After hours of flying, Thunderbird found himself being roughly shoved back into yet another jail cell. He had been roughly woken up as he tried to pass the time by sleeping and was ordered to hold still while the guards placed a collar around his neck. Two heavy chains were attached to the tight metal ring around his neck, and with a guard holding each one they escorted him to the rear entrance of the barracks. There, four more guards awaited them, and without any hesitation the group took off into the air. To stop himself from being strangled to death, Thunderbird also took to the skies and was led to Canterlot, immediately being thrown into an awaiting cell.

The guards were surprised that the griffon obeyed all their orders and didn’t raise a claw to try to escape. Still, this creature was a sworn enemy of all ponies, so maybe he was trying to lure them into a state of false security. But even so, the two found it strange that the griffon shed a tear as they flew over Ponyville…

With nothing to do until the morning, Thunderbird went back asleep, trying to regain the energy lost during the long flight. Before he fell asleep, his mind went back to one of the happier, intimate moments in his life; the day when Fleur expressed her gratitude and possibly love for him when she surprised him with a blow job. He was shocked by Fleur’s attentiveness and effort to get him off despite being raped almost every day by his superiors and fellow soldiers, and he genuinely missed his daily talks with her. He remained happy, though, simply by knowing that he was able to help her escape and was now safe in whatever town she had led him to. He also felt no ill will towards the guards who subdued him and threw him in jail without even giving him a fair chance to explain himself, as the crimes his fellow griffons had committed would drive any creature into a furious rage. The only puzzling thing on his mind was his talk with Twilight; he had thought his interrogation by the princess had gone well and she believed his story, but now he was facing possible execution.

Soon he found himself sleeping deeply, dreaming of what could have been had he somehow managed to remain free. In his slumber he dreamt of himself and Fleur running away together, away from the war, the killing, the pain. They found a large, quiet patch of land where they settled down, building a decently sized house and cultivating the land around it to farm their own food. The two lovers started a family together, Fleur giving birth to two healthy, strong hippogriff sons who were brought up to respect and love all creatures, no matter how different they may be from themselves. But most importantly, his dream focused on him and Fleur living each day happily together, never having to worry about her being hurt ever again. They would go to bed together each night, gently holding each other after a hard-day’s work. They would gently begin to kiss one another, exploring their partner’s body slowly before embracing each other in a flurry of passion.

‘That is very sweet and all, but what dark secrets are you hiding? What do you fear?’ a mysterious voice demanded, causing Thunderbird’s vision of a perfect life to come crashing down all around him. He found himself back inside the dark hallways of the griffon castle, standing right outside the room Fleur was imprisoned in. The sounds of shouting and crying reached his ears, and as he strained to listen what was going on behind the heavy doors he realized in horror that Fleur was being raped yet again. He forced his body against the door, rushing inside once the door gave way to his strength. In front of him his old commander Captain Ray was thrusting in and out of his love, once again using her body for his own pleasure. Fleur looked up at the intruder with tear-filled eyes, pleading for help. Thunderbird wanted to rush over to her and attack Ray, but for some reason he wasn’t able to move at all. He was forced to watch helplessly as Ray continued to rape Fleur as she begged for him to stop. Thunderbird clenched his eyes shut tight, frustrated that he was powerless to stop the horrible act.

‘So, you don’t wish to see this anymore? Perhaps it’s because you wish to use her for yourself?’ the voice boomed out. The image of Captain Ray disappeared, leaving just Fleur still whimpering with her ass raised. Soft voices started to fill Thunderbird’s head, egging him on to use the pony in front of him however he wished, to use her body for his pleasure. As Thunderbird refused to move forward the voices became louder and multiplied in number, bombarding his ears with tips on how to hurt her.

‘You don’t want her? Maybe this is more to your liking.’ the mysterious voice said. Fleur suddenly got up and started walking towards him, swinging her flank seductively. “Please, fuck me.” she whispered, dragging her tail across his face as she passed him. Turning his head to follow her movements, he saw that she now had her front hooves up against the wall with her rear legs spread wide open, her pussy slick with her own fluids. “Come on, make me yours. I want you.” she said to him, licking her lips as she anticipated his cock.

Thunderbird couldn’t control his cock from beginning to rise from the sight in front of him. ‘See? You can have your way with her. You want her. Take her. She’s all yours.’ the voice hissed. Fleur nodded in agreement. “Take me, Thunderbird. Make me your little slut. Fuck me, master, fuck me now.” she begged.

“Stop… Stop it!” Thunderbird yelled out. “Fleur, this isn’t you, what are you doing? Who’s making you do this? This… this can’t be real. This is a dream... it must be…”

As he said the last sentence, the world around him crumbled away, causing him to wake up. Opening his eyes, he scrambled to his feet as he saw he wasn’t alone in his cell anymore. Standing in front of him stood Princess Luna, staring down at him. A small glow around her horn disappeared as she ended her spell that she used to look into and manipulate his dreams.

