"SSTTOOOOPP!" a booming roar bellowed.

"By all our ancestors! There's two of him!" Celstia heard Gustav suddenly cry out. However, Celestia did not have time to wonder about whatever Ambassador Gustav was screaming.

That dragon's roar was telepathically sent! she thought in astonishment.

And at that instant, her vision clouded over.

She saw a short, bipedal creature. Like a human, but much shorter, perhaps a two-thirds their normal height. Celestia might otherwise have thought him a child but for the heavy boned bulk and waist-long full beard the creature sported. That, and the head on the hammer the creature wielded was nearly as big as his own chest.

He stood watching a holographic tactical display showing a cluster of glowing dots moving on the edge of the monitor.

"Here they come!" the being yelled.

There was a shift in the scene. This time, she saw a number of large bulbous wedge-shaped structures, each rode upon three legs, marching forward, fifty-six strong.

Another scene shift, and another of the short bipedal beings was speaking to the first she had witnessed. The first saluted and rushed off to carry out whatever orders were given to him. As the creature ran, he passed a gold dragon. A dragon who was perfectly identical to the one currently hovering before them. The dragon gave the bipedal creature a cursory glance before returning his attention back to the oncoming enemy they faced.

As they looked out, the tripod machines began topping a low ridge of a hill across the valley before them.

The scene shifted once more. The forward group of tripods reached the center of the valley, holding their fire back. But then the defenders began blasting at the tripods and the tripod machines all opened fire at the same time. The tripods' weapons Celestia had seen before. The crew of the starship USS Enterprise had such like those.

The tripods' energy weapons had a much longer effective range and could do much more damage than those of the defenders. Beams lanced out to impact on the far wall of the mountains, punching holes deep into the rock face.

But the short-people had their guns hidden all about the valley. Many of them right underneath the tripods, firing point blank, with armor piercing shells. And even some of the guns were within the invisible shields of the tripod groups and managed to hit with devastating accuracy. Many, however, were outside the shields, and were easily deflected.

Now, that the invaders had an idea where the defenders were, the tripods began using their dreadful beams to blast the individual gun emplacements. They quickly cleared a path for the remainder of the advancing force, eighteen units. Four groups of four and two extra.

Celestia wasn't sure why, but she could sense the strategy the tripods were using. Somehow, their shields could only work to protect against fire from one direction at a time. But in clustered groups, the tripods could combine their shields to ward off multiple attacks.

The two isolated tripods moved to join up, but they weren't quick enough. Their shields were quickly overloaded, brought down, and the units destroyed in exploding conflagrations.

The scene shifted back to the short-person leader and the gold dragon. "Almost there," the bipedal creature muttered to himself, as the tripods advanced. "Almost--THERE!" He mashed a large red button that stood out from numerous other controls on a large metal console.

A new view, this time in a darkened tunnel, evidently a worked mine-shaft. A series of explosive charges began detonating, ripping throughout the tunnel and collapsing the roof.

The scene shifted back once more to the valley being overran by the tripods. A wide deep chasm suddenly opened up beneath the legs of the machines.

Each of the groups lost at least one unit as the ground collapsed from under them.

One unit that was almost caught by the trap just as it was about to step on the now gaping ditch. However, as it continued to advance its legs folded up underneath and it began to float across the gap, firing its weapon again. One of the blasts shot through the observation window of the defenders' command post, striking the opposite wall, and the explosion stunned everyone that wasn't killed outright. As one, all the tripods were now floating with their legs folded up beneath them, continuing to move forward.

The scene shifted to a nearby valley where several large dragons took flight alongside other types of machines. These machines, however, each had a set of large rotor blades mounted on top and piloted by much larger bipedal creatures. These new beings looked a lot like the Klingon Security Officer from the USS Enterprise.

A new view of the valley where the battle was raging and these new airborne craft cleared the ridge behind the defenders' base and engaged the hovering tripods while a pair of dragons swooped in from either end of the valley. And Celestia was astonished to see one of the dragons, a large blue lightning, was being ridden by none other than Captain Jean Luc Picard!

But Celestia had little time to dwell on that development. The instant the defenders' machines cleared the trees they were firing a combination of missiles, beam weapons and what Celestia could tell were magic staves mounted on their frames. Nearly every shot was on target, even though most of the tripods' shields stood up to the assault. Only three machines were damaged. But two of those were within the same group.

At the same time, from the hill behind the tripods, several hidden gun emplacements began firing on their rear. The battle was quickly becoming a real mess that was hard to keep track of.

However, the scene changed once more, and Celestia saw yet another valley. This one was very distant from what she had been viewing, and she could see dozens of advancing tripods marching unopposed. However, somehow, she could sense the presence of a couple of invisible figures also there. One was a normal human using magic to conceal himself. The other was a female dragon whom he was riding. Only she wasn't invisible. Her scales actually mimicked the backgrounds behind her camouflaging her not unlike a chameleon. They were watching the advancing tripods and reporting their sighting.

Before Celestia could learn any more about what was going on, the scene changed again. This time, she saw another human, wearing an odd-looking iridescent silvery helm and carrying an obsidian blade that also had an iridescent shimmer to it. And he was accompanied by a fair-sized purple dragon.

The pair peeked over the ridge they were on to look upon the valley below them. Down there, was a huge circular disk embedded in the valley floor, large enough to cover an area nearly a third of the way across the shallow canyon. A group of tripods stood nearby, as if on sentry duty.

