Hey everycreature! What's up!?

Well now that Flurry's time is almost up, she has one last chance to get things back to normal, what will she do…

And lets continue!

Chapter 5: Last Chance

As always, no matter what, Grace came very early in the morning, knocking on Flurry's bedroom door, however this time she didn't expect the princess to open up at all and completely ignore her, which Grace couldn't blame Flurry for. So it did come as a surprise when the bedroom door slowly creaked open, but only a couple of inches as Flurry was on alert, in case it was the Saddle Arabians, but she was relieved to see it was only Grace.

"Grace, it just you…" Flurry said as she opened the door wider and silently nodded for her guard captain to come in. "Have the Saddle Arabians left yet?"

"No, but I heard they started to pack up last night, they're going to leave sometime during the day if you don't give them an answer." Grace reported.

"What am I going to do?" Flurry getting on her bed and depressed. "If I say yes, than I have basically renounced my true marriage and leave little Cinnamon without a mother. But if I say no, than the two kingdoms don't have the deal and my parents come back and think I'm not ready to lead yet… What do I do Grace?"

"Flurry, I hate to tell you this, but you have to do the unthinkable…" Grace suggested.

"What do you mean?" Flurry confused.

"I know you're a very kind and gentle mare, but you have to be stubborn and put your hoof down on this, remind them where they are and show them who's boss." Grace said. "As you know, Griffons are like that, my father could tell you as much, you need to act like that if you're going to win and resolve everything."

"I'm not sure Grace… If it goes wrong…" Flurry worried about the possible consequences if she were to take such action as Grace suggested.

"I can assure you Flurry, it won't, I have my full confidence in my princess." Grace urged Flurry with a smile as Flurry thought about it for a couple of minutes and well she had no other ideas herself, she was literally at her last chance of getting out of this situation.

"Okay…" Flurry getting off her bed and looking at herself in the mirror, obviously in a bit of a mess as Flurry recomposed herself, keeping her look at her mirror as she spoke to Grace. "I will be in the throne room in half an hour, wake up our guests and bring them there, we're putting an end to this nonsense."

"Yes, your highness!" Grace saluted as she was happy to have her princess back as she went to carry out the order.

"I hope this works…" Flurry took a deep breath as she fixed her mane and put on her royal attire, finishing with her crown, which she hoped she was right to wear it, putting it on top of her head before making her way out.

Meanwhile Grace got some guards and they came to the guest rooms to escort the visiting royal family to Flurry, Grace herself knocking on the door of the Arabian king and queen. As it opened, revealing the royals, Grace stood up straight and spoke with a clear voice.

"Your majesties, Princess Flurry Heart has requested you and your son to see her in the throne room." Grace told them.

"So, the princess will agree to the marriage?" The king asked.

"I didn't ask, the princess herself will tell you so." Grace lied, but it was going to be a better surprise when the visiting royals came to Flurry.

The Arabian family was looking froward to finally having the deal accepted and their son to have his future queen, but of course Flurry had other plans as the visiting royal family came to the throne room, with Flurry sitting as tall and proud as she could. As the family arrived, Flurry was ready to stand her ground as the king started to speak first.

"So princess, does this mean you have agreed upon the additional marriage term?" The king asked.

"Not exactly…" Flurry replied. "I have called you here to tell you that I will not be forced to agree to this and the trade deal will be done with its original terms, with no marriage."

"Than I'm afraid we have no deal…" The king upset over the princess' answer. "Your parents must be disappointed in their future heir…" The king dared to say as Flurry felt anger, but controlled it and fought back with words.

"My parents have entrusted me to see this deal through, however I think they may understand why I couldn't." Flurry replied in a little louder voice now. "And in fact… The Crystal Empire may not need this deal, however I can't say the same for your home, I'm sure your citizens will not be pleased hearing of what transpired here…"

"How dare you!?" The king now fully angry.

"I do dare!" Flurry shouted back as she stomped her hoof down hard on the throne. "Need I remind you that you are guests here and you're in my home, where I am in charge here. And I think I have been very generous and patient up until now with having welcomed you into the Crystal Empire as honored guests." Flurry kept her view at the royal family as they were rather stunned by such an outburst that even the king was silenced for now.

Flurry let the silence sink in, waiting for the Arabians' response as after several minutes, Princes Hassan whispered something to his father as the king had a surprised look on his face, but relaxed as he cleared his throat and finally spoke to Flurry, this time in a normal speaking voice.

"We agree to remove the marriage piece out and agree to our terms we have set up beforehand." The king backing down as Flurry smiled in victory and got down from the throne.

"Excellent, than lets gather in the meeting room and sign to make it official and done." Flurry said as she let the visiting royals go first as Flurry stopped by the throne room doors, where Grace was, having had a front row seat to the show.

"Great job, your highness, now that's the kind of princess I want to work for." Grace smiled.

"Thanks." Flurry blushed at what she just did. "Now lets get this business done so we can see the Saddle Arabians back home and we can then celebrate when they leave."

"After you, your highness." Grace said as Flurry trotted, joining up with the visiting royals as they were in the meeting room.

There Flurry and the Arabian king both signed the long piece of parchment that contained the terms to the trade deal between their two kingdoms, marriage term taken out of course. After signing, Flurry and the king shook hooves and the trade deal was now completely finished, with no changes allowed, meaning Flurry was finally free now. With the trade deal done and the Saddle Arabians' visit over, they finished packing for their long trip back home as Flurry saw them off with a guard escort.

As the train carrying the Saddle Arabians began to chug off out of the station, Flurry felt this heavy weight come off of her as she gave out a long breath. Proud to have completed her task, she could relax as the train soon enough disappeared from view.

"It's finally over Flurry." Grace spoke.

"Yes, it is…" Flurry smiled as she felt very exhausted, only now just feeling the sleepiness reach her. "Lets go back to the palace, I need to sleep for tomorrow if I'm going to greet my own family back home. Please only wake me if an emergency comes up."

"Yes, your highness." Grace obeyed as the two, along with the guards who came, trotted back to the palace, where Flurry went to her bedroom right away and caught up on some much needed sleep.

And she was back to her cheerful, happy self when morning came and the Friendship Express from Ponyville rolled into the train station, dropping off, along others, Pound Cake and his daughter Cinnamon Heart. At first, the steam from the locomotive hid their vision for a few seconds, but when they could finally see, they saw someone waiting patiently for them…

"Mommy!" Little Cinnamon yelled out as the pegasus filly flew and launched herself into her mother's embrace, Flurry holding tight onto her daughter.

"It's so good to see you sweetie, mommy missed you." Flurry rubbing cheeks with the filly as Pound Cake came trotting up, Flurry giving him the same treatment too.

"Looks like someone really missed us." Pound Cake chuckled as he and Flurry shared a loving kiss on the muzzle.

"You have no idea…" Flurry smiled as she put down her daughter.

"You want to tell me about it?" Pound Cake wanting to know.

"Later, right now, I don't want to be a princess today, I just want to spend a quiet day with my family today." Flurry requested.

"I can do that." Pound Cake agreed as Flurry took her daughter in her magical hold and put her on top of her alicorn body.

With both Flurry and Pound Cake carrying the bags, the family trotted back to the palace, to catch up on lost time and well just be a family like normal as Flurry really needed it after all the trouble she went through.

And that's the end of this short tale!

I hope you enjoyed it despite the length and well we'll see what comes next!

Until than…

See everybird later!