“It's about time,” Eris threw up her arms in irritation, blowing out her cheeks. William only shook his head as he approached her, casting one last forlorn look back at Fluttershy, who gave him an encouraging wave before leaving and returning to her business with Applejack. He glanced up at the draconequus with an even stare, lips locked tightly in a firm grimace.

“... What?” she shifted her posture, leaning back on her heels.

“Really, Eris?” William tried not to let his aggravation show. “We were having a moment.”

“Uh, yeah, I could see that,” Eris's brows furrowed. “You were getting all googly eyed for a minute there.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” he shot back defensively, following as she trailed past a couple of heavily decorated ponies deep in discussion; she plucked the drink straight out of the stallion's hoof as he was talking and took a heavy swig and threw the goblet over her shoulder before he even realized it, his disgruntled scoff totally ignored by them both. A scrambling maid dipped in and out of the wealthy ponies, black and white dressed servants slipping silently through to supply drinks and appetizers to those that hardly recognized their presence at all. Eris didn't even recognize any of these maids.

“Face it, bro...” Eris cast a casual look over her shoulder back at him. He was baffled at her behavior, and equal parts angered. “You gotta come with me and mingle with the singles. Have a few words with people. If I hadn't stepped in, things would have gotten awkward.”
“Things were already awkward!” William seethed openly at this point, shuffling forward clumsily and swiftly to keep pace with her long strides. “For crying out loud Eris, I told you specifically-”

He bit his tongue as he realized that Eris had been deliberately drawing them both away from the ponies and toward the group of huddled griffons standing silently away from the crowds, eagle eyed stares locked onto them like a hungry owl watching an oblivious mouse. Each and every one of them looked to be hiding something close to their bodies, and it took very little observation to discover that they were concealing some form of weaponry, and he stayed wary. The lumps on the cloaks looked too small to be spears or swords, and too large to be simple hand weapons, leading him to the assumption that it would be something more dangerous than he was willing to fight with. William suddenly found it hard to swallow again but forced himself to anyway, emboldened by Eris's blatant disregard for their steely gazes. Their dark emblazoned coats glistened with embroidered precious metals, and William briefly recalled the gaudiness of the Griffonian royal guard, but saw no sign of the emperor himself; furthermore, Eris was not headed toward the cloaked and stalwart watching guard, but rather to a single standing pale feathered griffon distanced from the group. The straggler seemed relatively disinterested in both the Griffonian watch and the ponies' boisterous activities, leaning uncomfortably against a stone wall and looking more like he had a beak full of sour grapes than anything.

At least, until he noticed Eris.

And something in William began to grow very, very intense.

He did not wear the same royal purple cloak as the guard, nor the same darkened iron. Wintery feathers peeked from beneath a silvery cloth material that seemed neither sturdy nor fluid, but some mixture of the two that for some reason repeatedly drew William's curiosity. He was quite tall for a griffon; at full height he could have been almost as tall as Eris, were he standing properly. His own cloak was loosely thrown over his shoulders like it had been casually tossed on in a hurry, a much lighter shade of violet with the same sigil of the Griffonian empire, decorated in glistering opulent displays of lavishness only to be completely pushed aside for his wings to stretch more comfortably. These, too, William payed close attention to. The pale griffon's wings stiffened considerably as Eris approached, a slow, confident grin spreading over his beak.

William was deeply bothered by the fact that his beak could even do that.

“Well, well, well,” William was surprised at the sound of his voice, like a crackling bonfire bursting to life. “And here I thought there were only ponies in this land. Call me surprised.”

“Hello, Surprised,” Eris responded with a smirk of her own in the same Griffonian language, earning a shocked look from the griffon, which quickly morphed into one of utmost delight. William's ears felt terribly itchy at the at the exchange, like he were hearing too many things at once, and a slight pressure began to form in his temples, but he understood the conversation perfectly regardless. He wondered if this was also a result of Discord's 'tampering', and tucked it away in a mental folder to bring up later.

“What is to be bringing you here?” the griffon's language shifted, his thick tongue accentuated with each punctuation. “I was to be, eh, believe that your kindness was gone.”

