• Member Since 9th May, 2012
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Godzillawolf


E

Commissioned by my good friend Alexwarlorn.

Twilight is on her first diplomatic mission as a Princess: to the Griffin Kingdom of Panthera for a meeting with the Griffin King Goldran, and her friends all managed to arrange one thing or another to do while they're there. Everypony is excited to experience a new and exciting land...until they realize one big issue: Griffins are predators. Will this diplomatic mission survive when faced with a culture clash? Or will everything fall apart?

Note, tried to keep this Original Flavor, hope it worked!

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 58 )

Good to see this story posted here. I still like how it's Fluttershy, of all ponies, who gets arrested in Griffonland and ends up in jail. Got to wonder how Discord will react when he hears about this!

"I wish you would have told me dear, I'd bake you a file with a cake in it. Or is that not how it's done?"

6000636

I imagine no one is foolish enough to tell Discord.

I thought FlutterPETA died out as a trope a long time ago ... hell, this is more FlutterALF than FlutterPETA. Still, not my scene man. I just can't see Flutters being this blind or insensitive to the needs of another species.

6001670 Yes, this could end very badly. For the griffins.

6002273

Fluttershy is used to seeing the same animals that are being eaten as personal friends (like Angel), while her experiences with griffins has been 'not good.' Not to mention how deliberately vegan ponies are. Fluttershy was thrown out of her comfort zone. And didn't have her friends there to support her, and she tried to use reason at first, the problem is that her attitude was so alien that none of the griffins explained their position to her since she was just a stranger on the street, and griffins aren't as hyper social as ponies. The eating of animals that to her have names, personalities, likes, dislikes, and families, offended not her tastes or principles, but her fundamental sense of right and wrong. And that's what her friends had to talk her down from.

6002604
She knows that gryphons NEED meat to live - not want it, need. And yet she's insensitive to that need. Even if she was a wilting pouty face the entire time, I think Fluttershy would at least accept the need. Just as she would accept the need bears have for meat or tigers or any creature that needs it to live. The difference between a bear and a gryphon in their needs is only in the expression of it and frankly, the gryphons are better at killing without pain than a bear would be.

So yeah, I disagree entirely.

6002627 I can respect your opinion.

Also, part of WHY Fluttershy ended up snapping was being SURROUNDED by this. She wasn't just seeing ONE Griffin do this, but surrounded by it and trying to tell herself it wasn't right to meddle.

It was Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome rather than this being how she naturally would act. She got worn down by being surrounded by it and it messed with her enough she snapped.

I can respect you not liking it though.

But part of the irony of this WAS kind of meant to be Fluttershy was the one that snapped and Rainbow and Pinkie ended up being rational.

Ri2
Ri2 #8 · May 21st, 2015 · · 1 ·

Oh, Fluttershy. Your friends weren't wrong about the vampire fruit bats, they just went along with your insane demands because they didn't want to hurt your feelings. Some nature specialist.
For some reason, the queen's name kept making me expect a three-headed dragon.
If I have one complaint, it's that we didn't get to see any of the stuff Rainbow was doing. I know the focus was on the others getting used to other cultures, but still.
And where was Gilda?

Ri2

6001670 I'd have thought he'd be proud of her.

“We could lose our G-rating!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as if that was a horrifying prospect.

Silly Pinkie. You're a TV show. You have a Y7 rating.

the writing was okay, but overall, I really didn't like that.

The way Shy acted wasn't okay. But there needs to be a point where you can say, "Much as I love you guys I don't like this and don't really want to be a part of it." If she's uncomfortable around meat eaters then she's uncomfortable around meat eaters.

Also, how many times can a problem of Fluttershy's be solved using a mirror against her. After Iron WIll's assertiveness training, Flutterbat, and now this. It's going to seriously screw her up.

6022614 I'm sorry you didn't like it.

The idea was Fluttershy went a tiny bit nuts, just like Rainbow did in Tanks for the Memories or heck she herself did during the Gala.

But the point was meant to be that she overreacted and lost it a bit.

Fluttershy is NOT one to just let animals be hurt, but she does NOT like to rock the boat when it seems she shouldn't, so she built up the conflict too she snapped.

6002796

In Griffinstone of course. This is clearly a different griffin nation.

Ri2

6032843 Ah, so Griffonstone could be regarded as the inbred hillbilly cousin of the griffon species, then.

6032879 I think less inbred cousin and more a fallen kingdom that may have once been the most prosperous. Problem is since they fell, the other nations have outpaced what they once were.

That's ONE interpretation.

Ri2

6033010 So a once noble house that fell on bad times due to scandal and the patriarch losing everything gambling and now all that's left is a burnt-out shell populated by squatters and vagrants?

6033036

I had a lot of respect for you. I'm stunned that you're so bored, and think so little of those you're speaking with, that leaving barbed comments is how you get entertainment for however long it lasts.

Ri2

6092464 I don't follow.

Ri2

6092464 And if you want barbed comments, you should see my opinion on Will of Evil.

"I think I'm not made for ocean travel, darling...” the unicorn replied, trying to maintain her composure, putting a hoof to her stomach. “But don't worry, I'll fine, it will take more than a little sea sickness to keep me down...”

