Celestia had barely began the day and it was very cold in the northern region of Griffonia known as Snow Mountains Hold, and if there ever was a more aptly named region of Equestria, Discord didn’t know. The cold didn’t bother him though because there seemed to be some quality chaos to be had in that place. The only thing bothering him is that it felt funky.
Chaos was typically fun, but in that place something about it felt grim and ‘wrong’ in a way that reminded him of a time long ago. So, since he was the Spirit of Chaos it was his job to figure it out. As much as it was his job to do anything, anyways. The point was that he was curious about it and if he could fix it all the better.
He stood at the edge of the ridge, holding his eyes out like a pair of binoculars looking down a restrained and long valley with a snaking path in between the tree lines at the base of the mountains.
Finally, after more time than he cared for he saw something that could give him a hint as to what the problem was. It was a long file, some three or four columns wide of griffons marching in the shallow snow. They wore light blue coats and helmets on their heads. Each carried a backpack and one of those shooty sticks that seemed to be everywhere those days.
Whatever was the problem with Chaos in that area it seemed to swirl around those griffons, so he decided to approach them. And by that, it meant that he teleported right in front of the first griffon in the formation.
“Hello!” He flashed and banged out of nowhere and the griffon screamed with a scared jump backwards into the next griffon behind him and the next one bumped into both of them in a chaotic cacophony of pained and surprised screams and yelps. Until one of them in the mass of surprised griffons finally gathered his wits.
“Whoa! Guys! It’s Discord!” He adjusted his helmet and shouted excitedly.
What followed was another mess of excited griffons and he took a moment to regard them in more detail. They all wore that light blue cloak over themselves and a helmet that reminded Discord of a shallow plate strapped on to their heads. They did indeed carry backpacks filled with he didn’t know what and those noisy sticks in their backs. And under their cloaks they wore light metal armor, shiny and polished, barely enough to keep a couple of protective spells on them, as far as Discord could see. But he wasn’t very knowledgeable in these things.
Other than that, they were a diverse group of griffons. Different sizes, different builds and colors, almost like ponies and different levels of excitement. Then he understood. That was an army, like those that would march around in the times of the Pony Republic, of independent nations and before Celestia and kill each other over some stupid thing like plots of land and shiny things.
And the reason Chaos seemed so weird was that these griffons wouldn’t be coming back from whatever their destination was. The strands of time had connected, and he didn’t know exactly how yet, but a soon-coming death hung over them like a disgusting foul-smelling miasma. It was a breach of their destinies, not the path their lives were supposed to take, and he didn’t like it at all.
Things weren’t supposed to be like that anymore. Celestia had changed that.
Well, the nice thing about time was that it was dependent on causality. If he could break those strands of time, nothing like that would happen. “So, where are you guys going?”
“We’re marching towards Griffindell, Lord Discord.” One of the more ecstatic griffons told him.
“What is a Grifindell?”
“It is the capital of Snow Mountains Hold…” One of the less ecstatic griffons told him. “We’re supposed to apprehend The Lion and end his rebellion. Along the way we’re supposed to take a nearby city so that they can’t reinforce Griffindell. Or something.”
“Yeah!” The first spoke again. “His hiding like a kitten in Griffindell and we’re gonna flush him out and take him to justice.”
He hummed to himself and stroked his beard. “Is that so?”
Odd. He was pretty sure that Celestia was fine with The Lion becoming their king. Or something. But before he could inquire the griffons any further another of their kind rose above flapping his wings further down the column. “What is keeping the column?!”
He, a gray and white griffon approached with a retinue of more griffons in blue cloaks, but instead of a chest plate, this one had a fancy uniform under his cloak, with blues, gold, a bunch of medals Discord had no idea what they meant. All he knew is that as soon as the griffon saw him his angry demeanor changed to a… Discord called it high-nosed one.
“Lord Discord. Everything here is under control.”
“Oh, I’ll bet. So, who are you?”
“I am Major-General Grommer, and I am in command of this division!”
“From back there?” He pointed.
“I understand what you mean.” The griffon kept his poise. “The nature of warfare is changing, Lord Discord. It is irresponsible for a leader to put themselves in a position of vulnerability. Leading the column is better in the paws of our scouts.”
“If you say so…”
He was going to compare him to certain leaders he knew, but before he could say anymore griffons started coming out of the tree lines and it took him little time to understand what was going to happen had he not gotten in the way. The griffons in Grommer’s army, division, whatever seemed to have understood it as well since they grouped together while they were circled by the northerners.
It amazed Discord how different these griffons were. They wore cloaks too, but theirs were white and harder to see them in the snow. Kind of obvious but he figured it had little to do with camouflage, rather with the fact that those griffons hunted animals of the region and then wore their coats when the ‘city griffons’ wore cotton cloaks. While he didn’t judge the merit of each in keeping their wearer warm, it spoke to him something about the makers of those cloaks. That wasn’t new though, as Discord was aware that some griffons hunted wild animals, despite the ponies’ protests. What did surprise him was the size and physical power of these griffons. Maybe living in the wild made them stronger?
No one really said anything. Not even Grommer as his griffons were surrounded and seemed to have already surrendered without even an order. They were outclassed and even them could see it clearly.
These griffons were larger yes, but they also protected themselves with a different philosophy. Full armor in their chests and helms that better protected their heads. They had their shooty sticks too, but they also had other weapons such as swords, war hammers and axes. There were some young ones too, but even they seemed gruffer, wilder. Or dirtier… Discord wasn’t sure. All he knew is that things were far from solved yet.
A pair of griffons soon approached him, one male and one female. He actually had a collar of big pointy teeth around his neck and didn’t wear a helm or helmet, carrying a huge war hammer. A big black and light gray griffon with yellow eyes, hardened and serious accompanied by an equally tough female that was pure white with blue eyes, but she instead wore a more elegant cyan cloak, adorned with light feathers in the rim and she favored the sword. They each had a discreet golden diadem in their heads, but she had little feathery crests instead of the usual griffon feathers at the top of her head, like a cat's ears.
One funny thing though: both of them summarily ignored Grommer’s salutation and instead addressed Discord.
“Lord of Chaos, I am Graham, and this is my mate Geena. These griffons have trespassed in our land with the intention of taking our homes and our cubs from us. We are well within our natural rights to defend ourselves and our possessions.”
“Outrageous!” Grommer cried. “These griffons are in conflict with our great nation’s laws and in contempt with our leadership. They are rebellious and must be brought to submission for the sake of our nation’s sovereignty. They don’t even plan on splitting the nation in half. They want it all for themselves. Even if the majority of the population thinks they are uneducated savages!”
Of all the things he had planned on doing that day, playing arbiter to griffon disputes really wasn’t one of the things he had expected to do. But that is chaos for you. What drew his attention was how much more under control and disciplined the big griffon, Graham and his mate seemed to be as they simply stared with mild amusement as the general… Colonel… Whatever ranted on.
“In an age of civility and friendship these brutes want to go back to a time of irrational rulers that didn’t answer to anyone! That is why we are going to fight, and this Lion is going to answer for sedition even if we fall here!”
Though it amused Discord that the griffons had decided to attack The Lion behind the Princess’ back while spouting a speech about friendship and unity. He knew Celestia, Twilight. Luna and Cadance. They wouldn’t be backing this hypocrisy.
Still, he wasn’t entirely without reason, even if his rant did seem shallow and tacked on when his army had been surrounded and even his own soldiers cringed at his words and they would all already have been murdered by now had Discord not been there.
“So, can I convince you not to kill each other? That would be a nice start, I suppose.” Discord finally said. “I don’t think that these griffons should be here and the griffon’s… Uh…”
“Chancellor.” One of the griffons in the front reminded him.
“Yeah… The griffon Chancellor is doing things he shouldn’t. Or something like that.” He shrugged. “I doubt that Celestia agrees with this attack and neither do your representatives in Canterlot. In fact, I doubt that most griffons want this war to happen.”
