That morning Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke with the feeling as if her brain was trying to escape her skull with brute force, it didn’t help that when she opened her eyes she found the curtain to the window in her room had been left open allowing Celestia’s glorious morning sun to assault her eyes with its sharp rays of dagger like light.

Snapping her eyes close the Princess rolled over away from the evil light and covered her head with her pillow as she tried to ignore her brain’s attempt to escape its confines and tried to remember what happened yesterday. She remembered looking for the Commander and finding her back at the Ivory Wheel along with a member of the Royal Guard assigned to escort her. She had expected to find the Commander depressed or upset, instead her and the guard had been sharing stories of their respective lines of work and laughing.

The Commander had tricked her into agreeing to buy them a round of drinks and they had been talking of how Twilight never drank and between the commanders teasing about her being a light weight and the guard not believing it as she was an alicorn Twilight had given in to try a drink of the Commander’s whiskey….the rest was a blank.

Groaning Twilight slowly sat up and using the pillow as a shield from direct sunlight, she slowly opened her eyes; while the indirect light still hurt it wasn’t the stabbing pain as before. Rubbing the side of her temples to try and will the head ache away the alicorn used her magic to close the curtains before she dropped the pillow.

Looking around she found she was back in her room at the castle and wondered how she made it back here, however that would have to wait till such a time she could think straight which meant she had to deal with the headache and get coffee. Carefully rolling to her hooves the alicorn stood and winced as even the lightest of movements made her head hurt worse.

Making her way from the bedroom of what was actually a small apartment, being a princess had its perks, she first went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face till she eventually just put her head under the faucet and let the cool water wash over her head. That dulled the headache somewhat to a more bearable throb.

Not bothering to dry her mane the alicorn made her way to small kitchen in the apartment began the laborious task of making her own coffee, one of the things she missed about spike was he always had her coffee ready when he got up before her.

Going thought the motions the mare made her coffee and used magic to boil the water in her cup so she didn’t have to wait for the coffee the mare brought the cup to her lips as she turned to face the room. She jump back and nearly spat her coffee everywhere when she saw the Commander sitting in one of the chairs with a smirk on her face and holding up her datapad while her escort sat on the couch not far away, judging by the blankets and pillow on the couch and chair the pair of them had slept her in her room.

“Told you she wouldn’t notice us right away.’ The commander said holding a hand out to Stonewall. “Pay up.” With a sigh the guard pulled out a small pouch of bits and tossed them to the mare who caught them and tucked them into a pocket on her uniform.

“What are you doing it?” Twilight demanded, then ground and placed a hoof on the side of her head as her headache spiked when she raised her voice.

“You mean besides getting a new wallpaper for my datapad?” The Commander asked as she taped at her datapad. “We slept here last night as Stonewall couldn’t go back to the guard barracks and I didn’t really have an assigned room.” She said finishing her taping. “Oh and we needed to hide out for a few hours.””

Twilight narrows her eyes. “Why did you need to hide out and why couldn’t Stonewall report back to the barracks?” She asked taking a sip of the fuel within her cup.

“Well both of us spell like liquor and we needed to be sure no one was looking for us after the brawl at the club and who would disturb a sleeping Princess?” The Commander asked then flipped her datapad around to shoe the screen. On it was a picture of Twilight; cup held her lips, eyes bloodshot, mane a soaking wet mess and her coat a disaster area. She looked like she had been through a tornado. “Like it?” the commander asked with a smile as she peeked over the datapad.

Twilight eyes widened. You can’t keep that!” She said as she lunched and tried to grab the datapad. The Commander yanked it back and it vanished into her pocket dimension.

“Why not? It’s a good look for you, very natural looking.” She said still with that amused smile on her face.

