//------------------------------//
// Calcification 
// Story: The 8th Rank 
// by Winter Quill 
//------------------------------//

Skychart watched—mouth slightly agape—as Gilda stormed back into the shop, slamming the door in her wake with enough force to make the empty torch sconces rattle against the wall. Greta and the guard pony followed a few moments after her, their exit much more restrained. It left Skychart standing by himself only a few body lengths away from the quartet of princesses.
 
He knew he shouldn’t be there, that he should be going back inside with Gilda and his coworkers, but it felt like his hooves were stuck fast to the ground. All he could do was watch in horror as Luna gave him a sharp look, but said nothing.
 
“That… was not how I expected that conversation to go,” Princess Celestia said, her eyes locked on the closed door.
 
“And what, pray tell, did you expect her to do?” Luna snapped as she walked over to Celestia, her wings slightly fanned out with her primaries spread apart to make herself look larger. “Just bow her head and say ‘yes, Princess’?”
 
Celestia was conspicuous by her silence.
 
“You never told me that bitch was involved,” Cadence said, a slight quaver to her voice as she took a step closer to Celestia. Her ears were pinned down against the side of her head and small sparks of magic danced along the length of her horn.
 
“It wasn’t relevant,” Celestia curtly replied, her horn flashing as she spoke, which was reflected for a moment in the air above them.
 
Cadance responded by sputtering out a few half-formed words, the sparks on her horn turning into a bright blue shine. After a moment she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, pressing a foreleg to her chest as she let it back out.
 
Luna snorted and shook her head, her mane dancing over her neck. “You should have informed Gilda about the changeling queen the moment you broached the treaty with her. It was the primary reason that we took this course of action, and one of the core issues that needed to be addressed. It shouldn’t have been kept from her.”
 
“Why didn’t you tell her?” Twilight Sparkle asked, her own wings constantly flexing in agitation.
 
Princess Celestia just shook her head, then turned away from the other princesses. “I feared what she would do when she learned about it. Sending a gaggle of griffons to try and capture Queen Chrysalis would not help the situation in the least.”
 
“I grant you that she might have done such a thing,” Luna replied as she walked around her sister, until they were nearly nose to nose. “Though it seems that Princess Gilda is quite capable of keeping her wits about her. If you had told her in the correct way, she would not have flown off, talons out, to try and attack the hive.”
 
She snorted in reply, her nose scrunching up and her lip pulling back for a moment to show off her teeth. “While I did hold back information, it was only for her own safety. I would never keep a secret that could cause somepony harm.”
 
The three princesses all shared a knowing look, the expression on their faces ranging from narrow frowns to outright anger.
 
Twilight Sparkle was the first of them to speak, “You never told anypony that Nightmare Moon was real, even the day before she was going to return.”
 
Luna’s frown grew deeper at that, her eyes narrowing as she looked between Twilight Sparkle and Celestia. “And what of Discord? You never told anypony that the statue you kept in the public area of the royal gardens was the creature himself.”
 
“And you knew about Changelings for centuries before they ruined my wedding, and you didn’t so much as warn a single guard about what they were or what they could do!” Cadence snapped, clearly not wanting to be left out while throwing blame. “And the first time you ever mentioned the Crystal Empire or Sombra was while you were herding Shining and myself onto a train to go and save it.”
 
Skychart let out a gasp, only to cover his muzzle with his wings. There had always been old mares’ tails about changelings before they attacked Canterlot, but like most ponies he had never believed them. Luckily none of the princesses noticed his little outburst, even so, he still tried to vanish against the wall of the bakery. It was a futile gesture, as his orange fur and bright yellow mane stood out against the dull brown of the wall.
 
Twilight shook her head. “You never told anypony that Tirek had escaped from Tartarus until he was putting ponies in the hospital.”
 
“You hid the fate of the hippogriffs,” Luna added.
 
“And I’ve always wondered how much you knew about the Storm King before—”
 
Celestia slammed her hoof hard against the ground, her shoe sinking into the dirt as a cloud of dust blew up around her. “That’s enough!” she snapped, nearly shouting the words. “You have proven your point. I may have become far too secretive for my own good, but after ruling for as long as I have, I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes I must keep secrets from ponies. But only when it’s in their best interest.”
 
The other princesses each took a step away from Celestia, Cadence’s wings fanning out over her back while Twilight cowered slightly. Luna just shook her head, then narrowed her eyes before saying only two words. “Palladium’s coup.”
 
Celestia pulled back like she had been stuck, her wings flaring out over her back as a scowl crossed over her face. Her mane started to ripple and dance while the colors started to brighten “That, was uncalled for,” she growled out.
 
“Was it?” Luna asked with a snort. “We lost Commander Hurricane only weeks after the Pillars had vanished. If you had just told anypony what you had learned beforehoof…”
 
The two sisters glared at each other, the temperature in the area behind the bakery sharply dropping. It reminded Skychart of being under a thunderhead that was quickly growing out of control and was about to become a supercell. Small pulses of magic were starting to dance along the length of their horns, growing brighter by the moment.
 
Cadence moved between the two princesses before they could start throwing spells at each other, the blue glow of her own magic pushing them apart. “Stop it, both of you! This isn’t the time for it,” she scolded in a tone that every mother could effortlessly use.
 
They continued to glare at each other for a few moment moments before Celestia turned away with a huff, the glow of her magic starting to fade.
 
“What else have you neglected to tell our new princess?” Luna asked.
 
“Nothing,” was the curt reply.
 
“I want to know why you thought it was wise to tell her like that.” Twilight asked, the tone of her words uncertain. “How did you think she would react when you just casually mention that you were going to march a brigade of guards through her country?”
 