Suddenly, the purple dragon seemed to sense a presence behind them.

The human dove to the side barely missing getting hit by a tripod's beam. At the same moment, the purple dragon fired off his breath weapon cutting through the tripods' combined shields, causing one machine to vanish with a glaring light. The human brought up his sword, and somehow, the blade shot out a blazing beam of its own at another machine.

The purple dragon leapt upon a third machine, attacking it physically as he waited for his breath to recharge. His hammering blows broke open the shell of the tripod's controller, and it was crushed by its own collapsing armor. By then, his breath weapon had recycled.

But the dragon never got the chance to use it again. The fourth tripod, sensing its comrade had been terminated, was now free to fire its weapon upon the dragon. Yarmouth and the toppling tripod both vanished in a searing flare that first ate them up in radiance then evaporated, leaving nothing.

The scene switched back to the other human/dragon pair.

"YARMOUTH! NO-O-O!" the chameleon dragon telepathically screamed, attracting the attention of the groups of tripods about. "Y-A-R-M-O-U-T-H!"

Celestia felt her heart ache at the female dragon's loss. And she knew there was nothing that could be done to save that purple dragon's life.

"Always emotion, the future is," Celestia immediately recalled the advice from one of her many wise friends when she sought help on dealing with her prophetic visions.

But how could dragons so young as this chameleon and the golds she had seen be full telepaths? she couldn't help but wonder.

She watched as the female dragon's limbs could no longer bear her weight, and the chameleon collapsed on the ground the same instant the alerted tripods fired. Their beams sizzled the air just above her back and between her wings.

Then the dragon looked at the things and Celestia gasped at seeing her eyes flared with an ominously brilliant red glow.

This dragon, Celestia realized, had just become an enraged, vicious, berserk, frenzied, pissed off killing machine. And evidently, so did the human, as Celestia knew the dragon's shock, rage, and finally, her bloodlust were now his, as well.

A human, soul-bonded with a dragon!? Celestia shuddered to think of the implications of such a thing.

The scene now went back to the defenders' devastated command center. The cavern shook from the impact of additional fire directed at them. The blast blew apart the ceiling, raining stone down upon the defenders. A large rock clipped the wheelchair of a different short-person, and he fell directly into the path of a much larger boulder.

The gold dragon leapt to protect the crippled short-person and was struck at the base of his neck by the rock every bit as large as the dragon's own torso. The impact slammed him down and on top of the dwarf.

The scene returned to the human who had been with the purple dragon. He fired his sword's blazing beam once more, disintegrating the fourth tripod. Then he looked at the spot where he had last seen Yarmouth.

"THE CAT-LORD!" Celestia heard both the man's sword and helm scream.

Living weapons!? Celestia thought, beginning to understand a part of what she had been seeing.

The final image Celestia saw in her vision was now that of another gold dragon grimly looking out upon yet another field of carnage and destruction, the aftermath of some previous battle. Only she could tell, this dragon was the very same creature that was before her! What she had just witnessed is part of this dragon's future!

Sweet Mother Faust! There're two of him! was the first thought Celestia had as her mind finally emerged from the vision. She blinked and saw that barely any time had passed during her trance. She also somehow knew that, somewhere, there existed a second, identical gold dragon to the one hovering over the potential battlefield.

And there is that title again: 'Cat-Lord'! she considered as she looked out toward him. What does it entail? And does this somehow relate to the human, Trevar?

"My children," the dragon called out. "This is not how I wish your lives to end," he sternly told them all. "I expect my children to be fighters. I expect my children to be intelligent. And you have an enemy to overcome.

"I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT!" he angrily roared.

What is he--!? Celestia wondered, surprised by the dragon's pronouncement. Does he intend to join the griffons to attack us?

"Your enemies are FEAR, DESPAIR, and HOPELESSNESS! AND I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT THEM

"You also have allies upon whom you can rely." the dragon went on, gesturing a wing back toward the ponies behind him. "These ponies are your allies! I expect you to seek their help in your hour of need!

"Emperor Tail Feather," the dragon spoke out once more. "Speak with Princess Celestia. NOW! Seek her aid over finding a cure for the malady attacking my children. Regain your hope and let's be finished with this stupidity.

"The rest of you: go home. All of you. This war has claimed more than enough lives today," he said, finished speaking to the horde of griffons.

At the dragon's final statement, Celestia quickly looked about and gasped in shock at seeing the activity about Luna's chariot and the stricken look on her sister's face.

Luna stood tense near the shadowcat. She was looking forward to seeing how Pardus fared in battle, but the arrival of the dragon was proving to be unnerving for everypony, herself included. Up until his arrival, the shadowcat seemed relaxed at seeing the oncoming mass of griffons. But once the dragon appeared on the scene, the shadowcat's hackles along his back and tail were raised and his wings were spread, held at the ready. From his exclamation, it implied the shadowcat and this dragon had a history.

To Luna's eyes, this dragon was young, perhaps just entering puberty. But something, aside from Pardus' reaction about him, did give her a sense of unease. How the beast just stood there, on empty air before the griffons, and not need to flap his wings to maintain his position was unheard of, for one. Furthermore was the manner of his arrival. That was no teleport that she was familiar with. Besides, dragons weren't known to employ that sort of magic. And that shockwave that hit them had shoved numerous pegasi units back several hooves and crackled the shield the shadowcat had thrown up. Lastly, was the fact this dragon was clearly a full telepath! Such was totally unheard of in dragons this young. Only those most ancient of beasts just prior to their Rituals Of Passing could achieve such power!

