Captured and humiliated.
Though the attacking army of the griffon empire had not lost much more than some feathers, the 'prison camp' where they loitered was no less somber. Their predicament was disgraceful and they all knew it. Though none would contest the decisions of their commanders, the unspoken consensus was that their actions, by surrendering, had sealed their fate, if not by the Equestrians that now held them, then by the Empire upon their return. Death? Probably not, but that was of little comfort to the army that failed to even reach the lands they sought to conquer.
Nevertheless, whether their fates were to be met at home or abroad, they all silently but resolutely awaited their fate. They would not do their families the disgrace of cowering in the face of their punishments.
"Alright, listen up!" The familiar voice of the prison camp's commander rang. The voice was familiar, not conveying any of the disconcerting over-friendliness of the troops that had actually captured them. Those troops who had seemed all too eager to share their blankets and rations with the soaked, frozen, and starving army, even before their commander had been relieved of his blade. At least this commander's intentions were clear. "You disgraceful pile of feathers call yourself an army? Prove it and fall in!"
Though a hint of trepidation could be felt, the griffon ranks did form in a respectable amount of time. Apparently satisfied, though hardly showing it, the commander continued,"You lot have received the grace of Equestria, and are about to be sent back from whence ye came. Sir Spike has been tasked with leading you lot back to the Empire, you listen to him well, and if a single scale is out of place when you get there, well… let’s just say, you don’t want that.”
He turned walking back to the rear of the platform, allowing Spike to come forward.
“Uh, hey... So, I’m supposed to lead you back to the Empire, but uh… I’ve never been there, so… anyway, we’re leaving ASAP, so you’ve got like an hour to pack up and be ready to go.”
The disciplined griffon force snapped to a salute, the sudden synchronized action startling the little dragon.
Claws remained raised as Spike stared awkwardly across the formation.
"Uh... at ease?"
The griffons' claws returned to the ground as the camp commander came forward again, "You heard him! Get your sorry flanks in gear because you're getting the feather out of Equestria! Dismissed!"
Ranks broke and the Griffon troops began collecting their things from the trees they had been roosting in and under.
"Sir?"
Commander Eichenwald, leader of the expeditionary force and de facto field commander of the failed Equestrian operation, looked to the young griffon behind him.
"Sir, do you really think that they're just letting us go?"
The commander did not respond.
"So what happens now?"
"Now? Now we go back to the Empire, lick our wounds, and see just how powerful the empire can be with that mare on our side."
A.S.A.P.
This does nothing but convince me even more strongly that Twilight is about to be the centre of some very strong expectations. She may yet learn that peace is harder than war.
can i jsut state how much i loved twilights immediate face wall at hearing luna last chapter had me in stitches
Dear Griffin Army. This is Spike. Not just number one assistant to your new Empress, not just the singular entity that ended King Sombra and turned the Changeling Horde, not just a dragon thats fully capable of growing to the size of a mountain Instantly, then flash frying himself a silo full of BBQ chicken wings.
This is Spike. Your Empress one and only Son.
You were defeated by her personally, when she was being nice.
You dont want to make her angry.
She might decide to play Croquet, with Tirek as the Hammer.
Oh, I forgot to vent my frustrations the previous time. Oh. Ok, probably a good thing. Gave me some time to cool off.
I don't really like Luna's appearance in the previous chapter. Why? It hints at a few possibilities, all of which are... disconcerting, so to say.
1) Celestia is incompetent, insufferable fool, as is Luna. She doesn't know damn customs of a nation that her country is in a very strained relationship, ffs! Or she didn't warn Twilight about it, which leads us to a conclusion #3. Luna is more forgivable in this regard, because she may not have adapted yet, or didn't really got into politics since her return, something along the lines.
2) Celestia is an unknown factor, but Luna is a fool for sure. Simple, messenger got Luna first, and she ran off to deal with a "traitor" all on her own, without talking with her sister. Bad choice.
3) It all is a scheme of Celestia with Luna AND Cadence(because otherwise Cadence will all be rage and fury, directed at Celestia and Luna OR in a worse case at Twilight, like Luna is shown to be in the previous chapter) in on it, which will be stupid. Not risky, not overarching, not... something. Just stupid. There are much simpler AND better ways to "teach" Twilight about ruling/diplomacy/etcetera. The only reason it may be worth it, is if Celestia's goal is their Griffon Empire Library, which I doubt it is.
4) It may not have been all a scheme, but what Luna is doing is an act. I fail to see any positive outcomes of such an act thought.
