"Do you have any idea of when, where, or even how?"

Twilight took a few seconds to reply, mostly because she didn't have any solid ideas towards those three rather important little things. "No, but it must be soon. Maybe even today, while we're here. If they could blame us for it, that'd give Eustace an actual reason to attack Equestria."

"Weak though it may be." Luna quickly checked up and down the hall, making sure that no guards had turned up over the last couple of minutes. "Speak of this to nopony for now, and we shall see what the situation is once the Emperor leaves."

Twilight nodded as the first rays of dawn peeked in through the window at the far end of the hall. Yet another sleepless night to add to the collection, but at least this night had contained some purpose. "Alright, but we can't just let this happen. If we want some good will with the Emperor, preventing his assassination would be a really good start."

"Agreed, but preventing that relies on us knowing when, where, and how. Unfortunately we have only speculation to fall back on, which isn't very helpful."

"So you do at least believe me about Eustace's intentions?"

"I do," Luna confirmed with a nod. "Unfortunately we cannot rely on his testimony to accuse him with, based as it would be on a conversation he doesn't remember. We must be careful here Twilight, lest our actions backfire upon us."

"And wouldn't that be new and unique." Twilight pushed off the wall she was leaning against, and stretched some of her tiredness away. "I guess we better get back in our room before we're accused of plotting."

"We're plotting to foil a plot. Very different thing." Luna opened the door to their room, and led the way in. Trixie was sat up in her bed, blinking blearily at the two alicorns, her mane stuck out at odd angles. "Sleep well, Trixie?"

"I guess? Where have you two been?"

"Just talking," Twilight told her. "We didn't want to disturb you."

"Oh. You weren't talking about me, were you?" Trixie asked suspiciously.

"No."

"Although you should discuss your nightmares," Luna added quickly. "It's not healthy to keep these things bottled up."

Trixie shrugged at Luna, "I think I left my therapist back in Equestria somewhere. Find him, and I'll tell him all about it."

"Uh-huh."

There was a sharp knock at the door, and when Luna opened it there was a guard there, peering down his beak at her, despite Luna being taller. "Yes?"

"The Emperor... cordially... invites you to join him for breakfast. It shall be ready for eight."

Luna smiled politely, "Of course, we'd be delighted to join him." The guard nodded stiffly and left, and Luna waited until he was out of sight before letting her smile slip. "Invited for breakfast. Will wonders never cease? Trixie, get up and prepare yourself."

"But I've only just woke up!"

"Yes, but it's pretty typical for them to invite us to breakfast at eight when it's ten to eight already."

"Then we'll just have to be late."

Luna chuckled at Trixie, "Clearly you have no idea how this works. Breakfast is at eight, and we shall be there at eight."

Cadence was immaculately turned out, and so was Flurry. Luna saved effort by having an ethereal mane, so looked perfect as always, and Twilight put the same modicum of effort in as she usually did. Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor were all well presented, their time in the military leaving some useful habits. Then there was Trixie.

"They tell us breakfast is at eight, giving us ten minutes to prepare and get here, and you get us here just before eight. They then tell us the Emperor is late, and that breakfast won't be served until he arrives." Trixie stroked her mane down as some of her hair threatened to stick back up, "The fuck is this shit?"

"It's all part of the game," Luna whispered. "I suggest you silence your complaints."

"Or what?" Trixie waited for Luna to reply, but got nothing. "I'm serious, what? What could they possibly do?"

"We're trying to convince them to help us, remember?" Twilight hissed in Trixie's ear. "Really make with the shutting up now, or I will force you to."

"Oh yeah? And how are you going to do tha-" Trixie tried to asked, but the end of the sentence failed to leave her mouth. She tried to swear, but again there was only silence. "...!"

"I'm sorry Trixie, but what was that?"

"..."

"Oh! You're wondering why you can't speak right now?" Twilight sniggered at Trixie, the unicorn turning red with frustration. "I'm using magic, Trixie, obviously. You can thank me later, when you have a voice again."

"Isn't that a little cruel?" Cadence asked, voicing her concern while Flurry giggled at Trixie's antics.

"Maybe, but Trixie suffers from a terrible case of saying the worst thing at the worst time. As you can imagine, that can be extremely unhelpful under certain circumstances, such as the one we find ourselves in." Twilight smiled sweetly at Trixie, "Isn't that right?"

Somehow, Trixie managed to fit an entire lexicon of curses into the glare she gave Twilight, and carefully mimed where she was considering shoving her hoof.

"No need for that, Twilight," said Luna. "I think there's something better we can do." Luna's horn glowed, and Trixie grinned as her voice returned, and she prepared to lay into Twilight.

"Lovely weather we're having!" Trixie clamped her hooves over her mouth as the inane sentence dropped out of her mouth in a rich Canterlot accent. "Very warm for this time of- Aah! Why, I seem to be talking like a nincompoop!Nincompoop? Good heavens! I'm speaking such gobbledygook... oh my Celestia it won't stop! In what wonderfully helpful way have you inflicted me with this curse? I politely request that you remove it from my personage! If you so wish that is."

All of them watched as Trixie near glowed with embarrassment, although none of their expressions matched the insane amount of glee that Twilight had in hers. "What is this? More importantly, can you teach it to me?"

"I think that'd be a lovely idea!" Trixie's pupils shrank at the horror of what she just said. "The more cheer in the world, the merrier!" Tears started to leak from her eyes with the amount she was straining to not speak like she was.

Luna tried to hide her smile, but not very hard. "Forthright's friendly censor. Takes every curse word, aggressive sentence, and negative outburst, and replaces it with... that."

"What a delightful spell!" Trixie quipped, her expression saying otherwise.

"Suddenly the silence spell seems considerably less cruel," Cadence muttered.

