In the northern conference room on the big sofa sat Princess Celestia. It was her favorite piece of furniture. It coupled nicely with her favorite room, excluding her private quarters. In fact, she even had a cup of her most prized tea, a green jasmine, blowing its steam and perfect scent up into her nose and eyes both. Truly the instant was picture perfect save for one issue; across from her each with their three sets of limbs tied in heavy shackles sat three Griffon Empire Imperial Emissaries.

They had arrived three days ago, about ten hours before she received word that the capital of the Baylands had been attacked. Not only had a ally nation entered a conflict, but the Equestria Diplomatic Delegation had not received their immunity upon the start of the conflagration. To make matters worse, the delegation included one of Celestia’s newest and closest friends, and upon hearing that she had been seriously injured the Princess had the delegates detained.

It had been a clear statement of the Griffon Empire’s intent when the reported attack was conducted from an Eyrie-class aerial battleship. Even if the purported crew were “pirates” mere “pirates” had little chance in successfully stealing one of the Empire’s state-of-the-art dreadnaughts from her moors in Griffonstone. Should that had been the truth then at the very least there had been a significant and dangerous error in oversight amongst the military state’s top personnel when it came to informing the rest of the world about a rogue vessel of such scale and power.

With the same gravity of the deadly situation, Celestia precisely hovered her tea to her mouth. She kept her face expressionless as she peered over the rim of the fine china directly at the most senior member of the Emissaries and took the loudest sloppiest sip she could manage. The middle-aged griffon, Faulkes was his name, cringed and looked away. The diplomat knew exactly how tenuous his situation had become. Celestia was certain, although she had kept her expressions and words professional, he knew of the seething rage lurking just beneath her calm surface. She could not tolerate acts of war, much less acts of war for no reason other than to have a war, particularly when they had put a personal friend in a coma.

Ever since the griffons had reformed their society after Torch’s Massacre, six years ago, their new government’s chief form of diplomacy had been military action. Truly, it was nothing short of a miracle that she even had negotiators to detain. Levitating her tea away from her face some she cleared her throat in that little authoritative way that got ponies’, and in this instance griffons’ attention. They all looked back at her cautiously as she cast one last cursory glance over them.

“I know it has been several days since I have talked to you three, but I would like to hear an explanation as to why a Empire-made ship was used to attack one of my ally nations.” she went right to the point. There was no need to mince words when the only question left was whether or not the Griffons were sponsoring an armed invasion of a peaceful sovereign nation.

“Princess…” Faulkes started before just trailing off. He quickly found the floor more interesting his eyes shifting rapidly as his brow pinched in thought. “...I have no explanation for that.” he said.

“Indeed. Perhaps you also have no explanation for why you would assume Dame Gertrude would not ask for help from Equestria? Her only international ally? Maybe it is tied to how Gertrude appeared in my court one day, unannounced with only four bodyguards?” Celestia retorted. Even through the thousand years of regency and grace, the smallest of edge could be heard in her voice. She was grateful for the milenia of practice, it was the only thing keeping her from outright yelling.

“Umm...yes..that is a rather long set of coincidences.” Faulkes concurred, still refusing to give any form of coherent answer. Celestia fixed him with her best plain stare, before pulling her tea back to herself to take another boisterous drink of the calming liquid. All three of the diplomats cringed this time. Several of her more cherished friends that had attended court over the years always mentioned how unpleasant the sound of her slurping tea could be, and how it usually worked to her advantage during debates or negotiations. They had always told her it was both intimidating and disgusting to have somepony voraciously, callously enjoy a beverage when lives and fortunes were on the line. Celestia could already see their assessment had rung true for Faulkes and his attendants, and she intended to push that advantage for all that it was worth.

“Then perhaps it is time that you explain some of these coincidences to me. Let us start with an easy one: why was it that you arrived here the same day of the attack?” she queried.

