Sonny drew her daggers, rearing up and placing herself between Lurin and Princess Cadence, ready to defend her. "And what reason do we have to believe you're not on Theron's side after helping him attack Equestria?" she asked, her claws flexing eagerly on her weapons grips.

"None, admittedly," said the Commander, "but I never assisted Theron out of any spite towards Equestria. It was only a contract."

"Bullshit!"

"Sonny, please." Cadence pressed a hoof to Sonny's side, holding it there until the griffon relented with a groan and stepped aside. "Commander Lurin, I'm not going to lie to you here, you did great harm to Equestria at a time where we really could've done without it. While you might claim to be here to stop Theron, your previous actions have done nothing to make us think you're not on his side with this."

Lurin held his composure for a second, then sighed. He dismissed his soldiers with a wave of his claw and removed his helmet while he waited for them to leave.

"I'm not going to apologise. Had I known where it would lead I wouldn't have agreed to the contract, but I'm not going to say sorry either. My only true regret here is that Theron has betrayed my trust by attacking his own kin and country. I had hoped that by reclaiming Griffonstone he aimed to redeem himself in his father's eyes. I never thought he'd side with his uncle and do this instead. This is far from what the contract entailed."

"How did you know the Princess was here in Griffonia?" Derek asked, having been warily watching the Commander since his arrival.

"I didn't actually, and I certainly didn't expect to find her..." Lurin ended his sentence with a sniff, making Cadence blush with embarrassment. "Griffonia would've been the last place I expected the princesses to take refuge. As for how we found you right now, you were spotted while hosing yourself off."

"My purpose here is not for you to discuss," Cadence said firmly, pushing past the humiliation. "Just tell us what it is you want with me, Commander. Do you seek to turn me in to Faust?"

"Hunting you and your fellow princesses wasn't in the contract, so no. I have no interest in Faust, or her desires, and since our contract was with the Bloodfeathers, with Theron's recent actions I now consider his employment of us terminated. You need not worry about us any longer, and if you seek some kind of reconciliatory gesture from us, we will not be assisting Faust again, no matter how much she asks." Lurin shrugged, "As I said, I should never have fought for her in the first place."

"You killed innocents for her."

Lurin hung his head, "Now that I am sorry for. Had I known Theron's plan at Appleloosa, I would've stopped it then and there. I imagine yet more innocents have died to the Bloodfeathers today. Yet another reason for me to end them once and for all. Princess, do you know where the Emperor is right now?"

"Away from here, and very possibly dead. It's his wedding anniversary, so he's off visiting his late wife's grave with his daughter."

Lurin cussed under his breath, "Of course. It's one of the few times he's away from the safety of the castle. Hopefully he still lives then, or at least Princess Clarissa does if he does not."

"And if they don't?"

"Then the throne passes to Eustace, and we've already lost."

Cadence looked up at the castle. Dozens of griffons in golden armour were flying around it, and there must've been a lot more on the ground that she couldn't see. She had wanted help, and now she had more help than she knew what to do with. Unfortunately, no matter what they did though, it all hinged on Twilight's, Rainbow's, and Lightning's ability to keep the Emperor and his daughter alive. Thankfully they were probably up to the task.

"Princess Luna has barricaded herself inside the throne room," Cadence said to Lurin after a moment. "She has one other pony with her, but other than that I can't say who or what is with her."

"I know," Lurin said back. "From what we've gathered from survivors of the castle guard, Luna has both Eustace with her, and the new director of Griffon Intelligence. Reaching and capturing them are our main priorities, but unfortunately the Bloodfeathers, and other traitors, have taken the rest of the castle and locked us out. I was hoping your magic would be of some assistance in getting us inside."

"My magic?" Cadence bit her lip, quickly regretting it as she repeatedly spat to get rid of the taste in her mouth. For a brief moment she wondered how well alicorns dealt with diseases, then remembered that she'd been asked a question. "I think you're asking the wrong princess."

"I see. Since Princess Luna is already inside the castle, and Princess Celestia is missing, that leaves Princess Twilight. Do you know where she is?"

Although she hadn't expected to hear it mentioned, Cadence's heart ached at hearing that Lurin didn't know where Celestia was. "T-Twilight's with the Emperor. Luna asked her to follow him and make sure he and his daughter stayed alive."

"So you knew about this plot? Why didn't you tell the Emperor?"

"We had no proof, and only had suspicions to begin with. If Griffon Intelligence was involved there was no one we could trust, so we decided to act ourselves."