The big Graham took stock of the situation and looked at his warriors. Discord didn’t see any outward signs of a preference. It seemed like they trusted his leadership, unlike the other griffons under Grommer that did seem a little nervous. Finally, Graham spoke.
“These griffons have come to us with ill intent and were incompetent enough to be surrounded. They also disagree with our way of living and would return to fight us eventually. Their lives were forfeited when they chose their side.”
“Can’t you take them prisoner, or something?” Discord argued. He really didn’t want to see this turn into the slaughter it was shaping up to be and this seemed like a good opportunity to put ‘Celestia’s method’ to the test. “I mean, I know you guys don’t like all that friendship talk, but these are griffons too and they just happen to be a little different. I’m sure that if we talk, we can reach an agreement. No harm really done yet.”
Grommer was fortunately smart enough to keep his beak shut, but Graham didn’t seem very convinced and he shook his head. “We can’t keep that many prisoners.”
His mate took a step forward and looked at him. “They can make camp outside the city and then we’d have enough warriors to keep watch. I believe they understand their situation and are smart enough not to try anything. They have their own food and we can share with them for a while until this situation gets sorted out.”
“I’m not feeding these sugar guzzlers.” He frowned. “My hunters aren’t going to risk their lives against magical monsters seeking food for them.”
She stared at him a little harder. “Well, they are going to eat what we give them, regardless of the liking it or not and our hunters will hunt either way. These kittens might as well learn something about being real griffons.”
He shifted his posture, staring at her like she was being unreasonable. “They are adults enough to pick up a gun and dream of killing and robbing us. You know what happens in these situations.”
She didn’t budge and gave him an even harder stare. “Celestia teaches honor as much as Lady Gwendolen does. Look at them. They don’t know what they are getting into. Most of them aren’t old enough to have met a queen. Grant isn’t much older than they are.”
“Dude!” One of the blue-coated griffons cried. “Did she just call us virgins? Not cool, bro! Not cool!”
“Be quiet, cub.” She frowned at him.
“Yes ma’am…” His eyes shifted down.
“Geena, Grant is already mated, and his mate is expecting a cub. He is also a very skilled caribou hunter. I wouldn’t be surprised if a caribou ate one of these.”
“It is not their fault they were raised soft milkdrinkers.”
“You know… I’m not really comfortable with the way you are talking about us.” ‘The cub’ was summarily ignored.
Discord cleared his throat. “What you do here will have an effect moving forward...”
“Fine!” He finally acquiesced and addressed Grommer. “Tell your griffons to surrender their weapons and to not cause trouble. I swear that if I have to, I will kill any one of them just to spite her.”
Grommer seemed not to like it but was wise enough to not say anything as his enemies collected weapons and organized their prisoners and he was soon followed by Graham to address his soldiers and they spoke of things that didn’t interest Discord.
“Huh… What do you know? Asking politely did work.” He was still amused, though. Then he noticed the griffoness, Geena was still there, looking up at him and waiting for him to notice her. He grinned and offered a closed fist for her to bump. “Thank you for your help!”
She offered him an open hand and waited patiently until he understood and opened his own to shake hers. Finally, she spoke to him. “It is an honorable thing to see one’s cub die in a worthy battle, but it is better to see them live to know their own grandchildren.”
“Maybe we should change generals for mothers.” He pulled at his beard, grinning amusedly. “I thought you were all murderous and grim isolationists.”
“Well, I am very proud of the game meat we sell to the hippogriffs, even if I don’t like them very much and it seems like a guilty pleasure of theirs. And I appreciate the pearls I can find in our market thanks to them. I also like very much fish seasoned with the herbs the ponies grow…”
“Sounds like you shouldn’t be fighting at all. Is it really all because you don’t like your leaders?” He scratched his head. “I mean, can’t you just choose others? I know Celestia is fine with this.”
“You should go to Griffindell. There are some griffons in there you should meet.” She smiled motherly at him. “I am a local leader with my mate, and we are vassals to The Lion. He can explain better to you what is the problem. And Lady Gwendolen is our repository of our culture and traditions. She can explain all you wish to understand about us.”
“Maybe I should.” He concluded thoughtfully.
***
Another morning in the Magic of Friendship didn’t have warring griffons and it was exactly like the previous. Ponies were beginning to tire of the monotony and one of them was Flurry Heart. She was in a foul mood. She bit Cadance. She cried at Shining Armor. And Cadance wasn’t sure, but she could swear that the baby had called Miss Calcite something nasty when she tried to help.
And then she refused to eat. Because of course she would.
She was sitting on the meeting table with Shining Armor on one side and Cadance on the other, holding a small baby spoon in her magic and Shining held the baby with all the care in the world. Twilight, Starlight Glimmer, Rarity and Rainbow Dash stood on the other side of the room, staring like they were watching a horror theater piece.
Shining Armor looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept in days and Cadance’s mane was a royal mess. Her ears were folded to the back of her head and she still had a small scowl. And that was from some half-hour of dealing with the angry baby. To be honest Twilight wondered if it wouldn’t be a good idea to separate her from the baby for a while. She had read on a book recently that it would help once in a while.
“Come on dear… It’s delicious.” Cadance half-growled.
No, it wasn’t, she knew it wasn’t. It was the Discord-cursed mashed apples that seemed to be everywhere in this cramped and busy airship. In her place Cadance might be making a bigger tantrum but the baby pony simply closed her eyes and shook her head angrily.
“That is why I’m never having foals…” The pegasus whispered to the two mares next to her.
“Yikes…” Starlight agreed silently.
“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Rarity giggled mutedly. “She’s just in a bad mood, nothing more natural. Babies go through these spells. Especially out of their typical environment.”
Twilight though, took a few steps forward. “Maybe I can help?”
Cadance gave up with a sigh. “Not going to hurt, anyway.”
She stood and gave Twilight her place by the table and also the little spoon.
“Hi Flurry Heart! I’m auntie Twilight!” She chimed at the baby who scowled a little, distrustful of whatever this new strategy might be. Cadance watched from a few hooves away and could imagine Twilight reading a book on babies and acting like she had figured out the secrets of the universe when it said that you should reinforce the names of the baby’s relatives or something like that.
“Look what I have!” She magically held the spoon to the baby and gave her an exaggerated smile. “Yummm! Apples!”
‘Noob.’ Mother and daughter thought at the same time.
But then the baby complained with an angry cry and turned her head to the side.
“Heeeey. These are special apples!” Twilight insisted. “They came from the best apple farm in all of the world! Don’t you know Applejack? They came from her farm!”
Flurry stared with utter disdain at the yellowy white mass. Cadance had to agree… It looked rather disgusting. Or maybe it was her mood at the moment.
“Ooooh. You don’t believe me? Look.” Twilight still insisted. She showed the baby how tasty the apples were eating the whole spoonful of it. “Hmmm. Yum… Yum… Are you sure you don’t want some?”
Flurry Heart simply pushed the bowl of mashed apples to her.
Cadance smirked and struggled against her giggling. “At least she’s being polite because it is you. If it was me, she would have thrown that thing in me.”
But Rainbow fell on her side laughing enough for both of them and Starlight hid her giggling as best as she could too.
“That doesn’t work, Twily.” Shinning chuckled.
“Mom did that with us!” She complained as though the baby was cheating.
“Does that mean she’s smarter than you?” Rainbow started laughing again, laying on her side and flaying her legs.
But the younger princess didn’t let that dampen her morale. She could still win this and for that she used her best weapon… Magic. A big (from the baby’s perspective) Luna plushie manifested next to her and Flurry immediately reached out with her little hooves. “Oh! It’s Princess Luna! I think that Whammy would like a new friend, right?”
“That’s cheating!” Cadance pointed a hoof at her.
“All is fair in love, war and foalsitting!” She spat back triumphantly.
“You’re not supposed to buy her with toys, Princess…” Miss Calcite glowered from the other side of the table. “It reinforces bad behavior!”
Flurry didn’t care. She grabbed the toy from Twilight’s magical grasp with her own. “Well… It’s hers now.”