“Well, we notified you through traditional channels, your majesty. I have no applicable reason things fell that way. We arrived on schedule...and I was surprised as you. Even more surprised when you had my staff and I thrown into shackles.” Faulkes appealed attempting to play the victim card. He actually did a good job, his iron binds helping quite a bit. It perhaps would have fooled a younger, more mortal ruler. It was a veiled insult, touching carefully on how Equestria typically handled foreign affairs, with total amnesty for all non-combat delegates. However, Celestia had long ago run out of patience for games. She could practically smell the international intrigue and the Empire trying to justify for war or at the very least military action.

“Insults?” she questioned as such, “Perhaps you misunderstand the direness of the situation Sir Faulkes, or perhaps no one has told you, an Equestrian diplomat, more specifically, a Royal House Inductee, was injured in the attack. Equestria is at war with the Empire. Or perhaps that had escaped you?” Celestia glowered allowing the correct amount of disdain to further seep into her voice.

“I-I-I..umm. I-I have not had contact with any of my superiors, the null-field on your vee-eye-pee cell is quite potent.” the diplomat stammered sweat visibly swelling up through the feathers on his face. “Even now we have not been allowed to speak with them.”

“Why would you? You are prisoners of war after all. In fact you are my most valuable asset in preventing full-scale conflict.” Celestia answered before taking another obnoxious lap of tea. She was loathe to lie on the topic of her statesponyship but if a few lies could prevent a war then a few lies she would provide. She would have to thank Lulu and Stormy later for their contribution to the anti-magic arts. The null-field that allowed her to be in this position was of their research team’s design. Had the diplomats been able to contact their command they would have been prepared to counter her in this meeting. Ultimately, should the investigation reveal that the events in the Baylands had been sponsored by the Empire she would be quickly telling the Imperial Emissaries the truth.

After overcoming their initial shock, Faulkes and his two staffers immediately began arguing about the severity of the situation. They managed to keep themselves speaking in vague enough terms that no worthwhile information was released. They persisted trying to either blame one another or their commanders before Celestia got bored.

“So should you wish to discuss relevant policy with regards to peace before unnecessary deaths start accumulating I would be overjoyed to indulge you.” she cut over the top of their bickering. Faulkes turned and looked at her brazenly, his eyes wide and his face feathers standing on end.

“Princess Celestia, the Griffon Empire has no intention of escalating the conflict. Even without speaking to my superiors I know that for certain.” he answered. “What assurances do you require to prevent escalation?” he asked hurriedly. With the weight of his countryfolk’s lives in his claws the senior diplomat stopped playing games. Celestia smiled, it would seem that the Empire had no interest in fighting Equestria in a formal war. Whatever powerplay they had been trying to execute in the Baylands had failed too thanks to Gusty and her crew, now all she had to do was seal the deal.

“I would require several things. First and foremost total disavowment of the ship and crew that made the attack. Even should our investigation somehow prove them seperate from the Empire, it will be the first sign of trust.” Celestia acquiesced an answer. She wanted to instill a levity of commitment to this plan in Faulkes. The griffon and his staffers shook their heads in agreement. Celestia sat her tea down and popped a quill and parchment into existence so she might right down the agreement formally.

“Yes. Please, we need a formal document to bring back to the Emperor and his council. Even if it has unfavorable terms it can at least still be negotiated that way.” Faulkes said with a rapid approving nod. “What else do you need?”

“Reparations of a yet undetermined sum be paid monthly to the Baylands for two years. I would suggest food, or goods nothing too extreme. However, the council will have to negotiate that with Dame Gertrude herself. Not doing so will be considered violation of this agreement.” Celestia said as she wrote with her magic.

Faulkes visibly relaxed where he sat bond in chains. “That is...much more reasonable than I was expecting. For what do we owe such grace?” he asked looking at her in wonder, the griffon gasping for deep breaths as if he could not believe he was awake.

“I am not such a fool to expect the Empire to take kindly to my interfering in their plot to overthrow one of their enemies’ government. When it comes to international politics I have been around the longest and know sometimes even the most terrible of situations needs a delicate, thoughtful touch.” she replied continuing to fill out the appropriate verbiage in the agreement.

