Celestia pursed her lips as she weighed her options. This decision could affect the rest of her day, possibly even the rest of her week!
“Raspberry,” she finally decided, pulling the little jar and spreading knife over. “I would like raspberry jam on my toast this morning.”
She glanced up at Luna. Luna, who was here for dinner instead of breakfast, was currently chomping on a nice portobello mushroom sandwich, with melted cheese and onions oozing out from the bread. Feeling Celestia's eyes on her, she looked up. “Wha’?”
“We're going to be talking to Twilight about choices and actions that could potentially affect Equestria and the future as we now know it. War looms in the not too distant. Lives may hang in the balance… and you're eating onions.”
Luna sniffed. “I happen to like onions,” she said defensively.
“Yes,” Celestia said dryly, “and everypony within a five pace radius will be able to tell.”
Luna frowned and glanced down at her sandwich. Her lower lip seemed to jut out a bit. “Surely, that is an exaggeration.”
Celestia opened her mouth to reply; but before she could, the door opened, and Twilight Sparkle entered. She visibly brightened as she did, but her smile quickly tightened.
For her part, she certainly looked the same as she did when she left. Celestia held out a piece of toast as if in salute. “Twilight, welcome. Would you care for some breakfast, dinner, maybe something from the kitchens?”
“Oh, no thanks,” Twilight said, politely waving them down with a hoof. “I ate on the way here.” She climbed up on a chair and sniffed. “Ooh, onions. I like onions.”
Luna coughed and furtively scanned the table for any kind of breath mint.
Celestia started. “Some strange rumors have been abounding, concerning the Soft Hooves Orphanage on Third Avenue. Apparently, it's now the most popular orphanage in Canterlot due to the pleasant general atmosphere, cleanliness, and numerous volunteers that love to interact with the foals. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“Not a thing,” Twilight said innocently. “If many volunteers wish to help out at orphanages, that's certainly a good thing; and any increase in residual love is always welcome.”
One side of Celestia's lips perked up. “I'm certainly not going to disagree with you there,” she said.
“But I'm sure you didn't call me here to discuss civil matters,” Twilight said, leading.
“No, we didn't,” Celestia admitted. “It's about the griffons.”
Twilight perked up. In some weird way, this whole thing had all started way back when she was studying griffon culture for her duties as a princess. This seemed oddly fitting. “What about the griffons?” she asked.
“They have a new queen.”
Twilight felt something rile up inside her. ‘Queen’?! Who did-?
She coughed. “Right,” she said, mildly concerned at her previous thought process. What could she say about griffons? Some of her old studies floated to the forefront of her mind. “That's actually pretty impressive, considering how good griffons are at ignoring anything that doesn't net them bits.”
Celestia chuckled; she did not disagree with that. “The new queen, Grinda, has organized an army; and it seems they are being paid fairly well. From what we can tell, she has found an ancient artifact that can help extract gold from the ground.”
Twilight nodded. Intriguing.
“And there is talk of expanding the griffon territory. Some of the settlements on the borders have already been threatened.”
“And something tells me it doesn't have to do with purchasing those lands?” Twilight tried hopefully.
Celestia shook her head.
“But most griffons don't care about expansion,” Twilight protested. “Any expansion takes, you know, work and effort.”
“True,” Luna interjected. “But she has managed to play off common fears to unite the griffons into a sort of mob mentality. She has convinced them that the real threat is the changelings, and the most recent propaganda is that changelings intend to infiltrate their homes and replace their children before killing them in their sleep, using pony settlements as bases to do so.”
Twilight snorted.
“It is as ridiculous as it sounds, we presume?” Luna asked, unable to suppress her incredulous smile.
Twilight scoffed. “Please. Unless a changeling could take the form of a bit, they'd starve there. They're probably more worried about a changeling stealing their bit stash.”
Celestia nodded. “They have declared war. They are already conducting changeling raids on their own people and have sworn to eliminate the ‘changeling menace’. Something must be done.”