The beast stood before the halted griffon horde. He snapped his head about to momentarily look at the ponies aligned at the border before turning back to face the griffons.

"What!?" Pardus suddenly hissed, jerking back before looking around. "Shit!" the shadowcat exclaimed as he instantly spun about and dropped through the cloudbank.

However, Luna couldn't pull her attention from the dragon as he began addressing the griffons.

"My children. This is not how I wish your lives to end," he sternly told them all. "I expect my children to be fighters. I expect my children to be intelligent. And you have an enemy to overcome.

"I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT!" he roared.

"SOME MEDICAL HELP OVER HERE!" Pardus roared, yanking Luna's attention toward the shadowcat who was rising back up out of the deck of the cloudbank. He was carrying Ambassador Gustav in his arms.

Luna gasped in shock and she heard Gilda scream out for her father.

"Pardus! My chariot!" Luna ordered, moving now to help. For now, the dragon seemed to be more interested in addressing the griffons. Until he was done, for good or ill, there might still be time to save the ambassador's life.

"I managed to catch him just before he hit the ground," the shadowcat told her as they moved Gustav over to her chariot. "But I'm sensing he had a massive stroke as well as a coronary."

At the shadowcat's words, Luna didn't hold much hope. Last she knew, Gustav was standing well in the middle of the cloudbank. The point at which the cloud walking magic of pegasi and griffons would dissipate was usually a point beyond any medical skill for resuscitation. But they had to try!

"Nightwing!" Luna addressed the lead thestral on her chariot's team as they laid Gustav's body in the carriage, forcing Lieutenant Scott to back further into her chariot. Gilda quickly flew over to join her father.

"I'm sending thee directly to Canterlot Infirmary. See to getting Ambassad'r Gustav to the physicians immediately!"

"I shall, My Princess!" Nightwing instantly replied saluting.

"Father! Father! Father!" Gilda cried over and over, holding Gustav's body in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Gilda, but I have to remain here," Pardus told her as he stepped back. Immediately, Luna charged her horn and sent them on their way.

Luna turned her attention once more toward the griffon side of the border. The dragon had evidently finished his speech.

"What hast hath happened?" she asked nopony in particular. At the moment, she could not discern what action the griffons were taking. They all just seemed be hovering there. However, she could make out Emperor Tail Feather advancing with his contingent of guard, but the rest of the griffon horde was mingling about as though undecided about something.

Just then, she saw a flash of light erupt beside the gold dragon and witnessed Discord joining him.

"Now what!?" Luna exclaimed.

"Wow! Now that was impressive!" Discord spoke out once he arrived beside the gold dragon. "I've always heard that herding cats was impossible, but here you've managed to actually do it! And without any chaos magic to rely upon!"

"Is there something I can do for you, Discord?" the dragon asked deadpan.

"Ah. But you have me at a disadvantage," Discord said, pouting. "Formal introductions, and all."

"I would imagine your reputation precedes you by a considerable margin," the dragon replied.

"True, there is that," Discord admitted. "Still, Discord, Lord of Chaos, Yada, Yada, at your service," he said, holding out his eagle talon.

"Dragon," the dragon answered with a bowing of his head but not reaching out to shake the outstretched limb.

"Come again?"

"My name is Dragon," Dragon stated.

"Hmmm," Discord hummed. "Rather presumptuous of you. Or perhaps your parents lacked quite a bit of imagination."

"It's my name," Dragon repeated. "Of course, you are always welcomed to challenge me for it. Be aware, however, none have yet succeeded in doing so. And despite your formidable reputation, there is no guarantee you can, either."

"Oh, I've no intention of challenging you for your name," Discord quickly replied, smiling in what he hoped would be taken as a friendly gesture.

"Which brings us back to my question," Dragon stated. "What do you want?"

"You know, it's funny," Discord digressed. "There's a particular group of my favorite type of people who like to ask that question to those they meet. Well, considering the efforts you've just put in to getting the griffons to call off their little war, I was hoping that I could persuade you to consider a little matter of what you might want: taking care of the thing that probably fired them up in the first place. After all, I'm sure you wouldn't wish a repeat of today's little party."

"And what would that be?" Dragon inquired.

"An individual by the name of Allec Reny Trevar," Discord said, holding up his lion's paw to show him.

"What is this?" Dragon hissed, snarling his lips to bare quite a lot more teeth than his two sets of interlocking tusks. Discord was startled at the dragon's reaction and looked at the image he was presenting.

"Whoops! Sorry! Wrong Allec Trevar!" Discord sheepishly exclaimed, as he used his eagle talon to collapse the miniature image of the dragon hovering there.

When he raised his talons again, it now showed the human version of Allec Trevar who was here on Equus. "This one. Him and a pair of shadowcats, who aren't really shadowcats. They're the ones who've no doubt fired up the griffons to all go on the attack. If you don't wish a repeat of this little get together, I would strongly suggest you go after them."

In the time that Discord took to swap out the images, he did consider again the irony that the Allec Trevar back on the Original Terran system was a perfect match for the creature hovering before him.

"Really?" Dragon asked incredulously. "This creature does not seem to of any great menace."