“I-I-I don’t ...I-d…..how did you know?” Faulkes finally stammered out. From behind her paper Celestia froze, plumed pen still touched to its surface. Even all the years of stoic reactions to devastating news and having to tell mothers their children had died had not prepared her for Faulkes to admit the Griffon Empire had played a part in the attack. She kept the document close to her face as she calmed her breathing and her face. It only took her a few moments, but her rage still found its way into her voice.

“A certain mind within my most trusted predicted most of it. He knew Griffon culture the best, especially after your recent government change. I trusted his judgement and placed agents in the Baylands the instant he advised me.” Celestia responded coldly.

“When was that?” Faulkes asked in return. He looked defeated, clearly aware of the severity of the espionage misstep.

“Not quite a month before Dame Gertrude would quietly arrive in my court.” she said. Faulkes looked between his staffers and they each twitched a bit in a silent conversation. They did this for only a moment before Faulkes sighed and turned to look back her with new, severe bags under his eyes.

“In this instance, I have been advised by superiors previously, and I am ready to sign any agreement. But, I must ask one question first; is Dame Gertrude alive?” he offered his question.

Celestia charged her horn instead of answering. Before her as she pinched he brow in concentration manifested a small purple orb. Spell complete Celestia fired her magic into the orb thinking only of the receiving pony in the Baylands. It took about a minute before a scratchy hiss sound began emanating from her orb.

“Princess Celestia? How may I serve you, your highness?” came the voice of her second guard captain.

“Captain Garrison, would you please find Dame Gertrude and ask her speak into the spell?” she asked the guard.

“Of course your majesty, she is right here with me.” Garrison responded.

“Ohh! What magic ye be throwin’ into mine home, Celestia lass?” the brogueish voice of her favorite foreign friend asked.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience Gertrude, I was curious about the progress of the defense. It is most important.” she said. Celestia carefully used her voice to try and coerce Gertrude in doing something candid.

“Ha! We idn’t on the defense! Thine bonnie lass Gusty Twilight had seen ta’ tha’. The warship tha’ attack us be in our possession an’ we have those pirate fools trapped in the northern mines!” Gertrude cackled through the whispy sound of the voice projector orb.

“That is excellent news. I presume my little heiress is doing well then? Since Captain Garrison is nearby you now.” she asked. Celestia could hear Faulkes shifting uncomfortably in his shackles almost whimpering as he had to endure the embarrassment of a ground bound race of Ovis having captured a aerial battleship.

“Ohhh...Gusty be doin’ fine. Mayhaps better than before tha’ incident, a resilient mare tha’ one, haha!” Gertrude further hammed it up. She had always been good at reading an international dilemma, it was why she was Celestia’s favorite ally.

“That will be all then Gertrude, thank you.” she responded with a smile.

“Aye, ma’am. Be sure to cut a good deal for me an’ mine! Until next time.” Gertrude said just barely hiding a laugh. The voice projector spell fizzled out in the next instant.

She turned to look at Faulkes who had most of the color drained from his brown face, making him look more like the white-headed variant of griffon. Ever so carefully Celestia levitated her tea and parchment document back into her face never breaking eye-contact with him. She took another noisy sip of her lukewarm tea and kept writing the rest of the agreement out. It took her just a few minutes to ensure that none of the language would allow for any loopholes. Lowering her equipment from her face she used her magic to release Faulkes who quickly but stiffly strode forward and looked at the hovering contract.

He read it slowly in silence his color slowly returning to his face, but sweat and flayed feathers remaining. Eventually he finished and looked at her as if he was staring at some kind of eldritch horror. Unfortunately, this caused her to giggle rather unbecomingly as she dropped the quill and document on accident, making Faulkes bend down to pick up the items while he turned his face away from hers red hot from her laughter.

“Where would you like me to sign and where would you like my superiors to sign?” He questioned shakily after she finished her titters.

“Anywhere in the blank section below the body of the agreement...and do make that thirty day deadline, Sir Faulkes.” she said ominously as she released his attendants. The three griffons each signed the document before turning to leave. Faulkes, however, stopped at the door.

“Princess you’ll have this back by next week. You will have to forgive my initial reluctance to cooperate, I was under strict orders to maintain silence unless certain criteria were met.” he stated, his tone a haggard one. He met her eyes briefly a look of soreness expressed in them like the legs of an old arthritic stallion.

