“We have a problem.” Luna’s voice is as cold as the moon that slowly drifts across the sky outside her office window.
“We do.” Quill’s talons click uncomfortably against the arm-rests of his seat, and whilst his plumage is as smooth and unruffled as a millpond, his eyes are hard and flinty.
Luna contemplates him silently for a moment, wondering as she does so where her sister found the wellspring of patience required to deal with these overgrown pigeons. The feather-care oil he uses is so pungent as to nearly make her eyes water, his voice is shrill and abrasive and his manner is as brash and arrogant as any of his race.
“Your dissidents… we are concerned about your lack of progress in hunting them.” Luna says flatly, and Quill’s beak clicks softly, before he reaches one taloned hand into his bag and pulls out a sheaf of documents.
“You have nothing to be concerned about, Your Highness. Progress has been made, we have swept through the Mazar-Zavelan mountains, through the traditional heartland of the insurgents and we have uncovered nothing relating to the death of your sister, though we did break the back—”
“No one was harmed during this I take it?”
“—of several dissident cells…”
“Were they?” Luna remarked.
“No one on our side, your Highness.”
“I expect a fair trial… My sister would want that.”
“She did, and we are all poorer for her absence.” The gryphon bows his head slightly and Luna frowns, not believing his condolences for a moment. “They got the justice that they deserved, your Highness.” The gryphon continues, “Which brings me rather neatly on to my next point.”
“Go On.” Luna’s eyes are flinty and her tone is cold.
“You need to rein in your new toy—”
Luna’s eyes narrowed into a blaze of anger, “Toy?”
“The murderer, Twilight Sprinkle—”
“—Sparkle.” Luna corrected with a growl.
“Yes, her. She butchered one of my citizens in your throne room, before your eyes.”
“You kill your own people by the hundreds every week.”
“That is not the issue here, he’s scum and we’re glad to be rid of him; the issue is that your moratorium upon the use of the death penalty is still very much in force.”
“And?” Luna growls, putting the pieces together herself.
“My government does not like the notion of an Immortal Princess who considers herself above the law of her government; that is in fact insane.”
“Ambassador, you forget your place.”
“Forgive me, I apologize.” The gryphon’s tone makes it clear he means nothing of the kind. “The point remains, she’s dangerous. Who will she be unleashed upon next?”
“That situation is in hoof.” Luna says, her tone making it clear to the Ambassador that this topic is not open for continued debate. Wisely, the Ambassador takes the hint.
“Moving on, we’re also a bit concerned by the behavior of several of your councilmen.”
“I see, what has Prince Blueblood done this time?” Luna rolled her eyes.
“It is not just Prince Blueblood, though his vitriol has been increasingly virulent of late—”
“I apologize for my nephew he is—”
“Prince Blueblood is his own stallion, we cannot hold you to account for his actions. Our concerns are with the other male in the extended family.”
“Shining Armour? He’s a perfect gentlecolt.”
“I’m sure he is. He also commands the Crystal Empire’s military forces, which have all been put on alert. Five regiments have been moved to within one hundred miles of the border. That’s the thick end of eight thousand soldiers. His comments, both in public and in private likewise suggest that he holds our entire nation to fault for failing to find those who maimed his sister and killed his commander. This has naturally caused concern among the inhabitants of the Eyrie.”
“I see. I shall have words with him, and try and control any retaliation he may consider.”
“He is not the only one in favor of war. Blueblood may be a bigot but he is a darling of the tabloids. He must be… Amused.”
“He would be, his father owns many of them.”
“Yes. The tabloids are whipping your ponies up into a frenzy, your Highness, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“The populace has concerns.” Luna admits, and the gryphon scowls.
“The masses can take a short walk down a long cliff. The proletariat are a mob with the memory of a goldfish and a brain fitted firmly between their hind-legs. They only do what suits them in the short term, that is why we ignore the people and concentrate power in the hands of those who know how to make the right decisions. Those that are capable of doing difficult things, and accepting of material gain… We then disseminate the truth that we have prepared for the masses. Essentially, lies like the ones you tell. Lies you feed your own like we do ours.”
“The populace is not ready for the truth, that is different—”
“No. You are not ready for the truth. Your sister was murdered. By our rebels. I understand that much, and I understand we are in a difficult position, but what you need to understand your Highness; as much as we want to aid you, we cannot give you what you want.”
“They would be in an advisory position; non-combat only.”
“We have this situation in hand, we do not need, or want more Equestrian interference in our affairs.”
“Our interference placed your uncle on the throne.”
“I think we are done here if that is all you can offer.”
“If I discover that it is the Empire’s fault, know this, and tremble well… I will not rest until each and every one of you is dead.”
“We shall bear that in mind.”
“Make it your every waking moment."
Interesting threats, nice dialog. Doesn't really lead anywhere other than we now know that there has been mobilization from multiple sides.
The list of princesses whom the ponies could have referred to seems to have shrunk.
My money's on it being Scootaloo.
Luna is sassy! I love the clear resentment behind all of that formal language and dialogue. This chapter is awesome, this writer is awesome, and of course this fic is awesome. Thank you so much for this!
Ha. Knew Luna wasn't behind this.
So some of the bearers will probably die and Twilight sees the gryphons flying away. In the end Twilight will probably do something very nice to them.
So it's essentially between Cadance and Twilight, then, with Cadance taking the lead.
I must apologize to the original author, but this chapter by the guest writer beats the previous ones into a bloody pulp...
For his sake, I hope the former can even the score later on...
Luna's words are to my liking. However I see an issue in that, so far as I see it, Princess Celestia and Luna (and now Twilight at least in name) are the government and those laws are their laws. In some sense, that makes them absolute diarchs who have exercised a great deal of restraint. If they contravene the laws, they are not accountable though they may tarnish their image in light of their deviance from following those laws. That is, their word is devalued in the eyes of those they rule. The griffin doesn't seem to get this. Also, what his government does and doesn't like has no relevance to the conversation as anything other than opinion.
An immortal alicorn princess is above the law to some extent, since the power one of them wields, independently, is enough to destroy nations. Few other creatures are their peers in power and so, in some sense, their existence makes the rules of society break down since a society depends, to a degree, on the relative equality of those involved.
Maybe it's not true in the canon of this story, but I tend to think that Crystal Empire is precisely that, an Empire. Which means it' stands on it's own. It is not beholden to any of Equestria's laws or treaties with fellow nations, excepting inasmuch as it's rulers may deem to go along with them. In fact, Cadence and Shining Armor are either no longer citizens of Equestria, dual citizens of both Equestria and the Crystal Empire, or merely visiting heads of state as regards jurisdiction. Their position and citizenship of the Crystal Empire has priority over any role they may play in Equestria.
ooh, not-so-passive-aggressive Luna is not-so-passive-aggressive
I don't understand why other nations ever want to assassinate the princesses. Ok, you killed Celestia. Who moves the Sun? Ok, Luna will move the Sun too. I hope you don't plan on killing her too because then how are you going to get food. Kill the sisters, RIP the entire planet. BuT tHe UnIcOrNs MoVeD tHe MoOn AnD tHe SuN iN tHe PaSt? Well I hope they've got practice in in the last 2 thousand plus years, oh wait...
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Killing at least one of them and getting away with it would be a huge accomplishment. Yes, as you pointed out, killing both would doom the planet, but if you were responsible for the death of one, the other would always be grieving in some way. As a nation, one less super intelligent (at least compared to the average pony) and vastly talented, experienced entity is now around.