"I see." Lurin seemed to fall deep into thought for several seconds, and ended it with a small nod to himself. "Thank you for involving yourselves when you had no need to."

"Actually we did need to. It's not by accident that we're here."

"Oh?" A grin spread across Lurin's beak, "Come to enlist Griffonia's help in getting Equestria back?"

"Actually we're far more interested in stopping Faust. While you've been fighting for her, you've been totally unaware of what her goal is."

Lurin raised an eyebrow at Cadence, "You mean she's after Griffonia as well?"

"She's after the world, but even that isn't the end of her plans. Now isn't the time to be going into it, but feel free to ask afterwards what it is you've helped her get closer to."

Lurin lost his grin, seeing how serious Cadence was as she spoke. A tiny worm of doubt started to wriggle in his gut, because if the princesses were desperate enough to ask a country that traditionally hates ponies for help, then they had to be desperate indeed.

"You're right that now isn't the time, but I will have to insist that you tell me what this is about afterwards."

"I'm sure Princess Luna would be delighted to tell you all about it." Cadence smiled as Lurin swallowed. She wasn't a typically vindictive pony, but she'd be damned if she was going to let what the Golden Claws did be forgotten.

"I-ah... shall look forward to it." Lurin made the mistake of looking in Flurry Heart's eyes for a moment, feeling their accusing stare sear his soul. He quickly turned away from the blood soaked infant. "We need news on the Emperor, one way or the other. There's no point in us throwing ourselves at the castle if he and Crown Princess Clarissa are already dead. Do you have a way to contact Princess Twilight?"

"No, I don't." Cadence frowned as griffon calls started to fill her ears. They sounded similar to the last time she heard them. "What does that mean?"

Lurin quickly returned his helmet to his head, "It means we have incoming. Come with me Princess, and we shall keep you safe."

Cadence found that hard to believe, but lacking a great number of better ideas beyond leaving and never coming back, she spread her wings and dragged herself into the air, her wet and bedraggled feathers making the task harder than necessary. Thankfully Flurry had no such issues, and seemed content to follow her mother.

"Yeah, you go, and we'll catch up!" Sonny shouted after Cadence.

"What? Why?"

Sonny spread her wings, showing off the gaps where a lot of her feathers were missing. Cadence could only imagine that Derek's were the same. "Prisoner control. Don't worry though, we're great climbers, so we'll be up there in no time."

Cadence paused as the two griffons started scaling the sheer cliff between them and the castle, using nothing but their claws to grip the bare rock. She didn't watch for long though, and followed the Commander up to the castle entrance, landing and doing her best to keep herself and Flurry out of sight as a new group of griffons flew in.

A large number of the Golden Claws flew up to meet the newcomers, who didn't seem pleased about being given an escort, but the Golden Claws' greater numbers did much to convince them that fighting would've been a terminal proposition. After a moment of hesitation they flew into the castle grounds, giving Cadence a chance to work out that they were Bloodfeathers, and judging by the appearance of some of them, they'd already been in a fight today.

One of the griffons landed heavily and stomped up to Lurin with a rage that couldn't be easily hidden, even if he'd tried. "What are you doing here, Lurin?"

"Keeping a promise that I made."

"Oh yeah? To who?"

"You. I told you that if you were to try anything against your Father that we'd be on opposite sides. No amount of muttering that I'm an old fool behind my back would change that. When you and your followers vanished from Equestria, I knew there was only one place you'd be going. Now, where's the Emperor?"

Theron raised his beak and smiled smugly, "The Emperor is dead, long live the Emperor."

"Even with the alicorn princess protecting him? Don't lie to me, Theron. Better griffons than you have tried and failed at it."

"I'm sure if he was really alive, he'd be here instead of me," Theron retorted.

"Wouldn't be the first time you've run from ponies."

Theron leaped for Lurin, but the older griffon stepped around the attack and smacked Theron to the ground, holding him there while the Golden Claws made sure none of the Bloodfeathers made a move to assist their leader.

"Face it Theron, you and your uncle have failed at this little coup. Give up now before more blood is needlessly shed."

"You're betraying your own people by siding with that useless fuck," Theron said in a growl, giving up trying to get Lurin off him. "He should never have been the Emperor, and you know it!"

"Your father mightn't be perfect, but he's a better leader than you give him credit for. He was the one that advised me to leave the ponies alone, and oh how I wish I'd listened."

