Sunset bit her lip, her eyes flitting back and forth between Twilight as she healed Vapor, Clarissa, the heir to the throne of Griffonia that had been brought with her, and the bloodied form of Vapor herself, who had been knocking on death's door not fifteen minutes earlier. A lot of something wasn't adding up here, and it was bothering her.

"Twilight, what the hell went wrong?"

Twilight snorted into a laugh, although she stopped it quickly. "Believe it or not, this is things going right. Not this," she quickly amended as she nodded at Vapor, "this is awful, but the rest of it is going pretty well compared to how it could be going."

"I really feel like you need to explain things a little more than that."

"I'm not sure I have time to-"

"Twilight! The Crown Princess of Griffonia is sat right next to me for some reason! Tell me what's going on!"

"Alright! Sheesh." Twilight spent a couple minutes trying to explain it, but found that a lot of what they'd been right about was based on being paranoid enough to follow the Emperor. Sure it'd worked out, but it had all been based on a suspicious hunch, which didn't sound so good when she tried to say it out loud. "And that's why Clarissa is here, to keep her safe in case the worst happens."

Sunset repeated the basics of what had happened back to herself, just to be sure. "So they wanted to kill the Emperor and his daughter so his brother Eustace got the throne, named Theron his heir, then frame the Mareitanians for the Emperor's death, giving them a reason to attack Faust. Sure, makes sense."

Nightmare chuckled darkly as she listened from across the room, "Sounds to me like this Eustace should be constantly looking over his shoulder where his nephew is concerned. Theron doesn't sound like one to wait for nature to take place."

"None of them do," Sunset agreed. "It still doesn't explain why this had to happen to Vapor."

"If she'd told him we were planning to protect the Emperor, Theron might've had a chance to plan a different, and possibly more effective attack. Frankly I'm thankful she didn't talk, or things could be a lot worse right now."

"That's not an explanation, Twilight."

"And Theron might just be a sadistic fuck." Twilight looked at Moondancer's empty seat, vacant since she'd ran off after taking one look at Vapor. "I know it's only been a day, but has anything good happened here?"

"Not really," said Sunset, "and don't think that's something you need to worry about. What's happening in Griffonia right now should be your primary concern."

"Not until Vapor is stable enough to survive on her own. Until then they'll just have to manage without me."

Lightning punched Rainbow on the side as soon as the flash from Twilight's teleport faded from her vision. "I swear Rainbow, if Vapor dies, I'm done. We've lost enough of our friends already."

"She'll be fine," Rainbow replied, rubbing the spot where Lightning had struck her. "Those healing thingies can fix anything."

"They can't fix dead!"

"Alright, no, but she isn't dead, you saw that." Rainbow walked over to Vapor's discarded uniform, and rolled it up, squeezing it into Vapor's helmet and strapping it to her side, along with Vapor's weapons. "Come on Lightning, don't be like this. Twilight needs us to protect the Emperor, and that's what we're going to do."

Lightning sighed tiredly, "That Emperor couldn't give a shit if we died right now. Let's face it Rainbow, were still just pawns fighting someone else's war."

"Twilight just went to save Vapor's life when she had plenty of reasons to stay here. She does care about us, Lightning, and she wouldn't have left us if she thought we were in serious danger. Right now we need to make sure the Emperor stays alive until she gets back, or something so much worse could happen."

"Like the Bloodfeathers coming back for another go?"

Rainbow quickly looked around, "What? Where?"

"I'm just saying, if they did that now, we'd be totally fucked, so I think we should get the Emperor to safety." Lightning grinned weakly at Rainbow, "Gotcha, by the way, and you're right. It's just... Vapor, she's been through so much now. She didn't need this as well."

"Ain't that the truth, but there's nothing we can do about it. To be honest, she must have some serious guts to lose an eye like that and not talk."

"Which only scares me more. Whatever she's going through in her head since losing Sky, I don't think she's coming back from it." Lightning shrugged at Rainbow, "Guess there's nothing we can do about it now. Come on, let's go meet the Emperor, and see where he wants us."

Rainbow decided to say nothing, and followed Lightning. She wanted to say that Vapor would be fine, and that she would come back from it, but she knew she'd only be projecting her own hopes for all of them, instead of all of them being casualties of what had happened over the last half of a year. Not even she was that blindly optimistic though.

They found the Emperor overseeing the lining up of bodies over their small battlefield. Bloodfeathers, Imperial Guard, and the ponies in Mareitanian uniforms were placed in separate lines, and neither of them could work out what the hell he was doing.

"Your Majesty?" Rainbow said, looking up at the Emperor. It was funny, but in this situation he seemed much less like the slovenly blob that she'd seen him as so far. Now he moved with purpose and determination, and seemed much more like a leader. "What are you doing?"

"Hmm?" The Emperor turned to face the two ponies, and smiled at them. "Ah, my noble protectors. I'm just preparing the bodies for collection later while I try to think of a plan. Since I have no idea what we'll be facing when we return to the Eyrie, I think it best we be prepared for anything and everything."

"You mean like an invasion?"

"I wouldn't go that far, but between those blasted Bloodfeathers, and whatever traitors my brother has on his side, we could be facing hundreds of foes. Obviously we're not going to face that with two ponies and a clawful of Imperial Guard."

"Princess Luna's at the Eyrie, and Trixie. They'll help."