Twilight shrugged at Cadence, "She'll be fine if she doesn't try to speak."

"Blessings upon you, Twilight Sparkle."

"That's the spirit, Trixie!"

"I've never been so happy!"

"Ahem." All of them looked up as the Emperor's Chamberlain tried to get their attention. All of them except Trixie that is, whose cry of frustration got turned into a bout of giggling as she stared at the floor. "The Emperor has arrived, and breakfast is served."

"Ah, excellent! Thank you," Luna said to the Chamberlain as he stepped aside to let them into the dining room. The Emperor was already there, along with Clarissa and the Imperial guard, with a decent spread of food, while at the same time there wasn't a hint of meat to be seen. "Good morning your Majesty. Thank you for the invitation to breakfast."

"You should be thanking my daughter," the Emperor said absently as he buttered a piece of toast. "She seems quite taken with you ponies." Beside him, Clarissa blushed.

"I see. Well, whatever the reasons, we appreciate the gesture."

The Emperor ignored them as they took their seats, and continued to ignore them as they waited for a cue to start eating. Trixie didn't seem interested in waiting though, so once she started, the others did as well. He then waited until Princess Luna's mouth was full before asking, "Would you like to know the latest news from Equestria?"

"Nughs?" Luna choked and banged her chest, swallowing as fast as she could. "What news?"

The Emperor picked up a few sheets of paper and read them for a moment, "King Garland has made his way to Canterlot to offer Faust an unconditional surrender before her armies even set so much as a hoof in Mustangia. Typical of him to show such little backbone."

"But it is the right decision in his position," said Cadence. "With his army lost, how could be possibly try to resist?"

The Emperor scoffed, "With an army the size his had been, he still couldn't have resisted."

"Then you are unaware that Yakyakistan is possibly allying with Faust?" said Luna, calmly buttering a croissant. "Even you must consider the addition of a few thousand screaming yaks on the rampage as something worth worrying about?"

"My legions can fly. Yaks can not."

"You might not feel so confident when they're battering down your castle doors with naught but their faces." Luna took a bite of her croissant and hummed appreciatively. It was a good croissant. "Yaks are not to be trifled with. Even less so when backed up by magic, siege weapons, and things that should concern even griffons."

"And so you would have me waste our strength on your enemy?"

"She's your enemy too, I assure you. Faust isn't just after the subjugation of Equestria, but the entire world. It's in your interest to fight back now before her army becomes too strong, even for your considerable military strength."

"And in return we get what? Thousands of dead griffons with nothing to show for it? Pah! That isn't even worth considering."

"If you join the alliance we're hoping to form, there'll be-"

"What? Plenty of chances to dilute our strength even further? And your alliance is nothing but a dream while you give nothing to ally with. You may still call yourselves princesses, but you have nothing to be the princesses of! Why should I consider the words of failed rulers, like you, worth listening to?"

"Because you know that without magic, you can't stop Faust," Cadence said with a nervous smile. "We have that magic, but without an army, we can't get to Faust. This is our dilemma here, and the only way to succeed is to work together."

"We'll give you Griffonstone?" Twilight added as a helpful afterthought, although the sharp glare Luna gave her made sure she knew it wasn't wanted.

"Oh? You'll give us something that already rightfully belongs to the Empire? How novel, especially considering it's not currently yours to give."

"But father, what if they're right?" Clarissa asked, wringing her claws at the thought of speaking over her father again.

"And what if they're wrong? Would you have us throw the lives of thousands of our griffons away, fighting a war that might never have involved us? And for nothing more than words? Would you Clarissa?"

"I-" Clarissa bowed her head, and her father harrumphed triumphantly.

"We must prepare to depart," he said to the seven ponies, "so you may continue as our guests for now, but rest assured that unless you find something worth offering, there shall be no alliance of any sort. Griffonia had always stood alone, and I see no reason to stop that now."

"It was a delight talking to you!" Trixie said just as the Emperor was about to leave. "I mean it was a pleasure! I mean you're a fantastic griffon! Ahahahaha!"

The Emperor squinted at Trixie, then ushered his daughter away. His guards followed him, leaving the ponies alone.

"I humbly request that you correct my mannerisms, post-haste!"

Luna ignored Trixie and sloppily buttered another croissant, shoving half of it in her mouth and chewing on it aggressively. She swallowed, and dropped the other half on her plate. "I really dislike that griffon. It seems like he's going out of his way to not talk to us for more than a few minutes at a time."

"He might have some uses though," Twilight said, picking up the papers the Emperor had left and started reading through it. There didn't actually seem to be much in it, and detailed nothing much more than what King Garland had done, along with a few things they already knew about. Something felt off about it though, although she couldn't say what. "Or not, as the case may be."

"Shouldn't the ambassador have been invited as well?" Lightning asked between mouthfuls of muesli. "That seems like something that should've happened."

"We should also have been introduced to our griffon agents from Equis by now," Twilight agreed. "Something is definitely up here, but if it's the Emperor behind it, I have no idea."

"Unless Eustace has griffons working with him inside Griffon Intelligence," Luna thought out loud. "They could keep our agents contained, and keep important information from the Emperor. They might even be planning to assassinate him themselves on Eustace's behalf."

"I don't think they'd go that far," Twilight told Luna. "The safest way would be to use an intermediate so they don't get exposed if things go wrong."

"But who?" asked Luna.

"The Bloodfeathers," said Rainbow. "They have the means, and their leader has the motivation to do it. They could even pin the blame on ponies if they're smart. Is there anything in those papers about the Bloodfeathers, Twilight?"

"No, nothing. In fact there's no mentions of griffons at all. Not even the Golden Claws. You think there'd be something." Twilight tapped a hoof on the floor as she tried to think, "This is all wrong, and I think you might be right about Griffon Intelligence, Luna, but how can we get the Emperor to believe us?"

