Canterlot Palace
Flanked by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Celestia walked along the corridors in complacent silence, nothing but the sound of hooves on polished floors to announce the progress of the three mares. They quickly made their way to the grand library and Celestia motioned for them to stop outside.
"While I understand that Fluttershy will have no troubles with the rules of the library, I would like you, Rainbow Dash to please remember that this is a quiet zone. Ponies from all over Equestria are here reading and researching and will not appreciate it if somepony interrupts their quiet time." Celestia addressed the couple, keen to ensure that they understood.
"That's, okay, Princess... I'll be quiet." Dash nodded. "Don't worry, I've lived with Fluttershy for years, you do get to pick up on these things!" She made the motion of zipping her lips, a cheeky smile played lightly upon her face.
"That is good. I hope you understand, but I just had to make sure." The snow white alicorn turned to the grand doors and upon contact with her powerful magic, they swung gently open revealing shelves upon shelves of books.
Rainbow Dash had to fight to stop her jaw from hitting the floor. The was an unbelievable amount of literature. What's more, inside were more eggheads than she had ever clapped eyes on in her life, and they were all in one huge room together!
Although not a reader to Twilight's level, Fluttershy couldn't help but get lost in the amazing sight. What it would be like to spend a day in the royal library, with all kinds of books on just about everything! She wondered what animal books they would have, and couldn't help but scan a few of the titles as they three of them walked along.
"Please... follow me." The alicorn turned and silently paced down a side aisle.
The trio came across two mares, buried in their reading as they studied, side by side. Twilight was completely absorbed by her material while, beside her, Luna's tail twitched.
Although having seen her recently on Nightmare Night, Rainbow and Fluttershy were amazed at the sight of Princess Luna again, especially by how relaxed she appeared.
"Twilight, Luna? Do pardon the interruption, of course, but your friends wished to see you," Celestia said in a very soft voice.
Twilight glanced up, surprise ripped across her muzzle. "Oh! Rainbow, Fluttershy? What are you girls doing here?"
Princess Luna glanced up as well, studying the two pegasi, "Greeting. Tis our pleasure to see thou both once again."
The lavender unicorn placed her book down, "what are you two doing around here? I didn't think Canterlot was really your cup of tea, especially you Dash."
"Sure it's not! But I wanted to show Fluttershy a change of scene and take her on an adventure!" Dash shrugged, speaking a bit louder. Catching herself, she began to whisper, "You know... to try new exciting things! New discoveries!"
Both Twilight and Luna exchanged looks and shrugged while the alicorn of the sun let out a small giggle.
Celestia quickly broke off her laughter. "You mean you came here to see my pet phoenix and other palace animals, Rainbow Dash."
"Yea... of course," confirmed the confident athlete. "I sure did come here to let my fillyfriend see your pet. Also, I was thinking of taking a look around... you know." 'And maybe a few other fun antics that are only for those in the Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash club...' She added silently to herself, feeling rather smug.
The dark alicorn's gaze shifted between the two pegasi for a few moments as the library fell back into silence, "I wouldn't mind asking you both a few things later."
"Okay, sure." Dash shrugged as she turned to eyeball Fluttershy. She could see that her fillyfriend also had no idea what the princess might ask them, so she put it aside.
"Thank you, now if thou don't mind, we have a book and excellent company to return to." Luna smiled as she picked up her book once more.
Rainbow Dash turned to her fellow pegasus. "How about we go for a nice flight, maybe see some more animals. Then I'll take you out for a feed."
Fluttershy nodded. It probably would be better to leave the two to their studies after all.
"Okay... we'll see you two eggheads later." Rainbow Dash grinned as she turned to leave with her marefriend.
Luna burst out laughing, while Twilight did her best to not look too offended.
"Have fun then, you two," Celestia offered kindly. "Would you like an escort, or would you rather go on your own?"
"Thanks for the offer, Princess, but that's okay! We'll be back later!" Dash grinned, leading Fluttershy out, waving at them. "See ya, Twilight!"