The Emperor smiled again, "While I have heard much of the battle prowess of Princess Luna, and a surprising amount about Trixie Lulamoon, not even they could turn the tide in this battle. No, we need much more than that."

"Begging your pardon, your Majesty," Lightning said with the utmost politeness since she was about to contradict an emperor, "but we've seen Luna in action plenty of times, and she's no pushover. I'm not going to say she'll have this sorted out by the time we get there, but she'll definitely have thinned them out."

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't share your confidence in the Princess," the Emperor replied. "I cannot put my faith in an unknown quantity. I need to plan this like she's not even there."

Rainbow nudged Lightning, and shook her head, indicating that she should drop the issue. "Where do you want us your Majesty?" she asked instead.

"You stay by me, little ponies. I have no wish for your princesses to get upset at me if you get killed. As for where we're going, we're going to get some help."

"I'm getting the suspicion that we should've been a touch more proactive about things," said Trixie, ducking her head back inside the door to their room and shutting it, blocking the sounds of battle coming from nearby. "There is definitely an attack going on."

"Thank you for the information, Trixie Lulamoon," Luna said flatly, glancing quickly over to the bed Cadence was sat on, nervously holding Flurry. "Maintain your readiness to point out the obvious at all times, understood? I fear we will not last the day without it."

"Alright, you don't have to be a sarcastic cow about it. What I was going to say was that I think that we should go out there and take the bull by the horns and help the griffons on the Emperor's side. Otherwise we're going to be sat here like idiots when they come for us."

"While I would like to agree, we have two issues. First is that we have no idea if this is a result of Twilight having failed to protect the Emperor, in which case fighting is fairly pointless, and second is that we have no way of telling who is on whose side. I doubt even you would advocate killing all of them just to be sure."

"Actually, I was just going to stand behind you and give moral support." Trixie shrugged at Luna and smiled half-heartedly, "I'm trying to not use dark magic."

"Then use your regular magic? Twilight has been teaching you, has she not?"

"It's not as simple as that," Trixie grumbled. "I can attack with my regular magic sorta okay, but without dark magic I'm defenceless. I can't for the life of me work out how to make decent shields, no matter how patiently Twilight explains it."

"Did she tell you the most important part?"

"That a dome shaped shield is stronger than a flat one, yes."

"Not that." Luna smiled at Trixie, then looked over at Cadence. "Cadence, what's the most important part of forming a shield?"

"The desire to protect."

Luna nodded at Trixie, "The desire to protect. Yourself, others, doesn't matter. This is going to sound cheesy enough to leave a lingering smell, but without the proper motivation, a shield is no more effective than a soap bubble. Tell me Trixie, how's your self loathing these days?"

"Neither here nor there," Trixie replied stiffly while Cadence goggled at Luna. "Are you about to tell me that I need to learn to love myself?"

"No, but... ngh, here we go. I'm sure I don't need to explain my past in much detail any more, but I developed a very aggressive fighting style in the past. The reason I did so was because I was compensating for my lack of defensive capabilities. Frankly, my shields were rubbish because I despised myself, and others. I lacked the desire to protect. Your issues may well be similar."

"Uh-huh. That sounds like utter bullshit, frankly. I care plenty about others."

"But do you feel the need to protect them?"

"Not really. Twilight's an alicorn, you're an alicorn, and the rest of them aren't in the line of fire, so it doesn't matter." Trixie paused as she considered what she'd said, and realised something. "Oh. Suddenly I see what you're getting at."

Luna nodded once at Trixie, "Quite. Unfortunately we don't have the time to get you to explore your feelings on this, but try to keep it in mind while we go out there and work out who it is we're supposed to be stopping."

"Right." Trixie lit her horn as she started to summon her armour and put it on. "Hopefully my fancy magic armour will be enough to keep my blood where it's supposed to be. If not, tell Twilight that she needs to explore a new mane style in the next century at least."

There was a groan from Cadence, "I will never understand how anypony can make jokes in these situations. At any rate, I'll stay here and keep Flurry safe while you two go do whatever it is you're planning to do."

"You do that," said Luna. "Although I do hope that if any griffons try to get in here and harm you or Flurry, you will not hesitate to act."

Cadence swallowed hard, "I'll try."

"Trying isn't enough, Cadence." Luna stopped Cadence with a raised hoof before she could retort. "Just... stay safe until we return. Come Trixie, let us see if we can't turn the tide of whatever 's happening to the Emperor's favour."

"Sure... let's go do this... thing."

Luna led the way, which Trixie was more than happy about. They locked Cadence in the room and made their way to the more important parts of the castle. It didn't take them long to find some bodies, and nearby the sound of fighting. The deceased seemed to be from the castle guards, although there was no sign of who they had been fighting.

"What if they killed each other?" Trixie suggested to Luna as the alicorn inspected the bodies.

"I doubt it. There's no blood on their weapons. These poor griffons weren't expecting an attack off whoever killed them, or never saw their attackers I suppose, although that seems unlikely." Luna rolled one of the bodies over, showing a stab wound in his unarmoured neck. "Honestly Trixie, I have no idea what's going on here."

Trixie cocked an ear as the sound of fighting intensified, with an increase of the ear splitting calls the griffons used. She had no idea what they meant, but she could tell by the look on Luna's face that she could. "What is it?"