"We can't, but there's a griffon here who might if we can help her find the proof. We need to find her first though." Luna stood, a feeling of confidence filling her. "If we can find evidence and fix this, the Emperor may be far more willing to help us."

"But the Emperor won't be here," observed Cadence. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, which concerns me that I'm thinking that way, the Emperor will be vulnerable on his trip. If they seek to kill him, today will be the best chance they'll get."

Luna nodded at Cadence, "So we'll need to protect him, although I doubt he'll let us if we ask. Twilight, you, Rainbow, and the Wonderbolts will have to shadow the Emperor on his journey, and protect him if they are attacked. I know he'll have his entourage, but they won't be able to beat a large number of experienced warriors like the Bloodfeathers. Hopefully you can even things out a little."

"No problem." Twilight turned to Rainbow and her friends, "Gear up and get ready to go. I'll get your weapons back before we leave."

"On it!" Rainbow wolfed down the rest of her breakfast, "Come on guys!"

"Hey! I'm still the ranking officer here!" Lightning complained as she and Vapor chased after Rainbow. "Damn it Rainbow!"

"She seems jolly keen for action," Trixie joked, even though her words weren't exactly what she'd use. "Since I can't fly, I guess I'm staying here. What will we be doing instead?"

Luna shrugged at Trixie, "Getting to the bottom of things hopefully. First we need to find Deetra. Actually, first we need to see the Emperor off, then find Deetra, if she isn't there to see him off as well."

"Very well. When's that happening?"

"We wish you a safe journey," Luna called out to the Emperor as his massive palanquin was dragged into the air by a dozen griffons, followed by his Imperial Guard, who apparently numbered no more than thirty altogether. With a few others, besides those carrying the palanquin, there were almost fifty griffons going. Didn't seem like much of a private affair if any of the ponies had been asked.

"Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor are ready to go," Twilight whispered to Luna out of the side of her mouth. She kept her eyes on the Emperor, watching his palanquin rise slowly into the sky.

"Good. You can leave when you're ready."

Twilight nodded, and Luna trotted after Deetra, catching the griffon before she vanished. Trixie gave her a small smile, which Twilight returned, then she left, breaking into a brisk canter that carried her swiftly back inside where Rainbow was by a hole in the wall, arguing with the griffon on the other side that had disarmed them upon their arrival.

"But you can't just keep them! They don't belong to you!"

"Do I look like I hatched yesterday? The Emperor has just gone, and now you want your weapons back? Do you even realise how suspicious that is?"

"There's three of us," Lightning pointed out flatly. "Do you really think we're going to attack them? It'd be suicide!"

"Then why do you want weapons?"

"Because we want to go flying in a country where the inhabitants don't like us," said Rainbow. "Excuse us for wanting to stop troublemakers from bothering us."

The griffon folded his arms, making it clear he wasn't going to give the Wonderbolts their weapons back. "Were I able I'd accuse you of plotting to harm our Emperor. Get out of my sight before I have you arrested."

"Not without our weapons!"

"Easy Rainbow," Twilight said as she trotted up to them. "The poor griffon's just trying to do his job. Why do you want your weapons anyway?"

It took Rainbow a split second to catch on, and they hoped the griffon hadn't noticed her short lived confusion. "We just want to go and explore the city without getting jumped by punks thinking we're an easy target."

Twilight hummed with feigned understanding, then looked to the griffon. "Are you sure they can't have their weapons?"

"Very sure. They look tough... for ponies, they should be fine."

"Very well." Twilight shrugged helplessly at the Wonderbolts, "We're the guests here, so what they say, goes. We'll just have to explore without them. Sorry to bother you," she added to the griffon.

Twilight started to walk away, followed a moment later by a very confused Rainbow, Lightning, and Vapor. "What are you doing Twilight?"

"Left of the door, third shelf up, box sixteen," Twilight said quietly, her eyes a little glazed as she walked, like she was looking at something that wasn't there.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll need to remember that so we can put them back in the right place." There was a flash, and three pairs of blades and their sheaths appeared in the air in front of the Wonderbolts. "You can thank me later."

"How did you-?" Rainbow stopped and shrugged, taking off to free her hooves up to carry the blades. "Are we clear to go then?"

"Luna's started on her part, so we're free to keep an eye on the Emperor." Twilight took to the air herself, and pumped her wings hard to put some distance between them and the castle, heading to the right where they could fly upwards without being seen by those in the castle.

The Emperor's entourage wasn't really challenging to find, flying low as it was with a large number of escorts. Considering the speed they caught up to it, it wasn't exactly going very fast either. Twilight hung back from it, keeping well above them and out of sight, and settled into a lazy method of flight as they waited for something to happen.

"Do you even realise what you're saying?" Deetra ran a claw back through the feathers on her head, "Griffon Intelligence wouldn't dare side with the Emperor's brother."

"And what are you basing that on?" asked Luna. "Eustace was their director, and it couldn't have been hard to get some of them on his side. Frankly, considering Eustace's expansionist desires compared to his brother, the presence of griffons in Mareitania at the end of the civil war makes even more sense." Luna dismissed that thought, unimportant as it was. "The point is, if Griffon Intelligence is performing proper reconnaissance of Equestria, the whereabouts of Theron, the Emperor's disgraced son, would be something they'd keep a close eye on."

"That is hardly enough for us to go accusing them with!" Deetra groaned and started pacing around her office, "I can't believe this... but at the same time it makes a sort of sense."

"Where were you this morning?" Cadence asked the ambassador. "We thought you would've been invited to breakfast with us and the Emperor."

Deetra stopped pacing and slowly turned to Cadence, "I wasn't even informed of such a thing."