“Do you think that Princess Luna visits her dreams too?” Starlight approached, staring at the baby happily frolicking around with the new toy.
“She does!” Twilight nodded. “She has told me so before.”
Cadance frowned, looking at the baby and then at Twilight. “Really? Did she say what she dreams about?”
Twilight shook her head. “Princess Luna doesn’t tell others about your dreams.”
“Hum… Yeah… She doesn’t.” Cadance stared at the baby rubbing a leg under her chin.
“Uh… She’s a baby.” Rainbow stared. “She doesn’t even know what privacy is. And I guess it would be helpful for the parents? I mean, maybe it could explain why it’s hard to make babies eat sometimes.”
“Ah, Rainbow.” Twilight waved a hoof at her. “It’s usually because the baby is eating things out of proper mealtime. Nothing mysterious or related to dreams.”
“Yeah… There’s nothing mysterious or weird going on in the world, right?”
“Point taken…” Twilight rubbed her chin staring at the baby.
An awkward silence followed while the adults stared at the miniature alicorn biting at Princess Luna’s ear and staring innocently back at them.
“Yeah, she’s just a baby.” Starlight frowned. “She probably dreams with Cadance and Shinning Armor and her maid giving her sweets of something.”
“At least she’s happy now.” Cadance watched the baby giggling to the plushie and hugging it.
“She didn’t eat though.” Rainbow reminded her.
The princess sighed again. “We’ll just wait till she’s hungry.”
Just as the discussion was settled, Applejack came in through the doors with a cheerful prance. “Howdy ponies. Who didn’t eat? What is going on?”
“We’re having trouble feeding Flurry Heart.” Twilight said. “I think she’s had enough mashed apples.”
“Nonsense. Apples are always good to you!” She came closer. “Let me see if I can’t get her to cooperate.”
Twilight and Cadance stared at one another, but Cadance shrugged and Twilight decided that it wouldn’t hurt.
“Hi, little one!” She said grabbing a spoonful of the thing. If she hadn’t grabbed that disgusting thing Flurry might have conceded a smile and a giggle to the orange pony because she liked Applejack and the way she spoke. “Don’t you like my family’s apples?”
Flurry frowned holding tighter her new toy… She understood what was going on, but she was not going to give in her previous victories.
“Well, I understand. You like your new toy and it’s more fun than eating some old apples. But you know what else?”
There was a small pause and then the pony scowled at the baby. “There ain’t nothing else to eat, so it’s this or you’re starving till Manehattan.”
The baby was smart, understood the message crystal clear and let Applejack give her the spoonful of mashed apples.
“There you go!” Applejack smiled happily at the baby and fed her another spoonful of the thing. “What a nice filly!”
Then another. And some more until finally the whole bowl of mashed apples Cadance had prepared was done. The orange pony let the spoon on the bowl and smiled radiantly.
“Good work, Flurry Heart! See you later!” She rubbed the baby’s head softly before retreating. “There you go Princess! Just call if you all need any help!”
Then she left and the ponies were left staring at the door. It was Rarity who spoke first. “I… Worry about Applejack sometimes.”
Then a rolled-up scroll suddenly appeared in front of Cadance with a magical puff and smoke. She gasped and grabbed it in her magic, staring worryingly at it like it was a bomb.
Twilight grimaced at the thing. “Careful, Cadance! Could be a trap!”
“I think it’s from Sunburst.” She looked at Twilight first and then opened the thing and read it while the others waited. Then she gasped again.
“What?!” Rainbow blurted out hovering close.
“It is from Sunburst!” The princess cried. “Miss Goodread went to the Crystal Empire and talked to him. They checked our library and they tracked a historian that knows of Emperor Grigor!”
“For real? Who are they?!” The other princess gasped too.
“It’s a griffon called Gerdie. She went to the Crystal Empire to research about King Sombra and they found her in the library!” She stared at Twilight from the letter. “I can’t believe our luck!”
“Neither can I…” Shinning grunted. “It’s a trap.”
“But… Shinny! It is from sunburst!” Cadance whined.
“I’m sure it is, Cadie.” He changed to a more concerned than angry tone. “But there’s nothing keeping Princess Celestia from using him to write you a letter and then set up a trap for us.”
“Sunburst wouldn’t do that!” Starlight hoofed angrily the floor.
“He wouldn’t if he had a choice, Starlight.” He argued back. “As far as we know, Princess Celestia may have forced him. I know it sound awful. But that’s the sort of business we’re dealing with.”
Starlight didn’t answer. Prince Armor was probably right anyways. But Cadance did. “I still want to see.”
Her husband sighed. “Cadie. It will be dangerous.”
“But what if this griffon lady does have some important information?” She pleaded. “We’re flirting with danger ever since this began. Those militiaponies in Ponyville could’ve hurt us. So could Queen Chrysalis! Princess Luna! I was in the same room as her! We have to take risks, or we won’t accomplish anything!”
“Wait… There’s something wrong.” Rainbow’s ears shifted a little. “Ah… It’s usually Twilight that does the speech.”
Starlight giggled next to her, but Twilight agreed. “Cadance is right, Shinning. We’ve fought some ponies that meant to hurt us. It’s not like those ponies in Ponyville were in a very stable state of mind. I think the worst is in the past.”
He grunted again, this time with his ears pulled back. “Fine. It’s not like I can forbid you or anything. But let’s be careful, okay? The Royal Guard will certainly catch up to us and we’ll have to fight.”
“You’re the Captain of the Guard.” Rainbow frowned. “Can’t you tell them to stand down, or something?”
Shining shrugged. “Celestia’s authority overrules mine, Rainbow. It would be silly for them to stop doing what she commanded because I tell them. I mean, they could switch sides, but that is very unlikely.”
“Well, I’ll talk to the Captain. Come on, Cadance. We’ll need to set up a meeting point or something.”
“Wait.” Starlight Glimmer approached the table and sat by it resting an elbow on it. “Captain Armor, can I ask you a question?”
“Please, Starlight… Call me Shining. My recruits call me Captain Armor.”
The others giggled a little, but Starlight went on. “What are the chances that we’ll actually win if we are forced to fight the Royal Guard?”
“Not very high, but not undoable if we’re ready, and it depends on the resources they have in the area.” He shook his head. “I think that they shouldn’t be too different than fighting Ponyville’s militia, but they are better equipped, motivated and trained. They keep formations and they follow orders better. They fight different too… I mean, they’re more military than law enforcement, but those boys and girls should have enough discipline to keep from hurting somepony.”
“You don’t look very happy about that, though.” The mare paid attention to his posture and he didn’t seem very excited. Maybe it was fighting his subordinates that bothered him. She felt it would be better to get him to expose his feelings.
“Are you doing that counseling thing on me?” His ears turned back, and she shrugged. Finally, he sighed. “I’m not worried about the Royal Guard or even the princesses. It’s the griffons.”
“Hum. Tell me more about this.”
“She’s definitively doing the counseling thing with you, Shining.” Cadance chuckled while the others took their places by the table.
This was serious business though, and Twilight urged him to go on. “Shinny, you’ve been worried about the griffons ever since we mentioned going to Griffonia in the Changeling Rock.
“We’re going into The Lion’s territory.” He said. “That guy is… Dangerous. I don’t like messing with him.”
The pink unicorn frowned. “I keep hearing I should be worried about this guy… But he’s just the local governor of one of Griffonia’s holds.”
“He’s a leader, Starlight. He makes griffons think the same way that he does.”
“Oooh…” She bit her lip and avoided his eyes for a while. “Yeah… So… What is up with the griffons?”
His ears fell. “I don’t know if you can shoot the Elements of Harmony at a formation of griffon line infantry. We haven’t had a war for centuries. And worse… Warfare conventions are changing and it’s likely they won’t use that either. Do you know why we use muskets?”
They shook their heads collectively, paying attention. Miss Calcite paid attention too, drawing closer to the baby who was oblivious to the conversation.