Luna listened for a second, letting her experience pick though the nuances of griffon calls, which had a tendency to sound similar to the uninitiated. "More attackers have arrived. Any more than that I can't say, other than they've come from outside the castle."

"And you picked up that much from craawwwaughck!" Trixie banged on her chest a couple of times as her imitation griffon call threatened to rupture her lungs. "Ahem."

"It's all in the inflection."

"Of course it is, of course." Trixie nodded to herself a couple of times as she waited for something to happen. Nothing did. "Luna, what the hell are we really doing here?"

"I... don't know. Perhaps we should see there is something we can do further into the castle. Perhaps the new arrivals have a way for us to differentiate them from the others here."

"They're certainly managing it," Trixie observed of the griffons still fighting in the distance. Letting Luna again lead the way, Trixie kept herself ready. They weren't far from the main corridor through the castle, where most of the fighting was taking place, and in the distance they could see griffons flying past the entrance of the hallway they were in as a battle was fought on both land and in the air.

"Well that should make things easier."

"What should?"

Luna pointed at a griffon in mismatched armour that was grappling with one of the castle guard, "Bloodfeathers. If they aren't our enemy, I don't know who here is."

"Neat. So kill the ones in the crappy armour. Got it."

"And any griffon that attacks you. Although not a guarantee in this place, considering griffon sentiment towards us, there's a good chance they aren't on the side of the Emperor."

"That's our story, and we're sticking to it," Trixie said cheerfully. "Alternatively, we could encourage those defending the castle to leave it, then trap the bad guys inside."

"A fair idea, but I doubt these griffons would listen to us."

"Then let's just go and make sure the good griffons win." Trixie bowed to Luna and gestured towards the main hall, "After you, your Highness."

"So gracious." Luna trotted up to the fight, noting that none of the griffons had taken the slight bit of notice of them so far, although that would quickly change. She charged her horn, picked out a Bloodfeather that was grappling with one of the guards, and fired, blasting the griffon across the hall and into the wall hard enough to crack the stone.

Luna ran out into the fight, making a point of targeting the Bloodfeathers until it became more obvious who their enemies were. Trixie did the same, her pale pink magic striking the Bloodfeathers with a fraction of the power she was used to. Luna could see it just by looking, and by the frustration on Trixie's face. She wanted the power the dark magic gave her, but it remained to be seen if she'd give in to that temptation.

"Oh come on!" Trixie shouted, putting her all into each attack. It seemed to make no difference though, because as powerful as she had become, her regular magic simply lacked the punch that dark magic had, and there was a little voice in her head screaming at her to use it, to kill her enemies, and most beguilingly of all, to protect her friends. She tried to ignore it, but as her frustration grew, so did her anger. Black started to tinge the colour of her magic.

"Trixie!" Luna called out as the unicorn started to put more of her anger into each attack, and she was thankful when Trixie looked back at her and realised what she was doing. Luna wasn't given much time to act further on it though as a griffon hen wearing armour very different to what she'd seen so far attacked her. It was dark grey, and bore no markings. That alone made Luna think that she had to be with Griffon Intelligence.

Luna's magic caught a claw wielding a dagger as it came down towards her, but rather than withdraw from the attack, or try to pull her claw away, the hen reached back and grabbed something from her belt before throwing it into Luna's eyes. It was some kind of dust, and it burned like fire.

Luna coughed and retched, tossing the griffon away from her as the powder went up her nose as well as blinded her. She couldn't even begin to hazard a guess as to what it was at that second, but it certainly had a effect. Luna shielded herself as she tried to recover, and cried in pain as her lungs felt like they were full of lava, and her eyes watering from the powder.

"Oh shit-oh shit-oh shit!" Trixie yelled as Luna hid beneath a shield that failed to cover the cries coming from beneath it. That wasn't her main concern though, as the fact that she was now alone was far more troubling. She staggered as a sword hit her on the side, and she found herself face to face with a grey armoured hen that was aiming to throw something at her. Trixie never gave her the chance as terror took over her, and her horn.

The hen screamed as black magic coiled up her arm and tore it off. Trixie screamed as well, but it was more of an existential horror based scream rather than a pained one. She crushed the life from the hen, then came to find that all the other griffons were staring at her, and the severed appendage that she was still holding in her magic. Thankfully Luna came to her rescue, grabbing her and dragging her under the shield.

"Calm yourself, Trixie," Luna wheezed, trying to look at Trixie through puffed up eyes that were running to the point it was dripping on the floor. "You're safe under here."

Trixie dropped the leg, like she was surprised to be holding it. She wanted to say something, to make a joke, or offhand comment, but there was no hiding what she'd just done. She'd been in danger, and had gone straight back to the dark magic to save herself. She'd lasted barely thirty seconds without using it, if that.

"What happened to you?" Trixie asked, if only for the distraction.

"Chilli powder, I believe." Luna rubbed her eyes and tried to blink away her tears. "Truly the griffons have found a weapon capable of destroying alicorns."

"Do you need help?"

"Short of asking you to gouge my eyes out, no. I shall have to endure it until it passes." Luna rubbed her eyes again and sighed, trying to hide how much it hurt from Trixie, "What's happening outside the shield?"

"They've carried on fighting. Seems me ripping a leg off wasn't too big of a distraction for them." Trixie stared at the leg in question for a moment, then turned away, choosing to look at the floor instead. "What now?"