"Oh gosh!" Trixie raised her hooves to her cheeks, "Even the messengers are in on this!"

"Trixie..." Luna said slowly, giving the unicorn the eye.

"Wow, that was the exact same tone of voice that Twilight uses. It's almost like she was here."

"Don't make me respell you."

"Alright, shutting up."

Luna huffed with exasperation, wondering less how Twilight consistently put up with Trixie, but why? The mare was uniquely annoying. Too bad she might've had a point, no matter how unintentional it may have been. If the message to Deetra was purposely undelivered to prevent her being at the breakfast, that was definitely something to think about. The ambassador's presence would likely have smoothed things out at least a little bit, and maybe prevented the abrupt conclusion the meal had instead. It was still hardly proof though. That lay elsewhere.

"There are two griffons from Equis here," Luna said to Deetra as the griffon resumed her pacing. "Do you know where they're being kept?"

"They haven't told you?"

Luna raised an eyebrow at Deetra, "Haven't told us what?"

"No, I mean they haven't told you where they are?" Luna shook her head. "Well they should've."

"Are they being detained by Griffon Intelligence?" Luna smiled awkwardly as Deetra lowered her head a little. "And the plot thickens."

Trixie leant back in her seat and kicked her rear hooves up on Deetra's desk, getting a dirty look from the griffon in return. "It really does feel like that the Emperor's brother being the head of Griffon Intelligence is something we should've known about some time ago. I guess that was something us mere ponies weren't allowed to know."

"Indeed," Luna said darkly. "I doubt it would've made much difference up until this point, but it still would've been good to know. Who is the current director?" Luna asked Deetra.

"That would be Janice." Deetra rotated a claw in the air as she spoke, "She's a bit severe in her mannerism, but she seems to know her job even better than Eustace did. Of course I wouldn't expect anything less from a scion of the old families-" Deetra stopped as Trixie started laughing, "What?"

"A scion of the old families? Sounds exactly like one of the griffons Eustace wanted on his side, if she isn't already."

Deetra raised a talon, lowered it, raised it again, then lowered it once more as she muttered, "Oh. That could explain why G.I's internal investigation didn't turn much up against Eustace."

Luna smiled tightly as the griffon sighed, "Our agents, Deetra, where are they?"

"In a safe house outside the castle. Of course, by safe house I mean pseudo-prison, and knowing what I do now, I can't guarantee much towards their condition."

"Can we have them back? They are Equestrian citizens after all."

"There might be a couple of problems with that," Deetra said nervously. "You aren't the rulers of Equestria at the moment, so have no grounds to make that request. At least, not with any weight."

"So..?" Luna asked slowly, hoping Deetra would get to the end of whatever little mental journey she was taking for this.

"So there's two ways to do this. One is asking the director of Griffon Intelligence for them back, since they are technically her prisoners. Obviously that isn't likely to get you very far. The second method is to ask the Emperor, but he isn't here."

Trixie sat up and rubbed her hooves together, "So we're going for option three then, breaking them out."

"That isn't what I would call advisable," Cadence said like she thought Trixie was joking. "We'll just have to wait for the Emperor to return, much like we must for everything else."

"If he returns," said Trixie.

"Have faith in Twilight."

Trixie shrugged. She did have faith in Twilight, but it was faith that Twilight would do the thing best for them, not Griffonia. "Sure. So, since we're not breaking anyone out of jail, and we have no idea what's going on, are we just going to end up waiting around until the Emperor returns? Assuming he doesn't end up dead."

"He'll be fine," Luna said firmly, although she had her doubts, as much as she kept them to herself. She was beginning to think she should have gone as well.

"I still feel like we're missing something," Trixie said to no one in particular. "The Emperor gets assassinated, and probably his daughter too, ensuring the line of succession passes to the Emperor's brother. The thing is, with all we know, how can Eustace ensure things work out how he wants when the majority of griffons think of him as a criminal? Either he has to frame someone to make himself look innocent, or-"

"His supporters do something while the Emperor is gone in the sure knowledge that he won't be returning," Luna finished. "It would be fairly pointless, but that way he possibly gets a smooth transition of power when he comes to claim the throne."

Trixie pointed a hoof at Luna, "That's even better than what I was going to say!"

"There's a problem with that though," said Deetra. "No griffon would accept that while they think the Emperor is alive. It would quickly turn bloody, and Eustace would lose. There's no point to him staging a coup when the throne is his by right anyway."

"Let's face it," Cadence said quickly. "We don't know what's going on, so we can't plan for it. All we can do is hope Twilight comes through."

"Or..." Trixie held her hooves out, making sure she had their full attention before continuing. "Or we assume that things aren't going to go the way we want, and do something about it. I reckon we should find this Janice and demand the return of our griffons, because they have to know something to be locked up so securely."

"No Trixie," Luna sighed, "let's not go upsetting anyone for no reason at all."

Trixie shrugged at Luna, "We did that just by coming here."

"I'm bored," said Rainbow.

"So you keep reminding us," Twilight said back, not taking her eyes off the palanquin ahead of them for a second. "I do feel like something should've happened by now though."

"Maybe they're waiting for the Emperor at his destination?" Vapor suggested. "It would be easier to ambush them on the ground with their attention on something else."

"Where is Pelegrin anyway?" asked Lightning.

"Pelegrin is a coastal province to the south of the Eyrie," Twilight answered. "Mostly known for seafood, if you're into that sort of thing."

"I think I'll pass."

"It also reaches some distance along the coast and ends where the border to Saddle Arabia begins, although that's not exactly relevant. What it does mean is that the province is quite large. Hopefully we're heading to its biggest town at its middle, rather than any further."

"Joy."

"I don't think it's far away now."

