It was twenty minutes before the two Princesses made their way to the meeting room.

West was leaning against the wall, in between and behind two regal chairs, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. The two sisters sat in the chairs and glanced back at West. They mused that he was anywhere between simply resting and sleeping while standing.

“I would never sleep on the job… without your permission,” he murmured opening his gold eyes. They giggled and turned towards the other side of the table, where three chairs waited. There was a door on that side of the room as well, where the Gryphon dignitaries were supposed to enter from.

The Princesses only had to wait half a minute before the door slid open and three lanky Gryphons padded their way inside. The three pulled up their seats and got ready to talk when they noticed West’s presence in the room. The Princesses made it public knowledge that they had a human amongst their guard, and had so far only received a few complaints from minor nobles.

The Gryphon on the left didn’t comment on West, The one on the right hissed but otherwise didn’t do anything to indicate her distaste. The dignitary in the center, however, was fuming.

“Welcome,” Princess Celestia greeted them. “How fared your journey from the Gryphon Kingdom?”

“Before we can proceed, I demand you remove that hairless ape from this conference room. This is supposed to be private dealings and he doesn’t belong!”

Celestia’s glare hardened as Luna spoke up, “He has as much of a right to be here as you do. Do you wish for these negotiations to fail?!”

The Gryphon to the left elbowed the loudmouth and whispered some things into his ear.

“To think they’d trust a hairless ape with that much responsibility…” he muttered. He found the human unnerving at the least. In truth, he was there for a different reason and he didn’t care how the negotiations went. He knew that the Empress would kill him if he just gave up, but he had his own agenda to deal with. “Fine then. I will not speak of this any more.”

West stayed in the room for the next several hours, watching the negotiations unfold. He was inexperienced in that field, so he trusted the Princesses to reach a favorable, but fair agreement.

Just before they finished, Princess Celestia gave the Gryphons a choice, meet here with West in the room, or meet in the throne room with regular guard ponies there.

The Gryphon took a second to decide, “We’ll meet in the throne room,”

After that, the Princesses bid the dignitaries good day, before walking out the door. West met one last glare from the Gryphon in the middle before he followed the Alicorns.

“That was outright rude of him,” Luna fumed.

“…Not the worse I’ve heard,” West muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing of import, Princess,” They were about to press him when they turned towards the sound of galloping hooves. A guard pony came to a stop near them and after saluting handed Celestia a letter. He saluted and began the trek back to the barracks.

“It seems,” Celestia said with a smile, “Princess Cadence is in town, and has asked to meet with us.”

********

West, Luna, Shining Armor, Cadence, and an empty chair sat around a table in the royal gardens. Celestia had volunteered to make the tea this time, which, sadly, West was dreading. Although he hadn’t tried the tea of Equestria, he couldn’t stomach any of the tea he’d tried on Earth.

She returned carrying five steaming mugs on a tray with her magic. She passed one to each of them as she sat in the empty chair.

West wrapped his hands around his. There was a slight nip in the air, and the warm cup was doing wonders for his hands.

“How have things been going here, Auntie?” Cadence asked after an appreciative sip.

Celestia and Luna shared a glance before she answered. “It was peaceful… until a certain matter was brought to our attention.”

“Oh?” Cadence asked.

“Yeah,” West said, knowing pretty well where Celestia was going and deciding to say it himself. “It turns out not many citizens actually like me around,”

“What?” Shining asked.

“Insults, mostly, and usually when I’m alone,” West tried to dismiss it. “I didn’t and regretfully still don’t see the issue.”

“That’s just… mean!” Cadence exclaimed.

“And you’ve just been letting them get away with it?” Shining asked, clearly not pleased.

“What would you have me do, Captain?” West asked, using Shining’s title from when he trained under the Prince. “If I spoke out, they will get worse, If I attack them or try to arrest them, they’ll just use that against me to make even more of the population hate me.”

“You’re a Royal Guard!” Shining nearly shouted. He had to calm himself before continuing. “Did you not know that insulting a Royal Guard is a crime, punishable with a prison sentence?”

“I can’t bring myself to do that…”

“Why not?”

“Because, if I do, they’ll use that to say I’m overly cruel, and end up making the general populace fear me. I do not wish to be feared…” Luna winced at his words, remembering her own past sins.

“West?” Celestia asked, looking him over. He turned his gaze towards her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Do you not like the tea?”

He’d nearly forgotten about the warm beverage in his hands, still completely full, and he hurriedly looked away, guiltily. “It’s not that I don’t like it…” His eyes met hers, gold to magenta, and he saw concern, but behind that, fear. He steeled his nerve and raised the glass to his lips.

His eyes widened as the warm liquid rushed into his esophagus. This wasn’t like that time on Earth, this actually tasted… good. He lowered the glass back to the table, now half-empty. “This is better than any tea I’ve ever had before,” he murmured. I’ll just add that to the number of reasons why I love the two sisters.

They continued talking through most of the afternoon, enjoying the company.

“Auntie, do you mind if I borrow West for an hour?” He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question Cadence as Celestia nodded her assent. He followed after the Crystal Princess, keeping pace with her as she trotted down the street.

“Was there something in particular you needed?” He asked, following her to a nearby park.

“I wanted to sit and have a nice chat,” she replied, indicating a nearby wooden bench.

They both sat on the bench, West resting on the armrest, while Cadence sat with her legs curled under her body, much like a cat. She started out small, “Is it true that you didn’t like tea?” she asked with a giggle.

“It was,” he answered. “Last time I had tea was back on Earth. That stuff was so nasty I just had to spit it out instantly. But I can drink Celestia’s tea all day.”

“That’s sweet. Are you in love with anyone?”

West let out all the air in his lungs, a deep blush coming to his face. He quickly turned his face away. "Where is that coming from?"

“I am the Princess of Love, you know,” He did know that, he just wasn't expecting her to ask questions like this. Truthfully, he didn't really know what to expect from her.

He took a few more raggedy breaths before he sighed. “I… Can’t. I know I love them, but… I don’t know if they’d return my feelings, and even if they did, I don’t know how to pop the confession to the both of them, without hurting one or the other.”

“Who are you in love with?” She asked softly.

“C-Celestia… and Luna,” He said nervously. A long awkward paused crept in after his statement.

She cooed softly. “So, what’s the problem?”

“I guess… the problem is I don’t know how to phrase it, so that it doesn’t hurt either of them,”

“What’s the real problem?” she asked, seeming to see through his other reasons.

“I don’t know the rules of this world,” His head was hanging low and his arms were resting on his legs. “I don’t know if relationships like yours and Shining’s are the norm or not, they were on Earth.”

“What do you mean?”

“One man and one woman, or in this case, one mare and one stallion.” He explained quietly. “I love both of them equally, so… I guess I convinced myself that if I couldn’t have both, then I wouldn’t have either.” He reached a hand up to his head, as if quelling a headache. “I’m sorry, Cadence, but I need some time alone.” He stood and left without another word.

Damn… Damn it all! This pain… in my chest… is driving me towards the edge of my sanity, West thought as he walked to his room in the castle. It was a rather plain room, with one tone furniture. He curled up onto his side on his bed, not even removing his armor, his eyes half blinded by tears.

Of all the things to start acting up, it just had to be my bloodlust…

Author's Note

Unless I state otherwise, when I refer to a generic guard pony, I mean a white furred stallion with gold armor.
(Comments always appreciated.)