“Griffons started using the muskets in the Second Griffon war and we were forced to start using them too because our tactics stopped working. We couldn’t just cover our ponies in heavier armor because they just didn’t work anymore as they did against the pikes. The griffons though are typically much stronger than the typical pony, that means they can fight with heavier armor, carry sturdier muskets and they can simply stand in place and rain bullets at our soldiers. That is why they developed their revolver muskets and the designs have been evolving since. Also, they don’t really care if they get hurt. They just tank it, but ponies don’t deal very well with injury.”
Ponies didn’t look very excited around him.
“It gets worse. They now have machining tools that allows them to make smaller moving pieces and they are also ‘riffling’ the barrels of their guns. It makes the bullets spin and that increases the precision. They also have new ammunition. While we stayed with the crystal balls, the griffons had been studying better bullets and metal casings.”
They didn’t seem to understand. “This allowed them to create loading mechanisms that reload the weapon after each shot. They seem to have weapons that can fire some ten times before being easily reloaded and one of our spies mentioned a weapon that can cut down a tree line. This is scary stuff girls. We’re used to big bad guys that do a whole lot of fanfare, but they are one. Even when they had an army with them, that would go away once we dealt with the boss.”
“Don’t we have combat spellcasters in our military reserve?” Rarity frowned. Magic could be pretty scary too. She’s seen Twilight casting some pretty scary magic. She and Starlight knew several high-energy elemental spells that could wreak havoc if they wanted. Not to mention griffons too. “Don’t we also have griffons that would side with us?”
“How many Starlights and Twilights do we have? The griffons can manufacture those things and put them in the hands of a griffon with some weeks of training, but a trained combat spellcaster takes years to train. And most unicorns want nothing to do with it, and that is another problem. We’re falling behind because our scholars are worried with other things. We use magic for everything.”
“And griffons…” He went on. “That is the problem. We’re seeing that they are siding with The Lion.”
“Why, though?” Cadance frowned. “We offer friendship and all its benefits. We’re just stronger together.”
“That is the problem, Cadie. The Lion has something that is convincing griffons to join him. I don’t understand. No one does. They leave family behind sometimes and go to Snow Mountains hold. They’re keeping it a secret and it’s making me very nervous. I don’t want to see Equestria split in a war with the griffons, even if we end up winning. Most ponies don’t study war. They don’t know what a war actually is. And I think that is why Princess Celestia is being so careful in this whole mess.”
He turned to Starlight. “And Twilight and Cadance want to go right into the belly of the beast.”
Starlight worried for him. Prince Armor did seem very worried, but not in the funny way Twilight did when she got herself all worked up over something silly. He knew what he was talking about, and the two princesses in question paid attention to what he was saying too. “They just… They hate us. I don’t understand why they hate us so much. Most griffons are fine with us, but not them. And they are changing the ones that do like us.”
“Did you ever have contact with them? These griffons from Snow Mountains?” Cadance asked.
“Once. Right after I graduated from the academy. Some griffons lived in Canterlot and we had been called to assist a Foal Protective Services seizure.”
“Whoa!” Twilight almost jumped out her chair. “Those actually happen?”
“It’s not common.” He shook his head. “Normally parents admit it when they have trouble with their foals and accept help from social services, but this time was different. It was beyond helping.”
***
It was a hot night and I was stuck with nightshift in the Royal Guard HQ, by Canterlot Palace while everypony else was either having fun or sleeping. It was a nice place for sure, with the Princess liking the Royal Guard so much, but it was still a night shift. Like sticking your bird in a ruby incrusted golden cage. That’s the life of a recruit fresh out of the academy. The higher ups got food from the palace’s kitchens and the company of the cute maids that worked for the Princess, meanwhile, they stuck you with a partner and you do shifts together with the other pairs of Royal Guards. We’re supposed to be sitting there, waiting for something to go wrong, but since the local militia usually took care of things, we spent most of the time doing the most useful things we could think of. Napping, eating stale donuts with cold coffee and chatting up the ladies of the street.
***
“And you spent time doing…?” Cadance eyed him with a smug grin.
“Napping, of course.” He said with a straight face. “I was studying to join the Officer’s Academy and I was constantly so tired I couldn’t do anything to one of them if they came up to me!”
“Why are you talking like this, Shining Armor?” His sister stared annoyed at him.
“Excuse me? When did I ever get to tell a story in the last nine years?” He stared back. “How do you know that’s not how I tell a story?”
She sighed. “Fine…”
***
That night was particularly boring until a runner burst open the door with orders for a squad of Royal Guards to accompany the Locals in a tough one. Foal Protective Services didn’t usually have trouble with their job, nor typically did it at night, but this time it was a griffon family they needed to visit, and it was no ordinary visit. A scared citizen went up to the Locals HQ and denounced a violent domestic dispute. For FPS to go out in the middle of the night, the Locals knew it was serious and so did we. Turned out FPS looked it up and the address was a griffon family in a middle-class neighborhood. The father was a nasty griffon by the name of Greywald with a history of violent altercations with neighbors, store owners, local militia, you name it. This business had bad mojo written all over it.
This guy Greywald… He had been involved in domestic disputes before and his mate had been to the doctor with a scratch or two a few times too many. So, when his cub was born someone in the FPS had the enlightenment of putting his name on a watchlist. Well, it didn’t take long for that to pay off. The cub was only one or two years old when this whole mess happened.
Of course, it fell on to my partner, Corporal Street Wise and me to join the Locals and an FPS agent on the way. We met on a street next to our destination. It was a narrow street, not uncommon of Canterlot in the middle-class neighborhoods, with the terrain prices being what they are in there, but it was nice enough with a few small but fancy apartment buildings and even a neighborhood watch, thus the situation we found ourselves in.
I never caught the names of the two Locals and didn’t pay much attention to them either. There wouldn’t be much to say, anyway. It was back in the times when our barding made everyone look the same. The only difference was that they wore the leather barding of the Locals and we wore the golden one of the Royal Guard.
Huh… Maybe if they had called the Princess things would’ve turned out different. But that is beyond the point now.
The FPS agent though was a mean pissed-off looking griffon lady. Think Gilda with more years and more griffon and you’d be on the right track. They knew way back when to have agents dedicated to specific demographics. They said things would end up in blood if you sent a pony to take away a griffon cub, or something like that. The point was that the griffon lady was supposed to know this Greywald from some time ago, his mate Grinea and their cub. She never told us the name of the cub, though. Or her own.
We gathered in the corner and the curious citizens listening to the racket were wise enough to skedaddle out of there, so we had the area to ourselves and we gathered to discuss our game plan. The whole time the FPS lady seemed worried about something, and I suppose that rubbed off on me.
“Gentleponies…” She began. “I believe you already know we’re going to deal with disturbance of peace. Domestic violence. You need to know that this Greywald is very dangerous and has been known to resort to violence. That is why you were called. We are worried the cub is clearly exposed to a hostile environment and we are worried he can get hurt in one of these… Outbursts.”
“Furthermore, the Local Guard is supposed to take the mother into protective custody and in the morning someone from Special Victims will be there to talk to her. Someone finally decided he hurt her enough already.”
“But isn’t that whenever griffons make out?” My partner elbowed one of the Locals and chuckled at his own joke, but the griffon agent didn’t find it funny, so he did us the favor of shutting up and the Local in charge broke the uncomfortable silence.
“It’s an apartment. Second floor, only one door. Between the four of us we should be able to keep him from causing trouble and if he does, we should be able to restrain him and let our Miss FPS here do her job.”
“Please, try to avoid violence if you can.” The griffoness insisted. “Let me talk to him and leave his mate alone for now. She’s not the problem.”
“Right on.” My partner said. “Let’s get this done!”
We rushed past the doors to small studio apartment buildings and we knew we had the right one because we could hear the cub crying and this Greywald guy yelling like he was possessed. Something about pampering and spoiling the kid. We entered the building and climbed the stairs as quickly as we could and my guts were telling things would be going south in a hurry, but we had a job to do.