“I just figured I'd see what all the fuss was about,” Eris replied casually, either choosing to ignore his broken Equish or oblivious to it. “I'm Eris, by the way,” she stuck out a paw with a congenial grin, and that odd, fiery burst gnawed its way back into William's chest as the Griffon tilted his head before eagerly shaking it with a matching smile.

“I am pleasuring you to meeting,” he continued, holding her paw in his claws for much longer than William would have liked before pulling away and drawing himself up. “Of course,” he shifted language fluidly, “I am sure you already know of me.”

“Sorry, Big Bird,” Eris stuck her hands on her hips calmly. “Haven't been to Sesame Street in a while, I've got no clue who you are.”

The pale feathered griffon only stared at her for the longest time with sharp, golden eyes before eventually turning to William, as if he had just realized that he was there.

“Forgive my ignorance, but is there something I am missing?” he asked William with a hint of uncertainty. William desperately wanted to reply in the same language and tried to respond similarly, hoping that the same strange language barrier shattering magic that had been used on him would help him speak – unfortunately, despite his efforts, it did not have the effect that he wanted.

The griffon wound up staring even longer as the little pink pony before him looked to be trying not to be sick and gargling nothing for several moments before freezing up and flushing in embarrassment.

“... Father was right,” William heard him mumble just loudly enough to hear. “They are all utterly mad.”

“I'm right here you know,” Eris snorted loudly, making him jolt self consciously. “But you are right.”

“I apologize,” William cleared his throat immediately, forcing himself to stand at his full height, which did very little. “I... had a seizure.”

“A... seizure,” the griffon repeated slowly.

“Yes,” William stated firmly. “Happens quite often, nothing to worry about. My name is William,” he held out a hoof, locking eyes with the griffon and silently daring him to look at Eris again. “William Klaskovsky.”

“I am pleasuring you to meeting,” he said yet again as he shook William's hoof, though not nearly with the same vigor that he did Eris. Still, his grip was like steel, and William felt an immediate, striking, almost painful disconnect when he tried to use his fingers to squeeze his talons back. A deep ache in his heart stung him, but he pushed it right back down and focused only on the burning intensity that held his attention, focusing entirely on the cloaked figure before him.

“Actually,” William felt a little more comfortable standing on all four hooves as he was released, “Pleasuring someone is a completely different matter and used for very different conversations. A greeting is more frequently used as 'I am pleased to meet you', or 'My pleasure'.”

The griffon only stared at him.

And stared.

“... Dude,” Eris blinked and her eyes narrowed slightly. “Come on. Don't 'um, actually' somebody, man.”

“Eh. My thanking of you,” he uttered in Equish evenly, bowing his head ever so slightly without ever once dropping his golden gaze from William's eyes. “I assure, I shall be... remembering.”

A slow shiver began to ripple up William's spine, and he locked his legs firmly and met his gaze.

“I don't believe that I caught your name,” William continued quietly, doing his best to look casual and wishing that Eris had never dragged him over here.

“Oh!” he perked up promptly, readjusting his wings and smiling once again. “Apologize me,” he really did look a little sorry, “I am used to being knowing. Is quite strange.”

“Yeah,” Eris stretched her arms above her head, which the griffon watched so closely that William could not help but take note. “Feels like everything's been strange lately. Just the way I like it.”

“I am please-ed to meet you,” he restated William's words in his heavy accent. “You will be calling me Dukh.”

“Well, it certainly is an... experience to meet you, mister Dukh,” William tilted his head toward him ever so slowly, earning an odd look from the griffon. He shifted his wings closer to his body before turning his head back to Eris, his beak tightened slightly.

“Does your pony escort always look so angry?” Dukh looked inquisitively between the two.

“For the record,” William let out a huff through his nostrils. “I am her brother, not her escort.”

Dukh's thin eyebrows shot up in surprise, almost right up into his pale feather dusting his head.

“I did not know that you also spoke Griffonian,” he looked relatively pleased more than anything.

“I don't,” William replied dryly.