"Now we assume that the griffons in the nondescript grey armour are also our opponents." Both of them jumped as the body of a griffon slammed against the shield, "Perhaps we should make for the throne room, and see if we can push back from there."

"I'm not sure I can."

Luna groaned loudly, shocking Trixie. "You, Trixie Lulamoon, have seriously misplaced your moxie. Using dark magic every now and again isn't going to damn your soul, just as refraining from using it isn't going to save it either. There isn't a quantifiable amount you have to use it before it damns you, because you only have to use it once. That said, I'm not encouraging its use either, but this is somewhat of an emergency."

"So basically you're saying I'm damned whatever I do." Trixie placed a hoof on her chest as something ached within. "Wow."

"Alright, while what I said might've sounded a lot like that, what I mean is that refraining from dark magic isn't what's going to save you, while at the same time the best way to avoid what it is you fear is by staying alive, which your dark magic is rather useful for in these situations."

Trixie kept her hoof to her chest for a little longer, waiting for the ache within to subside. It didn't, but Luna's words made it ignorable. If staying alive postponed her damnation, then that was what she was going to do. She stood and turned to face the way to the throne room, picking out those griffons in Bloodfeather and Griffon Intelligence armour. "Let's do this."

"On three then. One, two... three!" Luna dropped the shield and launched into an attack while Trixie did what she'd done so many times before. A barrage of razor sharp crystal spears flew from her, impaling those griffons she'd picked out before. In seconds, half a dozen of them were dead.

Luna had less luck, with her sight being limited. She was using her magic to compensate, which she often did anyway thanks to her huge, wafting mane blocking much of her sight a lot of the time anyway, but it wasn't quite as nice as using the eyes you'd used since birth. Instead she did her best to keep Trixie safe as the armoured unicorn pushed on to the throne room.

"All griffons loyal to the Emperor, make for the throne room!" Luna shouted, hoping that they'd listen to her. They certainly had no reason to, and would probably be accused them of orchestrating the coup later, but right now actions spoke louder than words as the two ponies cut a path through the loyalists opponents. As one, they started to push for the throne room. Even so, Luna found it weird to be fighting alongside griffons.

The doors to the throne room were sealed tight as they reached them, which left Luna thinking that whoever was within was suddenly very worried about what was coming. And they should be, she thought to herself. She quickly counted the griffons with them, finding just under forty had joined them, which didn't seem like a lot, but if Trixie could keep it together, they would be enough.

"What's the plan... uh, Princess?" one of the griffons asked. He was quite young, and gave an impression of youthful enthusiasm that most of the other guards lacked.

"Not great I'm afraid. We're to take the throne room, then hold it until we receive word about the Emperor. Hopefully he still lives, in which case we'll be ready for his return. If not..." Luna didn't say, not being sure of what to do herself. At the very least Twilight would return, and they could plan from there.

"Let's just get this over with," Trixie said sullenly.

Luna found Trixie staring at the floor, tears running down her cheeks from green tinged eyes that leaked purple smoke, and suddenly felt very guilty at having gotten Trixie to do this. Sadly, she still needed Trixie, and she needed Trixie to be effective, but she resolved to never ask such of the unicorn again after today.

"On my mark then," Luna said, giving Trixie an encouraging smile. "We'll pull the doors open, and finish this. Try and take any unarmed griffons alive." Trixie nodded once, which was good enough for Luna to ready her magic as Trixie did. "Three, two, one, mark!"

Both of them pulled at the door with all their might, although to the griffons watching, all they saw was a couple of ponies waving their glowing horns around as they strained and grunted, with very little tangible evidence of doing anything at all. Eventually though, the door began to crack, and with another almighty wiggle of their horns, the two ponies tore the doors open.

A hail of arrows greeted them, and Luna just got a shield up in time as Trixie jumped behind the door for cover. The arrows stopped coming as the defenders reloaded, and Luna took the chance to run in, her horn blasting as many griffons as she could while Trixie and the griffons ran in behind her, changing the fight into a mêlée very quickly.

There weren't as many defenders as Luna had thought there would be. Less than thirty by her guess. There were also two griffons by the throne, a male and female, the male of which Luna was pretty sure was the Emperor's brother, Eustace.

"Trixie! Finish off the defenders while I take care of those two!" Luna shouted, not waiting for an answer before making straight for the two griffons. The hen was wearing the same dark grey armour as the other intelligence operatives, which was why Luna was more than prepared when the hen reached down to a pouch on her belt.

"Oh no you don't," Luna said, catching the chilli powder in her magic and throwing it back. The hen yelled loudly as it went in her eyes, and Luna considered her taken care of enough to ignore her for a second while she took care of Eustace. She was surprised to find him with his claws in the air in surrender. "What?"

"You can't kill an unarmed opponent who's surrendered."

"Cute," Luna replied with clear irritation, "but I was never going to kill you anyway. I also know you're just trying to distract me."

"And what do you think I could be trying to distract you from?"

Luna stepped to the side as the hen stabbed a dagger down towards the centre of her back. "This," said Luna, catching the blade, and the entire leg in her magic, and twisting it sharply until she heard bones break and screaming in her ear. She'd felt the griffon moving to attack her the moment she'd started to draw her weapon. Griffons always were a little oblivious to the ways ponies used magic.

"You broke my leg! You broke my leg!"