As soon as we arrived, Miss FPS knocked on the door. “Mister Greywald, please open the door.”
Things only got worse from there. We heard glass cracking on the other side and the female cried and begged him to stop.
“Recruit! Get this open!” My partner barked at me, shoving the griffon lady out of the way, and I did. I cast the spell they teach you and my partner kicked the door open. All Tartarus broke loose after that. Damn griffon met us with a musket. Shot Street Wise before we even saw the cursed gun. Magical disruption bullet too. The barding stopped most of the damage, but it fragmented and got him good.
I dragged him out of the way and made him swallow a whole vial of healing potion while the two Locals went in with their magical stun batons. I was distracted checking my partner and I only came to when I heard the FPS agent screaming. I’m not going to describe what I saw in there, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Well, I didn’t have time to feel sorry for what was left of the Locals. They didn’t carry firearms at the time, but Royals did. I grabbed my pistol and shot the bastard. Got him in the gut and he threw a freaking flowerpot at me.
Damn thing was heavy and could’ve done a number on me, but I managed to protect myself with a shield. Of course, he flew out. Only when our griffon lady rushed after him through the window I noticed the son of a gun had taken the cub with him. I wanted to chase, but my partner was out bleeding, and the griffon lady of the house was curled up crying in the corner with blood all over their apartment.
***
“Ponies just don’t do this.”
“My goodness…” Twilight gasped softly. “You never told me that.”
“Yeah… It’s not the sort of thing you tell your little sis in the family dinner.”
“You can stop talking like that now.”
“Fine!” He crossed his legs and folded back his ears.
“Shining Armor.” Rarity called him. “Whatever happened them?”
“Street Wise got better but left the Guard. Captain White Wall, the Royal Guard’s captain at the time told me they found the FPS agent and she didn’t make it. That guy had hurt her a lot when she caught up to him. Miss Grinea got better and still lives in Canterlot. Greywald was found dead in a cargo ship that made it to Griffonstone. Bled out on the way. No sign of the cub though. Never appeared ever again.” He sighed. “I imagine he died somewhere in the street because he was never registered in an orphanage. Princess Luna wasn’t around so… We lost him.”
“Yes… He would certainly have been registered if he ever was adopted.” His sister agreed.
“I almost gave up myself after that.”
“Shinny, I understand what you mean…” Cadance said softly, caressing his hoof with hers. “But you can’t judge all griffons because of one really bad griffon. Griffons like Chef Gustave Le Grand would never do something so barbaric.”
“Or Gallus.” Twilight added with some pride.
“The point is that they could if they wanted, Cadance. And the griffons in the place you want to go all want to.”
“We will be careful. We’re probably going to help The Lion some with our research and that should give us safe-conduct through his lands.”
“I hope so. Maybe I’m worrying too much.”
“Yeah. It kinda runs in the family.” She grinned at him and he chuckled.
“Touché.”
The ponies giggled and Twilight pointed outside. “We better talk to the Captain. We need a place to meet with Sunburst, Goodread and their griffon friend. He might know where.”
The two princesses left without any delay and headed astern where the Captain held the ship’s controls.
“Aye, Lasses?” He greeted them with a smile.
“What is the nearest city? Preferably somewhere small and out of the way?” Twilight asked.
“Ahh… That’be Haybale, lass. More a rural village than a town. More a place where the farmponies gather fer drinkin’ after the day’s work is done. Plantations all over and not a soul in gold armor, if ye catch me meaning.”
“Perfect!” The pink one chimed with a large grin. “I’ll write a letter to Sunburst and we’ll find a place to meet there!”
“Whoa! Lasses! Mind sharing?”
Twilight giggled. “Sorry. One of our friends just sent us a letter telling us he found something important to our investigation. We really need to see him, and we plan on meeting there.”
“Aye…” He sounded worried. “The Guards be right behind us, lasses. They’ll catch up to us if we stop.”
“I understand your worries, captain. But it’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
‘Aye, princess. You say, we do.”
***
Every teleporter facility should be equipped with an array of terminals so that different operator companies have a chance of buying a slot. In the minds of the ponies in charge competition stimulated variety and excellence, and they were right. The result was that several companies bid on the slots and soon after each facility was completed all the slots were taken and the users had a variety of prices and services to choose from.
Cargo transfer platforms were an exception. Not only they required a larger size to be reasonably useful, but their operation required too much magical energy from the facility, meaning that their operation was too expensive and time-consuming.
It was simply much more useful to put whatever one wanted transported on an airship, even the older zeppelins and have it shipped across Equestria. The problem is that even a modern airship with magical engines could take days or weeks to reach a destination and certain products with very low shelf-life, typically obscure or exotic magic things needed to be on their destination within the day or they would be lost.
Usually, those would be such rare and expensive items their owners would do anything to ensure their safe arrival. Including paying ludicrously high prices for the teleportation fee. Add to that the fact that only one platform could be built by facility and teleporter operator companies started foaming at the mouth whenever one was under construction.
It was said that the auditions for the freight transfer platform whenever a new facility was built would involve seductive ponies, Bits being thrown around, swearing, blunt objects, arson and generalized threats to Harmony as a whole.
So, like a mother that would take away the toys causing the children to fight among themselves, Princess Celestia decided that the freight platforms would be state owned. The profits would be reverted to the Royal Treasury.
But that still meant that the platforms would require operators such as those the teleporter companies already had trained. Rumors said that it was one of the few times Princess Celestia swore in her ages-long life.
Since she was the owner of the platforms though, the Princess decided that she would preside the auditions in hopes that the ponies would behave with her. Rumors said that she almost murdered a pony in one of the first meetings.
Following a series of unsuccessful meetings, she decided after much screaming into pillows and ripping them apart that the Royal Guard’s Magical Engineering Corps and that her School for Gifted Unicorns would train private individuals that wanted to work for the state as teleporter operators.
Then the Teleporter Operators Union sued the Royal House.
Rumors said that Princesses Luna, Cadance, Twilight and Flurry Heart managed to avoid an event unknown to the general public that was believed to involve the dissolution of the Senate, of the Equestrian Confederacy and of all civil institutions. But this was never confirmed.
Finally, the Princess decided that she would choose what company she would grant the operation of each of her teleporters. The next day after the meeting newspapers proudly reported on the heroic actions by Doctor Kind Hope of the Canterlot Royal Hospital in saving the life of the marketing representative for EqMagical Travel who had been forcefully fed a pouch of Bits. Unconfirmed rumors said that the princess had ordered the recently married Prince-Consort to make that pony swallow those Bits after they tried to bribe her. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand that she was being emphatic, rather than giving him a direct command.
Finally, the drama ended when Princess Celestia tossed pieces of paper with city names in a room full of ponies, soft batons and a table for three behind thick bars. Prince-Consort Chocolate Velvet called it ‘The PG Gladiator Games’, but nopony understood what he meant by that except Celestia and Luna.
“And that is how freight teleporters were made!” Marble Hoof told the others with a huge grin.
“So, what are the chances that any of that is real?” Semolina sat next to Grape Donut, who was close to his griffon mercenary friend. The others milled about.
“Not very likely…” The mercenary had become bored with the overexcited pony.
Their arrival had been mostly without commotion. A group of ponies and a griffon traveling together wasn’t ordinary, especially with a large griffon of military build, but it also wasn’t particularly strange. Their arrival did turn a few heads among the authorities, though not enough that it would cause disruptions. A few documents were checked, and questions asked, but the problems ended there.
The whole group sat in the large room that was the lounge. It had a giant window showing the platform and in the back it an ice cream and a pizza vending stands. Rows of seating were available to representatives of companies waiting to receive whatever cargo might be teleported in under their responsibility. It was a luxurious place, meant for rich ponies representing rich companies. Not for backwater town militias and griffon mercenaries.
“Wow!” Marble Hooves had his face glued to the giant glass window, staring at the thing on the other side. “This is so cool!”
