A Renewed Ending

Friday, January 7, 1008 A.L., Gryphonia

Celestia and Luna, along with two of the Royal Guards, Special Agent Sweetie Drops, and Lyra Heartstrings, all approached the large houseoak which was covered in a thick blanket of snow. The boughs of the tree shaped dwelling were barely sagging, unlike other trees in the area. The sky was bright despite the clouds in the sky and there had only been a few flurries. The Nor’wester had broken a day before, leaving only small snow showers. During their stay, Celestia and Luna had been moved to the Eyrie with their entourage. They had been treated well enough by the gryphons tasked with seeing to their needs and both had been given special access to balconies on the eastern and western wings so they could raise the sun and moon despite them not being visible. The only members of the Convocation they really spoke two were Gwendolyn and the silent Grandpa Gruff, and really, only the former was the more talkative.

She was friendly enough, however, and gave some kind small talk to them whenever they met her. She was a busy gryphon, however, as apparently she was the only gryphon mage in Gryphonia. Celestia knew about Imperial Mages, and during the height of the Imperium’s rule, there had been more than one in the Eyrie, but to only have one left must have been a burden fr the young hen. Both had offered to send some aides to help with her job, ones experienced in magic, but Gwendolyn politely declined, explaining that she had consulted with a few unicorns who were living with Gregory about the differences between gryphon magic and pony magic. She found them to be incompatible and as such had to study all she could on her own.

Coming back to the present, Celestia reached up her hoof and knocked on the front door. Luna stood next to her. “Sister, this is quite the magnificent house,” she said as she looked at the massive houseoak.

“It looks like it could be three or four stories,” Celestia agreed, “and there could be a basement, too.”

“It’s too big for just one human,” Lyra observed.

“He doesn’t live alone, from what I heard,” Sweetie Drops added.

The door lock clicked, and it opened, revealing Gregory standing in the doorway. He wore a thick bathrobe over some pajamas. “Good morning,” he said with a small yawn, one which the kitten perched on his shoulder mimicked, “what can I do for you today, your highnesses, and-” he stopped when he saw Sweetie Drops and Lyra. He frowned, then turned back to face Celestia. “What is this?” There was a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Celestia could smell breakfast wafting from the inside along with the warmth of a roaring fire. “We were hoping to talk with you in private, if that’s okay?” Celestia asked. “And we were hoping to be more transparent with you as well as offer an apology.”

Gregory looked at the four mares, then past them at the two guards escorting the mares. He pursed his lips, then stepped aside. “Come on in,” he said. As they did so, he gestured to the couchs. “Wait here for a moment, please.”

All four mares sat down on the couches while the guards remained on either side, alert and vigilant. Gregory retreated through another door where Celestia could hear the sounds of dishes moving and distant voices. Lyra was the first to speak. “This is a nice big open living room,” she observed. “Are those outlets in the wall?”

“Be careful, Lyra,” Sweetie Drops said, “don’t touch anything.”

“I’m not that stupid, Bonny,” Lyra said as she looked around the room.

“You’re not wrong, Miss Heartstrings,” Celestia said. “This is a very nice living room.”

Moments later, Gregory came walking out, then gestured to the princesses and the other two mares. “Follow me, please,” he said as he made his way to the staircase.

Celestia nodded, ordered the guards to remain behind, and then she, Luna, Sweetie Drops and Lyra Heartstrings followed Gregory up the stairs to the second floor where he led them into a large circular opening with several doors on the walls. He headed to the only set of double doors, opening them, and walking through. Celestia looked around, realizing that this place had to be Gregory’s bedroom. A fire roared in the fireplace up here, and she saw a large basket with blankets in it sitting next to the fireplace. A mother cat and a few other kittens were lying there, the kittens nursing. He led the mares to a rectangular table near the corner of the room. “Please, have a seat,” he said. “Have you eaten today?”

“We did have some breakfast,” Luna said.

“I can bring you some plates of our breakfast,” Gregory offered.

“There’s no need for that,” Celestia said, waving her hoof quickly. “We’ve caused you enough trouble as it is.”

However, a moment later, Celestia’s stomach rumbled. This didn’t just catch the attention of the others in the room, but the mother cat as well, who looked up lazily and looked at the alicorn with curiosity before she leaned down and began grooming one of her kittens. Gregory chuckled and stood. “Please wait right here, and I’ll be right back.”

