"Michael, time ta wake up." AJ said, poking the slumbering pegasus in the shoulder.

He opened an eye. "Morning." He said, his voice hoarse and his eyes had dark purple bags underneath them.

She looked at him sadly. "Are ya alright?"

"Just a rough night, you know?" He yawned. "So what time is this meeting?"

She tapped her chin. "Well, the Prince will be here this evenin' and the meetin' is shortly after that."

"So what do we do till then?"

"Well, Martin's at work and Ah'm gonna buck some apples with pBig Mac and Aplebloom. You can do whatever ya feel like Ah guess, maybe keep Vahil, Vahali, or whatever it's called company."

"Ah, I should get to work myself." He got up and stretched. "I'll see you later AJ, thanks for letting me crash here for the night."

She smiled. "Be careful." She said, watching the pegasus leave.

He made his way to the bookstore and forced a smile as he chatted with Ms. Page and started to work, getting lost in a column.

=

Nothing exciting happened as the town prepared for the Prince's arrival. Everypony in town made sure to do their part and clean up said town as Pinkie decorated, going ecstatic for the chance to throw a party for the Griffin Prince. Finally, as the guards stood in formation in front of town hall, Martin stood proud, his armor glowing in the sun. Vaahala sat just off to the side.

The Griffin party landed, a squad of six griffins in full armor escorted a younger looking griffin. Mike stood off to the side, watching quietly in the shadows. The girls walked up to Martin, the Mayor smiling broadly.

The six guards stared impassively as Martin slowly made his way to the Prince and bowed. He rose and looked at him. "Prince Vandir, we're happy to see that you arrived without any complications."

Vander eyed him for a moment before nodding solemnly. "Indeed, I'm glad to finally see this 'Ponyville' and meet its famed inhabitants."

Martin nodded as a unicorn walked up to him, carrying a small wrapped sheath. He grabbed it and presented it to Vandir. "Please, accept this gift from Princess Celestia."

Vandir grabbed the gift with his talon and unwrapped it, the scimitar's jeweled hilt glowing. He smiled as he turned away from everyone and pulled it out of its sheath, staring at the blade. "They never cease to amaze me…" He muttered before re-sheathing it and handed it to a guard. The guard put it in his travel pack and took out a gift as well, handing it to Vandir. Vandir paused before handing it to Martin. "A gift as well, from the Griffin King."

Martin accepted the gift, unraveling the cloth to reveal a small golden locket, embedded with jewels. "Thank you, I'll send it Princess Celestia as fast as possible." He bowed and handed it to a guard. "The meeting is ready, if you wish to start it now. Or do you wish to see where you'll be staying first?"

"I'd like to meet this other human along with the Elements, if that's alright. I've heard a lot about both."

Martin nodded. "I'm afraid due to some medical circumstances; Michael had to be given a new form. He's no longer in human form."

"Really? I'd still like to meet him if he's around."

Martin gave him a short nod and he looked at the remaining Elements. "Please, they're right here." He said, moving out of the way.

He startled everyone as he bowed to the Elements. "It's a pleasure to meet the Elements of Harmony." He smiled at Dash. "And a certain associate of mine would like to offer her apologies for her actions several months ago."

Dash grinned. "I think that's about right."

Vandir nodded. "I'll let her know you accepted them." He bowed again, deeply, to Twilight. "And Ms. Twilight Sparkle, thank you for letting me stay at your home during my visit."

She blushed and smiled. "It's the least I could do."

"I'll be sure to mention it to father when I make my report." He smiled back. "Wait, I'm only counting five; I heard there were six Elements?"

Martin coughed. "I'm afraid Fluttershy isn't here at the moment. She had to go visit her parents and couldn't make it to the meetings." He lied, his frown hidden behind his helmet.

The girls stared at him as Mike glared from the shadows.

"Oh… how unfortunate." Vandir said, oblivious.

Martin paused, giving the girls a look before making his way towards town hall. "Please, the Canterlot Ambassador is waiting."

Vandir nodding, walking to town hall to greet the awaiting pony, the girls right behind him, only pausing to glare at the lying human. Martin sighed and turned around, Mike was right behind him.

"Michael, I'm sorry but we shouldn’t worry him before the meetings even start."

Mike nodded. "Wasn't me you lied to." He said, motioning for Martin to follow the girls. "I'll stay out here and keep an eye on things; I'm not much of a debater." He smiled faintly. “Call if you need me."