The platform was in the open field, surrounded by a tall fence and was little more than a raised metal and crystal platform, but the pony could imagine and wonder at all the magical components underneath that made the thing work. A few ponies seemed to be cleaning the platform, collecting debris and carefully inspecting it. On the back and to the side of the platform was a tower with forward inclined glasses.
His head shifted a little to the side. “Is that a control tower or something?”
“Yes! That is exactly what it is. A control tower!” A griffon approached him. Not nearly as big as Flying Snake with a light tan body and white head, not only that, but wearing a pair of glasses and a white coat, but also with a much friendlier attitude. “Hi! I’m Tech Guy!”
“Hum… Weird name…” Marble bumped his closed fist.
“Yeah…” The griffon frowned a little. “My real name is Gemmerich”, but everyone just calls me Tech Guy. You know… The one that actually went to college and knows what to do if the magic components start dying on them.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, TG.” The big griffon drew their attention and started making the presentations. Marble Hoof didn’t even notice, but a group of griffons and diamond dogs, of all the creatures, had just arrived by the large doors to the lounge.
“Diamond dogs! How cool!” He gasped.
“Guys, this here is my mate, Geneva.” A griffon stooped next to him, waving and grinning at the ponies. A white and big griffoness with white body and yellow head along with her green eyes. “She is our weapons specialist. If it shoots, smashes, cuts or pokes, she’s the griffon you wanna talk to. That over there with your geek is my geek. You can call him Tech Guy and call him if anything looks like it is about to blow up in the airship. He had another nickname, but we didn’t really care.”
“Ha ha…” The griffon in question sighed. “Hi, ponies.”
“And this here…” He gestured towards the small griffon with the black-spotted yellow body and white head. “Is Ocelot.”
Flying Snake was still talking. “And that over there is Mama, and her pack. Best airship crew ever!”
It was a group of ten or so diamond dogs that waved at the ponies. All of them wearing their typical jackets and hunched postures. Except for Mama, who had a pearl necklace.
“Hum. Nice meeting you guys.” Grape Donut greeted them, next to his wife.
“Isn’t it a bit weird? A pack of diamond dogs and three griffons?”
“Diamond dogs good airship crew!” Mama said. “Honest work for dogs, yes? Can shoot griffon weapons too. Better than raiding pony traders again. No?”
The other diamond dogs agreed with her and meanwhile a white earth pony mare, wearing a dark-blue suit and carefully tied black mane approached with a clipboard hanging from her neck and a very unfriendly expression. Next to her a young and meek beige and white unicorn.
“Mister… Snake?” She sounded professional, if unfriendly.
“Yeah. That’s me.” The others made silence. “And you are?”
“Can I have your real name… Sir?” She didn’t answer and stared angrily.
“That is it.”
“No, it is not.” Then she sighed. “The Princess has requested that your airship be teleported with the utmost urgency, so we’ve made some of our costumers very angry for shifting the schedule around. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate it if you moved it out of the platform as soon as it’s arrived. The magical capacitors take half an hour to power back up… After that we’re losing Bits by the second the platform is not cleared.”
“Ah, don’t worry miss.” He waved a paw dismissively. “We’re leaving as soon as she’s here.”
“Thank you, sir. EQMagical appreciates it.” She seemed to relax a little and became more friendly. “She should be arriving within minutes. Amber Flower here will take care of teleporter operations. She is a trainee with EQMagical from Bay County University and is accredited with the Teleporter Operators Union. If you have any question, please direct it at her.”
With that the mare turned to the other costumers in the lounge, the ones that were actually paying to use the platform and looked particularly miffed about the change in the schedule. And while she talked to them, Marble Hoof approached the unicorn mare that talked to the griffon mercenary.
“I don’t really have any questions.” Flying Snake shrugged. “Just thanks for you work.”
“It’s a pleasure, sir!” She smiled and then turned to the militiapony unicorn. “Yes?”
“Cool job that you have!” He grinned excitedly. “Is it hard?”
“Any unicorn can do it, really.” She smiled a little more at him. “You just need some training. That is all.”
Then her boss returned. “Come on, Amber. The platform should be ready to go soon.”
“Hey! Ma’am!” Marble Hoof approached the professional mare. “Is it true what they say about the construction of the freight teleporters?”
Her face conveyed the ultimate form of chagrin. “We don’t talk about that, sir.”
And then she turned her back to him. Amber hurried after her towards the door.
“I expected they would be angrier, considering we’re intruding on their schedule.” Grape Donut came nearby with his new griffon friend while the two mares left.
“The Princess has this weird power…” The big griffon said. “Ponies will move mountains if she asks. I can guarantee that if we were by ourselves it would cost us an arm and a leg, and we would be thrown days down the schedule.”
It didn’t take long and a steam whistle sounded. The ponies on the platform rushed out of it until a few seconds later the whistle stopped, and the platform powered up with pink magical light. Ponies stared from the other side of the glass like it was new year’s fireworks. Unicorn horns itched and a low humming sound resonated through the glass. There was a bang and the air smelled funny, but there she was.
It had a metallic hull, hardly pristine but rusted in several places, clearly a seaship converted into airship, but it lacked sails. What it had was a pair of tall charcoal-stained chimneys, and instead of the elegant swan wings of the princess’ airship, this one had its magical engines mounted on the sides of the hull. She was shorter and had a deeper draught. It seemed sturdier and it even had shipboard weapons, including a few broadside cannons and a pair of ballistae near the bow. It even had a griffon reaching forward and screaming in flight for figurehead.
“She’s a beauty, ain’t she?” The big griffon grinned.
“Wow! This is so cool!” Marble’s eyes shone like a child’s before the Princess of the Night. “It’s a converted griffon steamship!”
“It’s a piece of junk!” The pegasus mare of the group half-panicked. “We’re all gonna die in this thing!”
“Hey! The Pequod is a fine airship!” The griffon grinned some more. “It’s saved our asses more than once.”
“It is a piece of junk…” His mate wasn’t amused.
“No, it’s not! It’s a nice ex-whaling ship turned into a chariot of the gods!”
“The princess’ airship will leave this thing behind faster than Brisk Bronco’s fillyfriends.” The pegasus mare facehoofed.
“No, no.” Mama raised a finger. “Pony pretty airships fast, yes. But need recharging mana batteries with sails. Griffon steamship not so fast, but stronger and constant. Turns better too!”
“Mama’s right, pony.” The mercenary added. “We’ll catch them off-guard when they’re recharging the batteries and don’t have the juice to run. Not to mention we’ll ambush and hook them with the ballistae. They’ll drag us with them if they run until we reverse our engines. Then they’re going nowhere.”
“Cool!” Grape Donut grinned. “Let’s get this thing flying!”
***
Waking up in a bed in the Bordello of Candy was a special treat even for one from royalty, used to all the comforts and luxuries the ponies provided to their beloved rulers. Even if in his home in Canterlot he had every luxury he would ever desire, the Bordello had that special feeling attached to it. A stone ceiling and walls that brought an exciting rustic feeling and the windows that showed snow had clung to the metal framing outside. The wind cried outside but the flickering light and warmth from the fireplace met that and created a fantastic feeling of comfort and safety.
The room’s decorations were shields and on top of swords and spears hanging on the wall, a banner with one of the insignias of the Royal House, a white field with the combined images of Equestria’s Sun and Moon combined with horns and wings. Another had the insignia for Princess Cadance, the Crystal Heart with golden arabesques. It was the sort of thing that Chocolate Velvet liked. This awesome pony heraldry.
The bed was great too! The mattress was denser than most ones out there. It was a sort of ‘alicorn problem’. Their bodies were bigger and so they needed bigger beds, but they were also heavier, and normal mattresses were uncomfortable to them. The one he was lying on was perfect, like the one on his bed in the palace.
Bed sheets were great too! The kind of soft satin one would expect to be on the beds of royalty. All in whites and soft pinks. Not his favorite colors, but that didn’t detract from the quality.
