Another Point of View

A lone stallion raced through the empty halls of Celestia's castle, his hoofs echoing loudly as he made all haste for Princess Celestia's chambers. He came to a screeching halt at the doors that led to her side of the castle as he was motioned to halt by the guards posted to that area.

"The Princess is not to be disturbed." one of the guards said flatly.

"It's important!" the messenger panted, showing his seal that identified him as a runner for the Royal Guard. However, his attempt yielded no results.

"Princess Celestia is not to be disturbed." the other guard echoed. "Take your message to Princess Luna."

"I've tried! Nopony knows where Princess Luna is." he said impatiently, having expended the past hour trying to uselessly find out where the princess of the night had gone. Everypony in Canterlot knew that Princess Celestia had holed herself up in her castle upon hearing news of the massacre in Los Pegasus, but nopony had seen her leave her room the past few days.

"Whatever your message is, it can surely wait. Why don't you bring it to-" the first guard started to say.

"This can't wait! It needs to be delivered now!" the messenger yelled out, finally losing his patience. Despite the letter being for the eyes of Princess Celestia or Luna only, he knew that he would never get to see at least one of the sisters unless he took drastic measures. Breaking the wax seal, he opened the scroll and held it up for the guards to read. It only took fifteen seconds for the guards to scan the letter and quickly move aside to let the messenger through. The stallion quickly raced forward, his goal finally in sight, and despite the chance of being severely punished for what he did next, he burst through the final set of doors without stopping to knock and barged his way into Celestia's private chamber.

Princess Celestia and Twilight looked up at the sudden intruder, their faces less than amused by the unorthodox entry by the messenger. "I had thought I had made it clear that I was not to be disturbed." Celestia said unusually coldly.

The nervous messenger immediately dropped to the floor in an attempt to beg for forgiveness. "Princess, please don't banish me! Please! I just... you have to see this message!" he begged, knowing very well his life could possibly be on the line.

Twilight quickly intervened, placing herself between her furious mentor and the helpless stallion. "Whatever the message is, it must have been important enough for him to have to barge in unannounced." she said.

Celestia gave an extremely short, quick nod before levitating the message in question over to herself. She viciously opened the letter, ignoring the fact that the seal had already been broken, but as she read the words hastily written on the parchment she clearly changed the expression on her face.

"You may go." she said softly.

The messenger nodded as he hastily scrambled for the door, not daring to see either princess' mood once the contents of the message had sunk in. The door slammed shut loudly behind the messenger, echoing in the silent room as Twilight looked at her mentor in curiosity.

"Princess Celestia, what's wrong? What did the message say?" she asked.

Celestia glanced up at her faithful student sadly. "Twilight..." she said almost silently.

"Did something happen? Is it from Princess Luna?"

"Twilight... I... I'm..."

"Is she okay? She didn't try to go to Los Pegasus, did she? She knows you already sent a team out there, right?"

"I'm sorry." Celestia finally said.

Twilight cocked her head to one side. "Huh? Princess, what are you talking about?" she asked. "What does that letter say?"

Celestia felt Twilight grasp the letter with her magic, and though the princess of the sun had more than enough strength to stop Twilight, Celestia couldn't find the willpower to try to do so. Twilight effortlessly levitated the letter over to herself and read the words hastily scribbled on it before losing her own concentration, the parchment falling gently to the floor.

"What... I... no..." Twilight said in disbelief. She sat down on the cold floor, looking down at her hooves, unsure of what she was supposed to say, or do, or even think.

"Twilight..." Celestia said again, slowly approaching the young princess and wrapping her in a hug with her wings. Twilight failed to move, still with a blank look on her face as her mind failed over and over to register any thoughts. All she could do was wait for the news to sink in, and after a few moments the first few tears began to fall down her face.

"No... no! No no no no NO!" Twilight screamed, her horn lighting up and causing the lights and windows to instantaneously shatter. Despite the billions of shards of glass falling all around them, Celestia and Twilight didn't move a single inch, nor did they budge as the bedroom doors flung open and four guards burst into the room. Despite fearing for their lives for disturbing the Princess, their duty to protect Celestia came first. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they saw no immediate danger, but as one of them glanced at the forgotten letter on the floor his eyes went wide with shock.

Captain Shining Armor has been killed in combat.

Morale across the Griffon Empire was at an all time high. The first few caravans of traders were just returning from their long flights overseas, the crates that had once held the spoils from a certain pony city now replaced with bags heavy with coin. Even the smallest of villages felt the impact of the booming griffon economy and were finally able to invest in improving their homes and businesses, paying no mind that countless lives had been taken to accomplish such tasks. However, the most noticeable improvements took place in the capital city, with hundreds of griffons moving into the sprawling city as they wanted to show their support for their new leader. Already towering new buildings were being erected throughout the relatively small capital, though of course the castle the king called home remained the tallest structure and would remain so.

However, not every griffon was happy with the kingdom's turn of luck. Deep inside the castle, Commander Wind tried his best to stare down his visitor, but there was no way he, or any griffon could stand up to Lieutenant Windsheer. Well, no griffon except Ray.

"We can't do that, it'd lead to a catastrophic loss of life on both sides!" he objected, but Windsheer wasn't listening.

"The King has decided and it is your job to carry out his orders!" Windsheer snapped.

Commander Wind pushed forward the charts and scout reports he had been looking over all morning. "For the last time, we can't! It'd be impossible to take over a city of that size with only two platoons! We'd need at least a full division to take that city!" he protested.

Windsheer impatiently swiped her claw across the table, sweeping all the papers to the floor. "And I told you, all you have to do is destroy that crystal heart that powers their defense. Even an old crow like yourself should be able to figure out how to do that."

"But that means fighting straight into the center of the Crystal Empire. Again, I can't do that with such a small force." he tried to explain again, but he found himself cut off by the younger, more aggressive griffon.

"I already took care of their captain and his best fighters, even a newborn nestling could find a way in." Windsheer shot back. "If you're unable to do such a simple task, maybe you should step down and hand over your command to me."

Commander Wing sighed, having guessed that his new task was a ploy for him to surrender his brigade to her. "Very well, then. The King's orders shall be carried out." he conceded.

Windsheer nodded with a sly grin. "Good. I'll tell the King that you finally see things our way. It'd be a shame if I had to tell him that my own father is a traitor." she said coldly before taking her leave.

Alone in his office once more, Commander Wing sighed heavily and buried his face in his claws. His mind flashed back to the day his one and only daughter had been accepted into the military academy's accelerated officer training program, but now he wished that he had never allowed it to happen. 'She may be my daughter, but she is a monster.' he thought sadly as he collected the scattered papers on the ground. He looked at each page sadly, knowing very well that following the orders written on each one would result in many deaths of ponies and griffons alike.

His own included.

But either way, he was doomed to die.