Twilight Falls On Equestria

It was half an hour before Fleetwing came out of the council chambers to meet me at the entrance of the palace. This gave me some time to collect my thoughts. I paced about for a good while, most of the other ponies probably thought I was a nut in general’s garb. Oh well, since when have I ever cared what other ponies think of me?

“Fleetwing… No AMBASSADOR Fleetwing. Dear Luna, why do you torment me so…?” I mutter as I trotted hither thither across the courtyard of the palace.
The flowers Fluttershy planted here are really quite enchanting. No! Focus, how do you entertain a Gryphon diplomat? I was never good at impressing ponies… or gryphons… or anyone really. I’m surprised I’m even in the position I’m in. It was sheer luck to be honest.

When I initially fled from Canterlot I had several ideas of where to go. The first was ponyville. After all, that was my home. Perhaps no one saw me kill Flam. After all we ran from the court didn’t we? That idea crumbled immediately. We were the ONLY two to run from court and I was chasing him. It would seem awfully suspicious if he were dead and I alive and without blame.

Then I thought, Cloudsdale! It is home to the pegasi, any crime I may commit by Ponyville law would be null in Cloudsdale! The problem is that the powers that be in Cloudsdale are definite Celestian sympathizers. I would probably be turned over to the Celestian authorities behind closed doors regardless of my rights as a Pegasus.

So I took the only safe route and followed Luna. Down I flew from Canterlot straight into Everfree forest. Things seemed rather quiet down near the forest floor as I entered. That silence didn’t last long. Luna left rather heavy tracks in the ground which made her easy for me to follow. However, these tracks also attracted rather unwanted followers. By which of course I mean Celestia’s royal guard. I could hear them in the distance

“… halt… you mUST… PENALTY…”

They were getting louder…

“IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN CEASE AND DESIST YOUR FLIGHT”

I had caught up to them. They were in clear pursuit of Luna. If I wanted any chance at getting out of this conflict alive I needed her alive too. As I flew alongside the soldiers I knew I had to think quickly.

“Hello gentlemen, a fine evening for a casual flight, no?

“Colt, please go back to your home, we are attending to royal matters.”

“Royal matters? It looks to me like you’re chasing a shade!”

“A shade? Sir, speak clearly, we don’t have time to waste here.”

“That isn’t Luna. It’s just a magical apparition made to throw you off her trail”

That stopped them dead in their tracks. Good.

“Where did the real Luna run off to?” they asked as she continued to make her escape into the darkness.

“I believe I saw her heading towards the Froggy Bottom Bog to join her cohort, Discord.” I replied as I found myself running low on options. If they suspect me of lying I could be taken out at any moment.

“Froggy bottom… Then she’ll be out of our reach by now… Thank you for your assistance, colt. You’ll be sure to be repaid for your service to Equestria. What’s your name?”

“It’s… ummm…” I hesitated for a moment, prompting upturned eyebrows from the two guards.

“G-Gildur Fallenstride” I spat out as my heart dropped into my guts. A silent tension that felt almost palpable existed between the three of us as I stared back and forth from pony to pony and they fixed near identical steely gazes on me. "This is it", I thought. "There's no way they believed me, I stuttered! A stutter is such a tell! I'm an idiot! Such an idiot. How could I--"

“Well carry on then, Gildur”, they said, interrupting my train of thought as they walked off towards Canterlot, “It’s not safe to be out at night anymore, you ought to seek shelter.”

“I will”, I called to them as I followed Luna’s trail.

* * *

Several hours later I had met up with Luna and Shy. Us three were the only ones in her palace at the time. I explained my journey to her and she was positively ecstatic.

“How can I possibly reward you for your service to me?!” she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. My guess is she has not had many ponies act kindly towards her. It must feel nice to have someone on your side for once.

“No thanks needed highness. Just protection” I replied meekly. It's not every day you speak to a royal. Even rarer does a day occur when a royal feels indebted to you! I felt it was prudent to be on my best behavior so I might keep her favor.

“Oh come now, show me your cutie mark, I’ll be sure to find you a royal position befitting it”.

I turned to show her my flank. There, along the side, there was illustrated a broken foil with its tip covered in ink with a sheet of parchment adorning the background.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cutie mark like that before” commented Luna as she surveyed me. “What does it mean?” she asked.

“It’s a play on the old story of Cyrano de Bergerac”, I began, “ He was a pony with wit as sharp as blade. Rumour has it that he could write a sonnet of his victory whilst duelling an opponent. Hence, the broken foil dipped in ink. In my case it speaks of my problem solving ability. I come from a long line of banking ponies on my father's side. The Koin family goes back as long as the Apples in Ponyville! I was next in line to take over the Teller position at the Bank.

“Interesting… But we don’t need Tellers. We need Generals. How would you like a leadership position amongst my Shadowbolts? After tonight, I’ll most likely be down three of them, one of which used to be a captain. I guess some sacrifices are necessary, right? So what do you say?”