"Is that so? Is that why you're ignoring him?" Theron turned his piercing gaze onto Cadence, "Don't think I can't see you back there Cadenza! I'm going to enjoy presenting you to Faust. Or maybe I'll keep you myself, just for fun."

Cadence swallowed and stepped out of what she'd thought had been a decent hiding place behind one of the statues lining the courtyard. Fear was telling her to run, but she powered on towards the grinning griffon, trying to think of a punchy one-liner to wipe the grin off his face with. "I'm can't imagine what's worse, a lifetime with you, or an eternity in prison." Cadence congratulated herself for not messing up the delivery.

"I guess we could spend a few decades working it out for you before I hand you over." Theron squawked as Lurin pressed an extended talon down into his neck, piercing the skin. "Okay, okay... I'll marry her first if it bothers you that much. It's not like death do us part isn't a thing."

"She's immortal you idiot, so you've already lost that one."

"Oh." Theron shrugged, "More fun for me I guess."

"Are you going to stop soon?" Cadence asked. "You're in no position to think any of your sick fantasies are going to come true. Besides, I have a question for you. Where is Celestia?"

Theron snorted into laughter, "What the fuck makes you think I know, you stupid pink whore? Wherever Faust secreted her away to, not even her own advisors know about it. It's not like I even care anyway. Once my uncle has the crown, Faust will fall just like you did."

"So all that talk of hoofing me over to Faust was all made up then."

"Hoofing you over," Theron sniggered. "Honestly, you ponies."

"I've heard enough," Lurin grunted. "Claws, take the Bloodfeathers into custody. We'll know soon enough whether there's any truth to Theron's bluster." Lurin waited for Theron to be bound and dragged away before speaking to Cadence. "I can honestly say that I'm not sure what to do now."

Cadence twitched the corner of her mouth up into a tiny smile, "If you were looking to me for advice, you're asking the wrong princess. If I was them in the castle, with all my leaders taken captive, I'd probably be surrendering about now."

"That would be the sensible course of action," Lurin agreed. He glanced over at Theron, meeting the glare the former prince was giving him with an eye roll. "Unfortunately, not a lot of griffons around here seem interested in sense. I can't even begin to imagine why they thought this would work."

"I don't think they accounted for three alicorn princesses turning up in the middle of things," Cadence laughed, although it quickly died. "I wished that'd worked against Faust."

Lurin nodded vaguely, then cocked his head at an unusual whistling sound from above. Cadence followed his gaze as he turned to look up, cocking her own head at a dot that was rapidly getting nearer. It wasn't until the dot became discernibly purple, and fired a torrent of magenta magic at the Commander that she worked out it was Twilight.

"No!" Cadence shouted, throwing a shield over Lurin just in time to catch the bolts of magic. She maintained the shield as Twilight landed hard between them, confused by the fact that Cadence was protecting him.

"What are you doing Cadence? Stop protecting him and run!"

"It's alright Twilight, he's on our side!"

"He- What?" Twilight looked back and forth between Cadence and Lurin, who was standing calmly beneath the shield. "I think you're going to have to explain that one to me."

"He's here to stop the coup, meaning he's on our side, and he's already said he won't be working for Faust ever again."

"That doesn't excuse what he did! How many ponies are dead because of him and his mercenaries? You can't seriously think that because his goals currently match ours that he's a friend!" Twilight wrinkled her nose as a foul scent entered her nostrils, "And what the heck is that smell? Is that you, Cadence? And why is Flurry covered in blood?"

"Okay, I've had a bit of a weird day, so I want you listen to me, Twilight." Cadence locked eyes with Twilight, making sure she had the smaller alicorn's full attention. "He needs our help, and we need his, and if you can't accept that, go find another army to retake the castle with."

Twilight maintained her stance for several seconds, finding it curious that Cadence was matching it the entire time with one of her own. Eventually, she gave in. "Alright, fine. I'll even accept that you don't want to talk about why you smell so much, or about why Flurry looks like she killed someone- No way," Twilight said as Cadence went stiff. "Flurry killed someone?"

"You were right in assuming I didn't want to talk about it."

"But-"

"Shut up, Twilight! Shut up and tell us that the Emperor is still alive!"

Twilight backed off a step, not even trying to hide her surprise. "Uh, yeah, he's alive. I can't tell you where he is right now because Vapor got hurt, so I had to get her back to the retreat before she died. Rainbow and Lightning are still with him though."