“One last question if I may, Princess?” He asked cautiously. Celestia nodded more than happy to indulge the poor bird’s inquiries.

“The stallion that knew...was he the one that killed Tor-” he started

“Yes.” she answered quickly before he could finish. Faulkes nodded in return, biting the edge of his tongue in the griffon equivalent of biting a lip. He remained transfixed like that for a moment before drawing in a rigid breath.

“I do not look forward to explaining to the Emperor and his Generals how much more we owe to that stallion.” he mumbled through his now swollen tongue.

“I would consider yourself lucky. The only reason he hasn’t been present for this meeting is because he is out of country.” Celestia mentioned with an intentional half-heartedness.

“Then I’ll remember to say a few more prayers to the gods to keep that luck strong. I’ll need it. Farewell, your majesty.” With his last goodbye stated Faulkes followed his staffers out the door and disappeared behind an escort of her guard.

Celestia remained seated on the sofa slowly pondering over who she should tell first about the Empire’s involvement. The expected revelation had come in such an unexpected manner that she was still mulling over the circumstances that would have allowed the plot to unfold. She came to a simple conclusion that left her mind racing; if Stormy had been right then the Baylands was about to enter a civil war. She had her excuse to intervene now thanks to Gusty’s Gusty-ness and Gertrude’s shrewd planning. But, if Gertrude took the risk to sneak herself out of country under the threat of being captured and sought her out specifically to request support then that could only mean one thing: the Dame Ewe knew her opponent personally. Or at the very least knew that whoever was attempting to overthrow her knew exactly what she was doing at all times.

This conclusion left Celestia stumped. Who amongst Gertrude’s Jarls would allow griffons to stake claim to their country? Most of them were the children of the Ovis that tossed the lion-birds from their land in the first place, none of them would ever allow them to return. With no reasonable suspect Celestia resolved to discuss things with Luna. Should they come to an epiphany her younger sister could quickly communicate it to one of the team through a dream. Hopping up from the sofa less gracefully than she intended, Celestia beat a hasty route to her sister’s chambers. She hoped that with their minds combined they might find an answer to who was sponsoring the Empire’s interference.

Whoever it was had just become Equestria’s most wanted individual…

Having executed a hasty retreat from Gusty’s disturbing display of consumption, Zeccaran found himself staring at his precious, the Midnight Onyx. That was what he was calling her anyway. She sat tethered to one of the Castle Manor’s towers a wide plank set from the deck just below his hooves on the battlement. With Gusty laid up over the last half-week he had been left alone to his thoughts along side Bunker and the Onyx. The peace and quiet made him desire something to do, much like during his normal times in Canterlot. The ever nagging foreboding of existence also helped compel him to keep his mind occupied. It would not do to become enraptured in his own prison of thought.

Still, he had not forgotten the precariousness of the situation they faced. It had not taken him long to realize who was behind the plot. Just having been around them a few times Zeccaran could see the bad blood amongst the Bayland’s regents. He even suspected Gusty knew something more than she claimed. However, he was working only on circumstantial evidence and the coincidence of more physical things like the Onyx. Even with all of the substance in place he had no idea why Gertrude and Gusty both would allow the Baylands to fall under attack in such a manner.

The only thing he had concluded was that something personal was preventing them from settling the rebellion. For Gertrude this made sense, with the chief suspect in Zeccaran’s mind her own daughter, the ewe likely could not work up the grit to imprison her child, much less execute her. Gusty, however, had no excuse, he felt certain that if he turned evil, or just had a bad thought, Gusty would pound him into the dirt. Perhaps she felt sympathy for Gertrude’s plight? Then again, he was not entirely certain Gusty could perceive the emotions of others beyond what she assumed upon them.

Regardless, the debacle had led him to work endlessly on the Midnight Onyx. It had only been three days but the ship was combat ready. Working around the clock with a lot of help from Bunker and several of Stormwalker’s mercenaries, they had repaired all of the damage done to the vessel. It was a true feat of ingenuity and teamwork. Trees had been chopped, local smiths had been contracted, magical skill was tested, and over five-hundred square yards of canvas was sewn all to make the airship operational again.

