Griffonstone Diplomat

Drenched in blood, Twilight wearily wobbled out of the door, her vision blurred, as she faded in and out of consciousness. She could see lights coming her way, they flashed in bright colors, as the sound of sirens began to echo off the building walls.  She misstepped and fell onto the hard cement floor with a thud.  Blood pooled around her, she closed her eyes.
***
	It was like any other day in Griffonstone.  Nothing was special about today, and nothing was going to make today special.  Twilight opened the hotel balcony door and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air.  She coughed.  Maybe it was too fresh.  She quickly closed the door and went back into the inner sanctums of her royal suite.
	The room was nicely appointed with old world charm, with a hint of modernity.  Clearly based on historic Griffonstone architecture.  Twilight Sparkle sat on her bed, it creaked under her weight.
	“So you have a photo op with a local businessgriffon today and that is about it.  We have the rest of the day off before the foreign aid summit at the capital tomorrow.”  Spike threw his event planner behind him and smiled at Twilight.  “What do you want to do?”
	“I want to get out of this place.”  Twilight chuckled.  “Griffinstone reminds me of an age of yore mixed with some rebuilding to improve government control.  This place just isn't improving yet for everyone.  It is going to take a lot of time.”
	“Not every government is wealthy.” Spike shrugged as he ate an apple.
	“At least they are trying.  It just seems unfortunate they are spending all their money on new government buildings first, before trying to help the citizenry.” Twilight sighed as she looked out the window at the rather drab city.  Buildings were in disrepair, worn, and old.  Only the four towers of the new capital building shined over the rooftops.
	“Well let us go visit that business owner and get that out of our way.”  Twilight hoped up from the bed.
	“The media is expecting us there anytime.  I have the address.”  Spike said polishing off the last bites of his apple.
	“Good, let's get a move on.”  Twilight wrapped a scarf around her neck and opened the hotel room door.  Spike grabbed the planner and scurried out behind her.

	The streets were thick with the smell of poverty.  Griffons sat aimlessly on curbs, young ones playing in vacant lots.  Sure there were some areas that had new street lights, but overall, Griffonstone was just a shadow of it's former past hundreds of years ago.  The citizens had little hope to grasp, as jobs were hard to find, and incomes even harder.
	“Care to spare some coin?”  An elderly beggar said as they reached out to Twilight.  She reacted quickly with a quick flight-hop out of the beggar's reach and continued on her way, but not before magically dropping a few coins in their cup.  “May ye be blessed for yer' kindness, Miss.”
	They could not give money to everyone, as nearly street corner had at least someone asking for coin.
	“I will gladly shine yer' pretty wings, Miss!”  A griffon quickly sprung to action with a spray bottle.  Twilight quickly went into evasive action as the griffon sprayed the bottle, but Twilight's evasion allowed the spray to go straight into her face.
	“Ahhhhh!”  Twilight clenched her hooves to her eyes as she wobbled backwards, bumping into Spike, knocking him over.
	“I am so sorry miss!” The griffon crowed as they stepped back and quickly took off down an alley.
	“The spray went right into my eyes!  I can't see...heh...hehhh...”  Twilight's nostrils flared as her breath became deeper and deeper.  She lurched forward and let out a speedy, wet, sneeze.  “Aaaaayyeesshhhiiiiiieeee!”  The spray swirled forward into various directions.
	Griffon's on the block around Twilight quickly looked in disapproval of her actions, but she wasn't done yet.
	“Haaa haaaa haaa Haasssshhhoooowwie!”  Her head shot forward nearly hitting the ground as her rump bumped back, rearing into Spike once again.  “Haaaa haaa Eeeeppsscchhhttooo!
	Spike composed himself quickly and looked around at the discerning faces, judging him, judging Twilight, judging them!  Spike turned to see Twilight still sneezing, as the spray must have irritated her nose.
	“I think the sprr...aaahhehhh Aaaaasschhooooie!  Heeehhh  Esshhhooow! Spray got in my . . . hehhh hehhhh Eeeesssssssssttttccchhhoooo! Nose!” Twilight's nostrils continued to rumble, grumble, and go all out crazy.
	“I think you should try and stop sneezing, Twilight.”  Spike whispered as he lightly tugged at her tail.  Spike turned to see a larger griffon standing under the doorway of his shop.
	“This is how you treat Dimi?  You treat Dimi with the lowest of respect!  You come to Dimi's shop and openly spread your displeasure to his property!  Dimi shows his displeasure to you!  Leave my presence and get out of Dimi's sight!”  The griffon was visibly upset as he swung his arms around wildly.  He wore a white apron with dried blood stains.  Behind him were a few members of the media, with cameras rolling, and beside them, other griffons.
	“Oh crumb, I think we found the photo op business, Twi.”  Spike tugged her tail, making Twilight turn to Spike's direction.
	“Whaaa....hehhh....”  Twilight reared her head up as her chest puffed out and her watery eyes squeezed shut.  “Hhhaaaaaasssscchheeeewwwwwww!”  Twilight staggered forward as her head blasted down from the force of the sneeze.  Spray exploded before her and onto the talons of Dimi who stood before her.
	Dimi's eyes widened, as he paused a moment.  Rage consumed his face.  “How dare you insult Dimi before him, before his family, on his property!”  His wings opened to a massive width, blocking the camera's behind him.
	He promptly stepped forward and waved his wings shut, causing a massive burst of air, as if to shoo Spike and Twilight from him.  Two other griffon's behind him began to speak up in anger towards Twilight.
	“I'm sorry!  She is having a sneezing fit!  We mean you no harm!”  Spike waved his arms at the raging griffon's and Twilight continued to sneeze.
	“Haaatttcchhhoooie!”  Her nostrils flared with each and every sneeze, and she continued to stagger backward with each powerful sneeze.  Something had really wreaked havoc upon her nostrils.
	The media members were quickly shooed away by some griffon's in white aprons as a crowd began to gather.  Dimi yelled obscenities towards Twilight as one other griffons swooped in and grabbed her, lifting her up over his shoulder and walking her into the garage of Dimi's shop.  Spike tried to follow, but was quickly knocked down by the tail of a griffon.
	“You stay outside, pipsqueak!”  Said the griffon in a deep voice.
	“Do you know who she is!  We have diplomatic immunity!  Diplomatic immunity!!!!”  Spike yelled as the door shut in his face.