Twilight groaned and rubbed her temples, it was too early in the morning to be dealing with the Commander’s sense of humor. Taking another sip of her coffee she went and dropped into a seat and just chose to ignore it. “Hung over Princess?” The commander asked. “Water would be better then coffee as you need to replace your fluids and coffee does the opposite of that.” The commander said without her normal sense of humor, she actually sounded like she was giving advice to a friend though Twilight couldn’t be sure right now as she was still waking up.

“I’ll do that after coffee.” She said after another sip of said drink. The Commander and Stonewall sat quietly as the alicorn drank her coffee and when she finished drinking and was more awake something the Commander said finally registered. “What brawl? What club?” She said sitting up straight and looking at the military mare noticing for the first time her uniform was ripped.

The Commander waved a hoof dismissively. “Nothing to major, just a good old fashioned bar fight between Stonewall and me versus everyone else, well us and some friends we made during the brawl.” The Commander said with a smile. “Actually I’m needing to talk to you about one of them Princess.”

Twilight groaned and rubbed her temples again, it seemed with her privileges revoked the Commander got into even more trouble than when she was allowed to walk around freely. “What are you needing that is so important you have to come to me while I have a headache?”

“Well one of those friends we made is a merchant who has been waiting to get permission to sell his wares in Equestria, but it has taken too long and he is going to need to return to the Griffin Kingdoms today if he wants any chance of recovering his losses from waiting so long.” The Commander said. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to meet with him and hear him out and make a decision?” The commander asked respectfully.

Twilight blinked and looked at the Commander whose face didn’t wear it usual smirk once more and she wore a serious expression. Twilight sighed and sat back. “I suppose I could meet with him.” Twilight said. “When would be a good time?”

“Um…now actually as he will have to leave very soon.” The Commander said and the Princess sat up looking at her. “It’s after one Princess.” The commander informed her.

Twilight head shot to the clock on the wall and her eyes widened as she saw it was indeed after one and was in fact almost two. Leaping to her hooves the alicorn galloped for her room in a mad dash. She couldn’t believe it was so late, she was supposed to have met with Celestia for breakfast today and she had slept right thought it as well as lunch.

Twilight quickly fixed her mane and tell and used a spell to clean herself up as well as one to hide her bloodshot eyes before she came galloping out of her bedroom heading for the door. Just before she reached the door she came to an abrupt stop and fell on her face. When she looked back she saw part of her tail was wrapped in a purple glow and when she looked she saw the Commander’s horn was lite with the same glow as she stood up.

“Cool your jets Princess, you can meet with Celestia later, not like she is going anywhere where as my friend you agreed to meet is going to be leaving the city soon.” The unicorn said as she walked up to the alicorn still lying on the ground. Stonewall was staring dumbfounded at the fact the Commander just stopped a Princess in her tracks.

“But I was supposed to meet with Celestia for breakfast.” Twilight said, the shock of her face plant had cooled some of her panic.

“And you can later, right now you agreed to meet my friend and there isn’t much time to catch him before he leaves. “The Commander said as she lifted the Princess in her magic and headed for the door. Twilight began struggling to break the magical grip yet no matter how she struggled she count break the unicorns grip for some reason. The Commander carried her form the room and Stonewall scrambled to catch up now in full blown shock that the Commander was manhandling a princess.

Twilight sighed and had to admit what the Commander had said was true, she had admitted to meet her friend and with her friend leaving the city she needed to meet him before she met with Celestia and begged for forgiveness. “You can put me down; I’ll meet your friend first.” She said and the Commander looked at her as she trotted down the hall for a few moments before she set Twilight on her hooves and smiled.

“Oh good, I was worried I’d need to carry you the whole way and that would be annoying. “She said with a smirk. “I recommend you lay off the cake from Sugarcube Corner.”

It took Twilight a few moment to register what the Commander was saying and when she fixed the mare with a level glare. “I am not fat!” She said.