None of them bothered to question why Twilight thought that, but as the land became less mountainous, and shifted into sprawling grasslands, they could see the faint shimmer of the ocean in the distance. Shortly after that they could see a large town on the coast, although as the palanquin banked right, it became clear that wasn't where the Emperor was headed.

"Where are we going now?" Rainbow asked, fully expecting to not get an answer, but was fully surprised when Twilight pointed to a sprawling estate with a mansion built into a tree that was nestled into a small valley. "Huh, that's pretty neat."

Twilight motioned for them to stop as the palanquin came in to land on the ground in front of the mansion, and dragged them into the cover of a cloud as the Emperor disembarked. They watched as some griffons greeted the Emperor and his daughter, then groaned as they were led inside.

Lightning rolled onto her back and stretched her wings out, "This is so dull. Shouldn't we be spreading out and searching for the Bloodfeathers or something?"

"It's not a bad idea, Twilight," Rainbow said in agreement. "We spread out and search for any signs of hostiles, and you can stay here to keep an eye on things."

Twilight shrugged as it gave the three pegasi something to do, and also gave her the chance to try and get closer to the mansion and see what was going on. A win-win in her book. "Alright, you go do your thing, then meet back up here in half an hour. Really try to not be seen."

"Yes ma'am!" Lightning replied cheerfully, directing Rainbow and Vapor into two different directions before choosing one for herself and leaving Twilight on her own.

Twilight pondered on how she was going to do her part, and briefly regretted not bringing Mayfly with them as the changeling could've infiltrated the mansion with ease. In the end she decided to wait, rather get caught and mess everything up.

Vapor frowned tight-lipped at the ground. The town, the hills, all of it reminded her of Baltimare, the town where she grew up, and had met Sky Stinger. The entire thing had a bittersweet feel to it because of that, leaving her both angry and... empty.

Even thinking of Sky Stinger wanted to drive her to the ground, like lead weights had been hooked on her wings to drag her down. Lightning and Rainbow didn't even mention him any more, and the feeling of being alone with this pain was so much worse because of it. She never even got the chance to say goodbye, or tell Sky how she really felt about him.

Vapor quickly fought the feeling back before... before... Vapor didn't really know. She'd gone over this with herself again and again, but part of her refused to accept that he was gone. Far too much of her wished she'd gone with him. Being alone made the thought easier to hear.

"Stop it Vapor," the pale pegasus scolded herself, yet again. "You're not alone, and you have a job to do."

Vapor fought through the noise and returned herself to her task, not that there was anything to do for it. The ground was clear, the sky was clear, and there didn't seem to be anything around that could present a danger to the Emperor. Perhaps the princesses were overreacting to this whole thing.

Vapor checked the time, seeing that only fifteen minutes had passed. Too soon to be going back just yet, so she had no choice but to fly around aimlessly for a bit longer. She did consider going out over the ocean to dip her hooves in the cool water, but returning with wet hooves would definitely make it seem like she wasn't trying very hard.

She still longed to do it though, and flew closer to the ocean as temptation pulled at her. She was about to turn back when she spotted a lone griffon sat in the shade of a tree at the top of a cliff. She was shocked for a split second that a griffon would be so brazen, then remembered that she was in their country, not the other way around.

Her curiosity was piqued though, as this was the only griffon she'd seen during her short reconnaissance, so she flew closer. He was sat in front of a gravestone, unmoving like he was carefully considering the words upon it. He was also armoured, and armed, and Vapor froze as there was one griffon she could never forget after what he did to Sky, and he was sat below her, totally oblivious to her. It was Theron.

Vapor froze save for the flapping of her wings and the beating of her heart. The griffon responsible for Sky's death was within her reach, and she was suddenly struck with a temptation that she couldn't possibly resist. She could do it. Take revenge on the griffon for taking Sky away from her, and kill him before he had the chance to enact whatever twisted scheme had brought him here.

She drew her blades, their weight on her legs feeling like more of a comfort than they ever had before. Theron still hadn't moved, clearly unaware of the danger he faced, so she prepared herself, a sureness of purpose pushing her on as she began her dive, her blades whistling through the air, giving her away.

She was barely two dozen meters away when Theron rolled to the side faster than she could correct herself, and she only just avoided colliding with the ground and headstone. She pulled up and looped around to the right, hoping to get another chance at Theron before he could get away, or call for help.

She swung a blade at him as she flew in for another attack, and shouted in surprise as he caught her leg in a vice-like grip, dragging her down to the ground. She hacked wildly with her free leg, hitting nothing but armour that her blades couldn't pierce without a decent run-up, and after a few strikes he caught that too.

Vapor flapped her wings hard, hoping to overbalance him enough into letting go, but all it did was push him over onto his back, dragging her down with him. She tried to kick him, and got maybe two or three decent strikes in before he pushed a paw up under her belly. She tried to kick it out from under her, but he lifted her up so her rear legs no longer touched the ground, and extended his claws so they dug into her belly.

Vapor froze, her mind filled with visions of him dragging that paw down to her groin, her flight suit not having enough armour in that spot to stop him doing some serious damage. Judging by the look on his face, he'd thought the same thing.

"Stop right there pony, or your guts are on the floor, and since I'm expecting to meet somegriff very important here, I'd rather not do it covered in blood."

Vapor flinched as Theron craned his neck up and undid her muzzleguard with his beak, then pulled her goggles off. He stared into her eyes for a moment, then chuckled.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little pony that learnt to throw lightning. What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you."

"Oh? And what did I do to garner such attention?"

"You killed my friend."

Theron's face went flat, "And you killed plenty of mine, so I think it's only fair I kill at least one of yours."

"You attacked us first!"

"Yeah... I don't care. Equestria was just a means to an end." Theron forced Vapor's front legs back, one at a time, sheathing her weapons. He then kicked her into the air a little to reposition his paw under her chest. "This is going to hurt," he said, covering her mouth with one of his wings.

