//------------------------------// // Chapter 83; The Treaty of Gryphos // Story: The War of 1002 // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// James allowed his right arm to rest on his belly as the bed was wheeled into another tent. While this wasn't exactly how he'd wanted this meeting to go, the doctor had refused to let him leave otherwise, and his presence was requested. Luckily, the other tent wasn't all that far, but the bumps the bed had to go over were rather jarring, and his injured side flared with pain whenever it happened. "Sorry, General," the orderly pushing the bed apologized. "This thing wasn't made for the great outdoors." "As long as I'm not torn to shreds getting to the tent, I think I'll get through it," James replied. The soldier wheeled the bed into the big, green tent where the meeting was taking place. He pushed it so that the side with the pillow - and James' head - were up near the wall, so that he would be facing the others. The soldier saluted, and left. James sat up and pushed himself back against the pillows. Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence, along with Shining Armor and Graywing of the griffon clans were present, along with Chief Jelani and Abd al-Malik, the Saddle Arabian general. Other griffons, presumably members of the Noble Council of Clans, were present as well. All were seated around a large table. "Hello, James," Celestia greeted him warmly. "It's a pleasure to see that you're healing." "Hopefully, this is the last one I have to recover from. I don't think I expected to get shot as often as I did. You can thank God for me still being here." "Alright, alright," an impatient griffon - not Graywing - interrupted. "The boy's here. Now let's get down to the point of this meeting, shall we?" "I'm not obeying some mad old king again," one older griffon said at once. "We've had a king, and look at what happened!" "Most of 'em, 'cept this one, weren't too bad," another, one James recognized as a lord or lowborn commander (he was uncertain which) named Raymond, said. "We just got a bad roll fer a king on this one." "And I'm not having my clan take the risk of another tyrant fool gain power," the griffon from before snarled. Al-Malik said something. His interpreter said, "You seem to be forgetting that it is we, the victors, who hold the fate of you and your kingdom. You would be wise to remember it, and remember it quickly." "I never took orders from some gold-wearing horse ninny, and I'm not about to start now. You want another war to crush me and my clan, go ahead and try." "Insanity," James muttered. An entire empire had been crushed by the Allied Forces, and this griffon thought that his one clan could stand up to their combined might? He shook his head. Before the griffon could respond to James, al-Malik screamed, "You are mad! We'd crush you in days, if not hours, fool!" "We wouldn't stick ta fightin' ya in the open, like the dimwit king did. We'd hit ya like them irregulars down south, and we'd do it hard." That gave James a moment's pause. Guerillas could indeed do serious damage, especially against armies entirely used to fighting as they had during the recent conflict. But compared to a major army, a couple thousand or so guerillas could not do the damage necessary to kill an occupying army that was still over seventy-five thousand effectives strong. "Don' be blowin' steam out yer ears, Nor," Raymond insisted, waving a claw downwards. "We came here ta end tha fightin, not start another war." "This arguing is not conductive to that end," Luna put in. "Aye," Graywing said, raising a claw to halt any further protests from his fellow griffons. "Well, first off, what're you ponies hitting us with, and how much of our kingdom are you taking away from us?" "As Shining Armor stated at the first meeting between us and your Council," Celestia said, "no land will be taken. We do, however, demand a monetary price, to pay for the damages done to Equestria and for atrocities committed by your armies while you were still under one command." Graywing flinched, but it was barely noticeable. "How much?" "Hmm," Luna hummed to herself, levitating a piece of paper in from of her muzzle. "There are something like 69, 70 clans, are there not? And that being so, my sister and I have talked long and hard over how much is to be demanded, on average, for each clan to pay." "We have decided that, on average, each clan would pay the equivalent of between 200,000 and 300,000 bits for reparations," Celestia stated. "How is my clan supposed to pay that?" One leader - a leader wearing leather armor as opposed to steel - shouted. "We can't, that's how!" "We said, on average," Celestia said. "Each clan will pay according to their ability to do so, with richer ones paying more. Overall, we expect 13,900,000 bits to be paid by the end of five to ten years, which can be adjusted if