"And you were going to throw more chilli powder in my eyes and stab me, so I think it's only fair." Luna grinned as the hen clutched her leg and hissed in pain as she glared hatefully at the alicorn. "I'm guessing you must be Janice, head of Griffon Intelligence?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

"Uh-huh... and would you tell me if I broke your other leg?" The hen only glared harder. "Guess not. Very well, Trixie?"

Trixie dropped the lifeless body she was holding, and sat hard, her hooves shaking. "Throne room secured." She smiled emptily, the defenders having been routed in no time at all. "Really, really secured."

"None of what you're doing matters!" Eustace shouted suddenly. "The Emperor is dead, and so is his heir. What you're doing now is an act of war against the new ruler of this nation, and you will pay for it!"

"Are you certain he's dead?" Luna asked like she was speaking to a child. "I don't think you are. Especially if you're counting on your nephew to do the job."

"You're not sure either," Eustace stated firmly, raising his beak into the air.

"You're right, I'm not, but I'm not going to pretend either way. Trixie, close the doors and seal them tight."

"What are you doing?" Eustace asked as Trixie begrudgingly complied.

"We're going to wait here, all of us, until we know for certain whether the Emperor is dead or alive. I pray for your sake he's dead, because I suspect he is far less merciful than I if he's alive."

"What is this place?" Rainbow asked as they flew towards a large fort built on a string of interconnected bluffs and pinnacles leading out into the sea, east of where the ambush had happened. She and Lightning were flying alongside the palanquin, invited to be an honour guard for a reason they were sure they didn't want to know about.

"This is Fort Seaguard," the Emperor told her with a hint of pride, "our foremost defence against invasion from the sea. For our purposes though, it happens to be the nearest concentration of soldiers to us. Here we can find reinforcements to deal with my son and his traitorous Bloodfeathers."

Rainbow kept her next thought to herself, as the place seemed to be empty. There should've been patrols, and guards, and all the mundanely military stuff requisite of a place like this, but there was nothing of the sort. As they got closer, the Emperor started to notice it himself.

"How peculiar," he said in what Rainbow thought to be a very muted response. They aimed for a large, central part of the fort, and flew into an open courtyard inside it, where no one came to greet them for several minutes until a lone griffon in some fancy armour came scurrying out looking panicked.

"Your Majesty! Uh... welcome to Fort Seaguard! I-um-"

"Where are my soldiers?"

"Your soldiers?" The griffon adjusted his spectacles at the bluntly delivered question, showing his nerves with his shaking claw. "They're out on manoeuvres, your Majesty, just as you ordered."

"I see. When exactly did I order that?"

"I received the orders two days ago, signed by yourself." The uniformed griffon rubbed his claws together anxiously, "If you wished to rescind the order, you need only have sent a messenger, your Majesty."

"I shouldn't have to rescind the order, because I never made it!" The Emperor grabbed the griffon by his armour and pulled him closer until they were beak to beak, "Why would I order one of our most important defences be emptied, hmm?"

"I was wondering that myself, your Imperial Majesty."

"And yet you obeyed anyway."

"O-of course... it was signed by your own claw. Or at least appeared to be. I wouldn't dare disobey such an order."

"How long will it take to issue a recall?"

"Days at least, your Majesty. They were sent to the Saddle Arabian border to protect against possible incursion from the Storm King. I found it odd since there's been no sign of the Storm Kings' forces so far north since his attack on Ammare, but I wasn't about to refuse your orders."

The Emperor clacked his beak, stopping the Legionnaire from babbling, then released him. "Issue the recall."

"Do we have time for that?" Rainbow asked as the Legionnaire half ran, half flew away, back into the fort.

"Of course not," the Emperor informed her, "but I can't leave this place unmanned either. Surely you understand this has been a ploy to stop me from gathering help easily? Nice to see they had the foresight to plan for me surviving their assassination attempt."

"Where's the next nearest place we could gather help?" said Lightning.

"Fort Eiderdown, but that's guarding against incursions from the Dragon Lands. I dare not pull my soldiers from there."

Rainbow and Lightning shared a look. "We don't think that'll be a problem," said Rainbow. "We're friends with the Dragon Lord, and she-"

"I don't care what she says. The moment we give the dragons an opportunity, they'll be ransacking my country. No, I will not be pulling soldiers from Fort Eiderdown, and that is final. We'll just have to do this ourselves."

"Surely there's other places we can go to find reinforcements?"

"We don't have time to go that far!" Both ponies backed away a step as the Emperor shouted. "The longer we take doing this, the more solid my brother's grip becomes on my country! We need to act now, or we've lost anyway!"

"Yeesh," Lightning muttered as the Emperor swept back to his palanquin. "I know we've said some stuff about our leaders, but at least they're not alone."

"Mmm," Rainbow hummed, neither agreeing or disagreeing. "You have to admit though, he seems at lot less useless than that fat lump we met when we arrived."

"Come on ponies, we're leaving!"

"Here's hoping he doesn't get us killed," Lightning concluded.

"Maybe I should've gone with them," was the conclusion Cadence came to as she sat in the room she'd been locked into by Luna and Trixie. It had been quiet for a while now, but she knew better than to assume that meant it was all over. Nopony had come back for her, so that meant she stayed put. Unfortunately Flurry wanted none of it.

"Bwwaaaaahhh!" Flurry howled, using the fullest ability of her lungs to destroy Cadence's hearing, all while kicking her way out of the pink alicorn's hold. "Bwaaahhhhh!"

