what can happen if he finds himself in the wrong situation.” A grimace crossed the Captain's face for a moment. “If he ends up on the loose again... what do you recommend my Guards do?”

“That's a good question.” Sveti ran a claw through her crest. “I'd... probably have to say- just blockade the exits. Don't try to corner him; he seems to react very badly to that. Let him come to terms with the situation himself. I think if he runs himself out and sees that he doesn't have any better options, he'll surrender himself to someone he can trust.” She sighed, giving a little shrug. “Though I'm just guessing. I'm going to see if I can talk to Peter more about it soon... try to help him understand what options he has and how to make use of them.”

“I'd really appreciate it if you could.” The Captain smiled. “I know this talk couldn't have been easy, Sveti. Thanks. You've done a lot to put my mind at ease about all of this.”

“I'm just glad I can help.” She let out a slow, unsteady breath; the talk had taken more out of her than she'd thought. “Right now, helping Peter is... well, it's the only reason I have to get out of bed in the morning, honestly.” She blinked in realization. “Well, now, that and taking care of the Embassy, I suppose.”

Celestia nodded. “If you need a friendly ear, Sveti, I will gladly give you whatever time I am able. Luna has also taken an interest in Peter's well-being and would doubtlessly make time to speak to you as well.”

“And you can grab my ear anytime I'm off-duty and around, as well,” Shining put in. “And Cadance will always try to help with problems whenever she can, so don't be afraid to get in touch with her if you think she can lend a hoof.”

“I... I'll keep that in mind. Thank you both.” With the discussion finished, Sveti was excused to return to her quarters, where she set about packing the scant few belongings she'd retrieved from the Embassy after she'd returned to Canterlot. She'd want to get things started right away after she looked over and signed the agreement appointing her the caretaker of the building. She paused for just a moment to look at herself in the mirror, seeing the mix of elation and hesitation in her own gold-colored eyes. Well, Peter, she thought, your fate is pretty much in my claws now- and while it's a far sight better than the limbo you were hanging in, I can only hope I'm up to the task of keeping you safe until you can learn to speak for yourself in this place. After a moment, she straightened her neck and hardened her gaze. But Sveti Windwhisper doesn't fly off with her tail tucked up when those she... cares about need her help.

With one last check to make sure she hadn't left anything behind, Sveti closed the door on the previous chapter of her life, and headed off towards what promised to be a very different future.