"Oh, believe me, Allec Trevar is quite formidable," Discord countered. "He singlehandedly fought King Sombra and not only soundly kicked the unicorn's tail, but with the help of his two shadowcat friends I mentioned, King Sombra got tossed into the sun! And all that was after King Sombra had killed Trevar with a first strike through his heart!"

"Did he?" Dragon challenged, cocking his head at the draconequus.

"Oh, yes," Discord responded. "You won't find Allec Trevar so easy to kill, my friend. But if you don't wish to keep having to stop all these griffons from going spastic every so often, you'd best be doing something about him and his two friends. One of which, is right over there," Discord gestured toward the cloudbank.

"I see," Dragon rumbled, looking toward the collection of ponies. "If the three of them are as powerful as you claim, it should prove an interesting challenge. However, I warn you, Discord. Should they prove to be no challenge at all, I will be greatly disappointed in your cowardliness. In which case, I might seek you out for a decent challenge!"

"Oh, believe me, you'll find them to be quite the trial," Discord promised. "In fact, they might even prove too much for yourself alone. Which is why I'm offering to assist when you attack."

"I will—consider—your request," Dragon replied.

"Jes!" Discord exclaimed with a high-pitched voice as he momentarily transformed into a small, bipedal, ugly, pink cartoon dog with and a big body, no visible neck, but with very thin, sticklike legs, and his mouth was filled with large square teeth, one of which had a cavity that had resulted in a ridiculously large hole all the way through the tooth.

"I said, I will consider your request," Dragon replied, turning to leave. "I did not say I would act upon it. That is yet to be decided. For now, I have other matters to attend to."

"Of course. How presumptuous of me!" Discord apologized, returning to normal. "How will I contact you?" he inquired.

"I will contact you should I decide to accept your request and when I am ready," Dragon stated just before vanishing in a brilliant flash of light and a sonic blast that knocked Discord back several trots.

"Huh!?" Discord exclaimed shaking his head. "Is that what everypony else experiences when I pop in and out next to them?"

"Meh," Discord muttered with a shrug before snapping the digits of his lion's paw and vanished in his customary flash and bang.

Celestia watched as Tail Feather's party advanced. The pegasi soldier officers called for their teams to standby, having seen, as she did, their approach was not an attack but a parlay. Halfway between the mysterious gold dragon and Discord, who had popped in to have a private discussion with him, Tail Feather evidently ordered his armed escort to drop back as they approached.

Arriving at the cloudbank, Tail Feather landed before her and his escort landed several lengths back.

"Greetings, Princess Celestia," he greeted with a bow. "Princess Luna and Lord Pardus," he bowed to them in turn as well as they approached to join her. "It is so very good to see you all."

"Greetings, Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia responded, returning the show of respect by bowing. "It is good to see you, too. But it is rather alarming to see your entire nation about to go to war with us."

"Fortunately for us all, that war has now been averted," Tail Feather responded with a relieved sigh. He looked back at the dragon still in conversation with Discord. "It is thanks to him, that we can have this moment of peace once more," he said, returning his attention to Celestia, not seeing both the dragon and Discord's departure.

"Emperor Tail Feather," Luna spoke up. "I regret to inform thee yond Ambassad'r Gustav hast did collapse and hast been hath sent to Canterlot Infirmary"

"What was he doing here?" Tail Feather demanded, and evidently just noticing the other griffons there. "And what are they doing here?"

"They came to help defend the Equestrians," Pardus stated.

"Ah!" Tail Feather exclaimed, smiling. "An honorable way to die! It truly warms the heart to hear we've not lost everything, least of all, our honor!

"Well done!" he shouted to the embassy staff, giving them a salute with his clenched talon hitting his chest.

"But what of Gustav? How does he fare?" Tail Feather inquired, turning back to the three in front of him.

"It's not looking good," Pardus spoke up once more. "He's suffered a massive stroke as well as a heart attack."

"But we shalt doth all we can f'r him," Luna promised.

"If you wish, we can transport you and your escort there immediately," Celestia offered.

"Yes, that would be greatly appreciated," Tail Feather replied.

With Twilight Sparkle adding her power, the three alicorns powered the mass teleport spell, taking Emperor Tail Feather and his escort, as well as the Griffon Embassy staff, and Twilight's friends to the entrance of the hospital. Pardus, however, did not accompany them.

"Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia began, "we won't impose upon you. But please come by the castle when you're able. We have much to talk about."

"If you would please, Princess Celestia," Tail Feather responded, "I would be honored if you would accompany me. You are correct, we do have much to talk about. Despite the concern I have for my ailing brother, the matters we must discuss cannot wait. It is, after all, why he's put his life in peril for."

"Emperor Tail Feather, can I come, too?" Rainbow Dash inquired. "Gida's come here to be with her father. Sh-she might need somepony…."

"Yes, yes, of course," Tail Feather responded. "If things are as bad as Lord Pardus indicated, then by all means, she'll need a friend right now. Now, more than ever. Other than myself, she only has her maternal grandfather for family should Gustav expire."

Celestia and Rainbow Dash accompanied Tail Feather, and they all were followed by his griffon honor guard at a respectful distance. They soon arrived at the reception desk and got the directions to where Ambassador Gustav was being treated. Meanwhile, Luna led Twilight and the rest of her friends back to the castle while the embassy griffons returned to their embassy.