“Okay...” Twilight blinked in confusion.

I'm guessing that Twilight is one of those annoyingly cheerful sorts at sea who never gets seasick and doesn't even comprehend the condition ...

“Of course silly! I'm in contact with EVERYCREATURE we made friends with on our adventures!” Pinkie then got closer that Twilight would have liked. “Evvvvvverrrrrrycreature!”

I can totally see Pinkie doing this, too, complete with ...

“Yep! I have a list!” Pinkie said, pulling out a VERY long list from nowhere that rolled out of the room.

... maybe Pinkie should be the Princess of Friendship.

Before them stretched what could best be described as a mix of Manehatten and Cloudsdale with a hint of primal styling. On the ground were skyscrapers, but instead of the colors one would normally expect, such as dark gray and blue, the buildings were more earthy browns or rocky grays, almost like they were cut straight out of mountains. Above the ground city floated several cloud structures, each the size of a few city blocks at the least, some with rainbows, others with places for Griffins to roost. Numerous griffins busied themselves throughout the city.

“Now there's somethin' ya don't see everyday...” Applejack said wide-eyed.

“This is Baltalon, the capital city of Panthera,” Twilight explained proudly. “It's basically their Canterlot.”

I like this city. This is what a high-morale Griffon society could look like, as opposed to the demoralized culture of Griffonstone.

The group also now noticed the two had their claws wrapped so they couldn't cut even if they tried.

This makes a lot of sense. If you've noticed, real cats can keep their claws sheathed to play-fight or strike warning blows or for other reasons (such as running over humans they like), but they can get carried away and partly unsheathe (this is really annoying if this happens when they're running over you). Emotions would run high during a wrestling match, and the possibility of serious injuries given that these are bobcat to mountain lion sized chimeric avio-felids would exist -- so mechanically-restraining the claws would be an obvious solution, analogous to human boxing gloves to prevent severe injuries to both hands and faces.

Dashie would of course know all about this, because of her previous close friendship with Gilda. In fact, it would make sense that she might have wrestled with Gilda exactly this way, with the use of dangerous natural weapons restrained to keep it friendly.

She turned to see a griffin looking quite intimidated of a very angry cream colored pegasus staring him down.

Isn't Fluttershy more yellow? So if anything she'd be more "butter" colored than "cream" colored?

... preparing to do her signature faint...but realizing the alley was too constrained for her fainting couch, and refusing to allow the dirty ground to touch her entire body.

When Spike grows a bit, he gets to be her backup fainting couch. He doesn't really mind the role.

I can see why Fluttershy's upset -- but then some of her animal friends are carnivores or omnivores. OTOH, we've never seen her feed them tetrapods -- only fish and invertebrates -- so it's possible that she draws the line at tetrapody.

Equestrian Ponies are as a whole vegetarian rather than vegan, since we've seen that they enjoy milk products (including milk, butter, cream and cheese) and eggs. Though some Equestrian Ponies may also be vegan, as they have the required widespread selection of food sources to make that nutritonally practical.

Having sapient and non-sapient varieties of the same taxonomic famlies which can't be easily told apart at a glance, and the non-sapient ones of which were consumed as food animals) would be creepy. See "In the Barn" by Piers Anthony for a good (and nasty) earlier SF example of just how creepy it might be.

In part due to unpleasant memories of a certain work only she knew about, and wished her friends never would ...

One of the problems with Pinkie's strange senses is that she's also aware of things she'd rather not know. True in the Shadow Wars Story Verse as well.

The orange farm pony shuddered at the thought. A PONY that with the mind of an animal. It sent a shiver down her spine.

I bet Sunset Shimmer is actually glad that the Humanoid society she's living in has advanced to full mechanization of most transport.

I really liked this story and its resolution. You created an interesting Griffon kingdom, which I could easily see existing in the canon universe as well. There's no reason why Griffonstone has to be the only Griffon civilization.

6033010

Which is quite plausible. Real nations rise and fall with the passage of generations and centuries, after all.

6373804

"In the Barn" by Piers Anthony"

*read plot summary*

Ugh. Right before I go to bed too. Now I imagine AJ in a fit of paranoia, thinking the Cows here have been lobotomized or the like to keep them from being able to fight back.

6373804

And I imagine the 'farmers' on that world being able to justify it since they're only 'potential people.'

6373887

Piers Anthony is an ethical vegetarian. Also, he's rather obsessed with the gap between the emotional depth of which humans are capable and the shallowness with which we often behave, a point that comes up repeatedly in the Xanth series. I wonder if the abortion analogy also occurred to him?

But yeah, "In the Barn" is a very (intentionally) nasty story, and not so much because of the sex scene as the way in which the alternate humans have dehumanized a whole ,subset of their own species. And I had the same thought myself -- that if she read the story, it would give Applejack nightmares.

6373809

Just one question, was Fluttershy snapping due to culture shock and over saturation of something that GREATLY offended her sense of right and wrong at least plausible here?