Vapor screamed into his wing as he pushed away with his back leg, and pulled on her front ones until her shoulders dislocated with pops that she both heard and felt. Once both had been pulled out, he let go and let her flop sideways to the ground, causing her yet more agony. Tears streaked her cheeks, and her vision darkened, but no matter how much she wished it, her mind resolutely refused to surrender to the dark.

"Y'know, it really can't be just a coincidence that you've turned up here today of all days," Theron said conversationally as he stood and dusted himself off like he'd done nothing more than shake her hoof a bit too vigorously. "I suspect there's something you haven't told me. Why are you really here?"

"Fuck... you!" Vapor panted, wishing desperately that she could at the very least wipe the tears from her eyes, even with her wings, but they felt as useless as her legs.

"Of course. Now I'm going to ask again." Theron extended a talon and stuck it into the muscle beneath Vapor's right wing, and pushed until it pierced her flesh, and she started to scream again. "Why are you here?"

"Fuck off!"

Theron growled and grabbed Vapor around the neck, picking her up and removing her helmet with his other claw. "I have to admit that I was surprised by the ferocity you ponies showed in battle. It wasn't what I expected at all." Next he unzipped Vapor's flight suit, letting it slide off to the ground. "But you're only brave and strong together. On your own you're pretty weak."

"We're stronger than you know," Vapor hissed, forcing the words out past the claw constricting her neck.

"Are you now? Anyone might say you had the advantage here, launching an ambush against me when I'm alone and distracted, yet here we are." Theron dropped Vapor, the mare crying out as she came close to fainting from the pain. "You don't seem very strong to me."

Vapor said nothing, getting a shrug in response to her silence. Theron picked up her uniform and pulled the straps from it, tying them into a single length that he tied around her rear hooves, before dragging her over to the tree. He jumped up into the branches, pulling Vapor up with him, and tied the other end around a branch, leaving her to dangle.

Theron jumped back down, and grinned at Vapor as she cried and struggled. "I bet you really regret this now," he said, pressing the tip of a talon to Vapor's forehead, just above her left eye. "Last chance to just tell me what's going on, pony."

"I'll never talk!"

"That's what you think."

"Anything happening yet?"

Twilight shook her head, steadying herself as the cloud bounced from Rainbow's landing. "I think they're just talking so far."

"Probably making fun of us coming here and asking for their help," Rainbow grumbled. "I didn't see anything, just so you know. At least nothing heavily armed."

"Alright, good, but we can't be sure until the others get back."

Rainbow nodded and sat down next to Twilight, watching the mansion below. "I have a question."

"You do? Let's hear it then."

"I'm sure you've noticed as much as I have that Crown Princess Clarissa seems much more accommodating towards us, so I was wondering, should this totally hypothetical assassination happen, what would happen if we saved her but let the Emperor die?" Rainbow held her hooves up as Twilight looked at her out of the corner of her eye, "I'm not saying we do that! I'm just asking."

"Alright then, what happens is that everything gets screwed up. Clarissa is still young and learning, so if she were suddenly thrust into the role of Empress, she would likely be a weak ruler at first, and prone to listening to those she trusts, no matter how wrong they might be. There would also be the issue of transferring her father's power to her, which would probably take a while, meaning that it would be a long time before Griffonia would be in a position to aid us, and that might well be too late. The point is that her father is in a better position to help us, even if he is less willing."

"Oh." Rainbow fiddled with her hooves for a few seconds, "So I guess letting him die is a bad idea."

"Not as bad as letting both him and his daughter die. That would be all kinds of disastrous."

"Right." Rainbow nodded, "Right. No letting the Emperor die. I'm guessing that saving him but letting Clarissa die is just as bad?"

Twilight had to think about that one, and concluded that the Emperor would likely never help them if he thought that they'd let his daughter die, especially when she was the one trying to get him to consider their request. "I think that's possibly worse for us than letting the Emperor die and saving her."

"So we really should save both of them?"

"As was the plan all along, yes."

"Awesome." Rainbow went quiet again for several seconds before speaking further. "What if they've been poisoned by whoever's down there?"

"Unlikely. Poison isn't a very griffon thing to do. They're more about duels, and honour, and all that stuff."

"And we're not?" Twilight shrugged lazily to Rainbow's question. Historically ponies had equal use for poisons as they did honour duels. As in not at all. "Oh. Guess that's something the griffons have on us then."

"Not really. While I'm not advocating poisoning our enemies, the problem with duels is that you can lose."

"Nothing to report," Lightning said as she flew in, interrupting the two friends. "Is Vapor not back yet?" she asked, landing on the cloud. "That's not like her. I hope she isn't in trouble."

"Should we go look for her?" Rainbow asked Twilight.

Twilight bit her bottom lip, wanting to say yes, but knowing that anything could happen at any moment, so she needed the others with her. "We'll give her quarter of an hour to come back, then Lightning can go looking if nothing's happened by then."

"Why quarter of an hour?" Lightning enquired. "Why not now? Makes just as much sense to go now than in fifteen minutes."

"Just... wait, please?"

Lightning sighed but obeyed, flopping onto the cloud beside Rainbow as they watched the mansion.

Twilight had been watching movement within for some time, and suspected that the Emperor would show himself soon, so was extremely vindicated when he left the mansion with his daughter not ten minutes after she had asked Lightning to wait, and boarded his palanquin.

"How's Vapor supposed to find us if we're gone?" Lightning asked as Twilight stood and stretched her wings.

"Uh..." Twilight stopped moving as she mulled it over, "hmm. Okay, once whatever the Emperor is doing is done, we'll search for her. Now come on, we need to keep up."