“How very odd,” Dukh scratched his chin with a single razor sharp looking talon, shimmering stare growing more and more interested the longer that he looked between them both. “I was warned of your Equestrian monsters demons, your dangers and nightmares, your terrible wicked Chaos draconequus god...” his gaze lingered up and down Eris once more, eyes narrowing ever so slowly, and William had to physically restrain himself due to the unexpectedly and unwanted violent impulse that roared in his belly. “I was not told of Equestria's rare beautiful flowers.”

“That's the thing about rare and beautiful flowers...” Eris said in a low tone with a small, dangerous grin, eyes shining like diamonds under a light, her flawless Griffonian burning William's eardrums and making his head pound so furiously that it was making it difficult to think clearly. “Sometimes the prettiest ones are the most deadly.”

The cloaked griffon was not put off at all by her words. He didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. He only looked more eager and downright excited from her statement.

It made William supremely uncomfortable.

“I like her,” Dukh turned to William with a wide grin.

“Of course you do,” William said quietly. He quickly tried to change the conversation, hoping to distract his attention away from Eris. “So, why aren't you out there with the others?” he nodded back to the crowd of ponies, conversing and drinking and dancing to the stifled music.

“With ponies?” Dukh looked at him with what might have been confusion mingled disdain. “Eh. That is not done.”

“Why not?” Eris raised an eyebrow.

“Because is not,” he said simply, as if it were obvious. He was clearly getting uncomfortable, and William intended to use that to his advantage. Before he could, however, the griffon bristled his feathers and stood a little to the side, pulling at his cloak to keep it off his wings.

“You don't dress like the others,” William pressed a little more. He cast a look back at the Griffonian guard, who were indeed watching them both with such an utmost withering intensity that William was a little surprised their combined glowers hadn't burned holes in them both. He turned coolly back to Dukh, who was once again giving a longing look out at something over the crowd before giving William his full attention. “You also don't carry a weapon like they do.”

“Ah,” he nodded once, and William noted instantly just how stiff Eris had become at the mention of a weapon, as if she hadn't even noticed until he'd mentioned it. “You are to be realizing. No,” Dukh shook his head. “I am not to be liking. Trained in Claw Maga,” he bragged openly. “Talon to talon combat much more satisfying.”

He doesn't like crossbows.

“Because you don't like crossbows,” William stared him down. Dukh's golden eyes narrowed to dangerous slits within a bare moment, his entire body freezing as he met his gaze with pursed beak.

“... I am not recalling mentioning,” he said in a low tone, his crackling voice once more sounding like a spark of a wildfire ready to engulf an entire forest with barely concealed fury, only held back by the cloaked griffon.

“You didn't,” William thought quickly. “I noticed the others hiding something and made an educated guess. Griffonian technology has advanced considerably recently, hasn't it?”

Dukh stared uneasily at William before sidling away, like he were standing before a perched viper ready to strike at unwary prey. The griffon looked to Eris as if for help, uncertainty plain on his features.

“You are saying this... this is your brother?” Dukh asked quietly in Griffonian, his wings slowly drawing tightly to his side. “I was told the Chaos god was the last draconequus. So, are you...?”

“I'm a lot of things,” Eris responded calmly, crossing her arms and giving him a simple smile, throwing off both him and William. She didn't have nearly the same demeanor as before, and William noted it immediately. She was standing much more guardedly, like she was prepared for something. It made him worry for her, and he didn't know quite why.

“We're not related,” William attempted to clear things up at least a little bit. Dukh didn't seem to understand any more than he did before though. “We are both children of Discord.”

Dukh pursed his beak yet again and nodded silently, just once, before looking between the two.

“I am to be seeing,” he struggled in Equish. “Eh. Apologize me. In Griffonia, we are having none of your... gods.”

“Don't worry about it dude,” Eris shrugged. The easy grin was starting to creep back onto her face. “I would have turned you into a rubber chicken or something,” she said jokingly, making Dukh flinch openly, “But I changed my mind. You're lucky you're cute.”

“Wait, what-” William blurted.

“Is true,” Dukh scratched his chin again. “Am quite handsome. Runs in family. Eh. Mostly.”