necessary to meet with the demand." Graywing and the members of the Council looked at one another. Graywing began whispering to the other griffons in attendance in Romanian, and they began a rather heated discussion between each other; German, French, Italian, and other languages were also present. If noise could ever be said to have a look, James would have called this one a mess. Celestia just looked on patiently. James, having known her for a while, could see that she was actually somewhat amused, though a thousand or so years on the throne gave her the experience needed to keep it from showing too obviously. Luna simply appeared as if she wanted the group of squabbling children (that was what James imagined she was thinking at any rate) to stop messing around and agree on something. Finally, they ceased - slowly, and almost reluctantly - and Graywing turned to them, sighing. "The amount you've set is accepted, though the vote is not unanimous." "it does not matter if it there is a vote or not," Luna said in a nigh cold voice. "The price shall be paid; any clan refusing will be occupied until it pays. Even if you were to have a comparable military to ours, Equestria has enough political strings to pull to ensure an economic blockade, of everything sans food and drink and medicine, until the reparations are paid." James frowned. That kind of hard-line talk wasn't a good idea, in his opinion. Walking, or talking, softly while carrying a big stick worked better. Luna's left eye turned toward him and gave him a long stare; it simply said, I know what I'm doing. I've been at this longer than you have. "Are you betraying us, as the mad king did?" Graywing asked - demanded, really. "No," Celestia replied. "But you never denied that you were eager for an invasion of Equestria. As a result, while we are glad that you've aided us in dethroning the king, we know that some of you aren't sorry for invading us. A price must be paid for the invasion, and the griffon people were solidly behind Raneiro when the war began; that much we know. Do not mistake us; we don't want to cause further suffering. But we demand justice, and letting you off the hook would lead future griffons to mistake us to be weak, which is the same mistake you made in preparing and carrying out the unprovoked assault on our people. Rest assured, that will not be allowed to happen again." "It is worth considering," Luna added, "that we had originally planned to demand, before the king betrayed the clans and tried to become an emperor, a hundred million bits. Do you think, had he assented to that demand, that he would have spared you and your clans? He would have pumped you for every last cent he could." There was much shivering among the griffons present. "However," Luna went on, "we desire to be merciful. Although we are requiring payment, we will also help to rebuild the cities and towns destroyed or damaged in our counter-invasion of your territory, in order to help soothe the poor relations between our respective species. And we are giving you a maximum of ten years to pay the debt you owe Equestria." "In addition to what we owe yer allies," Raymond muttered in a very distrusting voice. "No," Celestia said again. "Saddle Arabia and the Zebras will be reimbursed by Equestria in a completely separate deal from this one, one that will not be up for discussion here, but which I assure you all will be entirely separate from this. Your payment will only be paid to Equestria." Raymond murmured something to another griffon, but it wasn't loud enough to be heard. None of the Princesses, however, bothered to comment on it, though Luna raised an eyebrow. "Fine, curse it," Graywing grumbled. "We'll pay your forsaken price." "Good." Celestia nodded. "Now, on to the matter of succession, and the unity or secession of the clans." "My clan is goin' it alone," the elderly griffon from before stated right off the bat. "No more kings fer us, except one of our own, if we decide to put one up, and given what happened the past few months, that ain't likely." "Aye," another, kilted leader said. "We don't need a government ta steal our money and call it taxation." "And where did you get the money for your kilt and sword?" James asked casually. The griffon glared at him. "It's not just taxes at stake," Graywing said. "it's protection. We're stronger together than we are apart, and we have neighbors who don't like us so much." "And whose fault is that?" Shining inquired. Graywing ignored him entirely. "We need to remain united. If we don't, we're vulnerable. And who knows when the next threat to the world will arise? We griffons need to face it as one." "No, we don't need a king to tell us what's what," a third leader said. "We'll have another tyrant upon us in a generation or two," "We need to do something!" Graywing insisted. "If go it alone, we'll become cat's paws, if not conquered