"Will you stop? The bad griffons are going to hear us!"

"Bwaaaahhhhhh!" Flurry replied, indifferent to Cadence's pleading.

"Flurry, please! Shush!"

"Its coming from in here!"

Cadence froze upon hearing the voice, and even Flurry stopped her bawling to listen to the sounds coming from outside the door. Cadence silently begged them to move on, but as the latch lifted, and door rattled on its lock, she knew there was no chance.

"It's locked! This has to be the right one."

"Buh-oh," Flurry said, now realising the full weight of her actions, and the consequences they may have engendered.
The door cracked as whoever was beyond it tried to bash it open, and Cadence grabbed Flurry as she tried to reinforce it as best she could. She'd be able hold it for a while, but with nowhere to go, it was only a matter of time until they got in. All she could hope was that they gave up trying after a few goes, although that seemed unlikely as Flurry started to cry again in fear.

"Come on out little pony, we promise we won't hurt you. Princess Luna sent us to get you."

"I don't believe you!" Cadence shouted, clamping a hoof over her mouth as soon as she did as she'd never meant to say that out loud.

"Sure she did. She's a little busy in the throne room right now, so she asked us to get you."

Cadence decided to say nothing more as there was nothing she could possibly say that would convince these griffons to leave them alone now. After a few seconds a different griffon spoke.

"She isn't buying it you asshole. Plant the explosives and we'll get her out."

"Wait!" Cadence screamed. "I'll open the door, just don't hurt us." Cadence released her hold on the door and moved back as half a dozen griffons moved in, making sure to look as unaggressive and nonthreatening as possible. She swallowed as one of the griffons grinned at her.

"I was totally bluffing about the explosives, just so you know. Good of you to fall for it. Now come along quietly, and lets see if you can't convince your fellow princess to give up quietly."

"Raargh!" Flurry growled adorably, fluffing her wings up to try and look big to the scary griffons. The griffons just laughed at her.

"Daww, look at da scawwy lil pony," one of them said, getting in close to Flurry. "Sadly, you just aren't that scary. If you want to hear a scary roar though, I'll happily show you one." The griffon drew a deep breath, stopped, then kept sucking in air as Flurry screwed her face up and lit her horn. The griffon's eyes went wide in pain as his chest inflated to a unnatural size, and there was a wet pop as the griffon dropped dead, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

"What the fuck?" The other griffons stepped away from the body as it slowly deflated with a sound not unlike a whoopee cushion. Cadence stared at the body, fully and horribly aware that her daughter had just killed that griffon. Flurry merely giggled, then growled again, seeming to find the whole thing funny. She found it less funny as the griffons pointed their weapons at her.

"That thing just killed Gus!"

"She didn't mean to! She's just a foal, she doesn't understand!"

"Yeah, well I'll make her understand." The griffon grabbed Flurry from Cadence, taking hold of her by the horn. The other griffons piled on Cadence as she made to grab Flurry back.

"No! Give her back! Flurry!"

Splortch!

The griffon holding Flurry screamed as the claw holding her horn exploded into meaty chunks, leaving nothing behind save for the blood that now covered her. Flurry giggled as she took flight, staying away from the griffon as he held the stump of his wrist in his other claw.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" One of the griffons holding down Cadence yelled, ducking down as Flurry wobbled through the air towards her.

"She's just a baby! Leave her alone!"

"Babies don't kill people!"

"She took my claw!" the wounded griffon shouted. "Kill that fucking demon spawn!"

"No!" A surge of power passed through Cadence as her thoughts became consumed with protecting Flurry. Her eyes glowed white, and her horn pulsed with a shield that slammed the griffons against the sides of the room, and held them there, while Flurry passed harmlessly through.

A feral scream escaped Cadence's throat as she pushed the shield harder and harder, crushing the five griffons long past the point that they had stopped living. It wasn't until a terrified crying from Flurry reached Cadence's ears that she came back to her senses. She dropped the shield, letting the bodies flop to the ground, except for the one that remained glued to the wall, and found Flurry in the corner, safe within a golden shield and hiding in her wings.

"Flurry, sweetie, it's okay, the bad griffons aren't going to hurt you." Cadence felt her heart sink as Flurry refused to come out. Clearly it wasn't just the griffons that had scared her. "Mommy isn't going to hurt you either. Mommy would never hurt you."

Flurry turned to look at her mother, and lowered her shield as Cadence smiled warmly at her child, even as the final griffon slid down the wall to the floor with a horrible squelching sound. "Mama?"

"That's right, I'm here."

Flurry jumped through the air to Cadence, grabbing her around the neck and nuzzling into her coat as Cadence held her. While that small issue had been quickly taken care of, there was still another to deal with. Cadence wasn't about to lie to herself about it, because there was no denying that she'd just killed five griffons, and even worse was that Flurry had killed one. Hopefully she was just acting out of fear, and that it didn't become a recurring theme.

Cadence would never forget the giggle Flurry had made as the griffon died.

"We need to get out of here," Cadence said, trying to pull her thoughts anywhere from the fact that they'd both just killed griffons. Cadence had heard of the alicorn survival instinct from Celestia, which Twilight had referred to as a panic mode, but she'd never seen it in action. Now she'd just used it to crush the life from five griffons, and barely even remembered doing so, leaving her stood in a room full of bodies, holding her blood-soaked foal.