6373804

Reminds me of a fanfic where Twilight took in Trixie, and Trixie reacted negatively about eggs, and Spike shrugs it off, saying how it wasn't his fault Trixie never thought about where her food came from.

From most, that would sound odd. But from an Apple, it meant something much much more profound. “...Yeah...Ah think it does. Thanks cousin...Ah was bein' a silly pony...”

I've resisted this long, but I cannot anymore!

“...I can't just sit by, I have to do something...”

No, NO YOU DON'T!

“You're not going to believe this...but Fluttershy's been arrested!”

How did she buck up?

“...Yer right...” said Applejack. “This is like Our Town and Starlight.”
“Applejack?!” asked everypony.
“I'm glad you agree-”
“Except this time...you're Starlight.”

Eh?

The cream pegasus nodded. “...I wonder if the reason Starlight turned out so awful was because she never had a real friend to do that for her...”

Aye, I suspect whatever the kid's name is, Sunrise I think, the moment he got his cutie mark, lost interest in Starlight, and she was very young, and it hit her very hard and she was too afraid to make other friends out of fear of the same thing happening, or if she got a cutie mark, everyone would hate her.

He gave a nod, and, while giving a fitting fine, forgave her and explained his own past wrong beliefs.

I like that she's not 100% off the hook, robbery is robbery.

“No, it's okay...I still have my normal income...and besides, how can I ask Discord to make up for some of his naughty stuff and not ever do it myself when I mess up?”

Yes, even you screw up at times.

“I can sympathize with that,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Spitfire had me doing dishes and cleaning toilets at Wonderbolts Academy for awhile after the whole Weather Factory thing...”

Oooh, she must have given you one heck of a chewing out as well.

6766768

Oooh, she must have given you one heck of a chewing out as well.

You can bet she did.

And this is my question of what Fluttershy would do if she encountered an actual factual race of exclusive meat eaters who were sapient.

After five seasons, the way the little girls' cartoon skirts around the issue a little too much is getting kinda jarring.

6793739

No, NO YOU DON'T!

Fluttershy, "And what? let innocent animals die?"

6766768

No, NO YOU DON'T!
Fluttershy, "And what? let innocent animals die?"

6793739

And this is my question of what Fluttershy would do if she encountered an actual factual race of exclusive meat eaters who were sapient.
After five seasons, the way the little girls' cartoon skirts around the issue a little too much is getting kinda jarring.

Even with how surprisingly adult MLP is, there's only so much they can do with their rating need I remind you. And I'd rather the rating NOT have to be bumped up.

Fluttershy, "And what? let innocent animals die?"

You know what? I'm not gonna get involved, do as you will, Fluttershy, the end results shall speak for themselves.

6794410

That being said, I can't help but feel that the show is getting a little too jarring and unintionally creating an image of 'eating meat bad.'

Except fish of course... until the seaponies say how those are THEIR friends.

6794435

Do not confuse the show and the comics. The comics are secondary canon only possibly canon, while the show is canon. And has cannons.

6794460

They also appear in the books. And Lauren Faust intended them to appear in the show.

6794505

Intended being the key word. And having left the show, that hardly matters much anymore. If the show writers want to do something she had in mind, so be it, if not, once again, so be it.

6794529

The existence of the sirens IMHO hints at their existence.

This story is pretty thought-provoking, however, I personally think that Fluttershy would be the MOST accepting of meat-eating animals out of the Mane Six. Also, is there any particular reason why you named the griffin king and queen after kaiju?

7205456

The author is a fan of kaiju being the reason.

And that's just it, meat eating ANIMALS, not sapient beings who live in houses and have jobs and pay taxes.

7252726 Why do you think that would make a difference?

7252745

How do you think Fluttershy would react to seeing a pony eating a hamburger?

7252749 Ok, you're right about that, but I don't really think she would be that ignorant about other races, since she was the only one who didn't call Iron Will a monster.

7253110

Until I see Fluttershy NOT freaking out at seeing a creature in Equestria eating a steak, I'll stand by what I said. Since while the writers never INTENDED IT (they just wanted to create a happy land for little girls' toys to have exciting adventures and learn about themselves), they unfortunately left the uncomfortable unspoken rule that civilized being don't eat meat.

7253114 Ok, then. Why exactly did you get that impression?

7253367

Feeding apples to snakes. And just the general FEELING I get.

7253371 Ok, got it. But remember, Fluttershy also fed fish to otters in one episode.


6002273
6022614
7205456

Very well. How do you suggest then to write a story where the irony is a situation where Rainbow Dash is the voice of reason and tolerance, and Fluttershy is the one being judgmental and bias?

7693963 who says I'd try? I mean it's not like I knew that would be the plot when I decided to read it.

7693983

I'm asking if you were challenged to write that, how would you go about it?

7694002 hmmm. I think.... I'd say sorry, I don't think the story's a good idea, you'll have to find someone else.

I think the Mane 6 were pretty nasty to Shy and as I said there'll reach a point, if things like this keep up, where she will refuse to stand up for herself because every time she does she ends up being wrong.

Just send her home, accept that not everything can accept each other and continue without her

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