“So, you know kung fu too?” Eris asked conversationally, leaning against the wall with her shoulder and letting her tail swing freely. William swallowed dryly and tried not to be distracted by the fuzzy tip swaying back and forth near his head.

“I am, eh, not knowing of this,” Dukh scratched the top of his feathered head with a couple of talons, pushing his cape to the side again uncomfortably. “But am trained in talon to talon combat, yes.”

“Is that why you don't carry a crossbow?” William inquired.

“Is not griffon,” Dukh snorted in blatant disgust. He blanched back from the griffon in mild surprise, not expecting such an outburst. The griffon caught himself and straightened up, clearly still looking frustrated.

“Is not griffon,” Dukh said again in a low, fierce tone. “Am to being told that such thing is 'progress', is 'advancement'. Blyad', I will not be submitting to such!” he stamped the floor, brows furrowed. “Is too simple, too eh, machine – where is griffon is machine, tell me! Where is soul in fight? Is none,” he grumbled, a pinkish tinge coloring his pale feathered cheeks. “Is cheat, and griffon, real griffon is not cheat. Real griffon is strong, real griffon is PROUD,” he thumped his chest, head high. “And Dukh is no cheat. Any battle to be fought is to be fought like griffon, with talon and blood and sweat, da?”

“... Wow,” Eris blinked simply. “You're really passionate about this, huh?”

Instead of responding, Dukh only self consciously rubbed the back of his neck, giving her a sheepish look before returning to his proud stance, although still slightly flushed.

“Da,” he said finally. “Am, eh, not custom to company of 'god'. Got carried away.”

“Speaking of which...” William interjected, looking up to Eris purposefully. “Eris, there's someone that we need to have a few words with.”

“... Yeah,” she sighed and looked away into nothing, crossing her arms again, jaw clenched tightly. “Yeah. We need to have a talk.”

“Well, I am hoping to not be interrupting,” Dukh bowed away a little respectfully. “Was very pleasuring to be meeting you both, Eris of Chaos and Klaskovsky of William.”

“Close enough” William answered with a tiny smile, offering a hoofshake one last time, which the griffon returned powerfully. “It was very nice meeting you too, mister Dukh. But you get one warning,” he added under his breath so that only the griffon could hear. “Hurt my sister and I shall return the injury tenfold.”

“Is good defending instinct,” Dukh chortled equally quietly. “Am starting to be liking you as well.”

Dukh stood and bowed to Eris, his eyes on her the entire time.

“My pleasure.”

“Likewise, dude,” Eris leaned on William's shoulder and caused him to slump immediately, his disgruntled anger plain on his face as the griffon shook her paw again much more eagerly. “Hope we can hang out again soon.”

“Will be of certainty,” Dukh chuckled. “No doubting Father will be forcing me to be politicking yet again. Will be many meetings.”

“Father?” Eris got off of William as he pushed her off, nearly tumbling to the floor from the lack of her weight.

“Da,” Dukh nodded once, rolling the cloak over his wings and heading off toward the guard, who swiftly gathered in unison. “Next meeting might not be as pleasing. Father Gestalt is quite strict.”

William stared after the pale feathered griffon as the royal Griffonian guard trailed in a defensive position around him.

“... I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before,” Eris rubbed her lower back, leaning on her heels as she did so.

“That's because we have,” William suddenly found it hard to swallow again, the music of the party feeling much too loud and only accentuating his already mysteriously pounding headache. “Gestalt. The leader of the Griffonian empire. And we just met the damned prince.”

“... Dammit he's cute.”

“Eris!”

“What?”
“Eris!”

“What?!”

William let out a huff through his nostrils, his face feeling weirdly hot. He puffed out his chest and stood his ground, glaring at her hard.

“... Oh my god, you're jealous.”

“I'm not jealous, Eris.”

“You're jealous.”

“I'm not jealous!”

“Are too.”

“Are not!”

“Are too-!”

“Can we please just go do something else?” William threw up a hoof and tried to stomp away, but with only three hooves only wound up stumbling and almost fell over. He felt so awkward, so clumsy, so unstable that it infuriated him constantly. He tried to suppress the boiling impulse, taking in several deep, shaky breaths before finally turning to Eris, who was only staring at him with the most aggravating sort of smug smirk.