Surprisingly, the majority of the structure was wooden, with only the keel, the deck frames and two suspension beams were made of steel. This allowed the beast of a blimp to sport a fully enclosed balloon that spanned the entirety of the lower superstructure. It completely filled the space below the cargo compartment which was a scant two decks below the top deck. Tendrils of even more balloon were stitched to wooden decks and structure beams to the point where they nearly covered the walls. It was no wonder that when Gusty had destroyed the top balloon the vessel had remained in the sky. Marooned she had become but certainly not carreigning to the earth, that was what had allowed the pirates to escape. Thus over the three days he had personally inspected every inch of the internal balloon and the inner wood structure finding it to be nearly as durable as the metal armor the ship carried.

It is a good thing G.A.S. asked me to study these vessels. He thought as he presently made his way to the engine room. I would have never been able to fix this thing had they not. Those mercs of Stormwalker’s seemed to know too, but that hardly makes sense. That would mean that at the very least G.A.S and Stormwalker are working together, and I can hardly picture ol’ Stormwind doing anything to benefit me.

Finally having arrived in the most aft portion of the vessel that was the engine room Zeccaran began undoing the locking mechanism on the door. He was only able to access the engines thanks to an earth pony that had been helping him. She was a sharp filly to be certain but seemed out of place in her almost too big armor. Having broken the locking mechanism she had helped him replace it and make a new sequence for the doors mechanisms.

Since the lock was purely mechanical, they came up with a code for which gauges and levers. One had to swap the mechanisms into their correct positions before even getting a chance to access the combination lock. Then after successfully putting in the lock code the gauges and levers needed to be switched into their final position in thirty seconds or the door would lock and become electrified for at least an hour. Most would see it as paranoid and overtly complex for something that could be circumvented by magic or explosives. They also would not understand the volume of either needed to breach the door, an intruders time would be better used just destroying the Onyx instead of disabling it.

She was creme-colored...I really should have gotten her name. Why can I only remember the colors of mares, these days? He grimaced at himself. He had just put in the lock’s combination in and was struggling to meet the thirty second deadline. Completing the mechanical sequence with one second to spare he heaved the heavy wheel that was the final thing barring his way inside. With a shove and a grunt he pulled the thick door open to look at the most difficult part of his repair process: Twin eight-piston Grover-class engines and their super-condensing boilers.

Whoever had been working on them before had not been properly cleaning them. He was still trying to clean the hardened coal gunk off of the inside of the boilers’ blowers. The build up was bound to happen but all you needed to do was turn one boiler off and let the pipe cool before giving it a good scrub with a steel brush. Sure it turned off one engine but this monstrosity only needed one to maintain a modest airspeed. With both running the airship was capable of catching slow pegasi, a feat that was truly an unpleasant statistic.

“What a mess.” he grumbled to himself as he grabbed an new steel brush from the tool box left in the engine room. He got to work grudgingly not trusting anypony but himself to work on this piece of equipment. His thoughts began to wander again as he got to scrubbing.

Seems awfully convenient for Stormwalker to have armed forces on standby he petitioned internally. Perhaps Gusty has a point there. Still that leaves the why. Maybe he decided to take precaution due to Gusty? That seems like him. He paused to switch hooves and he finally chunked off the most stubborn portion of re-burnt coal. But if I was an impossibly rich monster I would want to crush two wheat stalks with one stone right?

Zeccaran scrubbed more fiercely as he continued to think it over, almost afraid of where his line of thoughts was taking him. So how do I do that? I would have to know that this airship is going to be here. I would have to know that I needed technicians on site to look over it and to repair it. I also would have to know that Gusty would disable it, not destroy it. Those are some pretty long odds. He would have to be omniscient...and even so arranging the circumstance seems...tedious.

He just finished finally cleaning the exhaust blower as he let the thought die. He closed up the port and opened the main hatch to the firebox of the boiler. Inside sat unused coal looking rather sooty and wet from what appeared to be a leak from the main body of the boiler’s water chamber. He did not have a patch piece or a welder handy and he did not feel like going and getting one either so he closed the hatch back up and moved to the main body of the boiler. The machine was massive, easily the size of a small cottage and took up the whole aft quarter it was in; thus it took a moment to reach the access port near the steam bulge that collected the pressure. Popping it open, he stared at the piping that forced the steam to drive this engine’s eight pistons.

He trotted back to the toolbox to grab a set of crank clamps to give them an inspection. He slapped the clamp onto the pipe and started to give it a squeeze with the incremented crank. He got the first pipe tested successfully without it showing any bend before the threshold point. Moving on to the next his thoughts digressed to his previous debacle.

You know… He mused internally. That theory works only if Stormwalker and G.A.S. are the same pony. But I still don’t see him helping me...unless i’m just being used as a fucking pawn for something greater...and Equestria getting its hooves on a world-class aerial dreadnaught, or rather him getting his hooves on it which seems like a feasible end goal for that mad-stallion.

Zeccaran moved onto another pipe his second test successful. Although this seems about the most roundabout way to get one. It makes me wonder if he was planning to hijack one of these himself at a later date. He has to have his own set of spies...he already has his own special military. I just wish I understood why Celestia and Luna would allow him to have either. What’s worse is now I’m pretty sure that kind little letter I received way back when was just a clever ploy to make me work hard. And now I’m too invested to quit too! He should really try his hooves at international espionage I think he would be good at it...then again...he probably already is…

Brushing the thought aside Zeccaran focused entirely on what he was doing. He did not desire to have his musing stray back to the subject of that monstrous stallion and his spheres of influence. He persisted repairing and inspecting the number one engine even after his limbs and head started hurting. Hours blazed by and eventually after securing the pistons to their drive wheels and propellers he stared at the last piece of the puzzle: the stuck open exhaust maintenance door. All he had to do was route the blower exhaust to the outside funnel and he was ready to toss a fireball into the firebox to light the coal and boil off all the water on it. He had even managed to fix the leak and fill the boiler chamber up about halfway with fresh water.

Standing on his hind hooves he reached up to the blower and placed his whole weight on the close flap he had completely refurbished after its cleaning. Trouble was, he had tightened the hinge without greasing it and now he stood shoving the flap closed with brute force.

“Close...you...rotten...bastard!” he growled at the metal each time a mighty shove slightly pushing the blower closed. He lowered himself down and stared menacingly at the door. In a fit of frustration and exhaustion he flung himself towards the flap, making a jump to hit it with his shoulder. He slammed into the steel, causing a loud shriek and moan to erupt both from himself and the door. When he finally rolled over after falling to the floor in pain he looked up to see the blower flap shut and ready for activation.

Rushing over to the piston control he pushed it into neutral for the pressure to build to useable levels. Swinging open the firebox door Zeccaran forced a fireball from his tired limbs directly into the coal. It impacted the dark matter and erupted in golden-orange flames with heavy hisses and cracks as water was flash boiled off and the suddenly dry fuel sparked into its pire. Worn and sore Zeccaran barely remembered stumbling over to the pressure meter to watch it quickly climb into its little green indicator. He smiled abscently as the lucidness of sleep overtook him and pulled him down into its bliss along with his feeling of success.

However, the relaxation lasted only for a brief stint. Too brief for it to be truly rejuvenating, Zeccaran was left pining for the relief he had felt as he began dreaming. Fortunately, it was a pleasant dream, he was outside looking up at the moon taking in the warm night’s air in the Canterlot gardens. The scene felt disturbingly realistic, even the dream-Gunther who rested next him felt as harsh and barky as he did when Zeccaran would run his hooves over the Timberwolf’s back. That was how he knew it was a dream at least; he had let Gunther go hunting on his own shortly after he had gotten his dog off the airship. He would not be back until tomorrow.