Martin sighed again. "Alright." He said, quickly heading towards town hall, heading into the conference room.

The ambassador and the Mayor shook hooves with Vandir as they exchanged 'official' greetings. Martin walked up to the girls, standing next to AJ.

"Not what Ah was expectin', ta be honest." She whispered.

He leaned down. "I'm sorry but we shouldn't worry him too much, the discussions haven't even begun."

"Agreed." She nodded. "But Ah assumed after meetin' Gilda that all griffins were… ya know."

"That's kinda racist."

She eyed him, a small smile on her snout. "Well forgive me for being a tad conflicted when the only contact Ah had with griffins were with Gilda."

He chuckled. "I won't judge you."

"Let's get this meeting under way so we're not here till four in the morning." Vandir said with a small smile, motioning for everypony to take a seat.

Everypony sat down except Martin, standing at the end of the table, looking at everyone. "We gathered here to discuss this war in the Land of the Desert and the attacks of the UEA."

Vandir nodded. "What we say here doesn't leave this room." He seemed to age a few years as he rested in his chair. "The UEA were spotted on our borders and a few griffins have said that they're starting to collect in our outlying territories."

"They're three attacks in the last week. The first was a fire to the Ponyville barracks. The second was them kidnapping a young mare. The third was a failed assassination on myself."

Vandir was silent for a moment before staring at the human. "That young mare wouldn't happen to be the Element that went on 'vacation' would it?"

Martin sighed. "I'm afraid so…"

"Has anypony met with them or know who's in charge?"

"I've met with two of their leaders. The third is still unknown to us."

"Were they rather tall? Wear white robes and strange masks that had symbols that could glow?"

"Yes."

"Interesting…" Vandir clicked his talons on the table. "And what time was this attack were you met them? Were they the other day around noon?"

Martin shook his head. "No, it was close to night, in this very building."

He was silent. "Wait a minute that pony that was kidnapped, she didn’t have a pink mane and yellow coat did she?"

Everypony looked at him closely. "Yes, her name was Fluttershy."

Vandir leaned back in his chair. "I think I know where they're hiding her."

One of the guards looked at him. "Prince Vandir, you can't be serious."

Martin leaned forward, both of his hands resting on the table. "Please, share with us what you know."

The guard quickly interjected before Vandir could speak. "We can't divulge that information at the moment." Vandir sighed, closing his eyes.

Martin sighed, changing topics before it started a full blown argument. "The uproar in the Land of the Desert is tensing the situation. They're threatening to begin a war."

Vandir nodded. "We must figure out what to do with that, at the very least."

Mike suddenly appeared in the shadows, Martin glaring at him briefly. "There have been some attacks in the Griffin Kingdom, if I've been informed correctly."

Vandir noticed the pony as well. "Then you've been informed correctly. We lost a dozen soldiers in one attack." He motioned for the guard with the pack and he quickly reached inside, pulling something wrapped in a cloth. "This was the only thing we found on their corpses." He opened it and pulled out a slightly wilted red rose.

Everypony stared at the rose as Martin sighed. "The United Equestrian Army..."

"That's what I thought." Vandir sighed and put the rose away. "So if I'm correct in my assumptions, we’re both fighting a common enemy that's nullified the Elements of Harmony?"

Martin briefly nodded. "Yes and with the recent attacks, we might be drawn into the war as well."

"Have you had any contact with the Dragon clans?"

Martin sadly shook his head. "No, but we have a good chance of contacting them."

"At least someone does, I'd recommend getting into contact with them. We're fighting against everypony; we're going to need all the help we can get." Vandir sighed as he pulled aside the guard. "If you'll excuse us, I need to have a private word with Ganir."

"Of course."

Vandir quickly pulled Ganir off to a small room on the side, shutting the door behind him, guards flanking the door. Martin glanced at the door for a moment before walking over to Mike.

"Michael, what are you doing here?"

"Just getting a feeling I'd be better inside than outside. Don’t worry, Vaahala is watching us too."

"Alright…"

"So they know where Fluttershy is?"

"They think they do."

Shouts could be heard from behind the door. "And we can't get it unless they tell us right?"

"I'll try and talk to him about it later."

"Don’t worry, I understand. I agree with him, we need to be together in this fight. I just wish he'd tell us…"

The door opened and Vandir walked out, looking exhausted as the fuming guard followed him. "Sorry about that." Vandir said, sitting down and looking at Mike. "And who's this?"

