Comet took an extra hour to get out of bed. He really didn't sleep well at all last night, and upon waking up he found out why. Somehow, he had fallen asleep in a storage room. Boxes and strange unused furniture, along with a glowing bust of Princess Celestia, lay about the room in no particular order. Comet was wedged in between some boxes labeled 'PROPERTY OF PRINCESS CELESTIA' and 'FOAL PORTRAITS'. He tilted his head at the one box, curious. Was this a set of pictures of young Princess Celestia?

Unfortunately, Comet's mind caught up to him before he could look. A frightful image of a gryffon bounced around in his mind and he remembered why he was here in this room. Valyrie was drunk last night and had tried to lure Comet into something he didn't want to do. He shook his head to get rid of the memory, but a small voice spoke in the back of his mind. Sure he had only known Valyrie for a day, but she was willing to go somewhere with Comet that he had never been. He was slightly ashamed of it, but Comet prided himself on the fact he wasn't a tail chaser. He had respect for mares, but he had never had one offer like that before. He was curious, but he had to have self restraint.

Still, though, Valyrie was willing to go through with it. She was even a gryffon, an entirely other species! How often did any stallion in all Equestria receive that offer? Then there was her figure. She was just as fit as any mare. Comet shook his head and tried to repress those thoughts. What she did last night did in no way improve Comet's opinion of her. It was reprehensible, mean and... somewhat kinky. Comet reached up a hoof and smacked it across his face. He couldn't possibly be attracted to Valyrie, not after he admitted Angel was cute. Angel was his friend and he had thought there was maybe some attraction between them, but Valyrie had only known him for a day. Finally able to bring his thoughts back under control, Comet pulled himself out of the piles of boxes and trudged back to the bunk room.

Valyrie, in turn, was woken up by an unusually loud Angel. "Good morning, sleepy head!" Angel seemed to shout at a decibel way too high for her ears. Valyrie pulled her pillow out and shoved it on top of her head.

"Go away," she mumbled weakly. Evidently she had too much to drink last night. She only had, what? Like nine ciders? That was nothing for a gryffon like herself who had only felt this bad after twelve stouts. Was Valyrie a lightweight when it came to pony drinks? She never got to think of her answer since a hoof poked her in her back, right where the feathers became fur.

"Aw, c'mon!" Angel's outrageously loud voice rang out, "You can't feel that bad!"

"How're you not hungover?" Valyrie moaned.

"Bat ponies have naturally high metabolisms, which means we don't get hangovers for long," Angel said happily, much to Valyrie's annoyance. The gryffon groaned angrily and pushed herself up by her claws, but immediately fell back to the bed. Her head ached and pounded like never before, so she pulled her pillow onto her head, hoping to relieve some pain. Angel giggled to Valyrie and extended a hoof to lift the pillow. She caught a brief glimpse of her pale gold iris before a claw shoved the pillow back down. Angel giggled again. She was just like Comet when Angel wanted to play around, so she proceeded to annoy Valyrie until she got out of bed.

Angel lifted the feathers on Valyrie's midsection where her feathers became fur to see if she was stitched together, then played a game of tennis using her hoofs as rackets and Valyrie's tail as the ball. It was only when Angel had taken an interest in Valyrie's paws did the gryffon decide to turn an annoyed face to her. "Do you really have to force me to get up?" she asked in her groggy voice.

Angel gave a big grin to the irritated gryffon and nodded. Valyrie groaned again and shoved her beak into the pillow. It wasn't just the hangover Valyrie was contending with. Something horrible had crept into her mind and she was trying to figure out what it was. It was a sensation of warm lips against her beak, some laughing and a taste of feathers and fur. Valyrie dreaded what it might mean since her memory of last night ended at the tavern, but at the same time, the sensations her body remembered were pleasant.

About half an hour later of Angel pestering, Valyrie finally got out of bed. The two of them cleaned themselves and headed down to the mess hall for a rather late breakfast. Valyrie silently thanked Griffon, the god of gryffons, that today was another day off. Upon reaching the mess hall, Angel instantly located Comet, who sat by himself chewing slowly on a bite of oatmeal. Valyrie approached him and his reaction said it all. His eyes went wide and he turned his head from her. Luckily, Angel didn't seem to catch that.

After a breakfast of plain oatmeal for Comet, fresh sliced pineapple and two apples for Angel and granola mixed with sunflower seeds for Valyrie, the trio headed off to the recreation room of the castle, Angel happily chattering away to both Comet and Valyrie while they gave small responses. When they were about halfway there, a pegasus guard approached the trio and said, "Private Angel Beats?"

"That's me!" Angel singsonged.

"Captain Shining Armor has requested to speak to you," he stated briskly, "I've been sent to collect you."

"Okay, then! Bye Comet and Valyrie!" Angel stated with a happy bounce and grin. Comet gave her a smile and Valyrie waved, but neither said anything. That worried Angel, but she proceeded off with the guard. Comet and Valyrie stood there in awkward silence for a couple minutes after she left before Valyrie managed to work up the courage to say something.

"So, um, Comet... About last night, what happened?" she asked tenatively.

Comet clenched his jaw, wishing there was a way for him to get out of this. "We came back to the castle, I put Angel to bed and then went to bed myself," he lied.

Valyrie turned to him and stared straight into his eyes. Comet hadn't noticed, but Valyrie had a wonderful golden color to her eyes, just like Angel. He felt they were nice to look at, but they conveyed the feeling he was being examined while Angel's were just blank pools of gold. "You don't have to lie to me," Valyrie stated, "What really happened? You can tell me."

Comet gulped and looked down. "You were tipsy and we almost, uh, did something we'd regret," he stated plainly.

Valyrie stared at his downturned face and felt like he was hiding something. "If something happened, Comet, you can tell me. I will report myself if it's that bad."

"No, nothing happened," Comet said lamely before giving her a sincere, yet awkward smile. Valyrie gave him a confused look before continuing.

"I don't think that's all of it."

"Well, it is. You were drunk, you made a move on me and it shocked me. The end."

"Then, you're sure we didn't..?"

"Positive. I wasn't tipsy last night."

Valyrie felt a wave of relief wash over her and she relaxed. She hadn't realized it, but her claws were curled up and her muscles were tense. She relaxed and gave a nice smile to Comet, one he seemed to relax at as well. She walked up to him and said, "Why didn't you report me?"

Comet gave a sincere smile and said, "Everypony makes mistakes. We just have to learn from them." He had just finished speaking when he found himself with a face full of feathers and in a hug grip. Valyrie embraced him gently, but tightened her grip to let him know she was grateful. Nogryffon had ever been that nice to her except for her parents and she felt an odd swelling sensation in her chest. She thought Comet was just cute, but now she knew he was kindhearted as well, something she really admired.

On the other side of the castle, Angel skipped along happily as the guard led her. It was a long walk to Shining Armor's office, but she enjoyed the tour of the castle. She had tried to talk to the guard, but he wasn't a talker. It was pretty uneventful walking, but Angel managed to find something cool in every passage. One had several old suits of steel armor worn by knights back in the day, one had a magnificent stained glass window of Celestia and Luna imprisoning a weird creature made up of all sorts of animal parts in stone, and so on.

Soon, she was standing outside an unassuming door of solid wood and the guard nodded to it. He turned around and left the bat pony alone there to wonder what was behind the door. As she reached for the knob, a musical voice rang out, "Oh dear me, I didn't know Shining was expecting you." Angel turned to see a bright pink alicorn with a pale yellow and royal purple mane smiling at her. She had deep magenta eyes and seemed to smile through them too.

Angel yelped slightly and threw her face on the floor, landing with a thud. It hurt her snout, but she made no noise in the presence of Princess Cadance herself. Cadance's face melted to one of concern as her horn glowed. "Are you alright, young one?" she asked gently but with concern as Angel's head lifted up.

"Just fine, ma'am," Angel blurted out, nervous. She was unsure of what the princess of love wanted with her, but she did her best to keep a straight face.

Cadance grinned to her and said, "Silly pony. I am only here to see my husband. He's been under a considerable amount of stress since the changeling attack."

Angel wondered if she could read minds and reached over to open the door. It creaked open and Cadance smiled sincerely. "Thank you. If I may ask, what's your name?"

"Private Angel Beats, ma'am!" Angel blurted out again.

"Well then, private Angel Beats, will you check the room for me? It would be bad manners for a princess to ignore the usefullness of her guards," Cadance said with a small giggle.