“Tell that to your flanks.” The Commander said and poked Twilight flanks. Twilight swiped at her hoof but the Commander dodged and ran ahead. “To slow!” She said and Twilight let out an aggravated growl and lunged for the other mare who dodged and started to gallop down the hall with Twilight hot on her heels followed by a very bewildered Royal Guard escort.

Princess Twilight Sparkle used a mirror in the lobby of the Solar Diarch to fix her mane once more as it was slightly out of place. She had ended up chasing the Commander all the way to the hotel, the entire time the Commander laughing her head off as she ran ahead of the Princess. Twilight couldn’t believe she had chased the other mare like that and she could only image what the Royal guard, servants and random ponies in the street they had passed thought seeing a unicorn being chased by a princess while being chased by a member of the guard.

It was outside the hotel that Twilight had been able to catch the Commander and tackle her to the ground, only because she stopped galloping. Before Twilight could do anything to take a revenge for the mare calling her fat the commander had pointed beside them and say they were here and when Twilight had looked they were outside the hotel and also surprised by ponies staring in confusion. Twilight had practically teleported to her hooves and her face exploded in a bright blush as she realized how she had acted and the Commander laughing her head off didn’t help.

Once her mane was fixed Twilight looked over at here the Commander and Stonewall stood talking to the desk clerk, the mare was out of uniform and only wore her mirrored sunglasses do to how torn up the uniform was and Twilight got a good look at just how many scars the other her had. The slashes from blades were easy to identify but some of the scars like the small round ones were a total mystery to the Princess. She had been surprised the other mare didn’t keep the cap but when asked she had said that if she didn’t had the complete uniform then there was no point wearing part of it.

As she watched the Commander nodded in thanks and trotted over to Twilight. “Ok cording to the clerk Greywing hasn’t checked out yet and is in room 532 on the fifth floor.” The Commander said and then made her way for the elevators. Twilight followed behind still watching the mare, this was the actual first time she had seen her out of uniform and it was strange and a bit disrobing seeing where her cybernetics met flesh as it was not a perfect fit, almost like they weren’t meant for a pony and some areas the tissue was jagged and not cleanly cut, like it had torn and then healed.

Looking over all the scars and the cybernetics Twilight wondered how the other mare had endured so much pain and kept going and it made her wonder if, being the mare’s counterpart, she would be able to endure such injuries.

“You know if you take a picture it will last longer.” The Commander said looking back over her shoulder and snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

She quickly shook her head and wondered how the mare had known she was looking. “Sorry, didn’t mean to stare.”

“Yes you did or else you wouldn’t have done it. “The soldier said and looked back at the elevator. “I expected it as I’m not exactly someone one runs into normally.”

“Still sorry.” Twilight said making appoint not to look.

The Commander shrugged. “Not like it bothers me, I know I’m scared all the hell, frankly I’d rather people stare then try to spare my feelings by purposely not.” The unicorn said and Twilight winced. “I’m not ashamed of my body, hell I think each scar is a badge of victory as anyone of them could have easily killed me.”

Twilight looked at the Commander once more, not at her scars but the mare herself. It was clear to Twilight this mare had been through a lot just with how she acted and approached situation with confidence, she knew what she could do and wouldn’t hesitate to do it. She was a killer, she had witnessed it herself, but only those that threatened innocents or those she cared about and she had recently seen the mare could be cruel but Twilight had seen her show kindness as well. She knew what the mare could do but had also seen what she couldn’t face when she found her in that room after meeting Shinning Armor and she explained what had happened, she carried a lot on her shoulders and half of it would be enough to crush most ponies. Yet the mare never stopped moving forward, even if she did stumble from time to time she refused to surrender to anything. Once more Twilight wondered if she herself could shoulder even a fraction of what this mare seems to have and keep going with such confidence or if it would crush her.

The ding of the elevator drew the alicorn from her thoughts and she followed the other two onto the elevator as the Commander selected the fifth floor.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle meet Glendale von Greywing, a merchant from the Griffin Kingdoms.” Commander Twilight Sparkle said after Greywing had answered the door of his room.

