//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighteen // Story: A Diplomatic Visit // by Evilhumour //------------------------------// Chapter Eighteen It had been a relatively quiet day in Canterlot so far when Celestia got the first letter from Twilight. A small part of herself had been worried ever since the train had left that morning, but seeing this letter, complete with Twilight’s magical signature, brought her a great sense of relief.  Then she unrolled it, read it, and frowned. “That is worrisome,” she muttered to herself.  “Your majesty?” Raven Inkwell, who had been standing by, asked.  “News from Twilight,” Celestia replied. “Ambassador Swift-Pad has willingly shared with her information regarding the hippogriffs.”  Raven looked startled. “The hippogriffs? We haven’t heard from them in years.”  “Nor has any other creature. According to Twilight, all their kind from around the world were recalled, not just the ambassador to Equestria. Since then, the Packlands at least have been actively attempting to reach them.” Celestia looked deeply concerned. “But it would seem that not even they have been able to land at Mount Aris, and it is as if something is preventing any visitors from reaching that place.”  Raven adjusted her glasses. “Shall I see about setting up an investigation party of our own?”  “That would be wise,” Celestia replied.  When Raven had left to do so, Celestia looked behind her. “You can come out now, Luna.”  From the shadows behind her throne, the alicorn of the moon suddenly appeared. “I’m not even going to ask how you knew I was there,” she said with a yawn. “But I felt Twilight’s letter arriving…”  Celestia nodded, and passed it to her. When Luna had read it, she frowned. “What could have caused such a thing?” she wondered.  “I don’t know,” Celestia said. “It is my hope that these defenses were put in place by Queen Novo, since her kingdom lies nearby, or by the hippogriff queen. But I cannot be sure just yet.”  “Quite.” Luna peered sleepily at her. “Well, I am going back to bed. If Twilight sends another letter, I’ll be back. If not, I’ll see you this evening.”  “Rest well, sister,” Celestia called as Luna vanished back into the shadows.  When the next letter appeared a few hours later, she scanned it quickly, and her eyes narrowed. “Luna,” she called out to her sister, seeing the need to inform her. Instantly, Luna appeared behind her again, and looked at her. “What is it this time?”  “An injustice that has been done to one of our little ponies,” Celestia replied as she hoofed the letter over.  Luna read it quickly, then looked at her sister. “How shall we handle this grave crime and you’re not surprised.” Luna was staring intently at her with Celestia beginning to pace. “Because there have been rumours of Equestrian Border guards being inclined to apply the law in… unique fashions.” Celestia's lip curled into a grimace. “There was a case where Guston, our meat chef in the castle, was nearly deported and banned when traveling over to apply here due to the guards claiming his profession was not recognized in the region and thus was guilty of numerous criminal actions against animals.” “That’s beyond the concept of absurd.” Luna looked at her. “I know for a fact that there are a number of Equestria’s citizens who work with meat - where else would our domestic cat and dog populations, among others, get their food?”    “That is not their concern, merely following the law,” Celestia said with a disappointed look. “And it does not help that certain laws are not properly integrated in all of Equestria; namely the manner of what constitutes food. It is a low priority measure to enact a single law over the country, especially as it is a sensitive issue for our ponies that most don’t view as worth the trouble for a minority part of the population.”  Luna’s face scrunched up as she no doubt was weighing the matter herself and was discovering that it was truly not worth the consequences of forcing a single law for their entire country. “How did Guston manage to overcome those guards in any case?” “Very fortunately, one of those on duty was a recent transfer from Canterlot, and recognized that something was not right with what was going on,” Celestia replied. “He was able to reach one of his fellows back here to inform me of matters, and I was able to step in by showing that Guston was indeed invited directly by me.”  “I sense there is more to this story than just one griffon being harassed at the border,” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. “Is not Canterlot considered one of the capitals of cuisine the world over? How is it that you needed to go abroad for talent and not draw from our own city?” “That, dear sister, is because there is no steak house that would dare make itself known in Canterlot,” Celestia said with a regretful tone. “Some hundred years or more back, Canterlot had the beginnings of a meat restaurant block coming into existence, where griffons whose families had avoided being struck by King John’s bill had begun to pour their wealth into an untapped market. It was a nice breath of fresh air in the city and I had high hopes that they would become the future financial backbone of the Griffonlands when those in the international debt