altogether. No more kings, I agree with the rest of you. But we need some central leader." "But who or what are they supposed to be?" a fourth demanded. James had been thinking throughout the discussion. The griffon clans, even under the king - before the betrayal, of course - didn't function as a unified nation, or not entirely. Would... only one way to find out for sure, I suppose. "If I may make a suggestion?" he asked. Everyone turned toward him. Is it a good idea? he wondered again. A little too late to wonder about that, though. "Right now, I think the griffon people need a system of government that allows each clan the local autonomy they're used to, while still having the authority to do what is necessary for the people. A kingdom is out, so we'll need an alternative. I also see a problem with the griffon clans remaining divided, which the griffons themselves seemed to have missed." "And what, pray tell, might that be?" Graywing asked in an oily voice. "That of infighting between clans. There are ancient rivalries between some of them, if I'm not mistaken. Without a central government, the griffon people won't just be vulnerable to outside interference; they'll be vulnerable to each other." That struck a chord. Some of the leaders looked at one another, clearly wondering which of the others would attack whom, and when. One of the leaders, the third one to speak up, looked alarmed, though not, James thought, at the idea of being attacked. Ah, yes. At least one of you wanted to slip a metaphorical knife in someone's ribs, and probably more; I wonder how many want a divided land simply to create a winner take all situation. It wouldn't take long for various wars between clans to start; in fact, it was easy to believe that some clan leaders had planned to stab others in the back, or else to just attack them, whether or not they were expected to do so. "I propose that the Griffon Kingdom be abolished, and replaced with a government of representative leaders to take the place of the old nobility. An election would be held every few years to determine a national leader, to be called by whatever title to Griffon people accept, along with representative leaders from each clan to form a Congress or Parliament. There would be checks and balances between the legislative and executive bodies - the Congress and President or Prime Minister - to keep either one from having any overt power over the other." The Griffon leaders muttered among themselves. Some looked uncertain, others appeared reluctant to give up the power they'd have if they were independent. Some, though, looked as if they were intrigued by the idea. "Go on," Graywing said, waving a claw. To James' relief, he was one of those who was interested. "The President or whatever he might be called would hold limited power, and likewise the Congress or Parliament. the various clans would have local autonomy, as they did before, though certainly not enough to declare war on one another, or on a foreign power. The government would still have the right to issue one currency for everyone, so separate currencies within the nation's borders would not occur, and it would have the sole right to declare war, though only if the Parliament votes to allow it, so the President would not have the absolute power to fight another country on a whim. The clans would have the right to develop their territory as they see fit - railroads, roads, mines, that sort of thing - with a tax to go to the government, a small one at a fixed percentage, in order for the government to function in it's goal of protecting and serving the people, not the other way around. Each clan would have it's own militia to assist the national army in defending the borders and maintaining law and order, along with various police and fire stations to provide assistance with crime and disaster, natural or otherwise." James paused for a moment to catch his breath. "I propose the founding of the Griffon Confederacy." There was some silence as this was processed. The Princesses looked pleasantly surprised, though not all of the ponies looked as if they agreed with the proposed system of government. Al-Malik plainly disapproved; he sniffed, pawed the ground in an indignant way, and lifted his muzzle into the air. Clearly a monarchist to the last. Well, the republican model didn't please every one. I can't really copy and paste the United States onto the Griffon model. Clans aren't exactly states, and if we can't promise them greater autonomy than in our own Constitution, then they probably won't buy it. It might take some political muscle to get them to agree to the plan as it is. And the details are definitely going to be different. Still, this will create a balance of power if it works. Maybe a lasting peace as well. "We'll discuss it," Graywing said finally. "There's a lot of things that still need to be ironed out in that plan, but