Thunderbird knew who she was and bowed to her out of respect. “Princess Luna, what are you doing in here? What’s going on? Where’s Fleur?” he asked.

“Fleur is back in Ponyville, safe and sound.” Luna said. “I must say, you are quite the curious griffon. Why do you care for her so much? Why didn’t you use her when you had the chance just now?”

Thunderbird answered without hesitation. “Because I love her.”

Luna stood in silence as she let his words sink in. ‘He… he loves her?’ she repeated in her mind. As she looked into his eyes she could see the strong look of confidence he had, and her gut feeling told her that he was telling the truth. “Did you tell this to Princess Twilight Sparkle?” she asked.

He shook his head no. “I didn’t want to bring her into this mess. She has enough to deal with, she doesn’t need this additional burden on her mind.”

Luna nodded, knowing enough about Fleur’s captivity to know what Thunderbird meant. “Very well. Is there anything else you wish to tell me before I go?” she asked.

Thunderbird nodded. “Promise me one thing.” he said.

Luna tensed up, wondering if he would now beg for his life like she thought he would earlier. “And what would that be?” she asked.

“Promise me… promise me that you’ll keep Fleur safe, no matter what happens to me. Please, don’t let anything happen to her.” he begged the princess.

Luna could only nod before teleporting herself back to her room. With nothing else to do but await her decision, Thunderbird went back to sleep, this time dreaming of nothing. Luna, on the other hoof, paced restlessly around her room. She had to make her decision soon before word got out to the pony politicians in Canterlot. While they didn’t hold as much power as the two princesses, they did hold enough combined power to order the immediate execution of a creature guilty of the crimes Thunderbird was being held for. She knew very well what they would want her to do, but her talk with him confirmed to her that he was indeed innocent, despite what Twilight had supposedly written to her.

Taking a deep breath, Luna hastily scribbled a note to Twilight and sent it off. She knew what she had to do.

As Luna had predicted, news of the griffon prisoner was all over the pony capital by morning. In an amazing show of unity the Royal Canterlot Congress held an emergency session to discuss what punishment should be handed down on the prisoner should the princesses not act swiftly. The meeting was headed by Prince Blueblood, who held a strong anti-griffon stance to please the population. He had even gone as far as banishing renowned griffon chef Gustave le Grand from every city controlled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. But worse was the pony who was leading the fight to have Thunderbird executed; Fancy Pants. He had long recovered from his injuries sustained when the three griffons attacked him and Fleur, but he still bandaged his old wounds every day and walked with an over-exaggerated limp. He was more than happy to tell the sad tale of his near demise, and how he came within inches of death before managing to crawl to safety, leaving out the part where the two train ponies came upon him and rescued him. All his peers ate up the story, especially Prince Blueblood who was one of his closest friends. Together, the two influential ponies had no trouble convincing the rest of the congressional gathering that all griffons were evil, and this prisoner was no exception. He must die, and he must die now.

Once Celestia had woken up, Luna filled her on in everything that had happened and what she had in mind. Celestia knew that time was short, and Luna’s solution was the only option that they had right now. She summoned Twilight to the castle and requested that she bring Fleur with her. All four ponies gathered together in a private room, the entrance guarded by six of Celestia’s most trusted guards.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Twilight and Fleur.” Celestia said once they were all there. “My sister has told me what she had learned during her talks with Thunderbird. Fleur, I believe you are familiar with him. Would you mind telling us your interactions with him?”

Fleur took a few deep breaths before she told her story of how she met Thunderbird. She hesitated a few times, uneasy at the thought of saying some of the darker moments that happened to her. However, she knew that Thunderbird’s life depended on what she said, so she told the three princesses everything. Once she finished her story Twilight told the other two princesses about her talks with the griffon during his captivity in Ponyville, and to Luna’s surprise she finished her report by saying she had no doubt that Thunderbird was innocent.

“Thank you both for this information.” Celestia said once they were both finished. “I believe the last testimony we need to hear is from the griffon himself.”

As if on cue the doors to the room opened, and a familiar griffon was led into the room by two guards.

“Thunderbird!” Fleur shouted in joy, tears of happiness falling down her face as she ran over to him. Celestia gave a slight nod to the guards who backed away, allowing the two to embrace each other. Before Thunderbird could say anything, Fleur planted her lips against his beak, giving him a deep kiss as the three princesses looked on in slight embarrassment. The two stayed locked together for a few seconds before they reluctantly broke away when Luna coughed to remind them that there were important matters to attend to.

“Ahem… I don’t mean to interrupt this special reunion, but time is of the essence. Mister Thunderbird, would you mind telling us why you decided to save Fleur?” Luna asked.