"Princess Celestia," Tail Feather began once they were proceeding down the corridor, "I do deeply regret the scare this incident has caused. There is—was—a state secret that only I and a few trusted griffons have been keeping from the rest of our populace in order to prevent just this very thing from happening. Unfortunately, word has somehow gotten out. And that near-disaster is the result. We are all so fortunate that that—dragon—intervened."

"Of course, Emperor Tail Feather," Celestia responded. "I have been informed by the shadowcat, Pardus, of your hatching problems."

"I—I see," Tail Feather stammered in surprise. He shot Rainbow Dash a glance then addressed Celestia once more.

"Then you are aware of the severity of our situation," Tail Feather continued. "Our government has known for several generations that our species is doomed. The failed hatchings, the deformities—we—we need help, Princess Celestia. Lord Allec Trevar, Lady Panthera, and—that dragon—they've all convinced me to seek your assistance. I'm not one to beg, but I—I have to beg you!"

"Emper—Tail Feather," Celestia stopped him. "Tail Feather," she spoke once more, putting her full feelings of friendship into her voice as she brought her head close to his, "of course I'll help you. You've been my friend as long as I've known you. I've also had the pleasure of knowing dozens of your ancestors as my dear and close friends. Had I but been aware of this problem, we could've been working much sooner to find a solution. I only wish I had learned of this centuries ago.

"Unfortunately, I don't believe I personally have the knowledge, and I'm not sure if Luna might either, but I'll direct all of Equestria's resources to finding a cure. As today's events have shown us, time is certainly of the essence."

"Th-thank you, Celestia," Tail Feather whispered, returning the gesture so their foreheads connected. "I—I've no doubt this—this same worry I have been holding is what has struck down Gustav. You are correct. They are correct! I should have sought your help long ago. Had I done so, Gustav might not be fighting for his life this very moment."

A few more steps brought them to a waiting area outside the Intensive Care Unit, where they saw Lieutenant Scott and Gilda. The griffon was nervously pacing about while the human female looked forlorn as she sat in a chair.

"Lieutenant Scott?" Celestia inquired, surprised by her presence.

"I'm in trouble again, aren't I?" she asked, obviously nervous.

"That was a very close call," Twilight Sparkle spoke up as they left the hospital to walk down the streets.

"Forsooth," Luna acknowledged. "But the arrival and actions of the dragon wast quite puzzling. I has't nev'r seen his like ere."

"He appears much like a dragon that had been seen in the outskirts of Ponyville the past few days," Twilight Sparkle cut in. "He might even be the same dragon."

"Is yond so?" Luna inquired. "What can thee bid me of yond encounter?"

"I only saw him in passing," Twilight said. "But he evidently had rescued several foals from a pack of timberwolves in the Everfree. A little while after I saw him, a zebra friend who lives there had come rushing to my castle, having been chased out of her home by the same dragon.

"But the most disturbing thing was an encounter Rarity and Spike had with him," Twilight stated.

"Oh, yes!" Rarity spoke up. "It was the most horrid thing, ever!" The fashionista then proceeded to regale the night princess with a vivid, if a rather edited, description for the listening audience of the gold dragon's series of escalating fights with four other dragons as the troupe proceeded into the castle to settle in the princesses' dining hall where Princess Luna had the staff serve a light tea for her guests.

Throughout the telling, Luna stayed silent, save for a question here or there as she asked for clarification. But for the most part, she listened with a thoughtful look on her face as she absorbed the details of the story.

"This tale thee spake of is alarming by itself," Luna said at the conclusion of Rarity's account. "'Tis lacking valor enow yond this dragon seemeth to uses magic of a form of which We're unfamiliar, and if 't be true thy report is accurate, t bode coequal moo problems than those powers We has't seen him employ so far.

"And, yet, he didst defuse the griffons' war ere t couldst ignite. A creature of evil would not hesitate to fan the flames of destruction. We doth not knoweth if 't be true he is friend, foe, 'r something else entirely."

"Then what are we to do about him if he shows up again?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"We can only wait and see," Luna replied.

"I hope your medical tech is further advanced than that of my world," Lieutenant Scott whispered to Celestia. Gilda, who continued to nervously pace back and forth, had barely acknowledged Celestia, Rainbow Dash, or even Tail Feather. "I was on the chariot when they brought her father over. From what I overheard from that winged panther would give me little hope of saving him, even if he was on my planet. I can only hope your magic gives him some advantage that we wouldn't have."

"Sadly, I can give no assurances of that, either," Celestia lamented. "So much knowledge had been lost when the Wendigos drove us from our former home many thousands of years ago. Nearly everything had to be rediscovered from scratch, with my sister and myself only able to give tantalizing clues as to what we sought to recover because we had only seen some of those technologies but had no knowledge of how they were accomplished. Neither of us had even acquired our cutie marks when we arrived on this world."

Pardus showed up just then.

"Apologies for my tardiness," he told them. "I was unavoidably delayed."

"If you mean you were unaffected by our teleport spell, then I accept your apology," Celestia replied.

"Yes, that was the cause of some of my delay," Pardus said, smirking. "The rest was due to a communications breakdown at the reception desk when I asked for directions. I had no idea that your kind could be so good at hiding. It was most impressive demonstration, and you can take this coming from a shadowcat."

Lieutenant Scott suddenly had a coughing fit.

