To say that Alex had failed to find the training room would be a understatement. Instead of finding it or the guard quarters for that matter he somehow had managed to walk in a big circle all around the castle for hours and now found himself outside of the throne room again. The sun had set by this point and darkness had stretched out through the castle.

As he began to curse under his breath about how he had become so lost he noticed that no guards seemed to be around and also that the doors to the throne rooms were slightly open. Through the small gap two hushed voices could be barely heard. Wanting to know what was going on there, the human sneaked into the room quietly, making sure no one would notice him. As fast as he could he hid behind of the long heavy curtains of the rooms glass windows and listened on. Now he recognized one of the two voices as Princess Celestia's, the other however he did not know in the slightest. He looked out of his hiding place to get a good look at whoever the princess was talking to.

"Now then general, what is your report. Anything we should be concerned about?" The princess asked as she even had leaned down to the stallion to keep the volume of her voice down as much as possible.

The stallion nodded. "Yes your highness. We have intel that some of the griffons are preparing a rebellion to overthrow the units we have stationed in their towns. Also Chrysalis group has been spotted near the Crystal Empire, it seems that they are traveling towards King Thorax domain, for what cause we do not know sadly. Couple that with the fact that both the tribes of Zebrafrica and the leaders of the Minotaur Lands refuse to let our units build stations within their towns, yes I would say there are some things to be worried about." Alex eyes widened at what he heard, had his suspicion been right? Sadly he was not able to see the face of the stallion, nor could he make out his coats colors because of the darkness of the night.

"I see...." The princess scowled. " For the griffons, use the troops we have within the towns to rat out whoever is planning that rebellion, any kind of force used is not only allowed but encouraged. We need to set a example that no one should dare to cross us." She stomped her hoof on the ground. "For Chrysalis group......contact Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, they will decide how to deal with them, it is their territory after all. Concerning the others.....we will leave them alone for now till we have dealt with the other problems." She then looked at the general. "How is our special guest doing? Did you get her to.....reconsider her position?"

"Sadly we could not.....convince her yet but I am sure if you leave her a bit more in our care, she will soon be nothing more than a obedient servant my princess. If you wish to visit her to ask her yourself, the door to her cell door is always open to you." The general chuckled coldly. "Still I would ask you to tell us first when you plan on visiting, we don't want our guest to be in bad shape when you arrive."

Anger build up inside the human, what he just heard had answered all the questions he had till this point. He was just about to sneak out when Celestia suddenly looked up, her stone cold gaze right on him. Her look seemed to go through him and freeze him on it's way.

"Who goes there......show yourself!" He heard the general bark. This was the moment the human decided to bolt out of the room as fast as he could, trying to keep his head low as much as he could. Behind him he could hear hooves racing after you. " Stay right here intruder!! You won't get away!!" He heard the the general shout as he tried to run back to Blueblood's suite.

Back within the throne room Princess Celestia glared at the now open door. "We will see what you know.....soon enough...."

All on Alex mind right now was running, running from the stallion that was chasing him, running from the guards that had been mobilized with the calls of a intruder being in the castle. He ran until his lungs burned, he ran until his legs hurt, he ran as fast as he could till he managed to get to the suite doors. He pushed them open quickly and closed them even quicker behind himself.

"Shit, shit shit, shit. They will rip me apart...!" He panicked, he saw himself being executed already. Himself being hung or decapitated in front of a big crowd. While he was still panicking Noxious noticed him and quickly approached him.

"A-alex, are you okay? What is the matter?" He softly touched the humans shoulder who let out a shriek but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"N-no I am not okay, I listened in on some kind of secret talk of Celestia and now her conversation partner is going to kill
me!" Just when Nox was about to calm down the human, loud knocks came from the door. Both of them looked at the door, Alex in shock and fear, Nox in worry.

"This is the royal guard! Open the door, we have reason to believe there is a intruder hiding in the suite!" The voice of a guard came from the other side of the door.

Nox took a deep breath. "Okay Alex, just go with what I do now, don't worry, I will get you out of that situation." Alex nodded and gasped a bit when the changeling grabbed his face by the cheeks and slammed his lips to his own.Alex understood Nox'es plan and kissed back, closing his eyes as he leaned into it.

In that moment the doors were slammed open, two guards had opened them by force.
"We have reason to believe that.....uhhh..." The guard stopped mid sentence as he and his partner stared at them. The one who spoke picked up his jaw and tried to make himself known again. "Umm.....excuse us sirs b-but we have reason to believe that....." In that moment Nox broke the kiss and glared at the two.

"Can't you two see we are kinda busy? Do you really think any intruder would have made it in here while we were here? " He then looked at Alex. "Ain't that right sir? I mean, as a personal guest to Prince Blueblood you should have some privacy after all right?"

Alex nodded, going with the changelings plan. "That is correct. " He threw a stern look at the guards. "Let me assure you that if someone would have come in here, he would have been caught. After all Nox here is a guard."

The one guard was at a loss for words as he looked at the floor blushing but the other spoke up. "We are very sorry sir for the interruption but the fact still stands that there was a intruder but clearly he did not seek shelter in here, we are sorry and wish you a good night....however you wish to spend it." The last part he spoke with clear disgust. After that the two turned and went on their way after saluting.

Sighing deeply in relief Alex closed the doors again. "Thank you a lot Nox, how did you come up with that plan so quickly?" He chuckled softly.

"Well, I knew we needed to act quickly and I wanted to kiss you anyways. Too bad it was not a real kiss. " Nox then smirked. "But if you want a real kiss, just say it, it is also a much better way of feeding a changeling with love than just hugs."

Alex blushed and looked to the side. "I....I will think about it. But anyway, get everyone in the living room, what I managed to hear is important for them I believe. " Nox nodded and galloped off to gather everyone.