The unicorn waved goodbye to her friends then turned to the bringer of the sun, "I didn't expect to see them here. Please may Luna and I get back to our studies? I feel as though I have made great progress."
"Absolutely, Twilight. I should be getting back to my duties," Celestia nodded. "Luna, I hope you're doing well, and I will see you later." She smiled at the two in a knowing manner before she headed to leave the library.
The two mares resumed their studies almost as if nothing had happened and Luna's tail immediately began swishing around again. It roped the idle dark purple tail of the smaller mare and entwined with it. With the two deep night shades entwined, the princess ceased her restless action. A small grin played upon the face of royalty as she continued to read happily. Every now and then she would pause when she thought the other mare wasn't looking and peek across to admire her.
Twilight caught her companion looking and smiled back at her. The pretty lavender mare giggled as the princess's tail promptly disengaged from its hold and its owner sat up, pretending as though nothing had happened. With a playful smile Twilight slipped a little closer, almost to the point of snuggling up and ensnared the alicorn's tail with her own.
"I win," Twilight whispered softly then returned to her book with a light smile upon her muzzle. Their tails were still entwined.
Luna sat there stunned for a few moments. What just happened?
Canterlot Palace
Rainbow Dash flew slowly around the outer courtyard of the castle. Out here in the open skies with great views and her mare by her side, it was bliss.
Fluttershy wore a wide grin upon her muzzle as she enjoyed the breeze. She flew alongside her companion in silence, with a curious mind as to what they would be doing next.
"Look, Fluttershy! Something awesome's below!" The call of the mighty cyan mare called Fluttershy's mind to attention.
"What is it, Rainbow?" Fluttershy turned her gaze down toward the greenery below. "Oh... you think there are some cute animals down there?"
"Well duh!" The cheeky cyan responded, flipping in the air. "Want a cool Rainbow Dash landing to greet your new pals?"
"Um... no... that's... that's okay... I'd... I'd rather just land on my own... I don't want to... um...well, erm." She tried to think of a way to put it lightly. "I don't want to interrupt them."
Rainbow Dash did her best to put on a sad face but knew it looked fake due to the residual smile. "Awwww."
"No... I... no... I don't mean it that way." Fluttershy bit her lip. "...All right... we can do that. But please do it quietly?"
"Na... It's okay, you can pay me back for it later if you like." The speedster grinned, knowing her partner had misinterpreted her.
"But..."
"And I said we can roll with your plan. Come on." insisted Rainbow Dash, not about to allow her marefriend to back down.
Fluttershy exhaled, why did she keep ending up offending or disappointing everypony at the worst possible time? At least Dash didn't seem to mind that she was being a bad marefriend. She just nodded and mutely headed down toward the ground level of the palace garden, trying to keep her mind off everything and hoped that seeing all the plants and animals together would be nice enough to lift her spirits.
Rainbow Dash stayed in the air while her animal lover landed. "You go... I'll just scare them with my awesomeness."
In truth, Dash knew that her presence would be best spent in the skies rather than below. Rainbow Dash knew she could never possess such patience and peace of mind to keep herself from scaring them.
Yet the speedster remained in the skies for a few moments longer. Her eyes were still set on the flank of the mare of her affections and she really didn't mind. Fluttershy had a hot flank and as her fillyfriend, Rainbow Dash figured she had all the right in Equestria to spend as long as she liked admiring it, even from afar. A silly grin settled on her face and she knew it was time to fly off before certain thoughts took over and her wings stiffened too much to maintain a fast, agile flight.
'Imagine that... the great Rainbow Dash, killed by wingboner...' She shook her head, yep, it was definitely time to go. Such a fall would be totally uncool. ...Yet hilarious in all the wrong ways. Her eyes travelled up the well-groomed coat of her lover to meet her stunning aquamarine eyes.
Fluttershy looked back up at the pegasus above. Was Dash checking her out?