“... Let's just go find Father,” William muttered sullenly, turning away from her.

“A'ight,” she rolled her shoulders, strolling easily beside him. He noticed that she wasn't going at her regular stride and instead decided to match his slower pace, and was confounded as to why she would do so. He wound up thinking about it much longer than he intended. William wasn't even certain of where he was going, only that they were going away from the crowd of ponies and keeping along the stone wall, and he was fine with that.

William gazed around at the crowd, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do now. He wanted to head out on his own, he knew the castle well enough from his time spent in service to the princess. But on the other hand – or hoof – he had no idea of where Discord might be. He wanted to see him, and urgently. He had so many questions, so many things to ask, so many desperate wants that only he could supply, and the intense fear that maybe he couldn't find him on his own rose up rapidly in him. It became much harder to breathe for some reason, no matter how hard he tried it was more difficult, his breathing growing more shallow and unsteady as his heartbeat slammed fearfully in his chest.

He didn't even realize that he'd been standing in the same spot clutching his chest wide eyed until Eris's paw rested on his shoulder.

“... Dude?” Eris asked in an unexpectedly soft tone.

“It's fine,” William forced himself to stand immediately, feeling ashamed. “Must have been the drinks. I'm too small for cider, Eris.”

“... Yeah,” she responded, clearly disbelievingly, but grew quiet. “Hey,” Eris cleared her throat and added a bit louder. “I can see Princess light bulb butt over there. Hey!” she held a paw over her eyes and squinted with a grin. “I can see my house from here too!”

She turned to William for acknowledgment, who only stared at her blankly. Her smile drooped slightly before it was pulled back up, and her bouncy demeanor returned in an instant.

“Come on, dude!” she threw her head towards the alabaster alicorn across the hall, who looked preoccupied greeting a multitude of ponies lined up just to meet her. “I'm pretty sure she knows where dad's at. We'll go ask Sunny D, and then we can get away from all this lame ass square dance shit. Sound good?”

“Actually,” William was watching one of the maids traverse away from a mare standing in one of the tall darkened entrances. “Why don't you go on ahead, Eris?”

“Okay?” Eris asked skeptically, shifting weight to her cloven hoof. “And why is that?”

“There's... there's one more person that I'd like to speak to, actually.”

“I see.”

“I'll only be a moment,” he looked up at her with a strange look in his almond eyes. Like there was something horribly wrong, like Eris was supposed to see something, and she wasn't quite catching it. “Just for a minute, Eris. I promise.”

“... Alright, man,” she rubbed the back of her neck. “You wanna-”

“No.” he shook himself immediately and started off. “I'll be back soon.”

Eris only stared, unprepared for the sudden burst of insistence from him. He didn't even look back. Eris sighed quietly and shook her head, turning instead for the princess. The mare in the dark just watched them both.

William really wasn't prepared for this.

He'd already been through too much for one day. He was physically and emotionally exhausted, he wanted to call it a night, leave early and just go home. Or rather, go back to Miss Lyra's house, curl up next to Eris and pretend that everything was going to be okay.

Was this really his life now?

Just pretending that things were okay?

William pondered this as he stared up at the mare, her vibrant yellow eyes looking him up and down as if he were being appraised. The Cutie Mark on her flank of a looping ribbon stood out even in the shadows of the hall, the flickering light of the extra brightened hall casting long shadows over them like the dark itself were trying to creep over them.

And still she stared.

“... Hello,” William began a bit lamely.

“Good evening,” the mare responded in a clipped, even tone. Her sharp gaze left one of the maids that was desperately trying to keep up without dropping a tray of drinks, turning instead to completely face William. He stared back, unblinking the entire time, his face utterly blank of expression.

She shifted after a while, eyes narrowing a bit.

“... Are you just going to stare at me?” she craned her neck a bit.

“It's been a while,” he said quietly. “Hasn't it...?”

“And you are?” Trimming frowned slightly.