assessment corp finally allowed their people’s economy to restart.” “As you say this, I can guess this was not to be,” Luna inquired with a steel gaze. “No, because anything outside of the pony norm was considered to be suspect by our citizens,” Celestia replied. “There was a griffon named Gravon; he was one of the wealthiest of the griffons and a fine chef to boot. His restaurant was the shining pinnacle of griffon cuisine but as I had said, ponies are wary of what is different so he attracted the constant attention of the then head health and food safety inspector, Balanced Meal,” Celestia snorted that name angrily. “Balanced had made it his business to conduct as many inspections as he could on the griffon restaurants. Granted that he did find violations in some starting griffon restaurants that could have resulted in people getting sick but the frequency and their methods of conducting some of their tests were clearly intended to be harmful to their business.” “Explain.” It was not a demand, per se, but more than what anyone had done in ages and it alone made Celestia feel more normal than anything else in the last thousand years. “Along with going into freezers, leaving the door open while he took his time before checking the temperatures of Gravon’s product so it wouldn’t be recorded at proper temperature, he would also go directly during Gravon’s busy hours to do his inspections, forcing him and his cooks to stop and thus be unable to service his customers.” Celestia let out a sigh, pacing as she continued telling her sister. “He would also have his fellow inspectors tear apart customer’s meals to see if they were properly cooked which got Gravon and Balanced into massive shouting matches, especially when Balanced and his inspectors recooked Gravon’s meals to the point of being charred.” Luna grumbled loudly. “Surely you jest, dear sister. The notion that anyone would actually go into another’s plate, pull it apart to see if it were cooked - which they are not supposed to be fully cooked if thee wants a proper feast and then wound the crafter of said feast by burning it to the point of inedibility‽” Celestia couldn’t help but smirk at her sister, recalling how in the past Luna would pay greatly for a fine cut of meat. Not that Celestia could blame her sister. When Celestia had the craving, she would remind Guston that he had been hired for a reason. Her smirk fell as Celestia focused back onto the conversation. “He did so constantly with the city guards also coming in for various complaints, all no doubt to drive Gravon out of business but his customers remained loyal, if only in some cases out of spite for the ponies harassing their favourite chef.” “I sense a drastic change to the situation coming,” Luna said from the throne, Celestia briefly wondering when when she had moved herself there.  “You’re correct. You see, during the entire time, Balanced had never actually tried any of his meals; scoffing at them while secretly having a very sensitive stomach,” Celestia said. “During a private, high class party, Balanced had come in for another one of his surprise inspections. Gravon, for all the harassing he had endured, kept trying to make some sort of peace without resorting to any underhoofed means. Though this time, I suspect, Gravon had had enough of the harassment and decided to play a prank on the inspector. He, and I still do not know how he had managed it, convinced Balanced to try some liver tartare.” Luna winced at that with Celestia nodding her head in agreement. “He was sick in an instant with every griffon in the restaurant laughing at him, Gravon included. Balanced ran out and they no doubt thought it would be the end of it for the night.” “I suspect that Balanced had gone for some reinforcement?” Luna inquired. “More like twenty or so city guards to arrest Gravon and all his cooks for attempted murder as well as Balanced’s superiors to issue Gravon with every single violation he could use against the griffon, even some so archaic and minuscule that it shouldn’t have been known unless one was actively looking for it. I recall one violation brought up was that his restaurant sign was a millimeter too large.” “Really.”  “Yes. Gravon’s restaurant was given a failed health rating due to the sheer number of violations despite being one of the most sanitary places in Canterlot at the time,” Celestia replied. “He was given a plea deal that he would serve five years in prison due to the violations and the attempted murder charge, then seven hundred hours of community service before reattending culinary school while also being forbidden to ever open or operate a meat-based restaurant again, only a vegetation-based one, and then only under strict supervision.” “Naturally, he rejected such terms?” “Indeed, while defending himself no less.” “Why would he not take... oh,” Luna began to ask her question before trailing off, being aware of the answer. “No lawyer would risk attaching their name to this case as several others who had been assigned his case had to drop it due to protesters and the sheer negative reputation it was bringing them.” Celestia smiled to herself. “I am told he had entered the wrong profession; he had done his homework very well. He had gone to every restaurant that