"And Vapor?" Cadence asked.

"She's stable. Sunset and Nightmare are taking turns healing her until she's fully recovered. Oh, and Clarissa is there too, because I thought that'd be the safest place for her."

Cadence breathed a sigh of relief. With Clarissa safe, Theron's claims were now proven to be totally empty. All that remained was to liberate the castle, which was a task for someone else as far as she was concerned. Hopefully with their plans foiled the griffons holding the castle could be convinced to give up. She was about to make the suggestion when Twilight walked over to the captive Bloodfeathers, or more specifically their leader.

"You owe Vapor an eye, you prick. Time to pay up."

"Twilight!" Cadence teleported between Twilight and Theron, blocking her sister in law. "What do you think you're doing?"

"He tortured Vapor. He tore her eye out and almost killed her, so I think it's only fair that we take one of his as payment."

"That is not how we do things, Twilight, you know that."

Twilight rolled her eyes and huffed, "I wasn't really going to do it, Cadence, I was just going to scare him a bit. He deserves that much."

Cadence held her stance for a bit, then relaxed, feeling that Twilight wasn't lying to her. "We need to get inside the castle, to Luna and Trixie. They've barricaded themselves into the throne room, and have taken Eustace prisoner, but there are a lot of griffons between us and them."

Twilight squinted suspiciously at Cadence, "It almost sounds like you're suggesting we attack."

Lurin spoke before Cadence could. "Without the doors they can't stop us getting in, and lose their major defensive advantage. Remove those, and we've already won. If they continue to fight after that, that's their own stupid fault."

Twilight scowled at Lurin, but followed his suggestion enough to at least look at the doors. They were big, made of what appeared to be a dark wood so old that it was damn near fossilised, and were bound in iron that was as thick as her leg was wide. "Riiiight... I don't think just blasting it is going to work. Any ideas Cadence?"

"Me? What ideas could I possibly have?"

"I'm sure you can at least think of something that might help."

Cadence um'd and ah'd as she studied the doors, trying to find some kind of weakness in them, but they seemed insurmountable to her. "What about the hinges?"

"What about them?" Twilight asked back.

And suddenly Cadence knew this was a test. Not one she wanted, or that Twilight was maybe consciously giving, but if recent events were anything to go by, one she was going to have to pass because she now understood that this was no longer her world she was in. This was a world of conflict, and she needed learn to at least survive in it. She couldn't keep relying on others to look after her. That didn't mean she had any intention of lowering herself to killing if she didn't have to.

"Could we break them?"

"Maybe. How could we do that?"

Cadence groaned, "Don't do this Twilight. You know I don't know how to open those gates. If you can think of a way to open them, tell me, and I'll help you do it."

Twilight smiled without facing Cadence, "Alright, but I will need your help. Commander Lurin, how many bars are used to keep these doors secured."

"Three I believe." Lurin traced three lines across the door with his finger, just above the three rows of large bolts that led to the hinges. "Nothing too heavy because you have to lift them while flying, but strong enough to stop the doors from being pulled open easily."

"And that's it?"

"That is it, yes. There hasn't exactly been any need to use them in the last few centuries, so our method of securing the doors are probably a bit outdated." Lurin shrugged, "Fortunately that works in our favour right now."

"And there's a straight gap between the doors?"

"Not quite. The iron creates a bit of a lip on the outside."

Twilight huffed in irritation, "It had to be the metal, didn't it? Alright Cadence, we're going to have... to..." Twilight trailed off as she watched Cadence sizing up the doors like they'd offended her. "What are you doing?"

"Making our job easier." With complete disregard for her safety, Cadence trotted up to the doors, leaving Twilight to be thankful that the griffons inside weren't currently pointing any weapons at her. She then, with all the precision of a drunk workhorse wielding a sledgehammer, slammed a series of crystals beneath the lip and started to bend it over out of the way.

"Sweet Celestia," Twilight sighed, leaving her with a desire to facehoof, but also wanting to congratulate Cadence on her use of initiative, even if what she was doing was no easier than just cutting through the metal. She was trying, bless her.

"You seem as if you intend to attack quite imminently," Lurin said to Twilight as Cadence did what she was doing.

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. I'll get my griffons ready."

Twilight nodded as Lurin left, wondering how the hell had it got to the point that they were fighting to stop what had become a pretty feeble attempt at a coup by this point. The war wasn't even theirs this time, and yet Twilight was about to lead a charge into yet another battle. Why did this keep happening to her?

