//------------------------------// // Chapter XLI: Kingdoms // Story: Memoir of Misery // by Silvak //------------------------------// "You greeted them by having lunch‽" "What am I supposed to do then‽ The throne room was in disarray when they arrived! What, I'm supposed to have them wait outside until it was done‽" Sapphire yelled back as she tapped another mirror shard, only to get a memory of Rift throwing her filly self into a cliff. "Something tells me that your teachers might be sadists. But back to the topic on hoof, one doesn't simply greet a delegate from another nation with a meal, much less when its a delegation that has a member of the royal family in it!" Luna countered with a glare. Glaring back at her, Sapphire replied, "Well then, maybe you should have stayed to help me out with this instead of leaving me to the timberwolves," before she tapped another shard, where she saw the beginning of a water magic exercise. "You must learn to handle such matters on your own, and this was a good time to see how you react to a foreign delegation with the lowest chances of failure. Though I do apologize for the lack of warning in their arrival. My sister wanted to see how you would react when under pressure as well," Luna explained, causing Sapphire to roll her eyes at that. "Typical that Celestia would try something like that," Sapphire replied as she poked a shard, receiving the sight of Steel Coat looking unamused as her filly self was pounding on Steel's shield with her hooves. "Indeed, though I will relieve you of the delegation for tomorrow. They would most likely try to pull some trickery on you like how Gilfred was tempting you to try some fish, even if it might not agree with you," Luna stated. Looking at Luna with a confused glance, Sapphire replied, "Wait, why would Gilfred wanting me to try a new dish, even if it is fish, to be trickery?" "It is quite simple, for if you were to show disgust at the dish or even a sign of illness, Gilfred would take it as a sign of weakness that he would use to his advantage. Just as the nobles would like to take advantage of you, members of other governments would desire to gain an advantage over you in whatever methods they have available to them. However, you will have your own duties to attend to still... though you don't have to run the royal court for the day. I think you had enough with the delegation," Luna declared as Sapphire nodded, before tapping a shard where she was shown the sight of a teenage Sapphire freezing a body of water that looked to be a rather large pond before lifting it into the air without it breaking. "Hmm... interesting. If you were able to do that at that age, I wonder just how powerful you are now after you have fully recovered from your wounds." "Yeah... powerful..." Sapphire stated as she hoped that this wouldn't lead to Celestia finding a way to use her magic in her machinations. "So, that was when we had the theory that Arulas and her clan fell down some deep hole, only for their entrance to be sealed shut, dooming them to a life as underground mole ponies," Skyward said as he was having lunch with Sapphire at a restaurant. This was due in part that Sapphire was told by Luna to have a meal in the city to patronize one of Vanhoover's establishments while spending time with a distant cousin. Though, Sapphire really believed that Luna was just getting her away from the griffons, which she wasn't all that against if they were trying to take advantage of her. "I... what? Isn't that a bit grim to think of... my clan being turned into mole ponies?" Sapphire asked as she actually paused in the consumption of her seventh bowl of soup. "Well, it's better than your clan coming to a mountain only for it to blow its top off as lava overtaked the entire clan, but that couldn't have happened since you're here after all," Skyward stated with a shrug. Gaping at Skyward, Sapphire stated, "How is that much better? Is that normally what ponies think about the Arulas clan‽" "Well, after thousands of years searching, we're bound to come up with some crazy theories on the disappearance of your clan," Skyward stated with a shrug before stuffing some celery into his mouth. Giving Skyward a flat stare, Sapphire eventually rolled her eyes as she resumed drinking her soup until an idea crossed her mind. "Hey, since your clan must have visited so many places, maybe you know a lot about the lands your clan have passed through. Do you have any information you could tell me about the griffons?" "Oh, that depends on what you want to know. Do you want the ancient history of the griffons, their recent history, the history between or all of it?" Skyward asked with a smile as Sapphire wondered if Skyward had an off switch for his excitement. "Umm... just give me a quick explanation of their modern history. I can learn the rest of their history another time since Celestia would no doubt have me learn about it at some point," Sapphire answered, only to rear her head back when Skyward jumped into the air and clapped his hooves together. "Oh joy! I get to teach the lost member of the Arulas clan some history! And it also counts as teaching an alicorn something new! I wonder just how many ponies could make that claim!" Skyward exclaimed as he did a loop in the air. Pulling Skyward's tail to bring him back to his seat, Sapphire held back a sigh as she said, "Yeah yeah, can we just go to this 'lesson' of yours now?" "Well, originally the entire griffon nation was united under the rule of King Grover, who ruled through his possession of the Idol of Boreas from the city of Griffonstone, until it was stolen by some monster. With the loss of the idol, the griffons refused to follow King Grover, causing their cities to break off into city-states as Griffonstone fell from its former glory to a city of squalor as some would say. For years, the cities struggled against one another as they seek to dominate one another until the Iron Beak clan took control of the city-state of Lion's Paw, where they started to ally with other city-states to bring an end to the fighting between the other two, while the Thunder Wing clan took control of Storm Peak and did the same, until the Iron Beak clan united their allies and became the ruler of the Eastern Griffon Kingdom while the Thunder Wing clan created the Western Griffon Kingdom. Thankfully, both kingdoms didn't seek to dominate one another, in fear of forming one united kingdom that would suffer the same fate as King Grover's nation. This fear is so prevalent that the Western Griffon Kingdom didn't want to bring Griffonstone into the fold, though it might be due to them being rather down in the dumps lately. But I bet when they fix their city up, they can be a sparkly jewel on the Celestial Sea that the kingdom would be begging to get them join them," Skyward explained with a smile. "Ah, so that explains why I'm meeting a delegation from the Western Griffon Kingdom... but I wonder if the Eastern one would send a delegation to me as well?" Sapphire asked as she tapped her chin in thought. "Well, from what I heard, they're more concerned with other nations that are closer than Equestria. The Western Griffon Kingdom has a vested interest in Equestria since the only thing that is between them is the Celestial Sea, along with Griffonstone to the northwestern part of their nation," Skyward answered with a shrug. "Huh... that's interesting to know," Sapphire replied, as she mentally commented, And surprising that he knew that. I guess he has a longer attention span than Pinkie does. "So, since you asked me a few questions, how about I ask you some?" Skyward asked while bearing a wider grin than he normally has. "Um... okay?" Sapphire responded, before feeling like she had just done something horribly wrong. Looking even more cheerful that Sapphire was partly surprised by it, Skyward took in a deep breath before rapidly saying, "Do you have your memories back? What's it like being a princess? What's your favorite food? Do you have a pet? Why did you come over to Vanhoover? Was your clan transported to the moon like Nightmare Moon? Do you have any relatives living nearby? What's it like flying and us—" By the light of the moons! What horror did I just release on myself‽ Sapphire thought to herself as she reared back in horror at Skyward's endless stream of questions. "—that was when he ran out of questions when he asked if we could have cake for dessert, which after getting it, he completely forgot the other questions he asked," Sapphire bemoaned to Luna. The two princesses were in Luna's temporary office, which was Copper's originally but he gladly gave it up to the moon princess. "Quite the talkative pony, Skyward is. Though be fortunate that you weren't with the griffon delegation. Gilfred's attempts to weasel some information about you and this city was getting annoying, despite his various attempts at flattery," Luna replied as she nursed a cup of coffee. "Did Skyward reveal anything else about your clan?" "Nothing really, unless you count his conspiracy theories," Sapphire answered with a shake of her head. "Despite the thousands of years spent on finding my clan, they haven't come up with any leads onto what happened to them so long ago. It doesn't help that they don't even have some idea of the last region the Arulas clan was in last, hence why they now search the entire world for answers." "Such a shame, though your appearance near Ponyville may trigger the three clans to focus their attention on Equestria, at least for some time. This could lead to them finding some kind of clues that could be used to trigger some of your lost memories," Luna stated before looking down at a scroll that she was reading. "Hmm... it seems to me that the recruitment process for your guard has finally been completed and that they'll be sent here shortly to be inspected before resuming their training." Blinking at the news, Sapphire replied, "Wait, they're already being sent here? It hasn't been long, and wouldn't it be better for them to be trained in Canterlot where the Royal Guard can be overseeing their training?" Shaking her head, Luna answered, "No, for they are meant to be your guard, and that it would be best that you weed out the ponies that you don't want in your guard before they are fully committed to the training process. It wouldn't be kind to train them only to inform them that they won't be receiving the job. Furthermore, by training here they can interact with you more in order to develop their loyalty towards you, wherein Canterlot, they may interact with my sister and possibly be enamored with her to the point that they would desire to join her Royal Guard instead of yours." "Oh... okay then, so... how should I weed them out then? I really haven't come up with anything that would help me figure out what kind of guard that I would want beyond suggesting hitting them with a war hammer like my teacher Steel Coat did to me," Sapphire responded, causing Luna to briefly look at her in alarm before regaining her composure. "Well, you certainly shouldn't take such extreme methods that your teachers have, but you should at least have something in mind when you come to inspect them. Perhaps a lesser test of will and physical prowess than the ones that your teachers had subjected you to. You may even just discover that you want to your guard to be capable of doing the moment you inspect them," Luna suggested. This led to Sapphire nodding in acknowledgment before looking to the side as she rubbed her chin with her hoof in thought. "Though, I wouldn't subject them to an eating competition, nor a cooking one. Food shouldn't a factor in the selection process, unless you're looking for a Food Guard," Luna jokingly added as Sapphire glared at her in annoyance.