	“Haaappsschheew!  Hhheeeh... Haaattsscchhheeeeeoooo!”  Twilight sneezed all over the back of the griffon that has picked her up.  He quickly dropped her down on a hard cement floor and a bucket of water was poured on her.
	“Shut up with your insulting ways!”  Dimi motioned a griffon beside him to grab another bucket.  “You do not schedule an event to meet Dimi at his butcher shop, then insult him with your dirty, disease spreading, taunts.  We at Griffonstone don't appreciate your government and how you think you are so much better then Dimi!”  Dimi snapped his talons and a fellow griffon poured another bucket of water on Twilight.
	Twilight, drenched with her mane covering her eyes coughed and she spurted out a few words.  “I'm sorry!  I was not trying to insult you! I had . . . “
	“Too late!  Dimi does not accept!”
	“But you don't understand!  I was not trying to . . .”
	“You do not understand! We have customs! Customs Dimi follows!  You broke them, tiny pony!  Now Dimi is going to break you!”
	Twilight nervously scampered back as one of the griffon's reached for her.  She quickly used a spell shielding herself and pushing the griffon away.
	“Leave me alone!  You are going to cause a major relations issue!”  Twilight said as firmly as she could in a shaken voice
	“Do you threaten Dimi by roughing up his family?”  Dimi grabbed a knife stabbed to a slab of meat hanging from some hooks in his meat cooler.  “You are in Dimi's home turf.  I control what happens here.”
	The three other griffon's behind Dimi all grabbed various knives as they moved in towards Twilight.  She quickly jumped up on a table and using her magic, flung a meat corpse at the mob, knocking two of them down.  The remaining third lunged at her, but she quickly teleported to another spot, opposite of her attacker.  The attacker crashed into buckets of blood that splashed everywhere, drenching Twilight.
	“Oh my goodness!”  Twilight lifted her wings, drenched in animal blood.  As she paid attention to that, Dimi snuck up behind her and wrapped his wings around her.
	“Dimi will show you how to respect Dimi and Griffons!”
	Twilight struggled, but then relied on a burst of magic to burst Dimi's grip from her, and he blasted backward hitting the wall hard enough that he was out cold.  The thud against the wall, caused the meat hanging above Twilight to fall off it's hook and crash down onto her.
	Drenched in blood, Twilight wearily wobbled out of the door, her vision blurred, as she faded in and out of consciousness. She could see lights coming her way, they flashed in bright colors, as the sound of sirens began to echo off the building walls.  She misstepped and fell onto the hard cement floor with a thud.  Blood pooled around her, she closed her eyes.
	The heavy smell of chlorine filled Twilight's nostrils as they twitched, flared, then she sneezed herself back to consciousness.  “Haaahheeesssccxxttcchoo!”  Her nose still twitched and twisted, but she noticed Spike with two Griffonstone police officers and a squad car.  The officers quickly attended to Twilight then moved on to detain her attackers.
	“Oh my gosh, Twilight, are you okay?  I tried to get in, but couldn't so I ran to get some help. Luckily these two cops were sitting . . .”  Spike was interrupted.
	“Eeesssttcchheww!”  Twilight aimed down as she sneezed.
	“Stop that Twilight!  Cover your sneezes!  One of the officers told me it is one of the worst insults to sneeze uncovered on some griffon's property!  It insults their family.  Pretty much a big middle wing feather!” Spike waved his hands and quickly pressed them against's Twilight's nose, which continued to twitch to the smell of chlorine.
	“Oh my . . . heh . . . I had no . . . ehhh . . . eeehhhym . . . idea.”  Twilight struggled to hold a sneeze in, mainly because she didn't want to sneeze on Spike's hands.
	Within minutes, more officers arrived and the same media members reappeared with their cameras.
	“I guess we should have allowed for security detail.”  Twilight said as she looked around at all the commotion.
	“What did they do to you in there, Twilight?”  Spike asked eager with worried haste.
	“I will tell you when we get back to our suit.  I think I've had enough with these griffon's for one day.”
	“Well you did just insult this guy's entire family.”
	“Twilight pressed a wing feather to Spike's mouth, then placed him on her back as they quickly flew from the scene.