Dusk Rises- Chapter 8

An eagle's cry echoed in the distance as the small group of griffins and ponies that had taken asylum in the abandoned cathedral sat in awkward silence. Twilight's eyes darted between Max, the griffin guard that had abandoned his position to join her band of assassins and the newest member; a griffin councillor named David. The revelation that David and Max knew each other, and even used to be in a relationship, came as a major shock to the two ponies that sat in the centre of the octagonal room.
"Wait…. What?" Said Archangel, raising his blood stained hoof into the air, much like a colt would in school. A groan came from the floor, as Max's sister Jean lay injured on the wooden floorboards. Max bent down and put his hoof on her chest, keeping her steady as Archangel gave her a look over.

"David and I were together back in high school. We broke up… because of reasons," explained Max, gently stroking his sister's face.
"We broke up because he wanted to be a guard and I disagreed. I wanted to change this city, not become part of the problem," said David, still awkwardly standing in the doorway and staring at the group.
"Does it look like I became part of the problem?" Asked Max sarcastically and David made an aggressive move forward. Max quickly got to his feet and took a step towards him, only to be stopped by Twilight as she got in between the two.
"Now hang on. We don't need any of this aggression here. I don't care if you have issues with each other. What I do care about is helping Jean get through the night. So if you can't be civil, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave,' Twilight told them forcefully. Max and David stared daggers at each other, and Twilight could feel the tension in the air.
"Well, this is pleasant," joked Archangel, only to receive a stern look from Twilight that shut him up. Max let out a low growl that was soon mirrored by David. Twilight rolled her eyes as the growling got louder, the lion side of the griffins becoming dominant.
"I said; That's enough!" Yelled Twilight, throwing up two walls of purple energy in front of Max and David to prevent them from doing anything. They pressed up hard against it, growling like angry dogs.
"Some suggestions would be much appreciated," said Twilight as she poured more magic into the walls. Archangel just shrugged, and she could see that he looked uncomfortable.
"Well aren't you just the most helpful Pegasus ever?" She said sarcastically. All of a sudden, Jean sat upright, a loud cry of pain accompanying her awakening. Max broke off his staring contest with David to look at his sister. He dived around the wall, sliding across the wooden floor and coming to a rest next to Jean.
"Jean, just lay down ok-" started Max, before Jean stopped him with a powerful slap to the face. He was spun around by the force of the blow and hit the ground hard.
"Max…. You are to show respect to Dusk and our new guest. Hello David, it's nice to see you again," said Jean weakly, before passing out once more. Max stood up, his face bright red in embarrassment, and looked back at Twilight and David. Twilight watched him closely as he licked his beak.

"David… I… I understand that you are mad at me because I didn't follow you in the way that you wanted. But you need to know why. That girl there on the floor…. That's why. I became a guard because I had to take care of her. Sure I was trying to make a difference from the inside, but it was all for her. You and I…. We didn't matter. This city… didn't matter. All I cared about was making certain that she always had food on her table. I'm sorry that we grew apart, so much so that you have no idea. But it happened, and now we have a chance to make a difference. With Dusk, with Archangel. We shouldn't let our history jeopardise what we are trying to do," Max told him, holding out a hand in a gesture of peace. David sighed, hesitating for a moment before he nodded, and Twilight lowered the magical wall. He walked forward and shook Max's hand, as Twilight let out a relieved breath.
'That went better than expected,' thought Twilight.  She knelt down and checked on Jean, her sudden awakening had caused her to pop some of her stitches, but Archangel was already fixing them.
"Did you know?" Enquired Archangel quietly and Twilight just shook her head in response. Out of the corner of her eye, she could still see Max and David shaking hands and staring at each other.
"Do you ever have the feeling that things are going to go violently wrong?" Asked Twilight, only to receive a quizzical look from Archangel.
"Yeah, the second those two locked eyes," he said, pulling the needles through Jean's skin and tying it off. He stood up and eased his way past the stony faced griffins to the door. Twilight sighed, trying to think of the best way to defuse the situation.
"So….. David, if you would like to come this way, we'll set you up a cot so you can get some rest. And tomorrow I'll get Archangel to fit you for a hood and cloak," said Twilight happily, gesturing to the opposite corner of the room.
"I've been meaning to ask; what's with the clothes? You think you would stand out? David asked, following Twilight while still keeping an eye trained on Max.
"You'd be surprised what ponies don't notice when they aren't looking for it. Although to be honest the white material was originally to help me disappear in the snow," She explained, levitating a pile of metal rods and green canvas out of a large crate.
"Hey… I have to ask, are you and Max going to be okay? Because I meant what I said earlier. If you can't work together, then you can both leave." David took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly and nodding.
"I think so. But do you know what? I'm not mad at him at all. In fact; I'm overjoyed that he's here," he whispered, checking to see if Max was near.