The moment the door to Gregory’s room closed, Celestia slowly stood and looked around the room. Luna did as well, while Lyra went to the basket to interact with the mother cat, who simply sniffed her curiously and with some suspicion before going back to tending to her kittens. Sweetie Drops, ever the special agent, looked around the room with a careful eye.

Celestia noted that it was a large bedroom, to say the least. The walls were decorated with several posters that were tacked to the wall, but one stood out to her. It was a large blanket with a map of a world on it. The yellow blanket showed a landscape with mountain ranges, lakes, forests, rivers, and location on it. The land seemed to be a place called Middle-Earth according to the label at the bottom lefthand corner of the blanket map.

“What map is that?” Lyra asked, coming to stand next to Celestia. “What’s Middle-Earth? I’ve never heard of it. Bonny?”

Sweetie Drops joined them and looked carefully at the map. “‘Lost Realm of Arnor’? ‘Mirkwood’? ‘The Shire’? ‘Mordor’? Those names don’t mean anything to me.”

“Could this be the continent from which Gregory hails?” Luna asked, joining the others soon after.

“Perhaps,” Celestia said as she spotted a smaller poster with a map on it as well, this one labeled Beleriand and Middle Earth. Unlike the blanket map, this one showed that the western part was expanded, showing more of the continent. “I wonder why this is different?” she muttered.

“Because Beleriand was sunk during the War of Wrath,” Gregory said from the door. Celestia and Luna turned to see Gregory holding a platter with three plates of food and three glasses of purple bliss. There was a small pouring jar on it as well. “Men, Elves, and the Valar fought against the forces of Morgoth, the Dark Lord, ending his rule and ending the First Age. The war sunk Beleriand beneath the waves because of how deadly it was.”

“Sweet Celestia,” Lyra muttered in horror, eyes wide. Even Sweetie Drops looked shaken by this.

“For a great war to sink a continent…” Luna said in horror, “it must have been a monstrous battle indeed.”

“I have only ever heard of one continent sinking beneath the waves,” Celestia said, “and that was the lost microcontinent of Atlantis, but that has never been substantiated.”

“Well, that’s fiction for you,” Gregory said as he placed the platter down at the table, “nothing but epic battles and heroes of legend. Just like Middle-Earth.”

Celestia looked at the maps, then back at Gregory when what he had said finally registered. “Fiction?”

“Oh, wait…did you think…that I came from Middle-Earth?” Gregory asked in amusement as he set the table for the two. “No, I come from there.” He pointed to a map hanging above the front of his bed.

Celestia and the others approached the map, seeing that it was a blanket map similar to the one she had seen, only this one was in more color. The oceans were blue, the land was colored naturally, and there were many labels written all over the map, labels of what she assumed were major cities, countries, etc. “Earth…” she muttered softly.

“There’s a more comprehensive atlas over there,” Gregory said, and when Celestia turned, she saw that he was gesturing to a bookshelf which had several books on it. “The massive blue book.”

“May I look at it?” Celestia asked.

“If you want your meal to get cold, sure,” he said with some amusement still in his voice.

Celestia’s curiosity was burning, but her stomach once more betrayed her, so she retreated and sat back down, Luna sitting moments later. She saw that he had put a couple of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and some rather well cooked hay bacon on her plate. Luna had a duplicate setup on hers. Gregory had pancakes and eggs as well, but he also had pork sausage and bacon on it. “Thank you for the meal,” Celestia said.

“Sorry if the pancakes aren’t as good as yours are, your highness,” Gregory said as he picked up the jar and poured out some red syrup onto the pancakes. He set the jar down.

Celestia’s eyebrows shot up. “You know about how I make pancakes?” she asked.

“I do,” he said, and kept it at that as he picked up his knife and fork, cutting neatly into his pancakes. “So, you two must have something important to talk with me about if you’re coming down here to speak with me personally this early in the morning, especially before our next meeting later today.”

Celestia froze, then exchanged a slow look with Luna. During the entire nor’wester, the sisters had long talks with each other. Luna had forced Celestia to admit that her recent actions had been erratic. Her lack of rest from all of the turmoil in the capital and across Equestria had started taking a toll on the ancient monarch, and this rash decision to journey in person to Gryphonstone was the straw that broke the ponies back for Luna. After the near disaster that had been their first meeting with the Convocation, Luna had torn her sister a new one, saying that she was taking on too much and it was affecting her actions. After that dressing down, Luna had all but forced Celestia to go to sleep, guarding her dreams for the next few days. Through their own instant communications with Canterlot, she learned that not much had changed, but Luna insisted that she would deal with the majority of things here.