“Of course, you wouldn't remember,” William laughed softly, utterly devoid of any form of humor. “No. No, I suppose you wouldn't.”

“Look,” she said firmly, speaking through her teeth, “You're cute and all, and I'd love to play with you, but I'm busy right now. Go be a good colt and sit with your mommy before something happens.”

“I really would like to have a few words with you if you have the time, Miss Trimming.”

The mare paused, tensing briefly.

“It would seem my reputation precedes me,” Trimming said with a slight tilt of her head, staring him down. Her yellow eyes met his, and for a second, for just the briefest of moments, she stopped.

This colt, this frail little pink thing...

There was something wrong with his eyes.

“Your work ethic could use a bit of upkeep, really,” William inspected the bottom of his hoof as if it were far more interesting. Trimming didn't speak at first, instead standing before the colt in utter silence. “To be honest, I think you really could do better. I believe that you could, if given the chance.”

Trimming stood still as stone for the longest time, watching him.

Just watching.

William felt a chill, a cold, bitter fear shiver through him from that look, a familiar discomfort that he did not want to recognize.

And when she spoke, William could not bring himself to answer.

“Fuckin'-” Eris grumbled loudly as a pony with rather excessively decorated pants was pushed by her, his exclamation ignored. “Jesus Vishnu Christ, can I get through please? I mean, fuck, excuse you,” she slipped through a couple of mares in what appeared to be diamond crusted dresses who both disdainfully cast some explicit names at her for her presence. Where did they even get the jewels for those? They must have been unimaginably expensive. Too bad Eris 'accidentally' spilled a goblet full of cider on them both.

“Finally,” Eris released a sigh of relief as she got through the crowd, walking right past the line of ponies indignant at her refusal to wait, heading straight for the princess awaiting at the end of the red carpet in the middle of the hall. The wafting music grew louder as she approached, and she recognized the purple unicorn beside the princess right away. Twilight Sparkle, for lack of a better word, looked like crap.

Her mane was a mess, her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying, and she looked downright panicked as Eris approached, shifting from hoof to hoof as she spoke to the princess. Celestia turned her head to her student with her wing stretching out to cover them, and when she pulled back Twilight looked significantly more flushed, but also more calm. Eris had several questions that did not get answers as the unicorn bolted to the side, head held high as if she were off on some mission of highest importance. At least, that was her guess. Eris only shook her head as she approached the princess, who was wearily repeating greetings to ponies eager to meet her.

“Dude,” Eris said at last. “Where's my dad at?”

“Right to the point then,” Celestia said calmly, her multi-hued mane blowing in a non existent breeze. “If you'll excuse me for a moment,” she said to the tan pegasus awaiting greeting, who looked faintly disappointed, “I must attend to royal matters.”

There was a loud rumble of disparagement from the line, which only served to cause the steam in Eris's belly to fume up further.

“Oh, grumble it up!” she scowled at them, crossing her arms tightly across her chest before turning swiftly to the princess. “Just tell me where he is. I'll take care of the rest.”

Celestia looked at Eris for a long, long moment. Eris half expected her to match her frustration, but the princess only gave her a steady, even, almost sad look that made the pinching anger in her slowly dwindle away. Eris couldn't hang onto it for long, but still kept her gaze locked onto her tightly.

“Discord is... resting,” she responded carefully. “I do not know if it would be wise for him to be receiving visitors currently.”

“Bullshit,” Eris stated plainly. “Room?”

Celestia gave her the same look and finally shook her head a couple of times. It took Eris a second to realize that she was silently laughing.

“Second floor,” Celestia said at last. “Where the peace treaty with Griffonia will be held.”

“Peace treaty?” Eris blinked.

“Discord wished to be present,” she answered quietly, bringing her wing up as Eris drew in a little closer, feeling very inspected by all of the surrounding ponies. “Insisted rather firmly, actually. When he sets his mind to something, it is quite difficult to alter his course.”

“Yeah, you're tellin' me,” Eris rubbed the back of her neck. “So... thanks for telling me.”

“Please take care,” Celestia added in an unanticipated gentle tone. Eris wasn't sure how to respond to that. “Discord has not quite been... himself as of late.”