"Brraaajaaa," Flurry suggested as she sat on the floor next to Twilight, playing with her hooves.

"Makes as much sense as anything," Twilight muttered.

"There," Cadence panted, wandering back over to Twilight, "now we have a clean shot at cutting the bars."

"Yes we do," Twilight said back with what she thought was the most neutral answer she could give. "I suppose I don't need to tell you to take Flurry somewhere back and stay safe?"

Cadence opened her mouth to answer when she spotted Sonny and Derek stagger into the courtyard and flop over onto the ground as they fought to regain their breath. "Huh, they made it. Uh, yeah, I'll stay back. I'm probably not somepony you need beside you in a fight anyway, not least because of the smell."

Twilight chuckled, glad that Cadence could find some humour in this situation. "Perhaps you could do one thing though. Could you put a shield over the entrance once we're all in. The last thing we want is for some of these griffons to escape to plot another coup."

"I can do that."

"Good, thank you." Twilight looked over at Lurin, seeing that he'd got most of his griffons ready for the assault. "Okay, I guess that means it's showtime. What I wouldn't do for some armour."

"Be careful Twilight."

Twilight grinned at Cadence as the pink alicorn gathered up Flurry, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"That's not a healthy attitude, and you know it." Cadence gave Twilight a stern look, then left, letting Lurin take her place.

"How do you wish to play this, Princess?"

"You're asking me? You're the griffon here, so you should be telling me how this goes. It's no water off my back if every one of those traitors in there dies. I'm not saying that's what should happen, but I'm just getting the point across that it's none of my business."

"I'm amazed they haven't tried to escape as yet, meaning they must have a plan on how to get through this. Being trapped between three alicorns can't be easy for them."

"Why is everyone so talkative today?" Twilight asked quietly to herself. At this point she just wanted it all over so that the throne was secure, and the Emperor could be convinced that working with ponies could be beneficial to him. It wasn't that much to ask for, was it?

"Take prisoners if you can, kill them if you can't," Twilight said louder. "Otherwise, get ready."

"As you wish."

"Urgh... I just want this over with already." Twilight walked closer to the gate, then realised that she'd sort of sent Cadence off before having her help open the doors. In Cadence's defence though, it was now easier to get them open, and as Twilight fired a beam of magic that burnt through the top bar, she was quite thankful for it.

Twilight had cut halfway through the bottom bar when the doors swung open, and the griffons within exited with their weapons sheathed and in an orderly fashion that suggested they wanted to surrender. It was a nice touch to have them do so, since it fairly obvious how the battle was going to go for them.

Twilight stepped back as the Golden Claws went to work disarming and securing the traitors once the surprise wore off. Cadence joined her shortly after, a smile on her face. "Well that was pleasant. I imagine this was the best outcome you could hope for."

"It is," Cadence confirmed. "Fighting would've got them nothing but killed."

"I know." Twilight waited as the last of the griffons exited the castle, then walked in with a number of Golden Claws going ahead of them. There were a few bodies in the main hallway through the castle, plenty of them killed with conventional weapons, but there were also quite a few that had been slain by magic. Luna and Trixie had definitely left their mark on what had happened here.

The throne room was still secured, and the Golden Claws were staring at it with the expression reserved for people that've locked themselves out of their own house. Twilight walked past them and pounded a hoof on the door.

"Trixie, it's Twilight! Open this door right now, or I'll have to get creative!"

Twilight smiled with satisfaction as the doors creaked open, but the satisfaction faded as she got a face full of griffons who seemed keen to get out of there. She picked herself up and cautiously entered the throne room, which seemed a lot darker than usual, and colder.

"Luna? Trixie?"

"Over here, Twilight," Luna called out from the far end of the room.

Twilight followed Luna's voice, finding her sat next to Trixie, who was laying on the ground with her hooves covering her head. A dark miasma swirled around her horn, leaking off into the shadows and making them feel uncomfortably alive.

Twilight sighed under her breath, "Why is she using dark magic, Luna? Hmm?"

"We were under attack, and she thought she needed it. I may have encouraged it a little since we were in dire straits, but I never once thought she'd do this to herself."

"What do you mean she's doing this to herself?"

"You know that dark magic works as a twisted form of wish fulfilment, but it's not exactly precise. This is happening because Trixie thinks it should happen. She's manifesting her own fears."

"How do we fix this?" asked Cadence. "Some kind of light magic infusion?"