Last night was almost as surreal as the day before. The Siege of the Bordello of Candy would go down in history as the most bizarre battle ever. He had to admit that Chrysalis does play the evil queen really well and her Praetorians put up a fierce fight. Once or twice he wondered if they understood it was a mock battle. Was it though? Things were confusing and even more in the following night.
The look on Chrysalis face when Thorax walked in with Celestia was a thing of legends, Luna trying to explain to Celestia how come Cadance had escaped was the best though. Things worked out wonderfully though and Friendship prevailed.
He didn’t really know if he could say that ‘Friendship’ was what happened, but something along the spectrum. The important thing was that things worked out in the end, they had some fun fighting each other and seeing Celestia in action was one of the most awesome things he’d ever seen.
Really poor choice of words considering what happened in the night… But the sentiment is right. Equestrian culture was a bit confusing at times. Regardless, his mind roused softly with memories and with Celestia’s creamy aroma still on the sheets, as much as Luna’s blueberry-y one.
And Chrysalis’ bleach-like aroma.
He grunted taking a hoof to his head and lifted his head slowly. It was still full of headache-inducing alcoholic byproducts and he feared any carelessness might cause him to hurl up. So, feeling the mattress sir under somepony else’s weight behind him, he turned slowly, and his snout collided with Thorax’s.
He screamed and jumped up while the other screamed too but fell on the side of the bed. On the other side of the large bed Luna’s head rose from the pillow with sleepy eyes and then collapsed back into it after seeing nothing important was happening.
The brown alicorn ‘eeped’ and reached to help Thorax stand. “Thorax, I’m so sorry! I’m just not used to waking up next to another stallion.”
“It’s alright.” The other held onto Chocolate’s leg and massaged his antler with the other hoof. “I can’t say that I am either.”
A bit far from the bed, in the giant room, Chrysalis sat on a comfy reading chair, holding a book in her green magic aura and stared at the two with some level of disdain. “You two are so immature I don’t really understand why we put up with you.”
“Good morning to you too, Chrysalis.” Velvet growled, sitting in the center of the bed.
“Can’t you say something nice, for once?” The other glowered at her.
The queen closed the book and sighed. Thought for a second.
“You didn’t embarrass me.” She smiled exaggeratedly and clapped her hooves together. “Yay!”
Then Celestia came out of the bathroom. “Come on! The sooner you get out of bed, the faster you’ll feel better! We have a lot to do today!”
“Can’t we take a day off?” Chrysalis frowned. “Really… Let’s pretend today is Heart Day, since we never really stop on Heart Days like everyone does. And then do it all again.”
“No. We need to help your special children.”
“Don’t call them ‘special’, Celestia.” The queen fumed. “It makes it sound like they’re retarded.”
The princess stared angrily at her for a second. “Fine. Let’s call them your soul-scarred, lame-bodied, mentally-unstable, brain-washed, nightmarish failed attempt at super-soldier secret children.”
“Sarcasm ill fits you, Celestia. It is too early, and they are probably sleeping now.”
“No, they are not. They are afraid and they need you to be their mother and their leader.”
Chrysalis was going to say something, having inhaled and closed her eyes in the most condescending way both males watching could imagine but a knock on the door stopped her, followed by Discord’s voice.
“Am I going to be traumatized by what I see if I open this door?”
The princess giggled. “No, Discord. It is quite safe.”
The door opened and he stared inside. “Seriously, Celestia. Put those golden things on. You look naked without them.”
“Ponies go around naked all the time, Discord.” She deadpanned.
“Well, yes!” He struggled with the words. “It’s different! Trust me.”
“He’s right.” Chrysalis added. “You do look naked without those things. I mean… More naked.”
She huffed and went back into the bathroom, coming out wearing her royal regalia. “There!”
All the present nodded agreeably, except for Luna who was still sleeping, and Discord proceeded. “I need your counselling, Celestia…”
“Why?” She grinned the most amused of grins. “Do you have a guilty conscience over helping Twilight and Cadance with their personal quest behind my back?”
He blinked twice at her and then pointed angrily at Chrysalis. “Did she tell you something she shouldn’t?”
She cocked her head. “Actually, I wasn’t aware that Chrysalis was helping them too.”
The queen facehoofed, with both hooves and profoundly. “Discord, you dunce!”
The princess giggled in a good mood. “Oh my. It makes a lot of sense now. Though I already suspected. What did you tell them?”
“I told them about the Animus Imperative.”
“The what?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, but she was ignored.
“About the things that I did. I didn’t tell them about you, though. I… Uh… Sent them to Naminé.”
The princess sighed and her ears fell sadly. “Naminé is confused, Discord. She’s going to fill their heads with the wrong ideas. She’s going to show them things that she herself doesn’t understand.”
“Well, that is the thing. Twilight has shown me that ponies are more mature. And that she and Cadance will figure out the meaning of the things that happened.”
“It is only going to cause hurt and heartbreak, Discord.”
“That is what I told them! But they insisted! But I agree with them that, especially in these days, there are things in that history that ponies could afford to know. Maybe be a little humbler.” He opened his arms.
She sighed. “So, where is Naminé now?”
“I wasn’t going to tell you, even if I knew.” He crossed his arms, but then he waved a hand dismissively. “That is not what I came here to talk to you.”
Her ears perked up. “What was it then?”
“How come you are so patient and lenient with him?” The Queen complained almost like a child.
“Well, for one, Discord didn’t try to make super-soldiers behind my back with resources that I’d given away for the sake of a project of mutual trust and interdependency, as though I was trying to teach a valuable lesson about friendship.” She stared. “And also, I understand Discord. He is bound to those ponies and I rather we all remained on good terms. Finally, this whole thing will go away when I catch up to Twilight if the ambush we planned near Baltimare works. If things go well, I won’t have to worry about anything Discord has told them. Unlike your children.”
The Queen grumbled and sunk back into the chair, quieting herself.
The princess turned back to Discord. “Well, tell me what happened, Discord.”
“I was in northern territories of Griffonia and I just kept two armies of griffons from killing each other.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Next time let them kill each other. Less griffons would be less problems.”
“Don’t listen to her. You did a wonderful job.” Celestia smiled at him. “But why were those griffons there? What are the details?”
“I believe that they were acting behind your back. They were going to attack The Lion’s fortress and I know they’re not supposed to.”
“You are right. Not only they’re not supposed to do anything like this, but it was likely to get all of them killed. There is a reason The Lion is so proud of Griffinsky.” She nodded. “I will have my Justiciars investigate this with the utmost urgency. Silkfeathers is very likely behind this.”
“There is one other thing… The griffons there. The Northerners. They were really respectful to me. Even friendly. They even listened to me. I didn’t expect that, and I know they are hostile to other griffons and ponies. I don’t really know what to make of it.”
“Interesting. Maybe there is something in their localized culture that draws them to you. You should learn about and cultivate that.”
“What happens when Discord turns against you because he’s suddenly siding with the griffons?” Chocolate grumbled sitting in the bed, next to Thorax.
“Please, Velvet. Cynicism is Chrysalis’ job.” She looked back at him. “Discord is not going to turn against us. He’s learned that lesson already. At most, he would try to convince us that we are wrong and give ample way to a conversation, if he sees that the griffons are right.”
“Welp, sounds like a mission.” Discord pointed with a thumb behind his back. “Some griffoness said I should go to Griffindell and see a Lady Gwendolen.”
“She is The Lion’s mate. She keeps to herself and never leaves the city. If you manage to befriend her, we could have an opening to reach The Lion and then find an easier peaceful solution to this whole situation.” The princess giggled. “Then Chrysalis wouldn’t have to act so though because she’s so afraid of him.”
All they heard was a petulant harrumph.
***
In the Baltimare Teleporter Facility, one hour had passed and the old airship was still in the teleportation platform. The schedule was about to spontaneously combust, and the world would end in a meeting room full of suicidal corporate officers. Not really likely, but that was how Top Brass felt and she was about to rip her mane out. She stomped her hooves on the crystal platform until she was close enough to the airship that she could talk to the ocelot-griffon with his back to the railing.