“Ok,” Twilight said, digesting this. This was definitely bad; but not unsalvageable. “So peace conference? Talks? We could run them here in Canterlot, or even up in the Crystal Empire if they doubt your impartiality.”
There was an uncomfortable pause.
“Right?” Twilight tried.
“There is something else you need to know,” Celestia said, her voice a bit tight.
“I gathered,” Twilight said with a nervous smile.
“You are known as the queen of the changelings.”
“I figured that would be old news by now,” Twilight said, apprehension dampening her vocal filter.
“And your friends…”
“What happened?” Twilight demanded, but she already knew the answer.
“Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack have all been reported missing.”
“Foalnapped,” Luna said bluntly. “Likely to be used as bait.”
Twilight jumped to her hooves, setting them on the table. “And you haven't rescued them?!” she almost shrieked.
“Officially, we don't know that they've been taken by the griffons,” Celestia insisted. “If we do invade to get them back—even if we succeed in getting them back—we risk sparking war. Other nations are watching closely.”
“And if we start a war, everypony loses,” Luna concluded.
“And so it falls to me to find a solution that saves my friends and stops this war before it even starts,” Twilight summarized. She pursed her lips and dropped back down into her seat. She was not prepared for this.
Celestia nodded. “It is a huge task. We know there isn't much we can do on the surface of things, but if there is anything-”
“No,” Twilight interrupted, standing up. “This is not your problem. This is my problem, and I will solve it. I, the queen of the changelings.”
If either princess found this affirmation strange, neither showed any sign of it. “We trust you, Twilight,” Luna said.
Twilight nodded, a little smile playing at her lips. “Thank you,” she said. She smiled more fully. “I won't let anypony down.”
Luna squinted. Was it just her, or did Twilight’s teeth look just a little bit sharper?
Twilight jumped off the chair. “I'd better get started,” she said. “Thanks for the meal!”
The two sisters watched her leave. As soon as the door shut behind her, Luna looked back over at Celestia. “I am uncertain about this,” she confessed. “It is a large responsibility for somepony so young and inexperienced.”
“It is,” Celestia agreed, “but I have no doubt that she will think of a solution that plays to her strengths of diplomacy and study.”
* * *
Twilight returned to the hive, flying slowly. Needless to say, she had a lot on her mind. Ideas swirled through her head, each discarded just as quickly as it had arrived. How could she do this? Could she do this? She was just one pony! And how could foalnapping them possibly be a good idea? What was Grinda thinking? What was her endgame?
A flash of movement in her peripheral vision made her look. A blue pegasus was flying along as quickly as he could towards the hive. Then she realized that his goal was her. Her eyes narrowed.
And then they widened. Wait. Wasn't that…?
“Princess!” he called as he approached. “Princess!”
Twilight squinted. “Tinder?” It was. Twilight grimaced. If he was here… “Oh, no. Fluttershy's been foalnapped, hasn't she?”
Tinder was taken aback, enough to stop and hover in place. “Y- yes, Princess.”
Had Twilight not been so preoccupied with her planning, she might have realized just how clairvoyant she must have appeared. She looked down, thinking. If Fluttershy was captured, that just left Rainbow Dash. Unless Rainbow Dash had already been foalnapped? Were all five in need of a rescue?
She became aware of Tinder rubbing his hooves together nervously. Realizing just how distraught Tinder was, she reached out and touched his shoulder. “Don't worry, Tinder. We'll get her back. We'll get them all back.”
Tinder met her eyes. “I will do anything I can to help,” he swore.
Twilight smiled. “Careful. I'll hold you to that.”
Tinder merely nodded, just as determined as before. “Anything.”
Twilight cracked a smile. No wonder he got along so well with Fluttershy.
Really, though, he was right. She was not alone. She had a whole hive of changelings ready and willing to back her up. Changelings who could go anywhere, be anypony.
Do anything.
And the first part of her fledgling plan fell into place.
Well crap that escalated quickly
Good chapter by the way tho it feels a little rushed
Meh, could be worse. I'm just glad to see soemthing out of this story.
Well the story is taking an interesting turn and Twilight has an other goal to focus then just gathering love and will be a good practice to of her to wheel her power over her subjects. I wander what her infiltrators will able to save her friends.