"I have an idea that'll work faster," said Twilight. She lined herself up, making sure she was in the right position for maximum effect with minimum effort, and smacked Trixie around the back of her head. And just like that, the spooky shadows were gone.

"Ow! What the hell Twilight?"

"Are you okay, Trixie?"

"You mean apart from getting smacked on the back of my head by an alicorn? Yeah, I'm-" Trixie stopped herself as she realised she was surrounded by the three princesses, and that there wasn't a griffon in sight. "Oh no, it happened again, didn't it?"

"If you mean going catatonic while oozing dark magic, yeah, it totally did." Twilight smiled lopsided at Trixie, "On the positive side, nothing bad happened while you were like that. The griffons surrendered, the castle is secure, and the Emperor and his daughter are still alive. I think this means we won."

"Thank goodness," said Luna. "I was wondering if you were successful in preserving the Emperor. If this is truly over, perhaps we could..." Luna cocked her head as she saw Flurry. "Cadence, I'm not so naïve to think that's red paint on dear Flurry Heart. Is she alright?"

"She's fine," Cadence said with a brittle cheerfulness. "Totally fine. Nothing happened that we need ever discuss."

"Does that include why you went skinny dipping in raw sewage?" Trixie asked, wrinkling her nose up.

"It does indeed, and once this is all taken care of, I can clean myself and Flurry up, and never speak of this again."

"Cadence..." Luna said with a hint of warning.

"She killed a griffon, and then giggled about it, Luna. You have no idea how that feels. Is this the kind of thing that happens when you put the power of an alicorn into a child that has zero comprehension of consequences? I'm not any better! They were going to hurt Flurry and I lost control! I crushed five griffons to death with a shield! A shield! How do you kill things with a shield!?"

Luna, Twilight, and Trixie all shared a look as Cadence ranted, waiting for the shoe to drop that she'd killed people. They didn't have to wait long as Cadence whimpered and sat with her hooves over her mouth as tears slipped down her cheeks.
Twilight hugged Trixie from the side, giving her a smile to let her know that her problems hadn't been forgotten in the face of this new one. "Cadence, I know this is hard. I had the same thing happen when I killed for the first time. The guilt, the self loathing... all of it, but you need to remember that they were going to hurt you and Flurry, and all you were doing was defending yourself."

"Flurry wasn't!"

Twilight looked at Flurry as the foal looked up at her. She didn't want to think it, but it felt like Flurry had known exactly what she was doing. Twilight knew her mind was filling in that gap for her, but she had to turn her gaze elsewhere pretty quick.

Luna placed a comforting hoof on Cadence's back, then removed it as she was reminded of the odour the pink alicorn currently possessed. "Flurry is but a foal, and in all likelihood won't remember this past the end of the week, but you Cadence, you shall have to come to terms with what happened. We shall all be here for you, but right now I'm afraid we have other things we must do."

"I know, okay? I know." Cadence brushed her tears away. "By the way, the Golden Claws are here helping us. Please don't hurt any of them."

Luna stiffened, "Are you serious? After what they did?"

"I mean it, Luna, they aren't our enemy. Their Commander has ended their contract, and won't be fighting for Faust again, so please just leave it at that."

"Very well, but I am far from happy about it. I imagine Rainbow and Lightning's reactions will be far worse." Luna shook her head and walked over to where she'd left Eustace and Janice slumped over unconscious, having grown bored of their petty squawking pretty fast after their capture. "Let us put an end to this farce."

Hours later and the Emperor still hadn't returned. Twilight was starting to worry that something had happened, but knew enough that Rainbow and Lightning would've probably left the griffons to die and made it back to the Eyrie by now if that was truly the case. Not exactly ideal, but she didn't expect them to stick their necks out that far for the griffons.

In the meantime, all that had happened was that Cadence had finally given in and went to get herself and Flurry cleaned up, Luna avoided contact with the Golden Claws as much as she could, and Twilight finally decided that now was as good a time as any to address Trixie's concerns.

"Ah, time for the talk is it?" Trixie said as Twilight sat down next to her.

"It sure is. Now, when a boy pony and a girl pony love each other very much-"

"They bump nasties and create an abomination like me, I know." Trixie sighed and hung her head, "I don't know why I did it. Things got a little bit hard, and there I was back to using dark magic. I just can't help myself!"

"So I figured, but it's your use of it that's going wrong. You're scared of it."

"How could I not be? Things want my soul, Twilight, I think that would concern anypony."