The three ponies took flight, still keeping high to avoid detection as the flight of griffons headed towards the coast, towards a tree on the edge of a cliff. Twilight considered it an unusual destination, but concluded that it had to hold some significance for the Emperor to go there.

There weren't any clouds to hide on as they reached the tree, so they hovered instead as the Emperor disembarked. It was only then that they noticed the two figures by the tree. One mostly brown and wearing armour, and the other white, and hanging from a branch. Twilight's stomach sank as she could tell it was Vapor.

"No!"

"Rainbow wait!" Twilight shouted, but Rainbow was already going, and a few seconds later her world went bumpy and colourful as a sonic Rainboom burst across the sky, sending both her and Lightning flying. "Shit!" Twilight cursed as Lightning shot off after Rainbow, leaving her to play catch up.

Rainbow aimed straight for the griffon by the tree, ignoring the Emperor, and the large number of griffons guarding him. He dove to the side as she tried to attack him, and rolled with the blow as Lightning followed Rainbow with her own attack. Both of them looped around to try again, but stopped as a single voice bellowed at them all.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"Hello father," Theron said, spitting on the ground towards the Emperor. "I've been waiting for you."

"Your Majesty!" Twilight landed heavily on the ground adjacent to the two griffons, "I can explain!"

"You can explain later. First I want to know why this filth is here, desecrating his mother's grave!" The Emperor gestured towards the gravestone, and Twilight felt bile rise in her throat as she saw there was an eyeball sat on top of it. She then looked to Vapor, seeing the mare was covered in blood from dozens of cuts, and dripping out of an empty eye socket. She didn't dare move though, not until the Emperor was safe.

"Clearly you didn't know mother as well as you think you did," Theron said back to his father. "I'm sure she would've loved this."

"You disgrace her memory, or have you forgotten it was her that changed my mind towards the ponies in the first place?"

"Why do you think I know she'd love this? She always had a fantastic sense of irony."

"Stop this, brother, please!"

Theron rolled his eyes as Clarissa stood next to her father, "Hello sister, still simpering in father's shadow I see. Is the prospect of ruling this one day getting to you yet? If so, I have a way to ease that burden of yours. Maybe even two."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." Theron reached into his armour and pulled out a device that he held in his claw. He pointed it at the Emperor, who dove for cover, needlessly, as Theron raised the device and pointed it up over the cliff edge and pulled the trigger.
A flare of light shot from the device, travelling up into the sky for some distance before gravity started pulling it back down, not that anyone there was paying much attention by that point. As soon as Theron had fired it, the sound of griffish battle cries had come from below the cliff edge, followed soon after by a couple hundred griffons dressed in the armour and colours of the Bloodfeathers.

The Imperial Guard formed a line around the Emperor and Princess, while Twilight fired wildly into the mass of griffons, blasting as many out of the sky as she could before they reached the Emperor. Rainbow flew to her side, leaving Lightning as she rushed to Vapor, cutting her out of the tree and getting her into cover.

"Kill them!" Theron shouted to his griffons. "Kill them all except the Emperor! He's mine!"

The Bloodfeathers descended onto the Imperial Guard, and Twilight quickly learnt that the guards were no pushovers. Even with their numerical advantage, the Bloodfeathers failed to break through the Guards' defence, instead meeting a line of spears that cut a dozen down in the first few seconds. Twilight gawked for a second, then remembered she had a job to do.

"Stay with me Rainbow," Twilight ordered, summoning Swordy as she joined the battle in the air. Her horn glowed brightly as she blasted griffon after griffon with all the power she could muster, making sure that if she hit a target, it stayed down. When a griffon came too close she put Swordy to work, the enchanted blade slicing through weapons and armour like a knife through butter.

"Stop taking all the fun!" Rainbow shouted, darting out to tackle a griffon that had been lining up to attack one of the Imperial Guard, killing her with a blade between the shoulders before she could make their position any weaker. A flash of lightning boomed, knocking another griffon out, and signalling that Lightning was in the fight as well. "We got this Twilight! Protect the Emperor!"

Twilight nodded and dropped back to the ground, holding Swordy out in front of her as she did, meeting a griffon on the way down that landed in two places afterwards. She tried to get closer to the Emperor, but one of the Imperial Guard lashed out at her, forcing her to stop. "I'm trying to help!"

Twilight never heard what his reply was as a griffon leapt on her, dragging a blade down the length of her ribcage. Her legs collapsed with the sudden pain, which might've saved her life as a bolt of lightning hit the griffon, knocking him away like he'd been hit by a train. She was about to try to stand when a claw grabbed her back leg and pulled her into the defensive line. It was the guard she'd spoken to.

"Can you shield the Emperor?"

"Of course!"

"Do it then, before these bastards whittle us down to nothing."

Twilight complied, erecting a shield over the Emperor, Clarissa, and the few other unarmed griffons there, freeing the Imperial Guard up to really join the fight.

"No!" Theron shouted, launching himself at the shield and slamming his short swords down onto it. "No-no-no!"

"Fuck yes you bastard!" Twilight shouted back at him. She was about to attack him when he took to the air, short sharp cries leaving his beak that had the other Bloodfeathers breaking off from the battle and retreating. Within seconds, the battle was over, the Bloodfeathers seemingly unwilling to go up against an alicorn. It almost seemed like they had experience with that.

Twilight lowered the shield, breathing a sigh of relief as she turned to the Emperor, who was staring at her flatly, apparently nonplussed by what had happened.

"I hope you have a good explanation for this."

"Your brother and son want you and your daughter dead so they can claim the throne. Doesn't get much simpler than that really." Twilight hissed as her chest reminded her of its injury, and she pressed a hoof to it. "I really don't think now's the time for this."

"Agreed. Judging by their path, those traitors are heading for the Eyrie. They must be planning to free my brother and take the castle by force. You're going to help me stop them."