it's workable." James allowed himself a sigh of relief. "But what about that murderer's heir?" one griffon demanded. "What do we do with the ex-royal family and their palace?" "Get rid of them all," one replied in voice filled with rage. "Send the entire royal family and their officers and their servants to the chopping block, and tear the palace down. Only reason we don't tear the entire city down is for religious reasons, but we make it clear that no more treason comes from them." "No," several voices replied at once; James, Celestia, Cadence, Luna, Shining, Graywing, and several griffons as well. Graywing continued, "How would be be any better than the king we threw out if we did that?" "I don't care," the other leader said. "They hanged my son and murdered my wife. I will have someone's head as compensation!" "You will not," Luna said in a voice of ice. "And if you insist on it, Equestria will make an exception to keeping prisoners of war just for you." "I will have someone punished, see someone die, for what they did-" "I know it hurts," Celestia said. "But murder in response to murder just leaves more people dead and fosters ongoing hatred. As the victors, we can have you removed from power if you remain belligerent." Her face and voice softened. "I assure you, the instigators of this conflict will not go unpunished, and we will require a price for the murder of your family from the former royal family and the king, along with their officials who committed the acts. But we will not kill anyone without a fair trial." "We'll have to make it clear that the former royal family is out of power," Luna said, before anyone could continue the prior line of thought. "They are stripped of all imperial and royal titles, as well as any title higher than that of duke. They may rule their lands, but the capital city of Gryphos is no longer under their control." "Then who gets it?" someone asked. "No one," James answered. "At least, it shall belong to no clan. Or, perhaps it belongs to all of them. It's central location makes it the best place for a capital. As for the palace... it's design, from the great pillars and art down to the stained-glass windows, were made to inspire fear in all comers. I say we do away with that, and re-create it in an inspirational and welcoming form of architecture. It was hammered during the battle, so tearing down some stuff shouldn't be all that difficult." The griffon leaders, almost as one, nodded. "As for the scientists who perpetrated the experiments upon our subjects, we demand their immediate incarceration and the confiscation of their work," Luna said in an iron tone. "We shall have all their papers and research notes, and they will be required to cooperate with us if they ever expect to see their families again." "And if they decide to not cooperate?" a bespectacled griffon asked. "Then they shall regret their refusal. The world shall come to know that performing experimentation on any sentient species - that is to say, any species not classified as animals - will not be tolerated, either now or in the future." "You can have 'em," Graywing replied. "No complaints here." "Might I again state that it would not matter whether or not-" Celestia leaned toward her younger sister and muttered something. Luna simply stopped talking, but retained that face of iron. "It seems we've covered most of the basics in the treaty," the Solar Princess said. "I think there are a few things we didn't touch on yet, though. First and foremost, there will be a trial, as stated before. The former king, along with his officers, officials, scientists, and other high level functionaries, will be indicted for tyranny, crimes against sentient species, experimentation on sentient species, murder, false imprisonment, and other charges as may come up. "As well, the changeling queens allied with us have noted a disturbing trend," Luna put in. "That is to say, their drones are murdered without trial when they are seen in griffon lands. This happened before the war and it's happened during it's duration, though less so, given that the changelings in question were unable to assume effective pony disguises." "Yeah, and? You expect us to allow those monsters to suck us dry?" the griffon who had threatened to fight a guerilla war said defiantly. "No," said a new voice. Everyone looked toward the tent flaps; Queen Metamorphosis had just come through it. A number of the griffons were in shock, but from the lack of surprise on the Princesses' faces, they'd expected this. "No, we don't expect you to let us 'suck you dry,'" Metamorphosis went on, "but we expect the killings to stop. Most of our emotional gathering is passive, and is not harmful; you aren't going to become emaciated from that kind of harvesting." "One of the beasts themselves," a griffon remarked. Metamorphosis didn't even bother to respond. she simply continued, "If a