However, Celestia was rather puzzled. First, Trevar was a creature that seemed to be somewhat immune to most spells, including those cast by an alicorn such as she. And now, it was clear that Pardus was unaffected by a spell that was cast by three alicorns! There had to be a connection. Yet, there was a contradiction in that Sombra injured both the shadowcat and Trevar to some degree, although they seemed mostly recovered from that conflict.

"Understood," Celestia chose to respond to the shadowcat as she nodded.

At that moment, the doors to the ICU opened and Doctor Heartbeat emerged.

"I'm sorry, Gilda," he began and then paused upon seeing Celestia. "Princess Celestia! I regret to bring you the news that we could do nothing for Ambassador Gustav. He's gone."

Gilda stopped any further conversation, when roaring, she leapt for the unicorn doctor. Instantly, Pardus intercepted her and wrestled her back to the floor, and the grieving griffon immediately redirected her attack onto the shadowcat.

Pardus did not defend himself or fight back. Instead, he used his wings to restrain her as she furiously clawed and bit at him. In time, her slashing and pecking subsided until she exhausted herself and began sobbing. As she settled down, Pardus tightened his hold with his wings.

"They did all they could for him, Gilda," Celestia heard Pardus speak to her. "Don't blame the doctors. The stress of keeping the secret from your people was slowly killing your father. His injuries were just too severe."

She continued to cry into his wing shoulder, occasionally biting down on him, but he had no reaction to her attack.

"He died as he lived, Gilda," Pardus added, "with honor and courage. He stood with Celestia and Tail Feather to keep the peace! It does not matter that no one drew his blood. He stood beside us all at the border to save lives, both pony and griffon! He may not have understood when he died, but he lived to see hope return to Griffonstone! That is what matters!

"I did not have much time to speak with him," the shadowcat continued. "But I know what Trevar and Panthera saw and heard. I am honored to have known him. You should be proud of how he died! His death was worthy of a warrior of justice and peace!"

"Y-y-yes-s-s," Gilda finally hissed among her sobbing. At that, Tail Feather approached them and reached out to grasp one of Gilda's claws that were dug into the shadowcat's ribs.

"Gilda," he began. "Today, you have lost a father. And I have lost a clutch-mate. If you wish to honor Gustav's memory, I will name you his successor."

She opened her eyes to look at him.

"And I would be pleased to accept you as Griffonstone's ambassador," Celestia said, stepping over to them.

Gilda could only nod as she shifted the grip of her claws to clutch at Tail Feather's talons. She closed her eyes and buried her face into Pardus' shoulder as she continued to weep.

The following day, Celestia's chariot brought them to land by the statue of Tail Feather's ancestor, followed by his escort. Lord Trevar, Lady Panthera, and several more of the griffon guard were there to greet them.

"Welcome back, Emperor Tail Feather," the Cat-Lord greeted him.

"Thank you, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather responded. To one of the griffon guards standing near Lord Trevar, he said, "Sky Claw, find the griffon who was named in the newspaper article and have her brought here to stand trial."

"At once, Emperor Tail Feather!" the griffon guard shouted.

"Wait a second!" Lord Trevar yelled at him, causing Sky Claw to pause in confusion.

"Ensure that Adrastea is not harmed in any way when you apprehend and bring her in," Trevar ordered. The guard looked to Tail Feather, who grimly nodded before he took off to gather sufficient numbers to carry out his orders.

"Sorry about stepping on your authority, Tail Feather. But we need to discuss the evidence against her before her trial."

"Of course, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather replied, bowing. Celestia noted how Trevar's expression soured at being address before he and Panthera turned to walk toward Tail Feather's castle.

"Morning," Bill Williams greeted Lupus as the man entered the ship's flight deck. The large wolf, sitting at the main computer console rather than the pilot's seat, flicked an ear in his direction as acknowledgement of his presence. At only 150 light years from Earth after eight days of travel, there wasn't much in the way of any expected encounters, but the team had at least someone manning the Bridge in the event of surprises.

"Working on something?" Bill inquired. Considering that each of their animal companions had computational capabilities exceeding by far that of the ship's system made Lupus' use of it rather anachronistic.

"Yes," Lupus surely muttered as he continued to stare at the computer readouts. After several more moments of staring at the results, Lupus sighed and turned to look at Bill.

"Problem?" Bill asked.

"I'm afraid so," Lupus responded. "Canis and I have been going over the telemetry that Panthera and Pardus had sent us as well as the local inhabitants' own conclusions about the Equus system and the results are disturbing."

"That the Gravitational Constant isn't so constant there?" Bill asked, getting an inkling as to their concerns. The sudden data dump from Trevar's panthers the day after they left Earth was quite the surprise to all their companions.

"That's only part of the problem," Lupus admitted. "On the small scale and on the outskirts of the system, it's not so much an issue. However, as one in the neighborhood of 153 kilometers to 24 million kilometers of massive bodies, the Gravitational Factor grows alarmingly. Given that our ship's entire drive system depends upon the Constant being what it is throughout the whole Universe, entering that system could quite well put us at risk."

"How bad?" Bill asked.

"To the best of our understanding, when we get there, the efficiency of our FTL drive will grow substantially. Those areas of space where their Gravitational Const—uh—Gravitational Factor," Lupus had to pause and stress his concern, "grows to enormous levels, our FTL drive will get boosted several thousand times."