"Well then how come you and he have been so aggressive toward each other since you walked in?" She asked as she magically put the cot together.
"I assume that it's because we are both incredibly stubborn and neither of us wants to be the first one to admit just how much we missed the other," David explained. Twilight finished putting the last pieces onto the cot and set it down next to the others, and specifically, away from Max's. David smiled and nodded as he took some bed sheets across and got it ready for the night. Twilight took a quick glance over the room, and she knew that all of her plans were going wrong. Jean, the one member of her team that hadn't wanted to go on missions at first, now lay on the ground with a serious injury in her side. Max and David wouldn't even look at her, and Archangel was still emotionally unstable after losing his daughter. Her thoughts drifted back to Ponyville and her friends, and how much she wished she could leave all of the pain, anger and stress behind her in favour of a few days of quiet relaxation in front of her fireplace with a good book and her friends all enjoying themselves.
"Are you okay?" Asked Archangel, jolting Twilight from her daydream. She realised that she was crying and quickly wiped the tears away before anypony else saw. She nodded, pushing past him and making her way over to the open window.
"Hold down the fort Archangel," she told him, diving from the window like she had done many times before. The wind roared past her ears as her eyes narrowed against the cold. Her cloak flapped wildly behind her as she fell, and just when it looked like she would become a permanent stain on the sidewalk, Twilight teleported to the rooftop of a nearby building, the momentum from the fall adding to the speed of her gallop. She leapt from building to building, unleashing the day's pent up negativity with every step.

Before she knew it, Twilight was standing a mere road width away from the palace walls. Her breathing was heavy from the effort of the run. She pulled a miniature pair of binoculars from one of the hidden pockets in her cloak and brought them to her face, systematically searching the enormous windows that were dotted across the walls. She soon found the griffin she was looking for; Gilda, or Princess Gilda as she was known in the city. Twilight's hooves began to shake with anger as she watched her shovel food into her mouth like the animal she was.
'You started all of this. You attacked Rainbow, you framed Big Macintosh. You lied to your father and started this stupid war that has all but torn apart everything and everypony that I care about. I won't let you hurt anyone else.' She thought, putting the binoculars away and jumping off the roof, landing hard onto the cobblestone street. She started to walk toward the main entrance, determined put an end to all of her pain. All of a sudden, she felt a hoof on her back. She spun around as fast as she could, extending her hidden blade and forcing the stranger to the ground as she did so. She pressed the blade against their neck, and was surprised to discover Archangel, his red eyes wide in fear. She didn't move, keeping the thin blade pressed firmly against his jugular.

"I thought I told you to hold down the fort," she said angrily as Archangel swallowed.
"To me that means making sure you don't do something stupid. I saw that look in your eyes Dusk. It's the same look that used to greet me every morning in the mirror after my daughter died. You're the one that told me that vengeance wasn't the answer, and yet here you are; willing to throw everything you ever said to us out the window so that you can feel better. Don't do this. I'm here for you. Max and Jean, and even David are all here because we believe in you and what you represent. I promise that Gilda will pay. But we have to play this smart," Archangel told her, and Twilight had to grit her teeth at the wave of sadness that suddenly gripped her. Her hidden blade retracted as she climbed off Archangel. She curled up on the ground and started to cry, as memories of the time before the war rushed to the forefront of her mind. She felt Archangel stroking her side as she wailed, and it only made her feel worse, like she had not only failed in Equestria, but also in the Griffin Empire. Archangel's promise drifted in front of everything else and it momentarily steeled her. She got to her hooves, wiping her face of tears and looking at Archangel.

"I'm done with all of this. The war, the pain, everything. From now on, a councillor dies every day. A corrupt business owner or slave driver dies every day. We work our way through. I want Gilda dead as soon as possible, and you and the others had better be on board with that," Twilight promised as her white iris glowed in the moonlight.