"Fine, but it isn't the magic itself that wants it, and I doubt not using it would make any difference, so maybe you should stop worrying about using it."

It took a while for Trixie to say anything after that, mostly because she was failing to sum up just how stupid she thought what Twilight had just said was. "Are you kidding me? It sounds increasingly like you want me to go back to the pony I was in Mareitania! Encouraging me to kill, encouraging me to use dark magic! What gives?"

"I don't particularly want you to do either of those things, but I do want you to stop being scared. You just said that you can't help but use dark magic. Fine, we can work with that, but what we can't do is have you going to pieces every time and making something worse out of it. What happened back in the throne room, and in the Tenochtitlan basin, that was because you're frightened of the consequences of what might happen if you use dark magic, but you use it anyway!"

"It's fine for you to say that, but you've never had an addiction!" Trixie spread her hooves apart as she sat, looking around at the attention they were gaining. "Come on then Twilight, lecture me on something you've never had to endure before."

"Ugh, why are you making this difficult? All I'm saying is that if you are going to use dark magic, use it with the same indifference that you used to. Don't work yourself up to the point that you're too terrified to function. Be confident."

"Sure, I'll be confident as I use that thing that's going to destroy me. Okay, good talk."

Twilight grabbed Trixie in her magic as she rose to leave, and dragged her back down. "Surely that's better than facing it as a terrified, crying mess? Of course the other, more preferable course of action is to stop using dark magic altogether. You don't need it, Trixie."

Trixie shook her head, saying nothing else and feeling rather alone with her struggle. Twilight didn't stop her as she left this time, although she could feel Twilight's eyes on her as she walked away. It wasn't about how she felt while using it, but more about that she felt like she was being watched when she did. It only had to be a matter of time until they claimed her, and used her to do goodness knows what. The thought that she might have to watch as that happened scared her most of all.

Twilight sighed as Trixie walked away. She'd seen Trixie use light magic before now, even if only barely, and for practice at that, so it bothered her why Trixie thought she had no other choices but to use dark magic.

Twilight wasn't given much time to think about it as the triumphant cries of griffons filled the sky. She quickly found what they were about as the Emperor's palanquin approached the castle. Twilight quickly scrambled to her hooves, knowing that as soon as Rainbow and Lightning saw the Golden Claws, there'd be trouble.

Much to her surprise, neither of them made any moves to attack as the palanquin came in to land, although what they might've been thinking about it was hidden behind their armour. The only real sign they gave of their discomfort was the tensing of their bodies as Commander Lurin walked up to the palanquin and bowed deeply as the Emperor disembarked.

"My Emperor, it is most gratifying to see you safe and sound."

The Emperor held his tongue, cocking his head as he studied Lurin intently, right before smacking him across the face.
"I hope you realise that you're partly responsible for what happened here today," the Emperor said sternly to Lurin. "My traitorous son would've died in Equestria had you not saved his miserable skin."

"I know that now, my Emperor, and I am sorry. I never thought he would go this far."

"Hmm." The Emperor scanned his eyes over the mass of captured griffons, counting them. Nearly four hundred griffons were there, each and every one of them a traitor to the Empire. Especially the two in front. "Hello brother, son."

"Hergest," Eustace said back with distaste as Theron glared hatefully at his father. "Still living I see."

"Thanks to ponies of all things. While I find no joy in that myself, I do enjoy that your schemes have been thoroughly undone just by them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact that they could do that just by being here speaks volumes about the depth of your plan. Frankly I'm disappointed."

"So what? Now you're going to execute us all?"

"Such is the fate of all traitors," the Emperor said evenly. He glared at Janice briefly, "Apparently they're everywhere at the moment."

"With no trial, father?" Theron spat. "Further proof that you're not fit to rule."

The Emperor grabbed the back of Theron's head, digging his claws in until the smaller griffon cried in pain. "You, and a large number of these griffons tried to kill me today, so how much proof do you think I need? I'm sure the princesses here would also be interested in the number of ponies you had killed just for todays' purposes."

The Emperor released his son, and wiped the blood on his claws onto Theron's neck. "Fortunately, I'm feeling generous. Your cohorts here will be sent to prison, while only you and my brother will put on trial, if only so all griffons can learn of your crimes."

Luna smiled at the Emperor as he walked towards them, ignoring the shouts he was getting from his son. "It is good to see you still hale and hearty, your Majesty."