"Then why not just draw down our power to sublight speeds?" Bill asked about the obvious solution.

"Because even our sublight drive is based on the same principle as our FTL drive," Lupus steadily replied. "And depending on where we are in that system, even at the lowest scale and dialing it back to just three centimeters per second, our actual speed can get boosted to over half a million miles an hour! And even a fairly small object, like an asteroid, could cause us to go wildly out of control."

"There's no way around it?" Bill asked.

"I—wonder," Lupus said, turning back to the computer console. "As I said, we got the telemetry from Pardus on three occasions when he flew about the system. The first two instances seemed to confirm my suspicions about what the ship will do when we arrive, but that last time, he seemed to be traveling as normal."

"So what was different?" Bill inquired.

"He was … transporting a large rock that contained a hazard to be disposed of into the system's sun," Lupus replied. "For reasons of conserving power to his antigrav and tractor beam, he had to power off his inertial dampener." Lupus tied the computer console into the engineering system and waited for their compared simulation results to display. "…And that just might be the solution," he slowly stated before turning back to face Bill.

"Canis and I will need to run more simulations to confirm, but it might give us a way to reach Trevar and the others," he said.

Celestia entered Emperor Tail Feather's court and one of the bailiffs there escorted her to a seat near Tail Feather's bench. Ahead, she could see Trevar and Panthera standing by Tail Feather's bench on the other side of where her seat waited for her.

"And will you please knock off with the bowing and that 'Lord Trevar' bull-shit?" Trevar was saying as she came in range to hear them.

"At once, Lord Trevar," Tail Feather responded, making Trevar sigh.

"Or at least, offer to wipe his butt whenever he farts," Panthera quipped, earning her a slap on the back of her head from Trevar.

They stopped talking at that point as Celestia got nearer. She and Tail Feather nodded to each other as she sat on the cushion. Trevar and Panthera nodded to her as well.

Griffons continued to file into the court and take their seats in the gallery behind the docket where the accused was to be judged, Trevar stepped over to address the Emperor sitting above everygriff.

"Remember what we discussed," Celestia clearly heard the man whisper, to which Emperor Tail Feather nodded, before Trevar returned to stand beside Panthera.

It wasn't long before the court was completely filled and the noise abated as the griffons all settled.

She then watched as the accused griffon was led into the chamber by several griffon guards. She wore restraining chains about her front claws that were also binding her wings to her barrel. Also accompanying her was a griffonese whom Celestia assumed was her legal counsel.

"Adrastea," Emperor Tail Feather announced after she was guided to the docket, "has your counselor advised you as to why you are here?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," she softly replied. Celestia could see this was a broken griffon. All her pride was gone and she breathed only to keep up the illusion that she still had life in her.

"Good," Emperor Tail Feather began. "Still, I am required to ask if you understand the charges to be laid out before you."

At that point, Trevar approached the docket. Reaching out, he guided her head up so that she could look at him, whereupon he gently kissed her on the side of her beak before he released her and walked out of the court, followed by the winged female shadowcat. Their departure elicited numerous murmurings from the audience and complete confusion upon the faces of the prisoner and her legal counsel.

Celestia was certainly puzzled as well as to what their departure entailed for the court. Trevar and the shadowcats had some sort of influence on the griffons that she had never before encountered.

"Adrastea," Emperor Tail Feather began after that display, "you stand before us accused of treason to the crown, in that you knowingly revealed classified information to those who had no business to know it. Do you understand this charge?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," she replied.

"You also are also accused of infanticide based on the testimony of griffons overhearing you making statements to that effect in the establishment known as…" and here, Emperor Tail Feather paused to shoot a momentary glance at Celestia before continuing, "…as 'The Drunken Alicorn'."

Celestia had to fight to maintain her neutral features as befitting the somber setting. After all, a griffon hen's life was waiting to be ended by the executioner's axe.

"Do you understand this charge?" Emperor Tail Feather asked.

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," Adrastea replied downcast.

"You are finally accused of precipitating the death of Griffonstone's Ambassador to Equestria, Gustav, who was also my brother and clutchmate," Emperor Tail Feather growled. "Do you understand this charge?"

"Yes, Emperor Tail Feather," Adrastea replied, and she began to weep.

"And I am also required to ask if your advocate is prepared to argue in your defense against these charges?"

"I, Thelxiope, am, Emperor Tail Feather," the griffonese standing near the docket replied.

"Well, Thelxiope, this might be the easiest case for which you've ever earned your bits," Emperor Tail Feather said, holding up a thin folder to show the court, "as I have your defense right here."

"OBJECTION, MY LORD!" Thelxiope exclaimed over the shouts of the few griffons who weren't stunned into shocked silence. Even Celestia was stunned by Tail Feather's unprecedented announcement.

Emperor Tail Feather needed several moments to shout down the court as more and more griffons raised their voices in objection as well. But in time, the court finally settled down.

"Hear me out," Tail Feather told them. "First of all, of your guilt, there can be no question."

Several more minutes were spent shouting down the objectors before the spectators and Thelxiope quieted down. But throughout the entire display, Adrastea never once looked up.

"Adrastea, you are guilty of treason. You are also guilty of the murder of your chicks. By revealing a state secret, you did give aid and comfort to the Empire's enemy. However, what you were not aware of was that the enemy from which the purpose of that secret was not anything outside our Empire. Rather, that enemy was the Empire itself!