Grinda? Really? ........................................................ But seriously, gj!
WAR IS COMEING PREPARE SEIGE WEAPONS AND APROPRIATE MUSIC....
T- TBD
never piss off a changeling queen
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! No! NO!!! No no no no no!!! You cannot be serious!!!
I just spent the last hour or two binging the last book as well as everything up to this point! And it stops at at the buildup?! No! No!!! I need more!!!!! I haven't had a good story to read in ages, and I need more of this!!!
Okay... Fanboy raging aside, this story is very well thought out, and an interesting premise. I'd pay to see it made into an audio drama like Bride of Discord, Princess Trixie Sparkle, or Remembrance. I find the best quality in a story is that it cannot be predictable, and so far I got next to nothing for what to expect, save that Trixie might get involved. On top of that the grammar is excellent, the dialogue is engaging, and the building of this new world is to die for. So please, please by Celestia's solar-flaring orgasms, update soon!
KEEP GOING STRONG!!!!!!!
Technically as Equestrian citizens wouldn't it be Celestias and Luna's job to get them back?
Er, some
griffonbody makes off with Equestria's self-defense superweapon, and this is somehow Twilight's problem? I know Celestia's all about "let Twilight handle it" but that's going a bit far...*opens a cabinet door drops to the counter top walks over to Luna and Celestia grabs both by the head then slams their heads together with enough force the make the Crack of their skulls hitting to echo off the walls* Really a foreign country takes several of YOUR citizens hostage and you have the gall to pass on getting them back to the new leader of a newly found foreign power how the bloody hells havery you lot NOT been conquered yet? *spins on one foot paw walks off vanishing in to thin air grumbling*
Looks like Twilight should move up her plans to depose the princesses and take Equestria for herself. She's already doing their job for them.
This Luna and Celestia... What the heck man. They are your ponies at risk here. Mare up and do your duty.
"Germany is arming- she is rapidly arming - and no one will stop her." : Winston Churchill
"Grinda, has organized an army and it seems they are being paid fairly well; Some of the settlements on the borders have already been threatened" : Princess Celestia
This correlation is quite clear, the only difference is that Celestia cant see the war for what it is. War is here and if they don't do something now rather than later they will go quietly into that night.
well that's not true, there are a myriad of benefits that come from a war, for instance industry and agriculture will boom, and historically wars have caused science and technology to jump forward by decades. not to mention the development of weapons and training so as to defend against more serious threats, so they don't have to rely entirely on an easily neutralized single point of failure. so, all-in-all, a war would be really good for equestria in the long run. although, ponies have never shown themselves to be capable of thinking long term.
Ah poor Celestia, ever the optimist. It's disturbing how often you use "your little ponies" as bait.
Well now is the time to shine, Twilight. Preparing your first covert operations mission is to easy feat. Perhaps she should just out and do what they expect, they'll never suspect that!
Keep going! ;)
Shouldn't Twilight confirm Rainbow Dash's whereabout first?
Because when RD found out her friends went missing, she would come to Twilight anyway.
While I love your story, Bahatumay, I have a few issues with the portrayal of the Princesses here.
The griffons have already threatened (verbal threats, I assume) pony settlements, yet Celestia and Luna haven’t responded to these threats.
This response doesn’t have to be war, but they should at least remind the griffon Queen to respect international borders.
Furthermore, the Princesses are reacting to calmly to their citizens being kidnapped.
I do applaud that they don’t jump to conclusions though.
However, they could at least be frustrated by these events.
Some of their citizens, friends to a changeling Queen, are kidnapped shortly after a new anti-changeling griffon Queen declares war on changelings.
A lot of facts seem to indicate that the griffons did it, but they are powerless to do anything without proper evidence or risking war.
Celestia loves all her ponies, why wouldn't she get frustrated when one gets kidnapped?
If the changelings are now official allies of Equestria, then declaring war on them would mean also declaring war on Equestria.
However, the Princesses still think they are at ‘peace’.
