As the week drew closer to the biggest event of the year, the Grand Galloping Gala, Shining Armor got little sleep. He checked and rechecked placements of guards, spells to detect weapons of non Royal Guard issue, quick escapes for the princesses should things go awry. The lack of sleep also made him quite irritable, as Royal Guards who didn't want to be on duty during the Gala found out.

Comet resumed his normal routine the day after Gorgon had gorged herself on him, much to the relief of Angel and secretly Valyrie. However, when pressed for information, Comet couldn't seem to recall what he had done that day. Guarding Philomena was listless to the pegasus and gryffon, but they accepted their duty without complaint. As for the energetic bat pony, she was ecstatic to learn that her favorite pony, Comet, would be joining the guard on the night of the Gala after Shining posted a list of every guard on duty that night. Still, unknown to either of them, Comet slipped away at night, responding to the call of another princess. Nopony noticed this until Valyrie spotted him one night after using the facilities.

It took her several seconds to register the pony was Comet, mostly because of the glowing eyes. Curious, Valyrie stalked the stallion, avoiding any kind of contact or sight. The pursuit took her down to where she first met the stallion, the armory, which should have been devoid of life at this time of night. Instead, it sounded as if the guards were having a party in there. She watched from the top of the staircase as Comet shambled over to the door and knocked. What greeted him both suprised and scared Valyrie to the point of almost making noise. A rather large pony, about the same size as Princess Cadance, covered in a shiny black material with hideously large green eyes and an odd bluish green mane, stuck her head out and grinned slyly to the stallion, who remained stony.

"Ah, my favorite little toy," she cooed in a raspy voice, "Where have you been? I've gotten quite hungry." She reached out and wrapped her hole ridden hooves around Comet and pulled him inside, the door slamming behind them. Valyrie stood there, dumbstruck by what she just saw. Comet had another mare? One who he was meeting behind both Valyrie and Angel's back? A large sensation of anger and hurt welled up in Valyrie's chest, but she stifled it. There was no way Comet was a tail chaser, was there? Sure, he did like Angel and had allowed Valyrie herself to get somewhat physical with him, but he never seemed to notice any other pony or gryffon. That was when another idea hit her. His eyes were glowing the same color as the weird black pony's, so did she have him under some kind of spell? Feeling particularly brave, Valyrie marched up to the armory door and pounded on it.

"Hello?" she called as the noises fell silent. A sudden sense of intrepidation as a voice rang out.

"Go away!" called the armorer, "I don' care if ya didn' get an invite! Nopony'z allowed tah mah parteh!"

"I know a stallion by the name of Comet is in there!" Valyrie shouted in return, "I want to talk to him now!" Silence ensued for a couple of seconds before the armorer shouted a reply.

"Who'se dis?"

Valyrie took a deep breath and yelled, "His gryffon friend!"

Shuffling could be heard from behind the door as objects, no, ponies moved around and soon the door creaked open to reveal the familiar orange coat of Comet, along with his normal red eyes. Which were glaring at the gryffon. "Why are you here, Valyrie?" he demanded.

"Why are you here?" she retorted.

"I'm here with my friends, something you wouldn't understand," he rebounded with a trace of venom in his words. Valyrie grimaced at the last part, but kept her composure.

"I know you have no friends outside of me and Angel," she quickly responded, "You've been making me and Angel worry about you so you could come down here and pretend to have friends?"

Comet gritted his teeth as he worked out the next few words. "Why do you always force your way into my buisiness?" He blinked several times as he spoke and quite a bit more before continuing. "You show up out of nowhere, nearly rape me on the first day, force your way into my relationships and don't understand when to quit. Is it just some stupid gryffon thing to force yourself upon me because you have no life outside of fighting and dying?"

To that, Valyrie had no answer other than a small squeak of hurt. Tears began to form around her eyes as she said, "W-well, at least I'm not a baby over my dead siblings!"

Comet's eyes widened before narrowing into deadly arcs. "What did you just say?" he asked, almost hissing at her.

"You h-heard me!" Valyrie almost shouted in return, "I know you're still just a little foal over your sister, your sister who's been dead for years!"

Comet's angry face now became one of pure, unadulterated hate as he bared his teeth at Valyrie. "Don't you DARE speak of her like that again, you pathetic pile of feathers! You think your life was hard? Imagine never being able to leave your house, never eating a normal meal or never having any friends! You messed up your own life, Valyrie, don't try to mess up mine! I'm not a weak little pony who you can play the sympathy card with. I have my own life that doesn't revolve around you! Now get away from me!"

As the last word hung in the air, Valyrie lost all sense of composure. She lowered her head and started crying. As she sobbed, Comet clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth and said, "Dear Celestia, you really don't know when to quit." Valyrie's hear whipped up and a look of anger peeked through her tears.

"Shut up!" she shouted at him, "You are a miserable excuse for a stallion! To think I even l-l-liked you was stupid!" Reacting instictively, she reached up and swiped a claw across his face, leaving him yelping in pain as he covered his left cheek. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain and when he reopened his eye, Valyrie noticed it was glowing again.

"Ah!" he shouted in pain, "V-Valyrie, why?" The gryffon was about to say something hurtful when Comet wailed in pain again and clutched his forehead instead of his cheek. He tossed and turned on the ground as his eyes glowed brighter and mumbled "Stop... telling me... what to do!" Suddenly, he stopped convulsing and stood up as if nothing happened. He turned and glared several daggers at the gryffon before walking back into the room. The door slammed shut before Valyrie could enter, leaving her with a lot of unanswered questions.

As the door started to open, Valyrie darted away and bolts of green magic followed her. The gryffon ran and flew at the same time, trying desperately to maximize her speed as bolt after bolt barely missed their target. One thing stuck in her mind as she ran back to the bunks; Comet wasn't himself. She felt incredibly sorrowful as she ran, hearing the words they exchanged in her mind. She should've known Comet wouldn't say such things to her, especially since she felt he did like her too. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by a Royal Guard who tried to swipe at her with a spear.

Valyrie just managed to duck it and dug her claws into the carpet, trying to slow down. She spun to face the guard, who was glaring angrily at her before jumping with the spear tip pointed at her. Valyrie nimbly dodged it by spinning to her left and swiped at the guard with her claws. The golden armor gained several scratches and only one swipe found a piece of flesh, but the guard didn't bleed. Instead, several long black scratches stayed on his pelt as he swug the spear at her again. Valyrie, her years of training in the Gryphon Kingdom kicking in, ducked it yet again and reached out with her left claw to grab the weapon. She felt the solid wood in her palm and closed around it, swiping at the guards face with her right claw. She made her mark as three particularly long black tears appeared on the guards face, one passing directly over his eye. Underneath the eye came a light blue glow and a hiss came from his mouth.

With the spear still in her claw, Valyrie pulled it back to her, smashing the hilt on the back of the guard's helmet. His head recoilded forward and Valyriegrabbed his chestpiece with her right claw. She tugged at it and he began to flip over. His face collided with the floor and acted like a pivot point as he rolled over. Valyrie wasted no time by flapping her wings to get higher than the guard and landed on top of him, bringing her claw back to his face while she successfully pulled the spear away. She pulled the hilt up into her right claw and brought it down. The guard had just enough time to reach up and block her from smashing it into his neck by holding it up. Valyrie's angry gaze shifted down and met the eyes of the guard.

"What, *grunt* are you?" she hissed through her clenched beak. The guard simply responded with a hissing noice and kicked the gryffon off of himself. Vayrie monopolized on this and made a hasty getaway as the guard pulled himself up. He hissed angrily and put a hoof over his eye. Valyrie for her part was flying through the hallways, attempting to reach Angel. She had to tell her what she saw about Comet.

Down in the armory, Gorgon hissed angrily as she worked on the spell she had used on Comet. Apparently, it was flawed enough for that gryffon to overpower it. She could only wonder what the bat pony would do to it. As she worked, a changeling ran up to her and reported the gryffon had gotten away. She screeched at that and thought while she worked. "Get somepony over to Shining Armor right away and report that the gryffon attacked two fellow guards and is crazy. She won't get very far with us and the guard after her."