From the distant smirk and the way the blue pegasus dipped slightly with slower wingbeats, she could almost hear the thoughts that were going through her mare's head. Of course Dash had taken the opportunity to ogle her. A light smile graced her face, it was nice to know that she was that appealing to somepony else. She flicked her wings then tail as she turned, knowing Dash would be drawn into thinking about what was hidden beneath.
As Fluttershy crept slowly toward where a group of bunnies sat, she found it easy enough to accept that they both did still have their differences and this would allow them a bit of time away from each other. She'd done this a thousand times before on her own; it was no big issue. Although times such as the butterfly migration where Rainbow Dash had stayed by her side had been extra nice.
"Hello..." She greeted a couple of bunnies, albeit a bit nervously. "I hope you're all doing well. I'm Fluttershy... I hope we can get along..."
The bunnies sniffed her curiously before they smiled. It was easy for the little critters to tell, this new pony was kind. A squirrel came scampering over, while a few robins landed on the branches of a tree above, watching the scene.
Fluttershy smiled, glad to see that they warmed up to her so easily. Things weren't always straightforward when it came to new animal friends, but it also was far from difficult. Since she came from a whole different area than they, she had a feeling it would take a little bit more coaxing than usual.
"Well, everyone, I'll be here for a bit, so why don't we get to know each other?" With a yellow hoof, she beckoned for more creatures to join her.
Canterlot Palace Hallways
Flanked by two royal guards, the sunny ruler of Equestria strode down the hallway away from the library on her way to the throne room. The stained glass windows coloured the gold and creme floor all manner of colours and the royal mare couldn't help but admire a few of them. Celestia paused as the tip of something outside, far below caught her eye.
Oh yes, she was at this part of the palace, wasn't she? A few tentative steps carried her closer to the window. There stood her old flames statue. The poor creature was caught in a horrible position, mid realization that his marvellous, chaotic plan had failed. A hint of fear, clear to the sunny alicorn even from the height of several stories up.
Her mind drifted to Twilight and Luna. Oh, how close they appeared to be getting. It was wonderful, she wondered to herself if they could become a bit more...
Judging by the war of the tails, a heightened relationship might yet develop. It would be beautiful for her sister to discover true love. Like she had...
A stab of pain lanced across her system as her eyes refocused on the statue below.
Discord...
~~~ Flashback ~~~
A sunny white alicorn with a pink mane lay with a young draconequus in a pink and white four poster bed in the alicorn's elaborate bedroom. Around the walls hung tapestries and other ornaments. A large balcony led out from the wall at the foot of the extra large pony bed.
The young mare sighed blissfully and nuzzled into her companion who smiled back. The draconequus snapped his tail and a drink of chocolate milk appeared in his outstretched lion paw. "A drink for m'lady?"
Celestia rose slightly, enough that she could easily take a sip of the offered drink. "That's wonderful Discord. Tis even funnier when you do it with your tail too."
"Clearly my practice has been paying off then. Watch this-" the young lord of chaos drank from the glass and instead of the milk draining, the glass did. With a snap of his tail-
The floating liquid splashed down upon his lover's coat.
Celestia shot up in surprise while he flushed, "oops."
"Well practiced?" Giggles overtook Celestia and she fell back onto her lover. "Oh my young lord of chaos, clearly someone still needs a few more lessons from his father about tail snapping."
"I will manage myself, besides... how doest thou know that it wasn't intentional. After all, that there was certainly the most chaotic of outcomes."
"But not one thou intended," a pure white hoof playfully prodded the patchwork creature's tummy. Celestia unleashed a big sigh of contentment as she pressed herself up close to her lover, "now thee has the stain of thy chocolate too."
"Fair enough," the draconequus gave his mare a quick peck on the cheek as he cuddled up closer once more.
"I love thou, Discord," The pure white mare murmured, almost at a purr, to her partner.
"Oh, I think I love thee more," the cheeky creature replied with a king-sized grin upon his face.