With Gwendolyn’s permission, Celestia had been given limited access to the temporary library in the Eyrie, reading through some books for entertainment purposes. Books of literature and poetry were what she focused on, and it had a calming effect on her mind. She had never read gryphon works before, and it was something new to her. All of the works were something she devoured, and with that, her mind became much calmer. A distraction was just what she needed.

Which was one reason, one of the main ones, at least, as to why she was here. “I came to apologize to you personally,” Celestia explained.

That seemed to catch the human’s attention, and he put down the fork that had been halfway up to his mouth. “Apologize? For what?”

“For sending somepony to spy on you,” she said, looking over at a confused looking Sweetie Drops. “It was a foolish thing to do, especially if I wanted to establish trade agreements with you and your continent. I admit that my fear got the better of me when I learned of what you were, and you were right when you said that I jumped to conclusions.”

“I would like to apologize as well,” Luna said. “I should have stepped up and made more of an effort to stop my sister from her rash actions.”

Gregory looked at the two princesses carefully, his sapphire eyes searching through their own. Finally, he sighed and sat back, picking up a hoofkerchief and dabbing at his mouth. “Like I said before, I can understand why you would be so wary of a human after all that happened,” he began, “but surely you should have realized that one person doesn’t represent an entire species. If that were true, should I judge ponies based off of what Ponyville did to Jason? Should I assume that all ponies are speciesist xenophobes who only preach harmony for thee and not for me?”

“That’s not true!” Lyra blurted out before Celestia could reply.

“Is that so, Miss Heartstrings?” Gregory asked. “Then let me ask you about Miss Zecora. What did Ponyville do to her before Twilight Sparkle came? And what about what happened after Jason destroyed Ponyville?”

Lyra and Sweetie Drops shrank back at that. Celestia, however, was curious by the last part of what she said. “You know Zecora?” she asked.

Gregory nodded. “She lives down in Gryphonville as its apothecary,” he explained. “She’s also one of my friends, now.”

“You said that something happened after Ponyville’s destruction,” Luna said warily. “What did happen?”

“She had yet more negative interactions with ponies and nearly left for dead,” Gregory said with narrowed eyes full of anger before he took a deep breath to calm himself.

Celestia was horrified by what she had just heard, and judging by the expressions on Luna’s and Lyra’s faces, they felt the same. Sweetie Drop’s face was calmer and more controlled, but Celestia could tell she was just as shocked. “Somepony attacked her…?” she asked.

“Three ponies, from what she told me,” Gregory said.

“How awful…” Lyra said.

“I may know who those ponies were,” Sweetie said with a frown.

“Give me the names later, Agent,” Celestia said darkly.

“Getting back on topic,” Gregory said, “I don’t judge all ponykind based off of that. I have three ponies living permanently with me now, and there are some more staying with me because they couldn’t leave due to the storm. All of them have been quite friendly to me, and the three living permanently are outcasts in Equestria. Every race has its good and bad people, right?”

“You are correct, and I should have remembered that,” Celestia said. “Still, I am truly sorry for spying on you.”

Gregory brought his forkful of pancake to his mouth, took a bite, then chewed thoughtfully on it. When he swallowed, and after he washed it down with some bliss, he continued. “Let me ask, have you extended this same sort apology to Jason Wright?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “We have not been spying on him, so how-?”

“That’s not what I meant, Princess,” Gregory interrupted. “I mean an apology for your part in his abuse and suffering?”

Celestia’s thoughts went back to the letter that she had sent out in an effort to try and speak to Jason. She closed her eyes and thought about the wording. Her eyes shot open as she realized that she had not offered any words of apology. Not overtly, but that was not the point. She had only said that she had ‘…acknowledged this’ before calling him out on his own actions. “Maker above…I didn’t,” she whispered.

Gregory slowly nodded. “I see,” was all he said.

“I did…I did send a letter to him, but…” her voice trailed off.

“A letter?” Gregory cocked his head curiously. “What did the letter say? As a human myself, maybe I could give you some insight into how Jason might respond. I can’t promise it will be accurate, though.”

Celestia nodded as she closed her eyes. She cast a spell which broadcast an image into the air. An image of the letter she herself had hoofwritten for Jason. “Here,” she said softly.

Gregory leaned in and looked at the floating depiction of Celestia’s memory. “Emperor Wright, I hope this message finds you well. In fact, I hope this message finds you at all. You have made yourself a hard man to find; I can only hope this eventually falls into hooves that will understand its significance and prove able to carry it to its final destination…” Gregory went silent as he read the letter carefully. When he finally finished, he leaned back, stroking his chin.