That's about it I think, as far as I can remember four days later, at least.
well this disappointingly short.... i had gotten my hopes up... good story by the way...
7693597
Perhaps Luna decided to pull a prank on Twilight, and is going to pull a "just kidding" next chapter.
Alternately, if Luna is serious, perhaps the ponies don't know about any of the Griffon customs other than the ones from a long time ago and the ones they've encountered personally. In chapter 1, it's implied that the only books Canterlot has were from before the Griffons' current governmental system, which means that if the Griffon Empire has never been defeated in war like this since the unification, Equestria could very well have had no way of knowing that this was their protocol when defeated.
Aw, come on! You can't just leave us on a cliffhanger like that and then cut away to an interlude, dude.
It's always to see little tidbits like these. Well, yeah, Twilight will become a strong leader. But probably not in the way the griffons expect
7693985 I believe I've covered this possibilities in my first comment.
See #4.
See #1.
More so, if it's as you say, Celestia drops even lower. Under normal circumstances, you might advocate her with that she believed Twilight will make an extensive research into Griffon culture before departing on her diplomatic mission. But if there's nowhere for Twilight to obtain knowledge from, than it only worsens Celestia's position, because she sent an important AND powerful(one of the four alicorns, hello?) figure on a diplomatic mission, with no knowledge on the subject whatsoever, and without any instructions.
7695114
You don't think humor and some laughs between Twilight and Luna is a possible positive outcome?
I did not say that Celestia sent Twilight with no, or minimal knowledge of Griffon customs, but with no knowledge of this specific Griffon custom. Celestia and Twilight could have had centuries of knowledge about Griffon customs relating to diplomacy available, and yet not have any idea their customs for when they are conquered were so extreme. It's not a slight on Celestia or Twilight if they had no way to know this would happen, nor any reason to expect something this strange might happen based on the centuries of diplomatic interactions, because the Griffon empire being conquered by an outside nation has never happened before. It's not fair to criticize someone if there was not only no way for them to know of something, but no way for them to suspect that they were lacking said knowledge as well.
In addition, given what Equestria DID know for sure about Griffon diplomacy, they didn't have any choice to send anyone but one of the four alicorns, given the necessity to look as intimidating and in charge as possible at the negotiation table, AND this was supposed to specifically be a valuable learning experience for Twilight.
7695470
Yeah, I can just imagine how calling insults on an emperor of another country is some humor and laughs. I understand your point thought, and twilight will as well if it so. Griffons? Not so much.
If memory serves me right, than previous emperor(the one that Twilight dethroned) became a ruler thanks to said custom. Sorry, you said something about no way of knowing?
Fair point, thought only if Celestia indeed didn't know about said custom.
7695518
It was stated that this transfer of power scenario has only ever happened internally since the Griffon empire's unification, and has also never been done since that point via a war, and who knows how much access outside countries have in regards to information regarding their purely internal affairs.
I'm not saying that Celestia definitely didn't know about it, just that it's possible that she couldn't have known about it if the Griffons are secretive enough about their internal affairs to non-conquering outsiders.
is redundant. Whence already means "from where".
Whoo! New chapters! Great to see that this story is still alive.
There sending a Army back without reperations. That's not good.
Tin foil hats to maximum!
The war was all just a ruse to increase the Griffons power by having an Alicorn displace their leadership so they can make a truly effective attempt at Equestria!
I am entertained.
Great? Yes. Large? No.
Update soon please
Please update
Please update
UPDATE ALREADY!!!!!
This story is gold. Maybe a blog here and there about this story would help stop the annoying update request. Either way I like this story though I have the feeling I'm gonna be pissed off by other ponies/princesses, especially when I think about how this may affect Twilight's relationship with her friends.
Just update it or let it die. Or at least make a public comment regarding the state of the story and what will happen with it.
Please either update or explain why you haven't updated.
as anyone notice the funny face of the guards in cover photo
8166556
Guard 1: *heavy sigh* It's starting again isn't it?"
Guard 2: "You mean another fiasco where we get marginalized or outright disregarded when the world starts falling apart?"
Guard 1: "Yeah. That." *Heavy Sigh x2* "This was supposed to be easy..."
Guard 2: "Is anything ever 'easy' when Twilight Sparkle is involved?"
Guard 1: *Conspicuous lack of disagreement*
Both continue to stare blankly at raised griffon booty.
yes!! that it in the nutshell so when is the next chapter i want to see twilight kick butt against luna
More, please.
8276100
k