The Griffin looked at the Princess in surprise before quickly giving a short bow of respect. “Your Highness, you honor me with your presents.” He said formally. “Please come in.” He said stepping to the side and allowed the Princess to enter followed by Twilight and Stonewall. “I apologize for being unable to offer you refreshments but I have none in the room itself, perhaps I could call room service?”

The Princess shook her head. “No it is fine, I understand and could not ask you to raise your bill on my account.” She said trying to sound regal; she came close but still didn’t have the whole “Royalty” act down, besides it didn’t suit her Twilight thought.

“Very well your Highness, should you change your mind merely let me know.” Greywing said before he walked over to the small table in the room and pulled back a seat for the Princess to sit in. Once she was seated Greywing took the seat across from her. “Thank you for seeing me your highness, I must confess I did not think I would get the chance to apply for a permit or that you would actually come to my hotel as the Commander said you would.”

“Yes, she can be quiet persuasive when she wants to be.” The Princess said still trying to keep up the act. Twilight was tempted to mention that dragging a Princess from her room in the castle was an interesting definition of persuasion but decided to leave it as this was a business meeting.

As the two finished the pleasantries and Twilight learned Greywing fine dishware and other assorted items of that type Twilight tuned them out as she looked over the room. In her entire light she had never been inside a hotel that wasn’t acting as a base of operations or a listening post or was being used to ambush enemy forces. Come to think of it every time she had been inside of a hotel, apartment building or most common buildings they were all military operations. It felt strange to stand within one that was functioning as it was intended.

The room itself looked nice she supposed and the Solar Diach was a semi-upper class hotel, everything in Canterlot was either semi-upper class or high class unless you were near the very edge of the city and there for was the poorest part of the city and there you could find some slightly less then moderately classed hotels. Canterlot was a city of the finest Equestria had to offer, it wouldn’t do to have lower class around taking away from the Nobles’ precious value. And People wondered why Twilight disliked the city after her return but the city had been that way since it was built and there was no way to change it, least not easily. She knew Celestia desired it was different but the city was built around The Great Game and therefore one must play The Game in order to make drastic changes, It was why the Canterlot Garrison was inside an old warehouse till Tirek attacked and the damage he caused gave a lot of room for maneuvering within The Game as the city was rebuilt.

The itself was about what a hotel room would look like in that it had a bed with nightstands beside it as well as a desk beside the window, chest of draws across from the bed the table the Princess and Greywing sat at with its two chairs, a small book shelf with assorted books and guides to the city and surrounding area as well as the history of the city. Beside the door that entered the rom there was a door that she assumed lead to a bathroom though she didn’t investigate as it would disrupt the meeting.

So as not to disrupt the meeting Twilight and Stonewall stood in one of the corners of the room, Twilight stood there was it gave the best view of the room and Stonewall simply because he had not been removed as her escort. Under normal circumstances Twilight would have gone off to explore the hotel but with the fact the Princess had chased her hear without any guards and the threat of the Purifiers still looming Twilight was acting as the Princess’ bodyguard and indirectly so was Stonewall, though from what she knew of the guard if it came down to between protecting the Princess and following is orders to escort Twilight Stonewall would pick the princess every time. It was one of the reasons she liked the guard, he put his duty above his orders and it was because of that, and that she had seen him fight, that Twilight didn’t mind having the stallion watching her back if things went south.

The meeting only lasted an hour before they merchant and Princess worked out the details and Greywing was granted a permit to expand his business into Equestria. “Thank you your Highness, I feared this trip would have been all for naught but you made it worth my while.” Greywing said as she stood and bowed respectfully once more to the Princess.

The Princess for her part looked embarrassed as it seemed she wasn’t used to being bowed to but she hid it from her voice well. “It was my pleasure to help you Glendale von Greywing.” She said having lost the “Royalty” voice sometime during the meeting. “I do hope your business prospers here in Equestria.” She said as Greywing rose.