"Really?" The sun might as well have been shining from the young mare's muzzle as she beamed with delight. "I'm sure I love thou more." A knowing look crossed her muzzle as those words left her mouth.
"How much more?" Discord wondered out loud.
"Enough to have your foal." Celestia playfully chided him. He gave her a blank expression, all signs of breathing left the shocked creature. He began to turn to ice, his face blue.
"Breathe Discord!" Celestia shouted quietly at him as she shook his frozen form.
The sudden rise in volume appeared to have revived the patchwork creature and the ice that had developed across his serpentine form began to thaw. He gazed cautiously at her. "What… Did... Thou... Just... Say..?"
"You heard me," a giggle escaped Celestia as she stretched out under her lover, filled with love for the strange creature.
"I'm… I'm going to be a father?" Discord contemplated. "Really? But how could this have happened?"
Celestia wasn't sure if her partner was serious, still in shock, or simply unaware of how foals were conceived. "Art thou serious?"
The draconequus looked rather unsettled. "But, I'm no pony."
"Clearly love found a way."
"B-but then I must marry you... Even my father would look down upon us should we conceive a foal out of wedlock."
"Then I expect a positively chaotic proposal," Celestia smiled as she lay down the challenge.
"Oh really? We shalt see about that."
The room fell silent as the couple went back to cuddling. It was clear from the thoughtfully look upon Discord's face that he was still processing the new information too.
Discord slowly reached out and placed his clawed hand on his lover's belly. "Hm... well then. Maybe after our first born has popped out, maybe I should get you pregnant, with me as a pony. Give us one orderly offspring to balance out the chaos we have produced."
"Art thou sure thout okay with this? Thou wantst more? But can thou knowst that which we have conceived is chaos?" Celestia lay back, shocked that he appeared to be okay with this all. Nay, it was more than that, did he really want ...another?
"I can feel it," Discord wagged his fingers playfully across the pure white tummy. "Ho boy, now that I know what to look for, my chaos senses are going wild. Our daughter is going to be truly something!"
"Princess?"
The sunny alicorn gave a start as she realized there were two concerned guards gazing at her. "I'm sorry, I simply was lost in thought for a moment. Do not worry about me."
The pair nodded and returned to their places behind her.
With a final glance down at her husband's statue, Celestia forced herself onwards toward the throne room. Yet she couldn't help but wonder what happened to her firstborn who was long lost to chaos. Did her precious little Chaotic Sunset still exist in any of the worlds, or had she truly been taken away from the lands of the living? Had Celestia ceased looking before all options had been truly exhausted? As a hint of pink flickered across her vision from a passing window, Celestia's thoughts turned to her second born daughter. The one she tried so hard to hide the truth about, that she even lied to herself. There was no way she could admit now that she had a younger daughter. No pony had to know, not her subjects, not the guard... certainly not her own flesh and blood. Not even Luna had to know.
Her secretary approached with a stack of papers and her mind once again was drawn to things far off. Her letters.
Her most recent letter was yet to receive a response. She hoped her ...niece was okay out there. The sunny ruler slowed for a moment as the doors to the throne room came into view. Time to suppress her thoughts of family. Her niece would be fine. Of course, she was. She simply must be tied up for the last few days. That was all.
Besides, it was work time again. Time to be the perfect princess all her little ponies knew she was. Celestia nodded for the doors to be opened. She smiled happily as a multitude of ponies came into view. Day court looked busy. That was good.
She took her place on the throne and prepared to commit to helping the subjects before her.
...But what was that young mare doing out there with her fiance?
She had better be okay.
Forest of Canterlot mountain, North-east of Canterlot.
Captain Volibeak, a tawny brown griffon with a white face and black tail feathers pumped his wings and relished the feeling of power and he raced toward his target, a lone zebra who was in a mad dash through the dense bush toward the city far in the distance. The griffon took a swipe and cut through a thick bush to quicken his progress toward his prey. He swerved around several trees as he reached out a claw. His claw clamped over the hindquarters of his prey and he grinned as he slammed it roughly into the earth.