"Had events not transpired as they had, we might very well be an extinct species today due to your actions," Tail Feather growled at her. "Or, even if anygriff had remained alive after today, certainly this Empire would effectively be ended by now.

"The suicidal rage that overtook us all just now was what I and my—wiser predecessors, at least those predecessors who chose not to constantly go to war with our neighbors, that is. We have been fighting that enemy all our lives. We knew our species was doomed. Yet, we still held out hope.

"Only now, as we all know now, just when our hope had died, thanks to the dragon who appeared, that hope was rekindled, so that—today at least—we have at last been victorious against our enemy! But that victory, while bloodless for all of the Empire and for our neighbors—it was not without casualties. It is because of the stress of keeping that secret which you foolishly revealed that my brother died even as our dying hope was being rekindled by the dragon who stopped our suicidal flight yesterday. For this reason, his death is a direct result of your actions.

"Any one of those crimes of which you have been found guilty would earn you an appointment with my executioner's axe," Emperor Tail Feather said, glaring at her.

"Fortunately, for all of us, we griffons—as a species—have been granted a reprieve from our own collective appointment with the axe. We all heard the dragon. I will abide by his command. I have asked—Equestria's Princesses—not as our neighbors—but as our friends—to help us. They have stated they will do all that is in their power to do so.

"Ambassador Gustav was the last to die in that war," Tail Feather said, after taking time to recover his voice with a gulp from his chalice. "But he was certainly not the first. Our children. Your children are victims of our war against our own despair. For your loss, my executioner's axe—would be a mercy. It is a mercy, however, I will not grant.

"Despite your treasonous act, you did not intend harm," he added. "For that reason and that reason alone, I am sentencing you to six months in prison and two years community service," Tail Feather announced as he crushed his empty golden chalice. His pronouncement elicited surprised gasps from everyone there, including Celestia. Never in the history of the Empire had a party declared guilty of both treason and murder ever escaped the executioner's axe—even if only a few had delayed it only by being tried in absentia or by escaping jail before eventually getting caught.

The several guards surrounding the prisoner moved to take her, but Tail Feather stopped them with a subtle shake of his head.

He stepped down from the throne, carrying the crushed chalice with him as he walked up and handed it over to her.

"You have one week to get your affairs in order. Then you are to report to the guard to begin your sentence," he told her.

"This court is concluded!" he announced as he walked out of the chambers.

After the stunning conclusion to the trial, the audience began filing out, leaving the shocked hen to stand there and stare at the lump of gold in her talon. Even her lawyer and the guards left. It wasn't long at all before the chamber was empty of all save her. And it was several minutes later that she finally screamed in aguish.

"Justice tempered with compassion?" Celestia spoke up when she had finally caught up with where Tail Feather, Trevar, and the shadowcat had gathered on a balcony overlooking Griffonstone. "Not the sort of result I expected from your court. Especially with High Crimes of this nature."

"She has already suffered a far greater punishment than I could have inflicted upon her," Tail Feather muttered.

"Again, you have our gratitude, Princess Celestia," Trevar said, half-turning from where he had been looking and gave her a nod before returning to stare toward what, Celestia had no idea. "But time is of the essence. This will only be a pause in their racial suicide if a cure is not found soon."

"Neither Luna nor I are medical experts," Celestia told them, "but we do have long memories and we have picked up more than a few morsels of knowledge in the field. Plus, I've asked Twilight Sparkle to aid in our search. If a cure can be found, we will."

"What about—him?" Tail Feather cryptically inquired, upon which Trevar's sharp glare silenced the griffon emperor.

"Leave that to me!" Trevar snapped, an action that both startled and unnerved Celestia to witness it. Obviously, whatever matter they referred was well known to both of them and she suspected it had to do with the dragon who showed up and ended the last war with the griffons before it had even begun.

But that any griffon, especially one in Tail Feather's position, to be so cowed was beyond disturbing. Despite knowing the princess' ability to inflict, even given their reluctance to do so, neither Luna nor she had ever had that kind of intimidation to any griffon emperor through their long lives.

That a mere glance and a sharp word could terrorize Tail Feather, much as it had Gustav?

Just what sort of creature is this human? He has even frightened Discord such that the draconequus has declared a not-so-covert war on the man and his two shadowcat friends.

And yet … the gesture he made toward the hen on trial … clearly, he was the one who turned Tail Feather's court in her favor. And just as clearly, he wished his role in that affair to be obscure.

Why? What was his game?

Discord had warned her that Trevar might have a strong influence on the griffons, so much so that even Tail Feather would not be able to counter.

Almost—almost as if—, Celestia suddenly thought. Almost as if Trevar has his own Long Game in play. If so, then I must know his goals! And quickly!

"Tail Feather," Trevar quietly spoke up. "I have instructed Pardus to contact Twilight and pass along the information we have on the symptoms and pathologies we know about regarding your people's problem. With luck, that may help direct her on where to begin searching."

"This—this is still—," Tail Feather whispered.

"I know," Trevar replied just as quietly, reaching a hand to his shoulder and turning his head toward the griffon. Celestia could see there were tears being shed. "I know. As I told you before, I know."

Tail Feather simply nodded, and Celestia couldn't help but feel for him, what he must be going through. But this mystery of the human and his influence over the griffons—what is that doing to Tail Feather's soul? To have such a creature as this controlling them?

Who is he? And what does he want?