“What are your thoughts, Mr. Graystone?” Luna asked. “We are willing to listen.”

Gregory pursed his lips and let out a long breath. “I’m not an expert on many things, but I do know that there is a concept called the Five Languages of Apology. None of them are present in this letter, from what I can see.”

“Five Languages of Apology?” Celestia asked. “I haven’t heard of such a concept. Could you explain?”

“Of course,” he said as he sipped on his bliss before continuing. “Everybody has a way of apologizing truly, and it can boil down to five basic types.” He held up his fist and began counting them out. “Number one is expressing regret, something like ‘I feel awful for doing such and such, and I’m sorry.’ Number two is accepting responsibility, something like ‘I’m sorry for such and such. It was wrong and I have no excuse for it.’ There’s nothing worse than saying ‘I’m sorry, but…’ because in that case, anything before the word BUT is complete horseshit. Number three is genuinely repenting, something like ‘I’m truly sorry for such and such. Next time I’ll do this and thus instead so that it won’t happen again.’ Number four is making restitution, something like ‘I’m sorry for such and such. To make up for it, I’ll do this and thus.’ Number five is requesting forgiveness, something like ‘I’m sorry for such and such, and I hope you can forgive me, but I understand if it’ll take some time for you to do so.’”

He paused, then looked at Celestia carefully. “If there’s any kind of apology in there, it sounds like you went for the ‘I’m sorry but-’ type. You only acknowledged what happened, then a couple of paragraphs later offer him what could very well be a bribe as well. A well-intentioned gift, I’ve no doubt, but this would definitely be insulting to me if I received it. Especially to someone who has dedicated the past two years to revenge only to discover that the real monster was Discord.” He spat out the name with a venom that mirrored Jason’s own, but he calmed down. “A simple ‘I’m sorry’ goes a long way, Princess.”

Celestia felt her heart dropping. She thought she had done the best she could, but this human, undoubtedly younger than her, saw something that she hadn’t. Her ears lowered and she let out a deep breath. “You’re definitely right,” she said. “I did fail Jason and I’ve failed so many more, like young Spike. But that ends today.” A swelling of determination arose in her, and rose her head up high. “Things will change.”

Gregory nodded, and a small smile formed on his lips again as he said, “That’s good. But don’t just tell me this. Tell your people. Change begins with a single step, after all.”

“You speak wisely, Mr. Graystone,” Luna agreed, “and there will be changes. Of that, you can be most certain.”

“I certainly hope so,” Gregory said, “but as my grandma used to say, ‘Actions speak louder than words’. I’ll be looking forward to these actions you take. But for the time being, why don’t we enjoy the breakfast that’s been prepared? Today is going to be a long day, after all.”

Cadance hadn’t seen Celestia in months. It had been quite a surprise when Gregory explained that she and Luna would be attending the new meeting with the other representatives from the other nations. Seeing her sitting at the table with the Convocation and the Representatives was certainly eye opening. From what Gregory had described a few days ago, Celestia had seemed to be under a great deal of stress and acting erratically. However, seeing her now, Cadance couldn’t see any sort of erratic behavior. She sat calmly, listening as the others around the table spoke in turn about future potential alliances.

The meeting had broken up a few minutes ago for lunch and so everyone could gather their thoughts. Cadance stood and left to meet with her husband and daughter. Looking back, she hid a smile as she saw Gregory talking closely with the other Convocation members as they brought out their lunches.

As she had left the room, Celestia and Luna had approached her. “Cadance, may we speak with you?” Celestia asked with a cautious tone.

Cadance looked at the mare who she had once seen as a second mother. There was a hopeful expression on her face. Luna, on the other hoof, was more reserved. Cadance nodded. “I’m just about to go see my husband and daughter for lunch. Flurry might like seeing you.”

Celestia’s relief was clear. “I would like to see the young cutie as well,” she said with a small smile.

“Follow me, then,” Cadance said politely, turning away and leading them down the stairs towards their personal quarters.

As they headed down the stairs, Luna asked, “How are you and your family doing lately?”

“Quite well, actually,” Cadance said as she reached the next floor where their quarters were located. “She’s a smart filly, already able to speak very well.”

“Natural born alicorns are very smart,” Luna said. “At least, from what I remember of Skyros.”

“You’re correct, sister,” Celestia added. “Alicorn foals are naturally rather intelligent and powerful. She will likely grow up to be a fine mare.”