Volibeak landed roughly on top of the downed zebra and slashed at its face with his free foreclaw. A white female griffon with red accents ploughed into the zebra's side. The zebra screamed in pain as the white griffon bit his neck and tore a chunk out.
"This-" The female griffon ripped another hunk of flesh from the zebra whos cries turned into frantic gurgling. She swallowed her large bite and turned to her companion who took a bite of zebra too. "This is great!" Her coarse, high pitched tone was filled with her excitement.
"See Mistwing, I told you," Volibeak grinned back as he tore more flesh from the writhing creature.
"That's hot. Do it again..."
"What? This?" Volibeak tore into the zebra's flank with a flourish.
A gurgling scream rang out. Mistwing's blood red tallion latched onto the bleeding neck and with a final set of convulsions, the zebra lay still.
The pair chuckled darkly as they turned their glances from their prey to admire each other.
Volibeak allowed his gaze to wander down his blood splattered companion a bit, "that blood looks really dark on you too, hot stuff."
Mistwing fluttered her eyelashes as she reached out and tugged the dead zebra closer to herself. "Yea? In that case, I bet you won't mind being the one to search its saddlebag for that item while I enjoy a quick meal?"
Volibeak laughed to himself. "Quickly then. Don't want the others to interrupt our fun." His eyes remained fixated on his fellow griffon as he dug through the satchel with a bloody foreclaw.
As he latched onto the lone item inside the satchel Volibeak smiled. He lifted the gem out for them both to admire. The sparkling red gemstone that rested in his foreclaw glowed with an otherworldly light. The gem felt... hungry.
"Such a pretty blood ruby..." Mistwing drooled with a hungry grin.
"Not as beautiful as you," Volibeak smirked back.
"Oh shut up."
"If I don't?"
"Then I'll cut your hide open and screw your brains out." Mistwing tugged the zebra's corpse closer to herself.
"Better make those threats less appealing there," Volibeak commented as he reached down and ripped a hunk of flesh off their kill. "But are you sure you want to damage the merchandise?"
"All I need is your face, wings, and dick. For everything else..." the grinning female ran her claws along the flesh of the dead beast and left a deep cut in her wake.
Volibeak forced himself not to flinch. Hopefully she was bluffing, otherwise, he would be a total mess before they made it out of the pony lands.
"You know, we probably should hide the body before the other's catch us," Mistwing yanked the dead zebra from her companion's clawed hold.
"Don't want to go introducing too many griffons to sentient meat?"
"It's illegal."
"So?" Volibeak thrust out his beak and managed to take a small bite as the white griffon tugged their kill further away.
"What in all of Griffonstone are you two idiots doing?" Private Chein, an older brown and black griffon asked, clearly shocked by the bloody scene before him
The pair spun around to face the intruder. Several other griffons came into view
"We found the blood ruby." Volibeak held up the item. "Now help us hide the corpse."
None of the new arrivals moved a muscle to help as the leader of the squad shoved at his kill.
"You are in deep shit when we get back, you know that." A pure black griffon shook his head in disgust.
"When we get back, our lord, Grandeur will be in charge. It won't be a problem," Volibeak smiled back.
"You mean that two-faced beast eats meat too?" Another griffon asked. Shock radiated from several members of the scout squad as the words sank in.
Volibeak rounded on the speaker, "you know what is missing from our diet? Meat. You know what I am brave enough to eat? Meat. Not stinking fish! Red meat! What can our kills provide us with? Food. Get the picture, stupid?" Volibeak contemptuously took a bite out of his shared kill as he glared daggers at his squad.
"You know what, let's just get back home. I'm sick of this shit." Private Chein flicked his wings, disgusted by his leaders' consumption of the zebra they had been seeking.
Mistwing yanked the dead zebra from Voilbeak's hold. "I see movement. Help me hide this, dimwits!"