Cadence shook her head as the thoughts crept back in. She moved Flurry up to her back and left the room without saying another word. Luna was in the throne room, and that seemed like the best place to go, if only because another alicorn might have a better handle on Flurry if she decided to turn another griffon into a balloon animal.

Thankfully there weren't any other griffons around outside the room, although there were likely to be plenty around towards the throne room. Unfortunately Cadence didn't know where else to go, and no part of her wanted to go hide again in case they had a repeat of what had just happened.

The hairs on Cadence's neck rose as the sound of griffon calls reached her, and she dared not move out of fear that doing so would attract them towards her. It wasn't until she heard fighting that she came to think they probably weren't interested in the two of them. But that didn't answer the question of why there was still fighting going on. Cadence had been given the impression that only the throne room hadn't been taken.

Cadence wished she could have the question answered, if only to use it for her own survival, but decided that going away from the fighting was a better idea in both the long and short term. The problem was that an actual, defensible castle, had few ways in or out, and she wasn't sure enough to risk trying to teleport directly to the throne room.

The fighting ended as quickly as it began, and Cadence heard the sound of massive doors being slammed shut. She knew that had to be the main entrance to the castle, meaning that they were now trapped in there whatever she did, unless she tried the one horrible idea that just came to her.

"Oh no. Oh no-no-no-no... why would I even think of that?" Cadence sighed and turned left towards a small room adjacent to they rooms they'd used the night before. A small room that even from outside the door had a bit of a smell. She'd been forced to use it herself from lack of choice, but she swore the smell had lingered in her coat afterwards.

Taking the latch in her magic, Cadence took a deep breath and opened the door to what she was going to generously call the water closet, despite it being nothing more than a wooden board with a hole in, over a very deep drop.

"This can't seriously be the only idea I have. Come on brain, give me something, anything but this!" Apart from questioning why she hadn't made a teleport beacon back to the retreat like Twilight always did, Cadence's brain supplied her with a big, fat zero. "Damn it. I'm sorry about this Flurry, but mommy is going to be smelly for a while."

Not giving Flurry a chance to question what she'd meant, Cadence lifted Flurry off her back and cocooned her in a protective bubble that would at least keep the foal from suffering the worst of what was about to happen. Flurry fought to escape, but Cadence ignored her struggles to lift the wooden seat up, and position herself on the edge of the hole. Somehow the smell was much worse even being that little bit closer. "We speak of this to nopony," she added to Flurry as a final thought, holding the shielded foal in her legs.

Cadence took another deep breath to ready herself, but really regretted it. That done, she pushed herself over the edge and plunged into darkness. She instinctively spread her wings, but found the hole she was falling through wasn't anywhere near large enough to let her fly, as the light from her horn showed her well enough. Instead she used levitation to slow her descent enough to not shatter her bones as she hit a slope, and now found herself sliding diagonally before getting tossed out into a larger hole that went straight down again.

Cadence against tried to fly, but her wings were too messed up to fly, being covered in unthinkable substances as they were. She levitated herself again, but had barely slowed herself as she splashed down into the fetid pool that acted as the destination of whatever went down the toilets. Cadence swam for the surface, not daring to breathe, or open her mouth, or eyes, or anything, not until she found the surface and an edge.

Cadence clung onto the small ledge for her life, and wiped her face clear enough in time for her to throw up down herself. The stench was strong enough to the point that it became a physical force, and it felt like her lungs were rotting from breathing in the foul air. Flurry at least seemed to be okay inside her bubble, so Cadence could at least be pleased that worked out.

"If only Celestia could see me now," Cadence muttered, hauling herself out of the muck and wiping herself down. There was light coming from behind her, through a small grated outlet, and Cadence followed the ledge around until she could see through it, and savour the miniscule amount of fresh air coming from beyond. Sadly she couldn't see anything without going back into the sewage, but she didn't fancy staying where she was, so got into it with only a small groan.
The outlet led into a small yard with a few carts inside it, and an amusing little sign saying 'Imperial Fertilizer, Emperor approved' informed her that some enterprising griffon had set up a business selling the excrement from the castle inhabitants. "Wonderful."

Cadence teleported them through the grate into the yard, thankful that the high fences stopped her from being seen. That was only a fraction of the thankfulness that she had for the hose she found though. She supposed she should've been thankful that they'd made it out, but her heart wasn't quite into that. It was being amongst a still mostly hostile people that ruined it.

Cadence turned the hose off, having briefly considered hosing Flurry down as well, but didn't fancy having a cold, wet, screaming foal to deal with as well. For all she knew they'd made it out of the frying pan, and the fire, but may well find out the floor was made of lava too, and she didn't want to have to deal with Flurry through that.

"Ugh, what are you doing, Cadence?" Cadence asked herself. She'd got this far through sheer luck and adrenaline, but now she was still trapped in a city under attack, surrounded by angry griffons, had an easily confused and murderous foal, and stank of raw effluence. It was high time she made a plan. Or at least a plan that didn't involve flying back to the portal and leaving, although that did sound like the best possible option. Luna and Trixie were still trapped inside the castle, and Cadence... had no hope of fixing that. The problem was that there was nothing much back at the retreat capable of fixing that either, and Cadence wasn't about to go trusting Nightmare with such an important task at this junction. There was perhaps two potential allies somewhere nearby though.