A flash of light briefly blinded Zeccaran and by the time the dream scene had become a less painful experience he could hear the dulcet tones of Princess Luna’s voice. At first he was confused as to why she was visiting him. The last time she had come to entertain him in the dream-world had resulted in her commandeering his consciousness. He had gotten comfortable with the occurrence, she had done such to him several times now, thus he waited for it to start again. Rather disappointingly, nothing happened besides Luna and now Celestia talking, so he started listening instead of just waiting.

“I have always found him quite interesting, more a miracle than anything” the elder sister mused.

“A miracle? In all seriousness, ‘Tia, really?” Luna asked incredulously to the statement.

“Well, of course. He’s a marvel of modern magical ingenuity, there hasn’t been a similar instance in an individual since well before Starswirl’s time, with objectivity to how it was done, of course.” Celestia answered with a rather scholarly air.

“Pah!” the younger sister scoffed. “I do not know what is worse, that he was resilient enough to survive the procedures or that he was resolute enough to justify all that death and remain in control.”

Zeccaran stood up from where he had been staring up into the sky. He could not see the princesses but knew that Luna was likely having them spy on him though a partial portal. Plodding along aimlessly the zebra listened closely trying to determine where the two Equestrian regents were hiding by just sound.

“Wait, where did he go?” Celestia wondered. With his mind’s eye, he could almost see the oversized sun-pony squinting through the portal looking for him.

“I believe he is aware of our presence and is looking for us…” Luna’s voice trailed off behind a fizzsop! of magic being cast. Another flash of light stung Zeccaran’s eyes, forcing him to blink away tears and rub his left instinctually. When his vision cleared both Princesses stood before him in the dreamscape lording their height unintentionally.

“Here he is!” Luna declared merrily in contrast to her previous bit of sulking. Of course Zeccaran knew she deeply enjoyed “dream-seeking” for ponies, but the sudden change of mood felt forced. He pushed the thought from his mind, Luna had probably already noticed it, but he’d could at least feign ignorance that way.

“Good evening, your majesties.” He replied with a bow.

“A good evening to you, Zeccaran. Sorry to interrupt your sleep but I come with a matter most important.” Celestia spewed in her graceful manner. It was no secret he prefered Luna, but he was always kind and formal to Celestia face to face, there was no need to be rude when he could keep it inside. Then again, Luna’s broad grin told him somepony had heard his description of her sister’s speaking.

“It’s no problem, I’m just more surprised you are here with Luna instead of just asking her to ask me…” he answered voice trailing off. He was truly baffled why Celestia had come to speak to him personally, she had never done so before.

“Certain matters require a personal touch my dear zebra, but in truth Luna and I are here together to see if you can shed some light on the local political turmoil of the Baylands. And...to inform you of some rather unpleasant news with regards to international politics.” the sun mare responded with a rather upset tone. Zeccaran only could look back in confusion, what had been happening back home, he wondered. Placing a hoof up to his chin in thought he refrained brief to motion in a circle that the princess should continue.

“To bring you up to speed as quickly as I can let me just say this: Griffons.” Celestia obliged. Zeccaran cocked his head at her in response he had an inkling of an idea but felt skeptical.

“Okay.” he started. “If what I think you mean by ‘griffons’ is right...then at least I have an explanation for the fully loaded warship I’ve been repairing.”

“Indeed. SImply put the Griffon Empire’s involvement has been exposed and dealt with accordingly. Whoever is sponsoring the rebellions in the Baylands is now without their support. Which leads me to my, well...our question.” Celestia said as she turned to her sister. Luna made a small nod before meeting Zeccaran’s eyes.

“Do you have any insight on who would be trying to dethrone Dame Gertrude? Sister and I have been going over the reports for the last twelve hours and are unable to reach any conclusion.” the mooney mare stated rather plainly. He struggled to hold her gaze, the irony of them asking such a question to him making him feel rather stuck.

“Funny you should mention that…” he rubbed a hoof through his mohawk in a vain effort to straighten it. “I have been thinking about the last three days and came to answer...but I don’t like it to the point where I’ve been coming up with ridiculous theories for other perpetrators.” he replied with a deep grimace.

“Who are you thinking it is then?” Celestia chimed in. Her forward posture displaying her eagerness regardless of her calm question.