“Of that I have no doubt,” Luna replied.

Cadence closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Yes, yes she will,” she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Celestia must have caught on because there was a hint of apology in her voice. “I didn’t mean to leave you out of the conversation,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Cadance nodded and turned down a smaller hallway which led to a number of doors on either side. The one at the end was where they were heading. When she opened the door and stepped in, she once more drank in the large bedroom that they had been generously given. The room was ancient and had been hastily cleaned upon their arrival. The bed was a bit simple, but it was large enough for the three of them and was quite warm and comfortable. The room was a half circled room with a domed ceiling, large vertical domed windows on the wall overlooking the city below. There was a large fireplace on one side of the bed and a private washroom on the other. It was clear to Cadance that this had once been a more elaborate bedroom, but it had been centuries since that time. For now, Cadance didn’t care. It was warm, the bedding was soft and comfortable, the blankets were warm, and it was well sealed from the outside snow flurries and showers.

When she entered, she saw Shining sitting on the table across from Flurry. The two were actually playing chess. Flurry’s face was wrinkled up in concentration as she used her magic to move her rook into check to Shining’s king. She smiled at the sight. Flurry loved chess, and when they had left Gregory’s house to move here for the next couple of days until negotiations were done, Gwendolyn had found an ancient chess set that Flurry could play. “So,” Cadance said, “how often have you lost, babe?”

Shining didn’t look up as he moved his wizard sideways to capture the rook. “We’re about even,” he admitted.

“Dad’s bringing his A-game today!” Flurry said excitedly as she moved her knight to threaten the queen.

“No more mister nice colt today,” Shining said with a grin as he moved his queen away. “You need more of a challenge, daughter of mine.”

“Then perhaps I could play the winner,” Celestia spoke up.

Flurry’s ears twitched and she turned, eyes wide. “Great Auntie!” she said with a broad smile as she launched herself from the chair to hug Celestia. The chair went sprawling down onto the ground with a clatter.

“Hello there, dear,” Celestia said as Luna walked past to look at the chess board. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing great!” she said happily. “What are you doing here, though?”

“Same thing as your parents,” Celestia said. “We came to see the gryphon Convocation.”

“You came to see the nice human, too?” Flurry asked.

Cadance saw the hesitation in Celestia’s expression, but then her smile widened. “He is a nice human, isn’t he?”

“And he loves to sing, too! And then his cartoons are so fun!”

As Flurry spilled to Celestia about their few days at Gregory’s house, Luna peered over the chess board carefully. “The young princess will have you in checkmate in ten moves, young Emperor,” she said.

Shining observed the board more carefully, then his eyes widened. He sighed and tipped his king over. “I guess Flurry gets to play you, princess,” he said to Celestia as he stood. “Honey, I’ll go grab us some food. Should I bring some for the two of you as well, princesses?”

Luna nodded. “I shall accompany you to procure sustenance for my sister and myself.”

As Shining and Luna left the room, Celestia extricated herself from Flurry’s grasp, sitting her down in the chair across from her at the table and began to reset the board. Flurry clapped her hooves excitedly. Cadance pulled up a chair of her own and sat between the two, curious to see how this game would go. “Okay, Flurry,” Celestia said, “do you want to be white or black?”

“Black!” Flurry said, much to Celestia’s apparent confusion. “I like a challenge!”

Celestia grinned and flipped the board around. “Alright, then. I’ll bring you a challenge.” She picked up one of her pawns, and the game began.

As the game went on, Cadance slipped into an ancient tongue that she and Celestia knew, one that had no official name, but which was a very beautiful and flowy language. “So, what did you want to talk about?” she asked.

Celestia, eyes locked onto the board, replied, “I was wanting to catch up, and to try and make personal amends with you.”

“Amends? What for?”

Celestia’s expression didn’t waver as she replied, “I have been thinking since a very illuminating conversation this morning about apologies I need to make. Not just to the human, but to others. When I placed you in charge of the former vassal state of the Empire, I admit I never once thought about your desires. I want to apologize for that. I should have taken what you wanted into consideration.”

Cadance looked at her carefully, then sighed. “At first, I think I did hold some resentment towards you, but ever since we cut ties with your kingdom, I have released that resentment. You taught me about ruling, and I have used it to begin expanding the territory into what once was Imperial lands.”

“Still, I apologize for putting you into that position, especially in the beginning when Sombra returned,” Celestia said.

“Mommy? Great Auntie? What language are you speaking?” Flurry asked curiously.