drone were caught in an aggressive act of gathering emotional energy, we'd have no complaints if you locked him up. But these killings need to stop. Period. Especially now that the world knows that drones are beings who can think for themselves and aren't organic machines." "And if we don't?" The queen's eyes flared. "Then you'll have a second war on your claws, with us. Imagine an army of soldiers who are all masters of disguise. We could pretend to be any pony or zebra, and you wouldn't even know we knew what you were planning. We could go through the bogs, marshes, and mountains virtually undetected. We wouldn't harm civilians, but you wouldn't even have an inkling we were upon you until it was much too late. And we have a lot of acquired Equestrian and griffon technology; guns aplenty, cannons, and even designs for armored vehicles. You'd have a lot to worry about to say the least." "Witch, you don't even have access through Equestrian lands. They wouldn't let you." "Perhaps, if it were up to us," Luna replied. "But the changelings largely live within Equestrian borders anyway. And they are very good at concealment. Even if we wanted to stop them from harming you, we probably could not. For the cause she and her fellow queens would be standing for, we wouldn't even try. So you have a choice; changeling killings stop, or else." The griffon tried one more time; "We won't let spies and causers of mischief-" "We're more concerned with feeding our larvae than we are with spying on you," Metamorphosis interrupted. "We're here for our hives, not for spying. We've had enough of war and living under a tyrant of our own; we don't want another war. As for causing mischief, I'm assuming you're talking about espionage. We also have no intention of that; we want to feed ourselves and our children, and build up our civilization peacefully from here on out." "You expect us to just let you swarm, uninhibited, throughout our lands?" "No. We're open to negotiation, as well as to forgiving you for killing changelings prior to this treaty. We're also willing to enter your country through legal checkpoints and registration. However, the killings will be made illegal, and anyone who kills a changeling without provocation will he handed over to the hive the drone belonged to for punishment. No other outcome is acceptable." "Alright, alright!" Graywing said irritably. "We'll stop killing changelings we catch. Happy?" He sounded as if he wanted to add offensive epithets to end of that last sentence. James could tell that easily. "So long as changelings are treated as equals, we are content with that," the queen replied. "We're also willing to negotiate in a separate deal what changelings are and aren't allowed to do in griffon lands." The griffons didn't look happy, but they mostly just muttered among themselves. "So," Luna said, levitating the copy of the treaty before her muzzle. "The griffon clans will pay a total of 13,900,000 bits to the Equestrian crown as reparations for damages, the former king Raneiro is dethroned and the monarchy abolished, with a new government or governments to be discussed and decided upon separately, the former royal family will have the city of Gryphos taken from it's holdings, all scientists who committed war crimes against Equestrian subjects handed over and the former king and his officials charged with the various crimes we touched upon earlier, and changeling killings are abolished. Equestria will help to rebuild griffon roads and towns damaged during our counter-invasion. Clan leaders who supported the king will be forced to abdicate in favor of their heirs. Oh, yes..." Luna looked up from it. "Prior to the Great Betrayal, we were determined to occupy the griffon kingdom for some time, and to send inspectors during and after the occupation to ensure that the treaty would be enforced. Seeing that the king has been deposed and the monarchy is no longer in power, we are willing to drop occupation, but given that some of your number have shown belligerence and ambition..." "No!" shouted the one who had threatened to continue fighting, slamming his claw onto the table. "You send them in, we'll ship them out, or chuck 'em into dungeons." Celestia was about to reply, but Graywing walked behind his compatriot and cuffed him in the back of the head. "Idiot. We're here to end the war, not extend it. You want to be stupid, you go right ahead, but most of the rest of us want this over and done with, and now. You want to refuse the treaty and keep fighting, get out of this tent and don't come back." The griffon stared at him angrily, but Graywing had already turned his back on him and headed back to the position where he'd been standing. "As I was saying," Luna continued, "we've noticed that there are some griffons, even among those we've been allied to for a couple months, who are all too eager to try and avoid the