Lastly, it’s wrong that Twilight has to fix everything alone.
This involves changelings AND ponies.
The Princesses might be able to do little or else spark war, but they could at least help Twilight in some way.
Grinda... Sounds familiar don't you think? intpolicydigest.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1584881915977.jpg
7986798 It is; and the chapters that follow aren't much better. I wrote it with a song in mind, and the song just wasn't that long.
7987012 G names are hard. They get worse, believe me.
7987463 7987711 7987934 7988102
None of you are wrong.
The angle I'm going from is there are many different nations surrounding Equestria who are jealous of ponies being the most dominant species. They're thus waiting for another nation to make the first move against the ponies; and when one attacks, the rest will join in, as if in a feeding frenzy. One of the things I took from the last finale is that ponykind would not do well in a war, and a war on many fronts would lead to certain disaster (long-term technological improvements aside, 7988467). So Celestia and Luna, being the figureheads of this pony nation, tend to take a back seat to things. "Oh, one of our subjects did that? Dearie me." Sortof like plausible deniability for anything that happens.
If one side appears as the aggressor (ponies invading griffons, in this case), the other nations might step in to defend the attacked (to help topple the ponies), or might join the ponies (as a way of staying on the winning side). There's no way to be certain what would actually happen; and it's not like the ponies are aching to go to war, anyway. So it's better to remain completely neutral, and let the rumors of crazy powerful (and crazy, powerful) ponies swirl.
and/or maybe I just really, really needed Twilight to be the hero of this story
7988732
The changelings aren't allies of Equestria in this story, sadly. In Chapter 16 of Book 1, changelings were banned from Canterlot; anything Celestia does is unofficial at best.
7988732 Well, considering how the Princesses have acted in the show? Problem- just let Twilight sort it out
7988732
Mean while in MLP:FIM...
"Princess Celestia, there's a world ending threat on the door step!"
"Oh my, I shall throw Twilight at it, close my eyes and trust in Destiny and Friendship."
Can they not get Discord™ to help?
7988102 aahh..but remember how long it took for Europe to finally do something about hitler? the ponies are even more peaceful than that
8093006
Equestria didn't just get out a massive war that led to the dismantlement of millennia old empire (The Ottoman Empire) and the purging of the royal family that ruled the second since it's conception (How Russia became the USSR). Plus, they don't have any proof that the Griffons have done anything to the Element Bearers. For all they know, they defected to the Badlands to give Twilight support. The Equestrian government did seem eager to discriminate against Changelings, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to persecute the closest friends and family of the new Changleing Queen.
7988732
Equestria and the Changelings may not be officially allies, even then they probably wouldn't have military treaties with each other given how anti-changeling the Equestrian parliament has been. Another thing, Grinda may have simply order ethnic purges instead of an all out war and Celestia is paraphrasing. Another problem is that if both the Griffon and Equestrian governments are anti-Changeling, then this would prevent the Princesses from doing anything. The fact that Equestria has a parliament probably means that Celestia and Luna gave up some of their power to ensure that their people would have a say in government, and that this is most likely the first time in a thousand years that policy has backfired on them.
Final gotten around to reading this after a long burn out on reading and I must say I like this even if it is a bit rushed. You have a decent grasp of politics as well as the continuity of your own work.
I do see the Princesses later finding a way to give covert help to Twilight or send their own covert agents to do a few things here and there in black operations that never happened because it was just some rogue pony who did it all and wasn't under orders of the Alicorns what so ever.
Also just want to say im surprised the sisters missed this line
Since Twilight refused food.
Also nice subtle hint that twilight's voice is starting to change.
"A foreign nation has kidnapped some of our citizens, citizens who have saved this nation previously and are part of a group who use an invaluable tool to protect said nation. Better do jack shit we might start a war, despite them having already started a war"
8251682
Oh, I agree to a point, but there's a problem. Equestria is a peaceful nation surrounded b warlike ones. Despite the fact that the griffons are saber-rattling, Celestia can't afford to rock the boat. That's why France and England didn't do anything until Hitler invaded Poland.
Luna: