When the guards saw the order to give the minotaurs control of their forces, there was a fair amount of confusion. Why would Celestia and Luna give them full control of the castle guard? Some began to question the wisdom of this choice, others saw it as the power grab it truly was. Most, however, saw the document for the words contained within. This was a security upgrade.

"We've come to an arrangement that will benefit us both," explained Steelhorn. "In fact, it's better than that. The citizens of Equestria will be safer as a result of our meeting today. Your families, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, will be better protected, and you shall all rest easier in the coming days. Now, who among you holds the highest rank?"

A captain stepped forward. The scar on his shoulder gave Steelhorn the impression that he was a bit more seasoned than the rest. "Aside from the princesses and yourself, I believe that I am the most decorated in this hallway."

Steelhorn gave him the scroll. "Take this to your records room, then send out messengers around the city. I want every guard to know by morning what my role is, and whose orders they will soon be following. I intend to start the upgrade as soon as possible." With a salute, the captain took the scroll and ran off, making great haste. Steelhorn smiled, as he was already beginning to like this captain.

"Now, then. On to the next order of business." Steelhorn rubbed his hands together. "Is the feast for Celestia's safe return prepared yet?"

"It is not," answered Boneshatter, making his way down the hall. "Five more minutes, they've assured me."

"In that case," interjected Celestia, "I should really go visit the little fillies room."

"Hold." She made it two steps away before Steelhorn's voice rang out behind her. "Take a guard with you. One can never be too careful."

Celestia rolled her eyes and selected a guard to escort her. Luna did much the same, excusing herself to go do some light washing up before dinner.

Steelhorn turned to his men. "Hardtusk, Srimshaw, Boneshatter, Ironblood and Arrow. I would like a word with you in private in the conference room. This will only take a minute."

Arrow and the minotaurs adjourned to the small room and closed the door. Hardtusk was the first to speak up. "Is something wrong, Chief?"

Steelhorn nodded. "Do you recall last night, when a messenger falcon came with a notice that the secondary team had successfully captured Princess Twilight?"

Boneshatter nodded. "We're all rather confused by that. We were unaware that you'd sent out a second team."

"That's because there was no second team. I just needed Celestia to believe that there was. I lied to you." Steelhorn closed his eyes, and held his hands behind his back. "What's more, I dragged you all into this falsehood, especially Ironblood. He was harmed the most by my words, and for that, I'm ready to offer my apology."

Boneshatter stepped forward first. He looked down at the face of his younger brother. "It hurts me to do this..." He reeled back, and slammed his skull against Steelhorn's face. As he stepped back into line, Arrow couldn't believe what he'd just seen. Hardtusk came next, ramming his right fist into Steelhorn's gut. How could they do such a thing to their leader?

Scrimshaw was the next, but rather than strike at Steelhorn, he simply placed his hand on his chief's shoulder. "You've harmed me, but I forgive you. I support your actions, though I disagree with your methods."

Ironblood came next. "In the grand scheme of things, one must sometimes dirty their hands to prevent greater tragedy. I support your actions."

All eyes fell on Arrow. The minotaurs wondered what his thoughts were. Feeling very pressured, Arrow swallowed hard. "If you did it to prevent more violence in the future, I suppose a lie isn't so bad." He looked to Boneshatter, whom he had trusted up to this point. He wasn't sure if he'd just made the wrong decision with that statement.

"Thank you," came the response from Steelhorn. "All of you. I needed that."

"Glad to help," smiled Boneshatter. "So how about we fix this? I volunteer to revoke your lie by making it true. We must collect Princess Twilight right away."

"Hear, hear!" Agreed Scrimshaw and Hardtusk in unison.

"I have a plan for that, actually," smiled Ironblood. "Tomorrow, Boneshatter and I go to Ponyville under the pretense of informing Twilight of the security upgrades. We have her escorted back to the castle to describe to her the finer points, then we bind her in the same way we have bound the other two."

"With Celestia already bound, we may not even need to use force," added Hardtusk. "That would be magnificent."

Arrow couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing. In the span of a minute, they'd gone from trusting their leader, to beating him while he did nothing retaliatory, and then they went back to being almost familial. He'd never heard of comradery like this.

They opened the door leading back into the hallway, and waited for the Princesses to return. As soon as they came back together, they all made their way down to the dining room. Celestia sent the guards away, but Steelhorn instructed two of them to wait outside the door, just in case.

A servant was just finishing up setting out the plates. Every place setting was identical, save for the head of the table, which had a rather large chair with a sun crest carved into the back. At the foot of the table was a similar chair, though smaller and with a moon crest. Before the servant could run off, Steelhorn grabbed her by the wrist.

"This needs a bit of reorganization," he explained. "On the right side of the table, move everything down one chair. Then move Luna to Celestia's right hand. They don't need to be sitting at opposite ends of the table, shouting to hear each other."

"I'm sorry," replied the servant, shaking. "That's the way I usually set it up."

"Celestia just came back from being missing. I'm sure she and Luna would appreciate their reunion more if they were unified for it."

The servant nodded. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir."

As the mare scrambled to shift everything around, Celestia gave a smug smile. "It seems you take to ruling very well, Chief Steelhorn. It's almost as if you've always wanted a castle full of servants to boss around all day."

"I already have a castle full of servants," snorted Steelhorn. "I just think you two would like to spend your reunion together."

As the mare finished moving the place settings, everyone sat down. It was time for dinner.

Author's Note

Greetings to everyone enjoying the story thus far. First of all, let me thank you for your dedication to reading this far, and not clicking off to read something else instead. It means much to me that you've enjoyed enough to read this far.

I've encountered a bit of a problem, you see, and I require the assistance of you, the readers. You see, there's been a lot of back and forth between the writer and the requester about how the story should end. As I'm writing this, it has just been decided that both endings are going to be written, and we will leave it up to the reader which version they like more.

Without going into ending spoilers, the Studio Cut reflects the views of the requester. This is the ending to the story they wanted me to write; the ending that they envisioned before they even came to me. The Director's Cut, on the other hand, is the ending I envisioned as we were brainstorming the outline. This is the version I like more, but don't let that influence your decision. I'm known for having unpopular opinions (which is why I am very keen on the concept of free speech).

Now, if your preferred choice isn't picked, do not despair. Both endings will be written and published here. When the story is complete, you will be able to simply click a link at the point where the story splits, and it will take you to the ending of your choice.

This link will take you to a poll where you will be allowed to select which ending you want to see first, and will be up until the day I'm to write one of the two endings.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for taking the time to vote, if you have done so. There is no obligation to vote, if you do not care which ending you end up with.