stipulations laid down in this treaty. We're willing to waive the occupation, but I'm afraid we must insist on sending inspectors. Anyone refusing will be considered an enemy." "You're not occupying us, but you're sending inspectors?" yet another griffon yelled. "Why not just take our lands for yourselves? We won't be able to do anything without some worthless scumbag's approval." "No, that would not be the case," Luna said, shaking her head. "We're not sending them to change customs, only to search and check to make sure no one is building up an army to disturb the new state of affairs. Whether or not a united government is agreed upon, I think it reasonable to send inspectors to keep an eye on the clans. They will not be invasive and they will not enter any house, including that of a clan leader, unless they have conclusive evidence that some suspicious act is taking place." "And what will that entail?" one griffon said mockingly. "Spittin' at their hooves?" "No, though we'd prefer you didn't. Suspicious as in, our inspectors believe that there are military preparations going on beyond that required for self-defense. Gathering a lot of artillery or heavy weaponry, drilling militia for aggressive actions, and acts of espionage that are intended to gather information on another clan. Note that this is just an example list and that these are not the only things we'd be looking for. Insults or mockery will not be enough to bring Equestrian wrath upon a clan, but preventing an inspector from doing his work, whether the stoppage is from a mob of common people or instructions from a clan leader, will incur the notice of Equestria and there will be consequences." "The inspectors will not be there forever," Celestia stated. "We're thinking that six months of intense scrutiny and another six of lesser scrutiny will suffice. Long enough for a government to form and for order to be restored. We aren't looking for tribute, and any inspector that tries anything corrupt will be given to the clan he or she offended for punishment. However, we must insist on this stipulation being agreed to. I might remind all of you, we've just been through a war lasting not far off from a full year, and we're determined that another one will not arise anytime soon." "Might I add," Luna put in, "that anyone who refuses will face renewed war, and may lose their lands and titles as a result, depending on the damages done to the Allied Forces and how perfidious they may have been in trying to resist us, and even if they retain their lands, they will face consequences, and be forced to agree to even tighter inspection with less restrictions on those inspectors than we've set here." The griffon began arguing among themselves yet again, but not for long. "Fine," Graywing said. "But if they try taking money, stealing from or abusing us, or if they do anything other than inspect, they're out. Period." "That is acceptable to us," Celestia said before her younger sister could object, not that she'd tried. "Our inspectors will be strictly forbidden to take any money or items; their job is to look for evidence of warmongering, not take or tax or steal. Anyone who does this will, as said before, given to the clan they wronged for a trial there. You have my word that they will not be invasive beyond what their job honestly calls for." "Good." "Hmm, all the items of the treaty have been discussed and effectively agreed to," Luna noted. "All that remains is for us to sign it, under solemn oath to keep it. If anyone objects, you may do so here and now, but anyone refusing will, I remind you, be treated as an enemy of Equestria, as will anyone who signs and breaks the terms set down here." "It is hardly the lightest thing ever," one griffon complained. "It is not as heavy as a lot of our soldiers and many of our people would want it," Shining said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "I've been among our wounded; a lot of them wouldn't mind in the slightest if we occupied you and held you down for however long it took to make sure you'd never even get the idea of invading Equestria again. And those among our common citizens, especially those from Trottingham and villages and towns occupied during the invasion, want the harshest possible settlement we could bring upon you. You should be grateful that we're not asking for more. I've never heard of a treaty where the winners agreed to help the losers, as we've promised to do. I think you're getting off lightly. You might moan and complain that you weren't the ones to instigate the war, but none of you have even bothered to deny that you wanted your part in it. I believe it's in your best interest to sign it." Graywing uttered something under his breath. So did several of the other clan leaders in attendance; one insulted Luna in a not-so-low voice, uttering a foul word and cursing her by the griffon gods. Luna, to her