Balanced had been assigned to and found clear bias in his work. Vegetation-based restaurants were only checked one every month or so opposed to the nearly weekly inspections to the griffons’ restaurants as well as going far overboard in his methods. And what I said before, about tearing meals apart in front of customers? He was doing that and more in all meat-centered restaurants, yet never did it once in the vegetation-based ones - many of them, I suspect, merely had to show there was no meat on the premises to pass. The prosecution, meanwhile provided rather flimsy evidence to support conviction, just bringing up the issues Balanced had brought up at the arrest. In the end, it was left to a jury of Gravon’s peers.” Luna stared at her for a few seconds before her eyes went wide and she shook her head. “And I guess by that, it meant his rival chefs in the vegetarian restaurants.” “It took them all of five minutes before they came back to hand out a guilty verdict and Gravon was convicted of attempted murder which meant life in prison without parole,” Celestia confirmed. “In addition, a strong majority of our Equestrian griffon population who were protesting this sentence were deported into Griffondale with their assets frozen under the suspicions of it being used for illegitimate means, such as illegal protests. That, of course, brought all these griffon’s wealth under the King John bill due to some poor wording in that bill and thus they couldn’t use it anymore.” “Why didn’t you step and stop this travesty of justice?” Luna asked angrily as she rose from her seat. “I was in Saddle Arabia at the time, being an impartial moderator between several of their kings over a dispute of land,” Celestia replied. “Even when the griffon ambassador had demanded I explain why I had deported my citizens into their city, I was stuck playing the role of moderator for several months more before I could address the situation properly.” Celestia looked at her sister with anger flowing through her as she recalled those times. “I was in no mood for going through the lower and upper houses, and used my executive power to bring back our griffon citizens, though I was unable to restore their wealth to them. I also used my executive power to launch several high level investigations and had several severely corrupt individuals arrested for their part in their deportation before I had turned my focus to removing Gravon from prison.” Celestia’s eyes flickered to the side and her anger ebbed. “I was about to use my executive power to overturn his sentence when both councils came to me. They had told me in no uncertain terms that if I continued to use my power to push this agenda, they would vote to unseat me and they had the numbers not only from the usual dissidents but also those who were traditionally loyal to me.” “So you were forced to play by the rules for your last goal,” Luna asked with Celestia nodding her head. “So were you able to get Gravon out of prison?” “No,” Celestia answered. “During the time he had been locked away, he had begun to suffer from severe malnutrition. The prison had refused to reach out to obtain the necessary dietary concerns for one prisoner and they also thought it would be an injustice to let someone who had been arrested for cooking meat to be allowed to eat meat.” “That is abhorrent,” Luna replied. “Do we not have laws forbidding cruel and inhumane treatment of that sort?”  “That case was part of the reason I made such laws stricter than they had been, in an effort to prevent such an atrocity from ever happening again,” Celestia said. “I admit, there were moments when I was sorely tempted to arrest all those who interfered, but… I did not. I felt that had I attempted, some of our fellows would be paying me a visit and claiming I had far overstepped my bounds.” The way she said fellows left Luna no doubt as to just who she meant. “And I could not risk handing over the nation to the nobles, not while having so many things to prepare for in the future.” “Such as my return,” Luna said with Celestia flinching at her words. “So what happened to Gravon in the end.” “My legal team was able to overturn his sentence but he passed away before he could hear the results,” Celestia said sadly. “I sent well over a hundred thousand bits to his daughter, Gretta, as a form of compensation and an apology for all that had happened. The day she got the money, she came to see me so she could throw the money in my face before walking out without so much as a single word.” “And that’s all you did on this matter?” “Unfortunately, yes because I had to suddenly stop the wolves from declaring war on Equestria after Nobleblood managed to offend their entire nation in a single day and destroy our entire diplomatic standing with them,” Celestia let out a tired sigh, shaking her head. “Most ponies tend to forget that I am but a single mare. I might be the Lady of Day but I am still just one pony and I cannot be everywhere at once. For every calamity or crisis unfolding that I could manage, there were several other fires that I had to hope others would take care of and not turn them into raging bonfires while I was distracted.” She looked at her sister. “When Cadance suddenly appeared, it was a vast relief, knowing I finally had some help in many a matter though it would be some years before she could take a proper role, and your own return has also improved things. Now that Twilight has ascended, it is even more of a relief.”  