Cadence left the yard, which wasn't part of the overarching plan, but was a necessary step. Flurry flew along next to her, refusing to be carried as Cadence was both wet and stinky, and Cadence couldn't blame her.

"Princess Cadence?"

Cadence squeaked in surprise at the voice, and searched about until she found a griffon looking at her through a barred window. She then looked back at the yard, and at the griffon again. "Huh, that was easy. Are you Sonny?"

The griffon nodded, "I am. Derek's here too. I'm not sure why you're here though, or why you've left the castle through the sewage system either."

"It's... complicated. Really, really complicated."

"They've assassinated the Emperor, and now his brother is trying to take over using the Bloodfeathers and traitors in Griffon Intelligence."

Cadence was speechless for a moment, having not expected to hear that in the slightest. "Uh, yes, actually-"

"I knew it! I knew it wasn't over"

"-But I think us being here has thrown a massive spanner in the works. The Emperor might not be dead, and Princess Luna currently holds the throne room against the Bloodfeathers."

"Huh, nice. Um, what are you doing, if you don't mind my asking?"

Cadence started to answer, but it stuck in her throat as the answer was that she didn't really know. "I was looking for you, but I'm not sure what to do past that." Cadence lowered her head, suddenly feeling ashamed and useless. She'd always relied on others to make the plans and follow them, and now she was on her own she felt clueless.

"Well, you found us," Sonny said cheerfully. "I don't suppose you can get us out, Princess? The guards have all gone to fight with the other traitors, so it shouldn't be too difficult."

Cadence nodded, keenly aware of how the plan was once again not hers. At least she wasn't required to do any fighting, or so she hoped. Making sure Flurry stayed with her, Cadence made her way to the front of the building, finding that Sonny had been right about the lack of guards. They did have the foresight to lock the doors though.

"Oh come on Cadence, it's a door. You've shielded an entire city before now. Shining can do it, and he's not even an alicorn!" Cadence directed her magic at the lock, blasting it clean out of the door. It wasn't even hard, and it bothered that she got so worked up about it.

Inside was a large room, with a few desks and a single doorway leading off to a dozen cells. Only two were occupied, those containing Sonny and Derek. Sonny pressed her face to the bars and grinned, "Alright, Princess! The keys should be somewhere in the office." Sonny leapt back as Cadence blasted the lock on her cell, "Or that works too." She sniffed the air, and failed to hide her gag. "Sorry, Princess, but you smell pretty bad."

"Like I need reminding," Cadence sighed as she moved to the other occupied cell.

"Thanks," Derek said as Cadence opened his cell. "So what's the plan now?"

"I say we go knock some heads," Sonny replied, flexing her claws eagerly. "Our gear should be around here somewhere."

"Tch, you mean my camera? I'm an aerial photographer, you nitwit, not a fighter."

"Yeah, but we have Princess Cadence with us, and a giggling alicorn foal covered in blood, so it'll be fine! Won't it, Princess?"

"No, it won't." Cadence avoided meeting Sonny's eyes, "I'm not a fighter either." Cadence wanted to say that she should be, but she wasn't. She was silly, weak, little Cadence, who may have just killed five griffons in a magic infused panic, but it wasn't really fighting. She was in a situation where she really needed to step up, but she was too scared to do it.

"Oh," Sonny said with clear disappointment, "well, nevermind. There has to be something we can do in this situation to help Princess Luna." Sonny led the way back into the other room, and started searching through cupboards, exclaiming "Ah-hah!" when she found their stuff. Or some of it at least. "Aww, what? They took my weapons. Those were custom made!"

"There's weapons lockers over here," Dereck said, standing by metal lockers on the adjacent wall. "And they have your weapons. Not sure why they put my camera in here though."

Cadence stood quietly while the two griffons geared up, keeping an eye on Flurry in case the foal decided she didn't like these griffons either. Thankfully she didn't seem to bothered by them, or at least recognised that they weren't an enemy. She was still avoiding getting too close to Cadence though, and Cadence still didn't blame her.

"Princess? Are you ready to go?"

"Hmm?" Cadence blinked at Sonny, only noticing now that she'd phased out. "Oh, sorry. Yes, I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Good." Sonny placed a claw on the door out, pulling it open, "The sooner we get moving, the bett- Oh... fuck me."

A dozen griffons in golden armour surrounded the exit. None of them had their weapons pointed at the four, but it was clearly implied that those weapons were present, so they had better be well behaved. Two of them moved aside, making a gap through which an aging griffon in ornate armour walked up to them. He bowed deeply before Cadence.

"Uh, who are you?" Cadence asked, knowing full well that the armour marked the griffons as those of the Golden Claws mercenary company, but the last she'd checked they'd been an enemy.

"I am Commander Lurin," the griffon replied, "and I've come to deal with a traitor to the Empire."

Author's Notes:

I'm always been in the school of thought that Flurry Heart is a delightful little abomination, and has all the powers of an alicorn, but with the lack of restraint that comes with not understanding the concept of consequences, or empathy. I also adhere to the idea that she is far smarter than she lets on, but is also smart enough to hide that.

Currently 50/50 on if there's a chapter next week. Going away with the girlfriend for a few days, and I feel like the last chapter I wrote is unnecessary trash anyway, so might scrap it. I don't know yet. Peace.