“It went without saying tha—“

“Eh hem. Are you listening? At first I thought you were just pacing about to keep your legs from falling asleep, but now I do believe you’re ignoring me” said that all too familiar nasally voice

“My apologies, Ambassador” I replied.

“Fleetwing, call me Fleetwing from now on. I hate titles”, he replied in turn.

We stared at each other for what seemed like aeons. His beady eyes were set in a cold steely gaze. It seemed like he was judging my worth strictly based on my appearance. I must have been doing the same to him because after a while I began to see the tell-tale signs of discomfort appear on his face. Perhaps he didn’t like my staring… or maybe our silence… Regardless of that fact I had to entertain him and it seems like I’m off to a piss poor start.

“So… what would you like to see?” I asked tentatively as we began to walk out of the courtyard of the great hall

His gaze faltered as he thought of his reply. “What do you do for recreation around here?” he asked.

“We don’t”, I replied curtly, “Everypony here has a specific job. The earth ponies till the soil under the guidance of Applejack, the pegasi train to join the air force or keep the night skies clear, and the unicorns come up with inventions and magic to keep us ahead of Solurnia. If we take time off for recreation we’ll just fall behind.”

“Are you serious? Come on, you know the old adage ‘All work and no play makes for a dull dull pony’. There are no FUN things to do around here?” he asked incredulously.

“Occasionally one of my flyboys will put on a show for a filly he’s interested in…” I began, “and sometimes Fluttershy gets a couple of ponies together to help her train the animals. That’s recreation, right?”

He gave me this sort of pained look, but prodded no further. What did I say? I am no good at talking! No, that’s a lie. I’m great at talking about certain things… strategy, deceit, politics. All of these come easy to me. It’s small talk that eludes me. I just find talking about the weather and my health to be an absolute bore.

“I can tell this conversation is going nowhere slowly” Fleetwing sighed.

“It’s not like I didn’t warn you in advance”, I replied.

“Roost Leader will be so disappointed. He had high hopes for Lunaria” he continued.

“Oh don’t be like that!” I cried desperately, “Please, let us talk about something that I might impress you in!”

“What might that be?” He replied with an upturned eyebrow as if to say “There’s no way you could ever impress me”. I’ll show him…

“Tactic. Let’s talk tactic.”

"Let's not", he replied tersely.

"What? Why?! It's my expertise!"

"That's exactly the problem. I don't feel like listening to you lecture me on all of the bells and whistles of your military. I'm looking for reasons to support Lunaria, not reasons to fear your military prowess. If all you have to offer me is a bland overview of your weak culture and a seminar on the wax you use to polish your bladed gauntlets then I may as well return to Eaglerock right now."

We were silent for a good while after that. I'm ruined. My ONE chance at fighting back is drifting away and there's nothing that I can do to prevent it. This has been an unmitigated failure. This silence was broken by a rather deep sigh from Fleetwing.

"Come on now, I'm a tourist, show me some sights while I'm here", he said in an effort to break the awkward silence.

"I'll do my best. Really, Fluttershy would have done much better--", I began.

"Would it make you feel better if I called you Fluttershy for the rest of my tour?", he said with a sly smirk.

"Yes, that would make me feel a great deal more confident in my ability to 'chat'", I replied in mock defeat.

* * *

The day went quickly. I showed him around our capital in the morning and a few nearby hamlets in the afternoon. By in large the tour wasn't a COMPLETE disaster... that's not to say it wasn't still a disaster... just not a complete one. It felt like he had warmed up a bit by the evening. Maybe I was just fooling myself... Anyways, the two of us were on our way to his executive lodgings. He was to spend the night in Lunaria and is to set off back to Eaglerock with his report in the morning.

“Ah is this the room”, he called out to me as he climbed along the fungal stairwell of the outer Dormitories of the palace.

“No, that is one of the protégé’s rooms, yours is one to the left of that one”, I called up to him.

“Here we go. I see you have some goons here”, he commented as he entered his room and noticed two of my men from the 5th royal marines, our shock troops, standing in wait of his arrival.

“Can’t be too careful, right?” I said. “We ARE at war”.

“Right, right, well I can go to bed on my own. You ought to go get some rest yourself” he said as he began to enter his dormitory.

“If that's what it takes to get the gryphon's support!” I shouted to him as I opened the door to my own.

"You're going to have to be a little more creative if you want to win me over" he called down to me as he closed his door

"Creativity", I muttered "Is something I carry in spades", with a small smirk and not one ounce of humility as I closed my own door. Luna had arranged for a lodge to be made for me at the palace so that I may attend to all of Fleetwing's needs efficiently and effectively. As I entered the room I found it sparsely furnished. “A bed, a night table, and a mirror, how do these protégé’s live?!” I asked myself as I stepped onto the threshold. “Oh well, I guess home is where the heart is,” I thought as I lay down to sleep.

Maybe Mondays aren’t too bad after all.