//------------------------------//
// Ebonfeather's Plan 
// Story: Let the Silence Sing 2 
// by Aegis Shield 
//------------------------------//

Let the Silence Sing 2
Part 5: Ebonfeather’s Plan

Big Mac stared at the newly turned-over field in front of him with a puzzled frown. He’d gotten up at the crack of dawn with the intention of doing a simple soil-turning today, before the summer heat took over. Keeping it all light and fluffy before any big freezes kept it healthier and promoted rainfall and such to keep the ground fertile. They did grow more than apples at Sweet Apple Acres, after all. Looking around, he spotted his guard-cloud, as he’d taken to calling it. The pegasi posted up there weren’t hard to spot, and one of them gave a friendly wave. The dirt on his nose was a rather obvious giveaway. Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, the great red stallion admired the field for a while longer while he puzzled over what to do with his morning.

Perhaps he would go visit Celestia, then, if his morning chores were over. He could be back by lunch and nopony would be any the wiser. Going to the grain silo and stepping through the portal doorway, he was gone. A pair of solar pegasi high-hoof’d with a chuckle once the door had shut behind him.

Big Mac was surprised to find that the palace was actually quite active in the early morn. The night-time courts were ending, so everypony was rushing about to turn in their paperwork, open curtains to let the sun in, and prepare for the new day. It was like a 24-hour restaurant or something, it was interesting to watch.

Prince Blueblood happened by just then as Big Mac stepped into the high-ceiling’d hallways, coffee hovering next to him as he went. Giving a welcoming shout, he came up to greet Big Mac with ghusto. Well if it wasn’t her Majesty’s perfect little apple, haha! Big Mac grunted a little as the well-meaning Prince slapped his back. Before he knew it, they’d stepped into the hallway traffic and Blueblood was leading him off to who knew where.

=-=-=-=

Celestia smiled in a strained way as the griffon king proposed a ball to be held in honor of their successful diplomatic steps. His son, Prince Ivoryclaw would be in attendance of course, in case her Majesty decided she liked those of royal blood better than a country bumpkin. Celestia would’ve scowled, but the past week of five-year contracts and good trade negotiations made her smile at his poor joke. She’d never met Ivoryclaw, and had heard nothing of the little princeling yet either. Probably another spoiled little princeling living the easy life on Daddy’s money. 

Celestia sighed a little as she remembered how Prince Blueblood had been the same way, before she’d sent him off to make some friends in the tiny town of Rainbow Falls. He’d returned no more than a year later, a changed stallion. He was without a bit to his name, a long list of pen pals and a joyous heart. After asking for a thousand bits to build his own name from absolute scratch, he'd risen to be even mightier, and certainly more noble, than his father before him. She marveled, not for the first time, how happy a pony could make himself simply throwing them out of their comfort zone and into a healthy social life. Twilight and Blueblood were wonderful examples of this.

King Ebonfeather coughed twice and Celestia shook her head, apologizing for her thoughts having been elsewhere. He ruffled his feathers a little and straightened, so Celestia called to the nearest servant. There was to be a ball in a few days. Just a small one, with a couple of hundred ponies. Prince Ivoryclaw, King Ebonfeather, and his entourage would be in attendance, so fish would be on the menu of course. This made the King smile, for no griffon he could name could socialize and subsist on plants like ponies did.

=-=-=-=

Big Mac and Prince Blueblood chatted over coffee and tarts that morning, for Celestia was in audience with the griffon king. Prince Blueblood knew they should both stay out of the way while the royals played their power games and such. Big Mac nodded his understanding. So, being the gentlecolt host, Blueblood took him out on the town for a bit.

The visited a couple of antique stores, looked at firefly lamps, tempted a public restaurant but almost got mobbed so they had to run away—it was an interesting afternoon for both of them. They ended up in a park, side by side, staring at a pond and the foals playing on the other side. After a long bit of hesitation, Blueblood looked over at Big Mac. The red stallion turned as well. Blueblood wondered just what it was that made Big Mac the apple of Celestia’s eye, but it wasn’t something that a gentlecolt could just up and ask, so he decided on a smile instead.

Turning with a rumbly sound in his throat, Big Mac got into his saddlebags to share a pair of juice boxes with the Prince. Blueblood stared at him incredulously. Weren’t these for foal commoners to put in their school lunch bags? The red stallion sighed at the pampered Prince, showing him where to put the plastic bendy straw and then placing it between his hooves. Blueblood took a tentative sip, then smiled a bit. It wasn’t bad. The stallions sat there in stoic silence, enjoying the company and admiring the park around them. The wind ruffled their manes and, as one, both tilted their muzzles back to take in the scent of the breeze. It was peaceful.

=-=-=-=

When the daytime court came to its lunch hour, Prince Blueblood dropped Big Mac off just outside the throne room with a Canterlot-bought lunch at a kind word. Then he was off. Big Mac nodded to the trio of guards at the door as he went by. They saluted the Royal Coltfriend as he passed them.

The red stallion found King Ebonfeather at the neighponese table to one side of the throne, seated with Celestia. Her face lit up when she saw him coming, and she waved him over. They shared a cute nuzzle when he sat next to her. Precisely three of Ebonfeather’s tail feathers slid out of place when he saw this, but he quickly ruffled them back down again when nopony was looking. So, would Big Macintosh be attending the ball in these coming few days?

Big Mac stopped, looking up. A ball? Celestia gave a patient smile to the rather rude king. Big Mac had not been around when they’d decided to have the ball, she’d not asked him yet. And that being said… would he like to attend? Big Mac cocked his head, then smiled and nodded. The white mare was delighted. Big Mac wondered what he might wear to such a formal event, but surely Prince Blueblood would have his back for something as big as this. The stallion seemed to know Canterlot well enough to find all the most interesting shops. Finding a suit or a tuxedo or something would be easy enough.

Ebonfeather excused himself from the lunch table, to go and eat with his fellow griffons. Her Majesty and the royal consort-er-coltfriend!—would no doubt like some time together. Big Mac tilted his head, but paid it no heed. Celestia kept thinking of the beneficial work she’d been doing all week, as not to grab a hooffull of tailfeathers as he went. She had no doubt his son would be the same way. She wasn’t blind. Ebonfeather was going to have his son make a move on her at the ball. Good thing Big Mac was there, and he certainly made a better door or shield than a window.

That and… and… mmmh-mhh, apple fritter! How delightful! Celestia lost her train of thought right there.



End of Part 5