Greywing turned to face Twilight. “And I must thank you Commander for helping me in this; I owe you a great debt.” He said with another bow. “If you ever need my aide, merely ask and I shall do my best to accommodate.”

“Thank you Glendale von Greywing, I shall remember your words. “Twilight said formally as she bower slight, this seemed to surprise the Princess, what did she not expect Twilight to know how Griffin culture worked? She was a soldier and military leader, knowing your allies was very important.

Now that the meeting was done and over with the ponies bid their farewells as Greywing had plans to draw up for expanding into Equestria.

As a group they left the hotel and as they walked the streets back to the castle ignored the stares she was getting ash she talked with the Princess. “Thanks for that by the way Princess, he helped us out last night so I thought I’d return the favor.”

“Oh, it wasn’t a problem it was actually nice as I never negotiated a permit before, I expected it to be more complicated.” The Princess said.

“Greywing has a good head on his shoulders so he knows what to do and how to handle red tap as well as what he needed to make sure the meeting went smoothly, I know for a fact not all negotiations with merchants go that well.” Twilight said, she had heard some of the meetings before and she question how some merchants ever got their businesses off the ground, much less able to expand into foreign markets.

The Princess nodded in understanding and Twilight noted that the Princess seemed to be listing to her advice more and more and she question if she was being seen as a sort of advisor to the young Princess. She didn’t voice this question though as if she wasn’t being seen as such it could put the idea in the Princess’ head and Twilight wasn’t sure if she was the best person to be advising new royalty, Celestia was one thing, she was experienced and knew what she was doing so could make a proper decision on whether to take or ignore Twilight’s advice, but the Princess was still very knew so wouldn’t be able to make proper decisions. Twilight knew sometimes her advice was wrong as she had seen Celestia take other action she thought would fail and it works out better then her advice, and learns her advice would have caused dangerous repercussions.

She would need to watch what she said around the Princess as she did not want to lead her down a dangerous and dark path.

As they entered the castle proper the Princess spoke up as she looked at one of the large clocks that were around the castle. “Ok, it’s almost dinner time, if I’m lucky I can still meet with Celestia today.” She said looking at Twilight. “Unless you have something else to spring on me?” Twilight shook her head and the Princess nodded. “Alright then I’ll see you later Commander, and please try to stay out of trouble.” She said before she turned and walked deeper into the castle.

“Tsk, stay out of trouble, who does she think I am?” Twilight said and looked at Stonewall. “So want to head to the Ivory Wheel or the club?”

Stonewall sighed and rolled his eyes.

Princess Twilight Sparkle took a seat at the large table meant to seat far more ponies then the five that now sat at it. Besides Twilight and Celestia, Luna has joined them for her breakfast and Shinning Armor and Cadence had joined them as well.

“So according to the royal infirmary the guards the Commander gave her “lesson’ too should be released. “Shinning Armor said. “However I do not believe the Commander should be allowed to work with the Guard if she considers that teaching.”

Twilight winces at the harshness in her brother’s voice, she could tell he was very displeased with what the Commander had done. Celestia nodded. “I will take what your thoughts under advisement Captain.” Celestia said coolly and Twilight quietly gulped, it seemed her former mentor was still angry about yesterday, it wouldn’t be noticeable but Twilight had grown up around the Princess and could read her emotions even when she hid them behind her well-crafted mask.

Twilight looked at Cadence and could tell she most likely agreed with Shining, Luna was still waking up and Twilight wasn’t sure what she could do. For all intent and purpose the young alicorn was alone in what she was going to talk to Celestia about. She ate quietly as she tried to plan out what to say.

“Twilight are you ok? You haven’t spoken the entire meal.” Celestia asked with some concern and Twilight nearly jumped into the air from being startled from her thoughts.

“Oh…um sorry, just thinking is all.” She said weakly, she had been doing that the entire meal and now the meal was almost over.