"Of course, your Majesty, as you wi-"

"Twilight!" Rainbow rushed over to Twilight, grabbing her and pulling her away. "Vapor's in a real bad way! She needs help!"

Twilight glanced back at the Emperor, then forgot him and her injury as she flew to Vapor. Lightning was with her, propping her up against the trunk of the tree, desperately pleading for her to stay with them.

Twilight didn't even know where to begin. Vapor's injuries, while survivable individually, were numerous. Blood loss alone would claim her if nothing else did first. She was alive though, her chest moving with shallow breaths, and that meant she had a chance.

"What do we do, Twilight?" Rainbow asked, her voice heavy with pleading. "Tell us what to do!"

"There's nothing I can do for her here. She needs a healing device, and those are back at the castle, or the retreat. Retreat's probably safer." Twilight glanced over her shoulder as a shout came from the cliff edge, directed at the Emperor. "Stay here with her. I'll be back in a moment."

Twilight flew over to the Emperor as he waddled over to the cliff, then slowed as one of the guards flew up carrying the body of a unicorn wearing the uniform of a Mareitanian Adept. It had been roughed up and stabbed a couple of times to make it look like the pony had died in battle, and judging by the blood on the uniform, the pony had been alive at the time.

"There's at least two dozen of them down there," said the guard. "Unicorns and earth ponies. They even have a pile of pony weapons with them."

Twilight swallowed as the Emperor turned his gaze on her, "I think it's time for that explanation."

"You already know about what your brother was doing, plotting with your son, but to put it simply, you brother wants you and Clarissa dead, making him the next in line to the throne. Since he's accused of treason, these ponies must've been to deflect the blame off him and onto Faust, making him look innocent."

"And what would be my son's part in this?"

"Your brother would declare him as next in line to the throne. That's why they wanted Griffonstone, for Theron to prove his worth to the Empire by returning Griffonstone to the fold, and to help reinforce your brothers expansionist dreams. Or at least that's the most likely reason I can think of."

The Emperor nodded slowly, "Very well, but that doesn't explain what you're doing here on what was to be a very private journey."

"Because I had a talk with your brother last night, although I removed it from his memory. He didn't confirm anything, but I knew he had to be planning something. Then I checked those reports you left at breakfast this morning, and saw no mention of the Bloodfeathers, which I thought was odd because it seemed like something you'd want to know. I then figured that there were likely griffons in Griffon Intelligence that were on your brother's side, and were holding information from you."

"And so you followed me here?"

Twilight nodded rapidly, "You'd be out of the castle and vulnerable, and both your brother and son would know exactly where you were to attack. We followed you to help if something happened, and well..." Twilight gestured at the battlefield, "yeah."

The Emperor went quiet for a while, and could see him putting it all together. She tried to wait patiently, but in the back of her mind she could feel Vapor's time ticking away.

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but you have my thanks, Princess. I'd ordered an internal investigation of Griffon Intelligence, but I had never suspected the rot ran that deep. To think my brother had been able to do this from within his prison cell."

"Your Majesty, I know this is important, but my friend is dying, and I need to get her help."

"Really? I've lost over half of my personal guard in this attack, and you're concerned about one pony? I-" The Emperor stopped as Clarissa pressed a claw to his shoulder, "Ugh, fine, what do you need?"

"You and your daughter alive. I know you're going to be heading back to your castle, but I can't guarantee your survival, and neither can Princess Luna. I'm asking for you to leave Crown Princess Clarissa in my care, to keep her safe while you sort this out. If anything were to happen to both of you, that'd be a disaster for both our countries."

"Absolutely not."

"Father!"

Clarissa cowered as her father wheeled on her, "I'm not letting you out of my sight!"

"She just saved our lives! If she meant us harm, she could've just left us to Theron. You know she's right, and you know she'll keep me safe."

"Nnngh... very well, but I tell you this now Princess Sparkle, if anything happens to her, anything at all, there is no place in this world you'll be able to hide."

"You have my word that she won't be harmed, and I'll tell my other friends to stay with you to... supplement your protection." Twilight nudged her head back towards Vapor, "She really is dying though, so with your permission I'll be getting both her and your daughter to safety."

"Very well." The Emperor turned to Clarissa, and nuzzled his beak against hers, "Stay safe my darling."

Clarissa returned the gesture and grabbed her father in a hug, "You too, papa."

Twilight let them finish their goodbyes and returned back to Vapor. Her remaining eye was open, but didn't seem very focussed.

"I didn't talk. I didn't talk," she repeated.

"I know," Lightning choked. "You did good, Vapor." She looked desperately up at Twilight, who gently scooped Vapor up in her magic.

"Clarissa is coming with us to keep her safe, but that doesn't mean much if her father gets killed. I'm taking them to the retreat where the others can take care of Vapor, then I'll head back to the castle." Twilight looked over as Clarissa walked up to them, "You're staying with the Emperor."

Lightning's eyes bulged at the suggestion, "You can't be serious! Vapor needs us!"

"Vapor just let this happen under the belief that her silence would help us protect the Emperor! If he dies now, this'll have been for nothing! You are staying with the Emperor, so keep. Him. Safe!" That said, Twilight lit her horn and teleported away, reappearing in the confines of the Retreat's portal chamber, alongside Clarissa.

"Sunset!" Twilight shouted, running for the observation area.

Sunset jumped, dropping her book as Twilight thundered towards her, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. "What? Twilight? What are you doing here?" She froze as she saw Vapor, "What the shit?"

"Healing device! Now!"

Author's Notes:

There's probably a lot more I could do to prepare this chapter, but I'm tired and just staring at it, so meh. I think my own lack of planning is again hurting my ideas. Curse me. *shakes fist*