Chapter 54

“This… is… ARGH!” Rich Kid collapsed as the recruits dragged themselves past the donut shop for the fifth time. “W-why is Canterlot so… so big?” the posh pony gasped for breath

Matrix groaned as he fell to his flank and wiped the large amount of sweat from his brow. “After all that exercise back at the castle I just can’t carry on!”

Tough Heart tripped over Matrix’s long wings and fell to his face, “Why are we out here? There is nopony to supervise us or tell us what to do”

“But we were ordered to run around Canterlot ten times,” Matrix coughed as his limbs burnt and his lungs struggled to get all the air his body desired. “We have only done half”

“That old fart that is training us has been sacked!” Tough Heart sneered. “He shouldn’t be giving orders to anypony but here he is barking at us to be good enough!”

Rich Kid nodded, “My father only sent me to the guards because I was being a nuisance and wanted me to learn manners”

“I joined because I thought it was a good cause,” Tough Heart spat on the ground. “I am not taking this, if I am not going to be given any respect then the guards have lost out”

“Same here,” Rich Kid nodded. “I am going for some food and drink, would you like to come”

Tough Heart nodded, “I’m coming, how about you Matrix?”

“What? No!” The black and yellow Pegasus stood up. “I joined the guards to serve, and if that means putting my faith in some random unicorn then I will do it!” He stood up as he felt the tiredness wash from his body. “Now if you could both move, I have some laps to do”

The Pegasus ran off at full gallop, shoving the two unicorns aside as he focused on running. Both the deserters groaned as they began to walk into the donut shop, only to get knocked aside as a group of mares and a baby dragon rushed past

“Twilight slow down!” Spike held onto the unicorn’s purple mane as she half-galloped down the street. “I’m sure Princess Celestia isn’t going anywhere”

“This is the second time I have had to hear about a wedding from someone other than the one pony who is getting married!” Twilight growled as she approached the castle, her friends close behind as the guards recognised the bearers of the elements and opened the gates. “Applebloom knew before I did and I’m Celestia’s student!”

Rarity whined as she walked briskly, her pace meant that she was at the back of the group. “Twilight, could you be a darling and walk slower? The wind is bad for my mane”

“I don’t think that Twilight is trying to restyle your mane,” Rainbow Dash flinched as Twilight bucked the castle doors open and stormed in. “I think she might restyle some rooms in anger though”

“Are we surprising the princess with a surprise visit?” Pinkie giggled happily. “Oh this will be such a surprise seeing the princess surprised, I might surprise myself just seeing her surprised face!”

“I-I don’t like surprises,” Fluttershy whispered as she followed behind Applejack, the earth pony smiled back at her

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, Twi is just gonna say congratulations to the happy couple… aren’t ya Twi?” Applejack did not seem too sure as she spotted Twilight with a large frown

“Oh I am going to give them something…” Twilight growled as she stormed down another corridor, her eyes glaring straight ahead as she neared the throne room doors

Her friends gave some final few efforts before the angry element of harmony pushed the throne room doors open and stepped in. A dozen gryphons stood at the bottom of the royal stairs, a guard allowed one to stand at the bottom step and speak to the princess of the sun. The gryphon at the bottom of the stairs was already annoyed and was growling quietly

“Why didn’t you tell me you were getting married!?” Twilight yelled from the other end of the large hall. Spike fell from her back as she panted in anger, her quick pace finally taking its toll

Princess Celestia rubbed her face with her golden hoof before waving to Twilight, “I will speak with you in a moment Twilight, I have more important matters to attend to”

“More important?” Twilight laughed sarcastically. “You are getting married and you don’t even send a letter to your student?”

“I will say this once,” General Talon turned to face the purple mare. “Sit down and be silent!”

Twilight froze as she realized the entire group before her were actually gryphons. Some wore medals and sashes whilst others had small pieces of armour strapped to their bodies. The ponies slowly inched behind Twilight as Talon turned his snarl to Celestia

“Those bugs threatened my race and forced a peace, I was forced to back down because of a powerful leader to the Changelings,” Talon roared as he took a step further up the marble stairs. “And I find out that it was one fog that now resides in your kingdom and he makes your child giggle!”

“If you are referring to Odio then I will inform you that he is a guest and is under my protection,” Celestia frowned at the general. “And I demand you keep your eagle eyes away from your allies”

Talon snarled angrily, a loud growl grew at the back of his throat, “I demand your assistance in wiping the changelings out! They have attacked you before, that is why you helped us gain control of their borders!”

“I remember lending assistance to PROTECT!” Celestia yelled at the gryphon. “I will not exterminate an entire race because one gryphon has lost his self-respect”

“YOU PATHETIC MULE!” Talon roared. “We respect your pony ways because you have powerful magic at your disposal, but without all that, without all your elements and other trinkets, what have you got?”

Celestia glared at the Gryphon as he glared back, Twilight and her friends exchanged nervous glances as they looked back up at Celestia. The princess of the sun took a deep breath before holding her head high again

“I understand your anger but extermination isn’t the way,” Celestia began but was prevented from going further as General Talon roared again

“You continuously allow yourself to get pushed around by these… roaches,” Talon’s claws scratched against the ground as he held back his anger. “If we attack then we can stop all the problems from coming back, we can KILL that fly they call a queen”

Celestia shook her head, “Enough General Talon!” She stood as she looked down at the squadron of gryphons and their furious leader. “I will not be spoken to in my own castle, especially about such dirty matters as this”

“If you won’t help me now then I will not help you the next time Chrysalis gets her teeth into your future husband!” Talon spat, his snarl grew as Celestia’s eyes filled with anger. “He has kissed the changeling queen more times than you know! And I almost respect that ape for understanding who is respectable and who should be used”

Celestia stood as she bared her teeth to the gryphon general, “You are trying my patience, leave now before negotiations deteriorate any further”

Talon was not finished with pushing Celestia’s buttons as he snorted, “Your fiancé has a habit of going for royalty, he has you and your sister and he could have Chrysalis and Larva if he truly wished so!”

“I SAID LEAVE!” Celestia bellowed, her anger dripped from her voice as the ponies moved to one of the corners of the room. The royal guards slowly tensed their muscles before relaxing, preparing for any situation that might arise. The gryphons growled with their leader as they stared up at Celestia, none of them noticing the door open and softly close

“What happens when the changelings come here again?” Talon advanced further up the steps, almost like he was stalking towards Celestia with the attempt to leap at her. “Will you stand by and allow your love to become one with those life sucking beetles!”

Celestia opened her mouth to yell at the approaching gryphon, her attention had been focused on not obliterating the general but this was the case with most of their meetings. General Talon would ask too much from Celestia and would sulk away with nothing. But this time, instead of Celestia retaliating, General Talon yelped as his tail was yanked and a sudden force pinned his head to the stairs

“NOPONY SPEAKS TO CELESTIA THAT WAY!” Dave yelled to General Talon as he held his head down. The gryphons roared as they prepared to charge but hesitated as six guards leapt to stand in their way

The guards were outnumbered two-to-one by the gryphons but they had Dave who calmly picked up Talon and held him in the air by his throat

“I hate Chrysalis and her changelings,” Dave spat into the gryphon’s face. “But killing an entire race is wrong and we will not take any part in it”

Talon continued to snarl, even when he was struggling to breathe. “The changelings have already attempted to break through our border patrols again! Once or twice they were with that queen or princess!”

Dave’s frown turned curious as he placed the gryphon down. “I will tell you this once, I will bring Chrysalis here soon and I will make both of you talk, whether you like it or not”

“If you get me in the same room as that spider then I will tear her limb from limb,” Talon snarled. “But I shall humour you by talking first”

“If I get both of you in the same room, with me, Celestia and whoever else,” Dave poked the general and earned a chorus of growls from the gryphons. “You will make a peaceful solution”

General Talon snarled as he stood up to Dave, “What do I get out of this?”

“If Chrysalis acts up, winks at me or pisses my fiancé off…” Dave smirked. “I’ll look the other way and I will leave you alone with her”

Talon’s eyes lit up, “Well you had better not be wasting my time with this!”

“I despise Chrysalis!” Dave snarled. “But peace deserves a chance”

The general of the gryphons nodded before marching away, his squadron of gryphons followed him as he left the throne room. The minute the doors slammed shut, the guards sighed, the ponies breathed again, Dave sat down on his step and Celestia moved to join him

“You weren’t serious about leaving Talon with Chrysalis were you?” Celestia wrapped a wing around Dave. “I hate her but killing her isn’t right”

Dave chuckled, “I lied about everything I said, except the talking part,” the human rubbed his hand through Celestia’s fur. “I wouldn’t kill anypony, but it gets that jarhead to sit down and talk”

“I love you too much sometimes,” Celestia laughed as she nuzzled against Dave, her eyes wandered around the room and saw the elements were still sat in the corner of the room, their eyes wide from watching politics unravel

“Dave…” Rainbow Dash raced over and stuck her hoof out to the human. “That was AWESOME!”

Dave tapped his fist against the hoof before smiling to the others. “Hey guys, how have you been?”

Spike ran over and gave Dave a high-five, “You just showed that gryphon who’s boss!”

“You know it Spike,” Dave rubbed the dragon’s head. “I wouldn’t let my special somepony get talked to like that by some bully”

Celestia smiled to Twilight, “I apologize for not sending you a letter but we haven’t made invites yet and we wanted you and your friends to get the best seats”

“I-invites?” Twilight blinked, “But we aren’t related to you, we should be in the friend seats shouldn’t we?”

The white alicorn giggled as she rested her head on Dave’s shoulder. “I don’t have much family remember?”

“Yeah,” Dave chuckled. “I don’t have family here either… except my dad and Nox”

“Oh that reminds me,” Celestia looked to her fiancé. “Will you be able to get your father to give me away? He is the closest to a father figure we have”

Dave tapped his chin, “I’ll try, but I think I have a better chance of making a stone bleed”

“Oh that doesn’t sound very nice,” Fluttershy whimpered. “I’m sure the rock doesn’t deserve to be hurt”

Pinkie bounced over, “Why are we hurting Tom?”

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again,” Rarity sighed