“Don't worry, my royal dude,” Eris straightened up with a determined grin and renewed vigor. “Doesn't matter what it is, I've got it covered.”

“Well, you certainly are confident,” Celestia tittered lightly. Eris felt her own smile widen despite herself.

She started to look around for William to inform him of the good news, peering intently for him over the crowds as the line of varied rich folk argued with each other. She ignored them all, searching hard for the pink colt with a white tuft of mane. It took a while but she finally spotted him and she perked up beside the princess, hoping that if she shouted loud enough over the crowd he might hear. There, in the dark spot just almost out of sight, in the tall dark entrance where the maids scurried in and out, she saw him.

And she saw that mare, too.

Trimming.

Eris could see William speaking to her, but couldn't make out what was being said with his back to her. She desperately squeezed her eyes, straining to read Trimming's lips, but she had a habit of speaking through her teeth, from what she remembered. William seemed so calm. For just a little while. Like he was talking to an old friend.

And then she leaned down, and said something to him. Just a little thing that must have taken only a moment; and whatever it was must have been something that should not have been heard.

Eris watched William break.

What was once a small but tall standing colt completely and utterly shut down within a matter of seconds, legs crumpling and head drooping. Eris felt her heart sink at the sight, like she could feel his pain too, and she clutched a paw to her chest in horror. He shouldn't be like that. Eris was supposed to do what she promised, and she let him go off on his own, and this was the result.

Trimming.

It wasn't just that she was awful.

It wasn't just that look that she gave as she stared down at the colt who could not even bring himself to look up.

She hurt William.

Eris' fist clenched so tightly that she began to lose feeling in her fingertips, her knuckles cracking with barely constrained, utter rage. The only thought that went through Eris' head that echoed grew louder and louder the more her fury grew. She was taking her down.

Trimming didn't seem to notice her. Celestia, still busy with greeting ponies, hadn't noticed either. But Eris did. She wanted to snap her talons and inflict a terrible suffering. She wanted to stomp over and punch her right in her stupid face for hurting her brother. But that wouldn't be enough. She had to take her down. And she would do it, too. Eris thought long and hard as she stood before it finally clicked while she watched the the green eared maids, worriedly scurrying this way and that. And when it sank in, it hit hard.

This bitch was going down. Eris didn't need to punch the mare to make a point.

She'd do it with just five words.

Celestia respectfully greeted a brightly colored unicorn couple garbed in what looked like peacock feathered dresses, welcoming them to the castle before Eris drifted over to her side. Celestia glanced calmly up to Eris to give her attention before the draconequus simply nodded toward the head maid, who was in the process of leaving a small colt in one of the entrances, slowly, carefully, gradually leaned down and whispered in the princess' ear.

“... Awfully high turnover rate, huh.”

And Eris stood up straight, rolled her shoulders and walked away towards the shivering pink colt. Her job was done. The seed was planted. And she was going to enjoy watching it take root.

And take root it did. Miss Trimming was so very good at her job. Celestia suddenly became much, much more aware of just how many maids there were, and began to wonder precisely why absolutely none of them seemed to stay very long.

Celestia sighed inwardly, forcing herself to smile and continue greeting impatient self important ponies demanding a greeting with her, just a few simple hellos and how do you dos, over and over, pretending that she wasn't deeply bothered by all the invisible weight on her shoulders.

Come to think of it, maids did seem to come and go awfully frequently. But what did that matter? Perhaps they wanted to find different employment.

All of the ponies that were hired by Celestia were well paid, certainly, but something didn't quite add up.

In all of the years that Trimming had worked for Celestia, there had always been maids. Always younglings.

None of them lasted more than a year.

Come to think of it, Celestia didn't recall a single one of them that had been hired having a family to speak of. Ragamuffins and street urchins hired frequently, very frequently.

So where are they...?

Celestia released another inward sigh as she plastered on another plastic smile while shaking hooves with waiting ponies, her gaze drifting occasionally to the head maid, many things becoming much clearer. Her heart ached deeply, and oh how she hated the familiar feeling.

It seemed it was time yet again to tend to the garden.