“Did you know Dame Gertrude has a daughter?” he asked instead of just stating that she was a culprit.

“What?” both alicorns balked. They looked at each other then back to him with strained faces somewhere between total shock and pure dumbfoundedness.

“Guess that’s a no.” he said to them. It took them both a moment to recover, each pacing about the dream in her own manner. Celestia hoof on chin as she swayed back and forth and Luna head down eyes squinted hard at the dream-ground trotting in a loose circle.

“That is rather unfortunate information.” the elder princess finally stated after her counterparts third circuit.

“Indeed. While I am not as familiar with Gertrude as you are sister I think I know where you are going with this.” Luna said despondently.

“Yes. But, it is the only option I can think of; how else can we explain the Dame’s lack of action. How else could she justify the suffering of her own people?” Celestia confirmed. Zeccaran looked between them inquisitively. They clearly had understood what he had been implying, but perhaps they had a new angle, a better answer to that question.

“Gertrude...she is much like Gusty...perhaps more extreme. She has always put her friends and family above all other things ever since I met her all those years ago.” Celestia continued not looking at either Luna or Zeccaran. Her gaze was somewhere else, like she was deep in her own mind.

“Is that why she is so informal around us then?” Luna inquired.

“I’m afraid so. Gertrude does not view us as rulers of another sovereign nation but instead simply as ponies, not alicorns or demigods...just ponies. To her we are simply equals, something that has lead to her country and her foreign policy to be disdained by the rest of the world leaders.” Celestia stated. Zeccaran took time to mull over her words and the implication of how it played into the situation.

Without a proper network of allies, any upstart in the Baylands could garner support from foreign nations over Gertrude. In all other instances the Dame Ewe would have discovered them and dealt with them immediately, leaving the only option Gabriella.

“In effect because of her mentality,” Celestia interrupted his thoughts, “Gertrude is a mother first, and the leader of her people second. And when it comes down to it, no matter how far things go, no matter what her daughter does, no matter how much suffering or death she causes, Gertrude, as her mother, cannot bring herself to hurt her.”

“But, that means that Gertrude would allow herself to be dethroned...and an Empire-friendly ruler would take her place.” Luna cut in, her voice shaky. “Being the only major land mass in the Great Ocean, they could easily stage a full invasion from there onto our western shores! This could completely change the world’s political climate!” she rattled off her eyes settling on Celestia. Zeccaran had to agree, the Griffon Empire having access the Baylands was not something Equestria or the rest of the world needed.

“We have to convince Gertrude that she must do something to stop her daughter.” Luna stated firmly. He found himself nodding in agreement also looking at Celestia waiting to hear her thoughts.

“I think she knows that. I also believe it was a stroke of fate that put Gusty in my court to be that catalyst. But...even with her memory loss, I do not believe Gusty can harm her surrogate granddaughter.” Celestia stated.

“Then what do we do to stop Gabriella?” Zeccaran asked the fateful question. Celestia’s eyes widened for a brief instant and her face snapped over to her younger sister. Luna did not notice at first until Zeccaran flicked his eyes back and forth between them.

“Sister?” she said to the sun mare.

“Luna. I want you to listen to me very carefully.” Celestia’s voice was deadly serious in such a way that it almost gave Zeccaran the chills.

“I’ve dealt with his kind of stallions before: Choose. Your. Words. Wisely.” the Princess stated. Zeccaran felt his spine shake of its own accord this time. Whatever Celestia was referencing he did not understand, but who really could understand the point of view of mare that was considered a goddess? However, Luna took the advice with great trepidation written on her face. There had been words exchanged that he had not been privy to, Zeccaran was certain, and Celestia’s warning meant little to a stallion that would willingly do anything Luna asked of him. Eventually, Luna cleared her throat and with a brief shake of her head spoke.

“We would like you to do whatever Dame Gertrude asks of you to resolve this matter.” she stated.

“Sure. That shouldn’t be too hard.” he replied. Both alicorns sighed before him, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Zeccaran had a feeling he might regret thinking it would be easy.

Next Chapter: Act 2: Chapter 11 - Breaking Points Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 49 Minutes