“Excuse-me, sir!” She called in her most passive-aggressive professional tone, but the griffon didn’t answer or even react.
“Excuse-me! Sir!” She tried again. This time with the voice she’d speak to her foal when she was about to ruin his day. But the griffon still ignored her.
He didn’t ignore her though when she launched her clipboard with the precision of a guided magical missile to the back of the griffon’s head.
“Ow!” He finally turned to her and held on to the railing. “What the feather?!”
“Get this piece of junk out of my platform!” She pointed out with a hoof as though she could move it by sheer force of her anger.
“They’re having some troubles with the boiler. This thing isn’t one of these new fancy airships that you snap a finger and they fly, you know!”
“Do you have any idea how much debt you are causing simply by keeping this thing in here?!”
The griffon shrugged and she was glad there was nothing alive next to her because she would have murdered it.
Finally, there was a bang and the two chimneys started bellowing black smoke up in the air.
“There, are you happy?”
“No! I’ll be happy when this thing is so far away that I never have to see it ever again!” She spat back. “How does this thing even work?! How can you need steam to run a magical engine?! It doesn’t make any sense!”
“Beats me. All I know is that they have to boil the water and pressurize the system yet. So, it’s still going to take a few minutes. You better relax.”
She screeched so high the diamond dogs working the boiler thought there was a leak in the steam system. Some three quarters of an hour later the thing’s magical engines were running (however those cursed things worked) with enough force they managed to get it off the platform. Its mechanical legs let off steam and retreated into the hull, sealing off with their feet while the airship gained altitude and accelerated forward and upwards.
“Ugh. Finally!” She then turned to the ponies in hardhats inspecting the platform. “Get this thing ready! We’re doing overtime tonight!”
With the fury of a raging dragon inside, she stood quietly by the side of the platform while the ponies quickly cleared the platform and all of them waited for the next transfer in.
Nothing happened and she groaned tapping her hoof on the floor while the ponies exchanged concerned stares.
A few minutes passed and still nothing happened. “I can’t believe this!”
She stomped off towards the tower with an infuriated scream. Opened the door and climbed the stairs grinding her teeth together until she finally came through the door into the control room where a brown earth pony stallion in the company’s uniform was next to one of the platform’s magic control panels with the young beige unicorn, Amber Flower, staring confusingly at her panel. On the other side, there was another unicorn with another panel, doing something to it with his magic.
“Don’t tell me that thing damaged the platform! I’ll kill myself!” She screeched and drew attentions to her.
“No.” Said the stallion. “There’s an unscheduled transfer coming in from an unregistered platform.”
She blinked twice. “Is that even possible?”
The unicorn next to the stallion sounded confused and stared up at Top Brass. “Hum... I can’t explain it… But it seems so.”
“Great. What are you doing in the university if you can’t even get this thing to work?!” She walked closer. “Can’t you deny it and get to the right transfer?”
The other unicorn let up his work on his panel. “It’s not letting us do anything.”
Then the door opened, and one giant griffon walked in. All dark-gray and white head with green eyes. The two mares squeaked at the sight and the male unicorn hid behind his panel. The earth pony walked around the panel. “Sir. You can’t be in here.”
The griffon sat and unslung his musket from his shoulder and pointed it. “It’s cool. The boss said I can shoot any ponies stupid enough to not have understood that they are not in control of the situation anymore. So, kindly understand that you’re not in charge here or you’ll just give the cleaning staff a lot of unpleasant work because I can guarantee you that this isn’t loaded with your pony magic stunning crystal balls.”
He spoke with an accent none of them recognized and then another griffon entered, but that one was actually a little smaller than griffons tended to be and was brown furred with a darker head. He also carried a firearm with him but kept it on its back.”
“Alright, listen.” The pony stood. “I don’t know what you want, but there is no money in here.”
The smaller griffon laughed and said something in another language none of the ponies understood, warbling and sing-y.
Finally, another pair of griffons entered. The first was fit and serious with purple body and mustard-colored feathers on his head and he also spoke in that same language. He turned to the other griffon that followed him and said some another thing the ponies didn’t understand.
While the big griffon by the door closed and locked it, the one that had entered with him walked past the smaller one with a grin. A big yellow and white griffoness wearing a white coat over her body, she approached the terminal with Top Brass and the young unicorn, pushing the earth pony mare out of the way violently and causing her to crash to the wall with a yelp. Top Brass wisely chose to make herself as small as she could and be quiet.
The griffoness was about twice as big as the small unicorn frozen in place by the terminal, trembling and looking up at her like a terrified mouse. She stared down at the pony showing a cruel grin and malevolent magenta eyes.
“Please don’t hurt me… I’m just an intern from the university.” She pleaded with the softest of voices.
“Oh… The Bay County University? I graduated there you know?” She grinned maliciously and the pony squeaked and lowered herself on the ground. “It was nice being a researcher there until they decided my ideas were too dangerous and Celestia kicked me out. So, I don’t really like it there. Or ponies that go to that particular university. In fact, I don’t really like ponies at all.”
“Ma’am, please don’t hurt her. It’s not her fault.” The stallion said and the purple griffon told her something with an irritated tone, but she ignored both and turned her attention to the magical terminal.
Then purple griffon said something else to what she answered calmly and turned back to the unicorn next to her. “I’m gonna need a small sample of your thaumatic flux, if it is not too much to ask.”
“My what?” She stared with confusion, almost like she’d forgot she was scared.
Then the griffoness slammed the unicorn’s head horn first into the panel and it lit up with magical light.
“Thank you.” The griffoness grinned at the now unconscious unicorn and puled the sleeve of her coat revealing a gold and crystal device in her wrist. After fiddling with it for an instant, the platform outside started the process of powering up and the steam whistle sounded.
“What are you doing?” The white mare still was in the floor, but some of her courage had returned enough to be angry that these griffons were doing something to her platform. “Do you brutes have any idea how expensive this is?”
Then she noticed the purple griffon stood next to her and winced when he lowered his body to be on the same level as she, staring at her with his piercing golden eyes.
“Do you see gentlegriffons? This is the thing we were talking about yesterday.” He spoke to the other griffons, particularly the yellow female that approached, but stared at the pony and spoke perfectly in the universal language of Common Equestrian with a calculated and cold voice. “This pony doesn’t understand the situation she is in. She thinks that the worst that can happen here is that her company is going to lose some money and that she’ll lose her monthly bonus. Maybe her boss will yell at her. Perhaps she’ll have to postpone that vacation and her little foal may have to spend next Hearth Warming without that toy he wanted so much.”
“The interesting thing about this…” He went on. “Is that her boss doesn’t understand the situation either. Neither does her little foal. They are all going to be angry that this mare didn’t perform exactly as she was expected. Ponies don’t understand when their lives are in danger anymore. They don’t fear for their lives. They think that their princesses are going to save them. That their heroes are always around the corner. They’ve learned that their side always wins, and how could they not? They are the good guys. They are the chosen ones that bring Friendship to the rest of us savages.”
Outside a flash announced the completion of the teleportation procedure and the smaller brown griffon said something in their strange language, to what the purple answered and the smaller one broke the glass of the tower. The group flew out and the room was flooded with the coarse sound of magical engines, different from the typical ones they knew. More important than looking out though, the stallion went to the pony mare on the ground.
“Miss Brass, are you injured?” He held her softly in his hooves.
“I don’t think I am.” She stumbled a little with the words, and only them she realized how much she was trembling. “What just happened?”
“They teleported an airship!” The male unicorn now was at the broken window and stared down, shouting over the horrible sound those magical engines were making. “I've never seen anything like it!”
“Stop gawking at it and go call emergency services!” The older stallion yelled at him from the blood-stained terminal. “That griffon hurt Amber Flower.”
The unicorn turned from the window and gasped at seeing his co-worker next to his boss with a cracked horn letting go little sparks and blood on the carpet.
***