Celestia sighed and looked at her former student. “It’s about the commander isn’t it?” She asked and Twilight could only nod. “Twilight if you are uncomfortable around her after what happened I can have somepony else supervise her.” She offered.

Twilight sighed; guess it was now or never. “Not it’s not that it…”She swallowed. “I think you should give the Commander her freedom back.”

Celestia blinked in confusion and tilted her head to the side. “Twilight, why would you ever think that? You saw what she did, I can’t leave her alone to do that to somepony else.”

Twilight looked at her former mentor and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “Yes I know what she did and I know why she did it.” Twilight said. “You heard what the spy said when I asked him about Horston, they have no remorse for what they did and believe their sacrifice wasn’t great enough.” She looked down. “It means they plan to make a greater sacrifice if given the chance. “She said quietly and looked back up at the older alicorn. “You asked the Commander to aide use against the Purifiers and told me we needed a pony like her. She is just doing what she has too to help us.”

“Be that as it may Twilight she simply cannot be allowed to torture ponies.” Celestia said. “Even ones that are threats to Equestria.”

Twilight said and looked up at Celestia. “How would you have her get the information? We don’t know what the Purifiers are planning and they could have struck before normal interrogation methods worked.” Twilight said. “I’m not saying let her do that again but revoking her right to move freely just limits her ability to help us.”

“Twilight I know you have become friends with the Commander but I simply can’t let her roam freely if she is going to do things like that.” Celestia said firmly she had very rarely ever had to be firm with Twilight but she would if she had to.

However the young alicorn didn’t react as she normally would have and instead looked firmly at the older alicorn. “Then how do you expect her to do what you asked her to do? How do you expect her to aide us.” Twilight said firmly. “You said yourself we needed a mare like her, somepony to do whatever it took to protect innocents, that is the Commander, if you didn’t want her doing it then you shouldn’t have asked for her help!” Twilight blinked when she realized she had begun to shout at Celestia and her pupal shrank to pin pricks. “I’m sorry!” She said hastily. “I didn’t mean to yell it’s just…”

“Do not apologize Twilight Sparkle. “Luna said, speaking up for the first time that evening. “What you said is the truth; if my sister did not want the Commander to do as she did then she should not have asked for her help after learning what she had done in Ponyville.” She said looking at her sister. “You wanted a mare who could do what the Royal Guard could not and that was meet the Purifiers with the same force they use.”

Luna’s gaze hardened slightly. “The Purifiers will not back down, they will not hesitate to take lives of innocents to achieve their goals, Equestria has not faced a threat like that in a very long time and our subjects will fall when faced with such force. It is the Commander who can stand and meet them with that same force and tying her hands just means she will be unable to meet them and do what is needed for Equestria sister.”

Celestia looked between her sister who stared at her with a hard gaze and her former student who looked at her plate of food muttering under her breath in a minor panic to Shining armor and his wife who were staring at Twilight in disbelief. Looking at her own plate of food Celestia sighed. “You are correct Twilight, I did ask her for help knowing what doing so could lead to, and I should not have reacted as I did when she was doing as I asked of her.” She looked up at Twilight who blinked up at her in surprise. “Tomorrow I will send word that she has her privileges to walk around freely once more but I do ask that you keep an eye on her.”

Twilight nodded her head vigorously. “I will and I have been like you asked.” She said quickly.

“Thank you Twilight.” Celestia said. With the meal and the discussion over Shinning Armor and Cadence departed for their room and a short time later Twilight pushed herself away from the table and bid her former teacher good night before leaving.

After she left Celestia looked at the door she had departed from before whispering to herself. “I see your time around the Commander is effecting you Twilight, whether for good not only time will tell, I just hope you are careful in how much she rubs off on you for she is a mare stained with much blood that can never be removed.”

Author's Notes:

Only one chapter and I love the start of this chapter.