Cadance chuckled. “We don’t know the language, but it’s one your Great Aunt taught me.”

“It sounds beautiful,” Flurry said.

“It’s a very beautiful language,” Celestia agreed.

At that moment, Shining and Luna returned, bearing food. There was a small iron pot of steaming vegetable stew, a loaf of freshly baked bread, and a jug of bliss. “Lunch is here,” Shining said as he put the pot down, hanging it over the fire to keep the stew warm.

“Not for my sister, it would seem,” Luna said, “she is fully invested in the game, now.”

Cadance turned to see that Luna was right. Celestia was an avid chess player, and whenever she played the chess champions every year, she would take on this gaze. Only then, though, so to see her with this expression while playing with her daughter was certainly unusual. “She won’t be coming out of that trance for a while,” Cadance observed before turning to Flurry. Her eyes widened when she saw a look of intense concentration on Flurry’s face that practically mirrored Celestia’s. “Let’s leave them to finish the game.”

Dusky Heart moved slowly through the snowdrifts around the city. If he could, he would have melted the snow around him with a heat spell, but as he was incognito, he needed to pretend that his magic had been reduced. He reached under his hooded cloak, finding the precious élanite artifact beneath it that boosted his magic through touch. The past several days had been torture for him as he had to stay at the inn with his companions. They worked together well, there was no doubt of that, but they also drove each other crazy in closed quarters. He needed the walk away from the sadist and the slut.

He passed by a yet another intersection, but a delicious smell wafted into his nose. Turning around and sniffing the air, he spotted a strange new building called the Green Dragon Inn. He wasn’t sure what he was smelling, but he could smell something savory, so he decided to head in for a quick bite.

The inside was crowded with gryphons, dragons, and even a few ponies. He walked up to the counter to the smaller orange dragon washing a cup. The dragon looked up as he approached. “Hello, welcome to the Green Dragon Inn,” the dragon, female, said in a welcoming tone. “Is this your first time here?”

“Yeah,” he said with a false smile on his face. “I smelled something good here.”

“That would be our signature stew,” the dragoness said. “We have a pot of the stuff for our herbivore and omnivore guests. Want me to fetch you a bowl?”

“Yes, along with some bread, a slice of cheese, and bliss,” Dusky said.

“You got it, pal,” the dragoness said as she put the cup down on the counter behind her and headed back to the kitchen.

As he sat there waiting, he closed his eyes and let his finely honed listening skills take over as he listened to the conversations around him.

“…water barely held out, but we did boil some snow…”

“…adventurer’s guild idea that Garble was talking about being taken seriously…”

“…did the Convocation know we were here…”

“…he’s a cute dragon, and that’s not something I thought I’d say…”

Back up, he thought as he reconcentrated on one conversation. He refocused on the one mentioning the Convocation.

“Seriously, how did he know? That human is smart.” A female voice.

The next voice, however, made Dusky freeze in alarm. “I don’t know,” the familiar face of his old comrade Sweetie Drops reached his ears, “but it’s best not to talk about that in the open.”

“It just bothers me,” the second unfamiliar voice said.

“We can talk about it later, okay?” Sweetie Drops said. “Anyway, aren’t you finished with that soup yet?”

“Hey, I’m savoring.”

“We’re leaving soon, so hurry up.”

“Huh…?…Oh, yeah. Sorry. I can eat this up in our room.”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

The conversation stopped as he heard the two ponies standing from wherever they were sitting and walk past him. He waited until they were gone before he opened his eyes to see the orange dragon coming back with a platter of what he’d ordered. He put down the appropriate amount of talons on the counter, then began to eat. It was delicious.

An hour later, he arrived back at the inn where they had been staying. Jade Seed was sitting at the desk writing something when Dusky came in. Dark Desire was in bed dozing with a half drunk bottle of local wine on the bedside table. Jade looked up, a confused expression on her face. “Is there something wrong, sir?” she asked as Dusky began bringing out the long range communication device. “We aren’t expected to check in today.”

“Things have changed,” he said as he established a link on his side.

The hovering image of one of Blueblood’s most trusted servants appeared. “Greetings, sir,” the unicorn stallion said in a Britmane accent. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to speak with his grace at once,” he said

“His grace is in an emergency meeting with the House of Lords,” the butler said.

Dusky sighed. “Alright, leave him a message for me.”

“And what is the message, sir?” the butler asked.

Dusky took a deep breath. “Special Agent Sweetie Drops is in town.”