"This is Michael; he used to be human like me."

Mike bowed to Vandir. "Pleasure to meet you Prince Vandir."

Vandir smiled faintly. "Agreed but how did you know my name, I don’t recall telling you?" Vandir's guards nonchalantly moved their talons closer to their swords.

"He's here to assure our safety, don’t worry."

The guards looked skeptically at Michael before relaxing slightly. "No worries." Vandir said. "So, anything else we need to discuss for the night?"

"Yes, do you think it's wise to send some soldiers to the borders?"

He scratched the feathers on the back of his head. "I really don’t think you have much of a choice. I'm trying to get my father to agree to help you but…" He smiled sadly.

"But?"

"He isn't too thrilled to throw his subject's lives away."

Martin sighed. "I can understand. He'll have to do what he thinks is best for his subjects."

"It won't help if the world falls to the UEA though."

"Agreed."

Ganir gritted his beak, grinding his teeth.

"Is everything alright?" Martin asked, looking at him.

"Everything's fine." He grunted, Vandir watching him closely.

Martin narrowed his eyes skeptically. "If you say so." He slowly looked back at Vandir. "We should end this meeting and continue in the morning."

"Agreed." Everyone got up. "Then I'll say goodnight now."

"The library is a safe place. You should be able sleep comfortably." Martin reassured Vandir.

"That's why we're here." Ganir said as everybody headed towards the door.

"Aye." They all walked outside. It had gotten dark and the streets were empty. The griffins had surrounded Vandir and a half circle formation, only Twilight allowed to get close to him. Mike and Martin hung in the back, next to each other. "Michael, can you keep an eye on Ganir for me?" Martin whispered.

"You getting that vibe to?" Mike asked quietly. "But consider it done."

"Thank you."

"No problem, gotta do something. I'll let you know if anything happens." Mike said, using Luna's gifts to fade into the darkness.

Martin nodded and followed the group. Twilight and Vandir talked about something, most likely Ponyville or one of her adventures, as the guards looked around, wary. Ganir seethed about something, and the other Elements, especially AJ, watched him carefully. Martin carefully rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as he watched over the group.

They paused at the library before the Elements went home. The guards spread out and searched the tree house and argued at length with Twilight that Spike could be a spy. Finally, after that was quickly settled when Twi's mane burst into flames, a guard remained outside as everypony and griffin went into the library.

Vandir stared in awe at all the books and looked like he wanted to read each and every one of them, but politely excused himself, wishing everyone goodnight. Ganir soon followed him upstairs, after one final glare at Martin. Twilight sighed and sagged on the couch.

Martin looked at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just tired. That was a tad stressful, you know? I'm just glad the first meeting went so well."

"Let's hope tomorrow will be the same."

"Yeah." She looked at him concernedly. "You should get some sleep; it's going to be a rough couple of days." She said, getting up and walking upstairs. "Goodnight Martin."

"G'night Twilight." He said, walking outside and looking at the sky. "Vaahala!"

The dragon landed in front of him in moments, the ground shaking on impact. Martin patted him gently on the head before climbing on his back.

"Let's go." The dragon nodded his head, launching himself back into the sky and towards the farm. The trip to the farm was silent, before landing in the matter of a minute. Martin hopped off and led him back in the barn, making sure to tell him not to eat the animals, again. He closed the barn door and headed inside the Apple house.

The lights were on and AJ was sitting on the couch, looking like she was lost in thought. He walked up and took off his helmet and sat down, the couch creaking. "Hey AJ."

She blinked and looked over at him. "Hey."

"Did you notice Ganir?"

"Yeah, he didn't seem too thrilled with the idea of us workin' together."

"There's something about that guy."

"Ah don't like him, something 'bout him doesn't sit right with me."

"Aye, I asked Michael to keep an eye on him."

"Oh? How's he doin'?"

"He wants to find Fluttershy, just like we all do."

She sighed. "Don't we all…" She hesitated. "He doesn’t look right."

"I know, he's going through some trouble."

"Ah wish there was soemthin' we could do ta help."

"All we can do is try and find her."

"Then what? Ah have a feeling somethin' is happening to her."

Martin shrugged. "I don't know."

She sighed. "Ah don't know what ta do either." She got up. "Let's get some shut eye, tomorra's gonna be a busy day."

He followed her example, standing up as he grabbed his helmet. "Agreed."