"Thanks to you and yours, yes. Unfortunately my work has only begun in some regards. My intelligence service shall have to be rebuilt from the bottom up for starters, and I would have my brother put on trial sooner rather than later."

"But not your son?"

The Emperor shook his head, "The punishment for treason is death, and while I'm not going to ignore my own laws, Clarissa would plead relentlessly for her brother's life, even if he despises her."

"Perhaps best I not say anything on that matter," Luna said with a weary smile. "My sister and I's sibling spats have been the stuff of legend for quite some time."

"Indeed," the Emperor laughed. "Perhaps that might-"

"I invoke the right of trial by combat!" Eustace shouted suddenly, making them jump. "I invoke the right of trial by combat!"

"I heard you the first time!" the Emperor yelled back. "And as is only right and proper, you will be given that right. Would you fight for yourself, or would you put forward a champion."

Eustace looked across at Theron, "He will be my champion, and his fate would be the same as mine, win or lose."

"Wait, what?"

The Emperor chuckled, letting it grow into a boisterous laugh as Theron glared at his uncle. "Ballsy, brother, very ballsy, but I will grant you your request."

"And who would fight for you, my Emperor?"

"I will!"

"Oh for fuck sake," Twilight cursed as Rainbow stepped forwards.

"I will fight."

"Um, are you sure about that?" the Emperor asked. "Maybe you had best leave this to someone else?"

"No!" Rainbow tore her helmet off and eyed up Theron, "If I have the chance to make that bastard pay for all he did to us in Equestria, I'm going to take it."

"Very well, I'll allow it."

"And the stupidity continues," Twilight muttered.

"The trial shall be held tomorrow morning. For now, take these traitors away." The Emperor dismissed all of them with a flick of his claw, and turned to Rainbow Dash. "You are both brave and stupid in equal measure I think. It'll be interesting to see how you fare in the ring. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have much to do."

"Thou art a blithering fool, Rainbow Dash," Luna scolded once the Emperor had moved on. "You don't even know what you've gotten yourself into."

"How bad can it be?"

"It'll be a traditional griffish duel. No weapons, or armour, just your claws."

"But I don't have claw- Oh. Oh shit."

"Indeed."

"Then why did the Emperor let me fight?"

"He gave you a chance to back out, but you insisted. He must think highly of you to even consider letting you fight."

Rainbow grinned nervously, "How would they feel about me using lightning?"

"That would technically count as magic, which is also not allowed."

"Then I'll just have to beat him the hard way." Rainbow smiled semi-confidently, but it was clear that she was kicking herself quite hard. "So, how's Vapor?"

"Alive," Twilight told her, "and getting healed. I've put a spell on her to keep her asleep until she's fully recovered, because I doubt the sensation of getting an eye grown back is a nice one."

"So she'll be fine then?" Lightning asked, her voice full of hope.

"On the outside, sure, but she will need her friends after going through what she did."

Lightning jumped, grabbing Twilight around the neck in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Twilight returned the hug and patted Lightning on the back, "You're welcome." Twilight wriggled out of the hug and stepped back to watch the Golden Claws as they started to lead the captured griffons away. "I don't know what to do now. I was expecting a fight, but this happened instead."

"So were we," said Rainbow. "False orders had been given to the nearby military outposts, so we couldn't find any back-up. The Emperor got it into his head that we'd have to do it all ourselves."

"It has been a most peculiar day," Luna agreed, "but a favourable one nonetheless. For us at least, save for some issues concerning Cadence and Flurry Heart. Perhaps now the Emperor might be more amenable towards an alliance after the assistance we have given him. At the very least he must know we're serious after all this."

"That'll have to wait until after the duel though," said Twilight. "I guess we have to wait until that happens before we can do anything else at all." She stared at Rainbow, letting her displeasure be shown in plain sight.

"What? I didn't know it was some fancy griffon honour duel."

"I figured." Twilight stared at Rainbow for a moment longer as an idea started to form in her head. One that she was going to keep to herself for now. "I suppose I best head back to the retreat and get Clarissa now that things are more settled. The Emperor would probably like to keep her where he can see her."

"Um, I saw the Emperor just now."

All of them looked over as a more pleasant smelling Cadence, and a less demonic looking Flurry, came to join them.

"What did I miss?"

Author's Notes:

That publish button is an illusive beast sometimes, but here we are a whole day later with a chapter. Going ahead with things at the moment, then deciding on the trash chapter later. It really just doesn't add anything to the story. *sigh*