Luna raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if you didn’t intend for her to become one of us all along.”  “I had hoped,” Celestia corrected her. “I suspected that perfecting Starswirl’s last spell might be what pushed her over the edge, but I did not know it would for certain. Either way, she had already become a Power herself, even without knowing it; her becoming one of our kind was just the icing on the cake as far as I was concerned.”  “So what happened to this Balanced Meal, by the way?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow as she lifted a cup of coffee to her lips before frowning. She was not sure when one of their serving staff had brought the cup in but she still appreciated the thought. “His prejudices and that experience in particular pushed him over an edge of a different sort,” Celestia said. “He brought together a group of like-minded thinkers who named themselves the Pony Vegan Environmentalists.”  Luna looked at her in disgust. “Those bigoted…” She said a word that would have made many ponies blanche. “He is their founder‽”  “Yes, and you’re not alone in being upset at the thought,” Celestia said. “I’ve been subtly working on ways of undermining them, but again, I am not perfect, and I am effectively hamstrung when it comes to openly denouncing them. I am, however, quite happy to say that Twilight herself reacted with horror and disgust when she learned of them, and her friends are all firmly of the same school of thought as us, based on what she told me during our talk last night.”  “May I request to know the location of his grave, perchance?” Luna inquired with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “He had significant ties that allowed him to be buried in one of the most prestigious cemeteries in Canterlot that has considerable anti-magical protections and other security spells to prevent more mundane harm from coming to it,” Celestia said. “Had it not, I can guarantee you that his grave would have spontaneously combusted immediately after the funeral. And I can also confess that I’ve given serious thought to asking a certain individual of a more… chaotic nature to see what he can do about bypassing those protections.”  “I wouldn’t hold it against you if you chose to make such a request,” Luna replied in good nature. Then she looked more serious. “That is good and all but this matter with the border guard is unacceptable.” She pawed the ground angrily. “If you will allow me, I shall go meet with the Chief of the Border Guard and see that they restore proper decorum to our soldiers that protect our borders and welcome others to our lands.”  Celestia nodded. “And I believe I shall take the family. I have had more communication with the various branches of the Apples over the centuries, and in all that time, never once have they doubted me, no matter how… unusual the points and agreements I may have made.”  Luna quirked an eyebrow at her.  “Let us just say that the land that became Ponyville was not the first time I have personally ceded property to members of the Apple clan,” Celestia said.  “You…” Luna shook her head. “Why?”  Celestia bowed her head. “I make contingencies, sister dear. Part of the reason for this was because I knew you would return someday. And I… I hoped, that by forming a settlement between our old castle and Canterlot, that the future Bearers - the ponies who could free you from the Nightmare - would be drawn there, and be in place when the time was right. I didn’t realize until after the Nightmare’s return just how lucky I was that they all, save for Twilight herself, had indeed been drawn there.”  “Does Twilight know this?”  Celestia shook her head. “I had always intended to tell her, but somehow, I never managed. I… I was afraid of her reaction. Afraid she might lash out and accuse me of manipulating her, like certain others had in the past.”  “You mean Sunset.” Luna said directly and without any mercy.  “Yes,” Celestia admitted, the wounds of her actions in the past still stinging even now after Twilight had informed her of what had happened in the other world, of Sunset’s changed ways after her exposure to the rainbow of Harmony.  Luna sighed. “Promise me, sister, that when she returns, you’ll tell her everything.”  Celestia nodded to her. “I will, I promise.”  “Good.” Luna turned. “If you will excuse me, I need to gather some of my guards for this journey. I have a feeling I’m going to need them.” She had walked toward the door before pausing. “And I might need Raven and Kibitz as well.” “Should I be concerned that you are taking both of our chief assistants with you?” Celestia asked with a quirked eyebrow.  “Possibly yes,” Luna admitted honestly with a smile on her face that made Celestia worried about what her sister was planning to do but Luna was her equal and she had to trust her judgement. “All right.” Celestia let out a sigh. “In which case, I shall leave you to it.”  Luna nodded and left, and Celestia watched her go before closing her eyes briefly. She had to focus on her own task now.