Meanwhile in her throne room Celestia sat upon her throne, a hoof softly rubbing her chin as she thought about what had happened. She was very certain that she knew who had listened to her conversation with the general, what bothered her was one question. Why had the human been there? Why did he sneak into the throne room? How much did he hear, and how much did he know? If she had it her way she would have already have him arrested for spying on her but she knew that was not a wise move. If she did that she would have to back up her claims with proof and she had none so far. She stood up and walked over to the curtains he had hid behind. To her surprise she found that the space where he stood was devoid of any traces of magic. Did the human have no magic himself and therefore could not leave a magical trace? That was something she needed to look into. She made her way back to her throne thinking about how to deal with the human and the problems the general had told her about.

She looked up and to the doors when the general came in slowly, he had lowered his head as he spoke up. "My princess, I am incredibly sorry but it seems the intruder has gotten away. I however am pretty certain that I know who spied on us. "
Celestia nodded, motioning for him to continue. "I am sure that it was that lowly creature that your nephew calls a guest. I bet it was that thing, it is the only being in the castle who is bipedal as far as I know."

"I believe you are correct general, it was that ugly creature but seeing as it escaped I fear we won't be able to prove that....yet." She smiled softly.

"What do you mean by that? What does it matter if we can prove it or not, give me the order and I will break that beast myself and everyone that stands in my way doing so." He spoke with clear pride in his voice.

"No no my dear general, we can't act rash now. We need to find out what he knows and what his plans are. I mean why did he spy on us and surely we could use force and violence for that but that would turn my nephew and possibly my sister against us. No we need to act wisely and slyly now." She leaned one hoof down, softly rubbing the generals cheek.

"And what did you have in mind then?" He stepped a bit into the light of the moon showing that he wore a eye-patch had a gold colored coat and a very bright eye of the same color, he also wore a black hat with her cutiemark as a insignia . A grin spread across his muzzle.

"Well, do you remember your mission in Griffonstone? The one that gave you your position?" She giggled menacingly.

In return he nodded. "The same way as last time or...?"

"No no, you can not do it as....forced as last time, you understand?" She then took off his hat with a smile."Also you should not be wearing your usual uniform, go in the armory and take up your old armor, it should work perfectly."

He chuckled in return and nodded. "Yes my princess, your wish is my command." With that he turned and left the room,leaving Celestia alone in the throne room, a cold grin forming on her lips as a small giggle left her mouth.

Over at Blueblood's suite Nox had managed to gather everyone beside the dragon who, so Alex was told, was too big to fit into the suite. By now all of them had gathered around the human and looked at him with high interest. "Nox told us you overheard a important talk of Celestia and had to run? What happened, what was it about?" Blueblood asked , a lot of worry in his voice.

"Allright, try to stay calm till I am done." With that Alex began retelling what he had witnessed and heard. How he had been spotted and ran, at the end of him telling his experiences everyone looked at him with looks of shock.

"T-that cannot be.....how could she have found out, none of the pony guards in the griffon kingdom would have been able to find out....how...?" Amelia was at a loss for words until a scowl grew on her face. "Unless they have a traitor in their own ranks, maybe even more than one....."

Alex nodded to that. "Concerning the changeling groups...." he looked at Nox and Neo. " I do not think Chrysalis is planning to attack King Thorax domain." Both changelings raised a eyebrow at that. "Let me explain, that general guy said Chrysalis entire group was seen, meaning kids and all that. So I don't think that there will be a attack."

"Fair enough, let's just hope Princess Cadence is not like her aunt." Mumbled Neo to which everyone nodded.

"Though horrible is what we now know, that Celestia has fallen so low, did you somehow if only by divine interference spot that generals appearance?" Zakya spoke up.

"No sadly I don't know what he looked like, heck I don't even know his coats color." He sighed deeply.

"In any case, what is your plan now?" Asked Neo, he was shaking a little bit.

"Well, I think I will try to get into the dungeon under Canterlot and find whoever is being held hostage down there. From what it sounded like it may be someone that could give us more informations and needs some help. I will try to find her tomorrow night and...." Alex was cut off by a knock on the suites doors.

"Coming!" Blueblood walked over and opened the doors. "Oh? What a surprise, please come right in." Behind the prince a stallion entered the living room. He was a earth pony and wore a silver armor coupled with a pearl white cape, it was clear he had some sort of high rank. He also wore a black eye-patch, had a golden coat and a beard that was in the color of copper. His mane was a brownish red and sort of wild, same with his tail. His one good eye shined with the same color of his coat as he looked around. "Alex, this a very good friend of mine, I bet he will be interested in what you have to tell. "

The stallion looked at Alex with a smile and stretched his hoof out for a hoof shake. "Good day Mister Alex, I heard lots about you, may I introduce myself?" Although his voice was smooth, warm sounding and had a melodic ring to it, Alex felt like he was frozen in place, like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head.

"My name is Light Bringer and I am oh so happy to finally meet the one person who took care of Silver Mane, good job really." It was the voice of the stallion Alex had heard Celestia speak with just half a hour ago. This was Celestia's personal general. "Come on, don't leave me hanging." Light Bringer smirked and wiggled his hoof.

Alex stiffly grabbed the stallions hoof and shook it, only one question on his mind. What did the general want?

Author's Note

And here it is, the next chapter! A new enemy and one that seems to know how to play a game, what will happen next time? Who is being held hostage in the Canterlot castle and why is Chrysalis group moving? Find out in the coming chapters!!

Also as always, comments, constructive criticism and all that good stuff and encouraged, especially memes as the EU is about to ban them from the internet of Europe! See ya all next time!