Volibeak smirked back at his beautiful white griffon, covered in blood. He hurried to hide the body under nearby bushes with her, then turned his attention skyward. There were indeed two guards flying high above. Thankfully, the duo were only small in the sky, probably about eighty griffon lengths up and did not appear to be monitoring the ground closely.
Still, the young griffon commander was glad to note that his squad had taken cover just in case. It would not do to be discovered. Especially with blood on his claws. Volibeak gave a start as he felt something sharp prod him in the side. Mistwing withdrew her red tallion then dug it right back in, almost hard enough to break his skin. Instead of flinching or telling her to stop, he reached out and ran his foreclaw through her coat against the grain till he came to rest on her skull. He roughly massaged her head and smiled as she melted under his ministrations.
"Alright. They appear to have moved on," one of the scouts spoke up.
"Good. Move out, take the blood ruby and go. Mistwing and I will bury the body and meet up with you all." Volibeak held out the gemstone, a smirk upon his face.
"Whatever flankhole, just don't spend too long rutting your mate there," private Chein roughly snatched the blood ruby from his leader and shot the new couple a look of contempt.
Volibeak smirked at the offending griffon. "Get gone featherbrain before I bash your face in."
The older griffon shot his leader a death glare but did as he was told.
"I think I've just decided who my mate is gonna be." Mistwing murmured slyly as she ran a claw down the brown griffon leader's side and poked him sharply in the ribs. "I'm sure those idiots won't mind if we take a bit longer to ...hide this body properly, will they?"
"They better not," Volibeak smirked happily back at his new mate as his insides tingled pleasantly. This was going to be a fun afternoon!
Ponyville
It was a bright sunny day in the town of Ponyville. The birds were chirping, the pegasi were flying free and the ground bound citizens were out, enjoying the lovely day.
A mint green unicorn sat on a bench in the park next to an earth pony with a beige coat and two-toned mane. The pair were simply enjoying each other's company out in the sun.
Pinkie Pie bounced past and waved at the couple. "Hi, you two!"
Before either mare could respond, Pinkie's tail wigged out, her ears flapped, her mane frizzled then her whole body wobbled wildly as though she were jelly.
"Ooooh! That one was a doozey!"
"Um... what's wrong Pinkie?" Bon Bon tentatively asked.
"I wish I knew. I've never had that one before!"
"Okay?" Lyra spoke up.
The pink mare snapped to attention as another jolt ran through her body. "Something isn't right!"
"What do you mean Pinkie?" Lyra asked.
"I don't know, I've never had this combination before. It's like it's telling me something is wrong near Canterlot. Like- really bad! But that's where Twilight, Dashie and Fluttershy have gone to."
"I have something I need to check on," Bon Bon spoke up urgently.
"What do you need to do?" Lyra asked inquisitively.
"Don't worry honey, I'll be back soon. It's just... something at home I need to check on all of a sudden."
"Okay..?" Lyra lyra took half a step but paused as her fellow bench-sitter took off in haste.
"Now she's acting weird." Pinkie observed. She bounced twice then turned to face the lone unicorn. "Don't you think?"
"Uh... for Bonny, yes. What are you going to do about your Pinkie sense?"
"Hmmm..." the party pony thought for a moment. "Oh! I know! I'll round up Appejackie, Rarity and my party cannon then take them on an adventure! I must help whoever it is that needs the Pinkie Pie's help!"
"Alright, good luck Pinkie." Lyra waved goodbye to the party pony and sat back down on the bench like one of those mythical creatures ... a human would. She smiled a bit at the thought of getting their strange posture correct. On second thought, maybe she should investigate her mare and find out what got her so alarmed.
Aware that snooping was probably a bad idea, Lyra rose from the bench and trotted off toward the home she shared with Bon Bon.
Author's Note:
Part one of three for Griffon at the Gate.
Stay tuned for more action as things head up. If you enjoyed it, please let me know what you think of things.