credit, didn't respond in the slightest. "Will you sign or not?" Cadence asked impatiently, saying something significant for the first time. "How many have died already, and how many more will die if you refuse? How many more widows and orphans do you want to make? You getting a good deal here." There was a long moment of silence. Graywing sighed. "I suppose it'll do. And it's not so bad as it might have been. We're not subjugated whatsoever." Celestia passed the treaty over to him. Sighing again, he picked up a quill, dunked it in the ink, and signed his name. One by one, each of the clan leaders signed. Some looked relatively relieved, others were out and out angry that they had to agree, still others remained impassive as they wrote their own names (or, for those who couldn't read, drew a brief drawing of their clan symbol). One of the latter said, "I wish we'd marched down Canterlot's streets and hung you two from the highest rafters we could find," glaring at the royal sisters. Luna glared right back. "Do we arrest him?" James heard Shining whisper to Celestia. "No, not unless he actually tries to harm us," she whispered back. "Or he tries to break the terms of the treaty. Mere hate and disgust are not grounds for an arrest." The embittered leader signed regardless of his feelings. The rest followed without much fuss. When it came to Abd al-Malik to sign, he too sighed. "If only this paper punished your people more, and made defiance punishable," the translator said, "we could be sure you would cause no further trouble." But he too signed. Jelani signed using a drawing of a zebra. Shining, Cadence, Celestia, and Luna affixed their names to the treaty as well, as did Rolling Barrel; Metamorphosis, signing for the combined changeling hives, wrote something in her people's own script that might or might not have been her name. Luna passed the treaty to James. "Who, me?" he asked. "Yes, you," the midnight blue alicorn replied. "You've been with us from the start, therefore your name shall be on it" "Okay, if you say so," James said. "Probably the highest document I'll have the fortune to sign." He did so. Luna took the treaty back. "With this, the war is now officially over." "Let us hope we never fight another one," Celestia added. "No arguments here," Cadence said. Shining nodded. Most of the griffon leaders nodded as well, but James noted that a number looked displeased. If they break the treaty, we crush them, he thought to himself. Celestia and Luna may not have fought wars much, but they had iron in them. They weren't going to let any of the defeated party weasel their way out of the terms presented to them. "Now, with the treaty signed and in effect, it might be a good idea for the various clan leaders here to decide how their nation will be run from now on," Celestia said. "We'll discuss it in private," Graywing said. "Away from prying eyes." "Fair enough." The various clan leaders slowly strolled out of the tent, most just looking glad the meeting - and the war - was over. James felt... actually, he didn't know what to feel. The fact that the war was over was difficult to comprehend. Shining looked over at him. "I know, right?" he said. "Hard to believe it's over." "Yeah." James looked at his side, which was still covered in bandages. It wasn't hurting much, which had allowed him to think clearly during the meeting, but it still throbbed now and then with pain. "Do you think it was a good idea to let the griffons discuss anything on their own, your Highnesses?" Shining then asked the Princesses. "It is probably for the best," Luna replied. "I do not believe they will betray us. Most of them signed the treaty without all that much fuss. The few who complained about it didn't bother to refuse signing. We can hold them to their word, and Graywing seems to hold a high level of opinion among them, and they've all followed his lead. He also seems to be relatively honorable, and I think he will stay true to his word; given his behavior here, he'll try holding the other leaders accountable for their actions." "And Equestria has promised to help them rebuild," Celestia added. "That will help take the sting out of the reparations we've made them pay." James yawned. "I guess it's back to staring at the ceiling of a tent for me now." "Sorry," Celestia and Luna chorused, before looking at each other and chuckling slightly. "It is for your own good," the Solar Princess went on. "We wouldn't want to lose you now that the war is done." "Yeah, but you're not the ones who have to deal with the boredom." "Trust me, dear, if you had to spend half the day filing through paperwork, you wouldn't be complaining about boredom," Celestia replied, but she was still smiling and she winked at him. "Oh joy," James muttered, but he wasn't really upset. It was official; the war was over. Equestrian and her allies had won, and peace had returned.