With his lover now by his side, Thunderbird spoke up. “It was the right thing to do. I couldn’t stand seeing how Captain Ray treated his first captive but I was powerless to help her. When I was assigned to be the one to check on Fleur I did everything I could to help her, but I didn’t want to risk her being killed by trying to escape. But once I heard that Ray planned on getting rid of her, I knew I had to free her soon.”

“And what of your other griffon friend, Iron Rook?” Celestia asked.

Thunderbird looked down at the ground. “I… I really thought I could trust him. He and I… we both grew up together. He was my best friend. Even though we were both conscripts he managed to impress his officers enough to give him special permission to be considered for promotions, but he gave up almost everything he had worked for and asked for my life to be spared when I was caught stealing supplies for Fleur.”

A few tears fell from his eyes and dropped to the floor. All four ponies in the room noticed his heavy emotions and Fleur gave him an affectionate nuzzle to calm him.

Celestia cleared her throat softly before speaking. “I believe I have heard enough to cast my vote. Fleur, Thunderbird, you may not know how this vote may work so I will explain now. All three of us will vote whether we believe you to be guilty or innocent of war crimes against Equestria. Normally, you would just need two out of three votes to decide, but since the Royal Canterlot Congress has unanimously voted for Thunderbird’s execution, you need all three of our votes in your favor to have your name cleared. I vote not guilty.”

Though he had received a vote of confidence from Princess Celestia, there were two more alicorns. Twilight went next. “I vote not guilty.” she said.

Luna looked at the purple alicorn in slight surprise. “Really?” she blurted out.

“Of course. Didn’t one of you get the letter I sent after I spoke to him?” Twilight asked.

Luna shook her head no, but Celestia stopped the conversation. “Twilight, thank you, we will discuss that topic later. But for now, Luna, we need your vote now.”

Everypony and Thunderbird held their breath as Luna thought for a moment. Princess Celestia was especially tense as she wondered just what her sister would do.

“I vote… I vote not guilty.” Luna finally said.

Both Twilight and Celestia let out a sigh of relief as Fleur hugged Thunderbird tightly. Fleur cried softly as Thunderbird looked up at the three princesses. “Thank you.” he said simply.

“This isn’t over yet.” Celestia warned. “Even though we all reached the same agreement, the other ponies will not be accepting of our decision. It is not safe for Thunderbird to stay in Canterlot or any other pony city.”

“But if he can’t stay here, where is he supposed to go?” Fleur asked. “He… he can stay with me! He can hide at my apartment until everything calms down.”

Luna shook her head. “It’s still too dangerous. Besides, Fancy Pants would be sure to try to visit you once he hears you’re back in Canterlot. He would find out that you were hiding Thunderbird sooner or later.”

“Then what do I do? Where do I go?” Thunderbird asked.

“There’s a safe location that you can stay.” Celestia said. “Luna and I use it when we wish to have some privacy and peace. Only a few trusted guards know of it, and they will make sure that nopony intrudes or disturbs you.”

“Isn’t that where you sent Chef Gustave?” Twilight inquired.

Celestia nodded. “Yes, and he’s been extremely bored since he has nopony to cook for, though I don’t think these two will object to having their own personal gourmet chef.”

While most ponies would be overjoyed to hear that they would have a world-renowned chef cooking exclusively for them for the foreseeable future, Fleur and Thunderbird didn’t care one bit. All they cared about was the fact that they could be together safely and not have to worry about the other being hurt.

Celestia walked up to the two lovers. “If you two are ready, I will teleport you both there now. Time is of the essence, the longer you stay here the more likely our vote will be overruled.”

“I’m ready, I don’t really have anything to bring.” Thunderbird said. “But I think Fleur has some stuff to get from her home.”

Fleur shook her head. “I don’t need anything. As long as Thunderbird is with me, I have everything I could ever need.”

Celestia nods. “You’ll be safe once you get there. If you need to contact me, just tell one of the guards.” she said as her horn glowed. Both Thunderbird and Fleur were enveloped in a brightening light as Celestia’s spell was cast.

“Thank you. Thank you all.” Thunderbird said before Celestia finished. With a sudden flash, both the griffon and the unicorn were gone, leaving the hostile city far behind them.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delays. Finally done, though not as good as I wanted it to be.

So for those of you who missed it, I had a poll up to see if anyone would be interested in a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' style ending, and from the results I have so far I decided to go with it. So keep your eyes open for it! Next chapter in this story may be the last one, and it will have a link to the final story. Only one ending will be reached, so choose carefully!

But for those of you who, like me, want to know every ending there is, I may work on a physical book with all the story branches, but to do so I would need some donations to help cover the costs. Would anyone be interested?

EDIT: After some thinking, the next chapter (13) will most likely be the end of this story, before the release of the sequel.