Celestia let out a sigh as some of the tension seemed to leave her body, her wings relaxing against her sides as her mane returned to normal. “Reasonably,” she answered.
 
“And what is reasonable to you?” Luna asked with a slight shake of her head. “Have her smile and agree with you to your face, but then work against you behind your flank? This is not Canterlot, and Gilda is a commoner, not a member of the nobility. You can not expect her to act like those sycophants.”
 
She let out a soft snort. “I had at least expected her to act like a rational mare, or at least—”
 
“Gilda isn’t a pony,” Twilight said, cutting off Celestia, only to pull back a moment later, hoof over her muzzle, with a look of horror on her face. After a few moments of silence, Luna motioned for her to continue.
 
Twilight took in a deep breath as she lowered her hoof, shifting her weight like she was bracing herself for what she was about to say. “She’s a griffon. She doesn’t act like a pony, and she doesn’t think like a pony. Griffons don’t herd, they flock, and while they may move as a group, it’s always while trying to find the greatest advantage for themselves. They will not start galloping just because there is a stampede.”
 
Celesta started to say something in response, but only got as far as opening her muzzle before she thought better of it. Her wings twitched, her primaries fanning out slightly then pulling tight as she forced then closed. “I know she isn’t a pony, anypony can see that,” she finally said, choosing her words carefully.
 
“But you just called her a mare, not a hen,” Cadence replied.
 
The princess frowned, her eyes narrowing as she tilted her head slightly to one side. “I think…” she started, but let it trail off as she slowly lifted her head to look at the other princesses. Her eyes flicked between them for a few moments, then down to the ground under her hooves. She stood there for a good number of seconds, the only motion the flicking of her tail and the natural motion of her mane.
 
Eventually she started to speak. “Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, Luna, you are all correct. I have been acting as if she was one of the Canterlot nobles, and not the griffon that she is. That is my error, and one I will have to rectify. I must think what the best way to do so is, and how to adjust my behavior.”
 
“Which is all well and good,” Cadence replied. “But there is still the bitch to deal with.”
 
The smile started to return to Celestia’s face, her ears perking up as she spoke. “Sidereal Equinox is an experienced guard. I’m sure he’s already explained to Gilda that there is no way she could muster the force she needs to deal with Queen Chrysalis in a timely manner. She will simply have no choice but to allow my guards to take care of the issue.”
 
“One can hope,” Luna replied with a sigh, then fanned out her wings and took to the air, vanishing into the sky. A few moments later, Cadence and Twilight departed as well, leaving just the eldest princess in their wake.
 
Skychart watched her for a few more moments as Celestia looked at the bakery, her mane and tail fluttering out behind her. Finally, she turned and walked away from the bakery, her head hanging low as she left. He watched her go, both confused and worried about what he had just witnessed and if there would be any repercussions for his eavesdropping.
 
Finally, he opened the kitchen door and slipped back into the Bakery, debating if he should tell anypony what had just transpired.
 



 
There were two facts that every creature knew about griffons, even if they had never gotten to meet one before: They were so greedy they would sell their own grandmothers for a clawfull of bits, and they had explosive tempers attached to extremely short fuses. While exaggerated, there was some truth to the stereotype. Some griffs were the exception that proved the rule, but Gilda was not one of those. She was just as quick to anger as any other griffon she knew, but after her temper had seemingly destroyed her oldest—actually her only—friendship, she had forced herself to find a less destructive outlet for her anger.
 
Which was why she was currently whisking a bowl of heavy cream like it had killed her whole family, her tail thrashing so fast that it was nearly a tan blur. She grumbled under her breath as she worked, beak pinched tightly closed so only the muffled sounds escaped. It was all bullshit, she didn’t even need the damned whip cream, but it was a way to burn off a little bit of her anger before she did something stupid.
 
Greta had stayed with her in the kitchen, having taken out a tray of shortcakes from the ice box, allowing them to warm slightly on the stove. She was now mixing up some blueberries and raspberries in a bowl. The guard was just watching all of this from the short hallway that connected the kitchen to the front of the shop, next to the staircase. He hadn’t said anything since joining her inside the shop; he was just waiting.
 
Once the cream was properly whipped, she set the bowl down on the counter next to Greta. Now that she was feeling more in control of herself, she stalked out of the kitchen, pushing past the stallion while motioning for him to come with her. He did so, following her out and to the table as she took a seat in her chair. A frown curled her beak as she saw the tea was still sitting out, as if waiting for the ponies to return.
 
“Skychart, get in here and clean up!” she called out, but much to her surprise she didn’t hear the pegasus calling back. He was usually quick to respond when worked needed to be done, no matter what the task was.
 
Much to her annoyance, Sidereal started to collect up the dirty dishes and placed them on the tray. “So, where would you like to start?”
 
There were hundreds of different things she wanted answers to, but there was one she had to know immediately. “How long will it take to train a brigade of griffons?”
 
The stallion seemed to think about it as he sat down, while at the same time used his magic to take off his helmet, setting it down onto the table next to him. “To train and outfit fifteen hundred guards, plus all the support systems that they will need? Optimistically, six months. Realistically, at least two years. You don’t even have the basic foundations in place to build upon.”
 
She put her face in her talons, letting out something between a sigh and a growl. She had suspected that the answer would be something like that, but a tiny part of her had hoped otherwise. They could just start grabbing griffons off the streets and putting them in armor, but a draft wouldn’t help anygriff. It would just create more tension that she didn’t need. If she couldn’t muster her own army, she would have to accept Celestia’s, but after what had just happened, the last thing she wanted to do was crawl back to the princess with her tail tucked between her legs.
 
“Buck,” she muttered.
 
The stallion cleared his throat. “If I may be so bold, I don’t think that is the question you should be asking.”
 
Gilda glared at the guard from between her talons. “And what should I be asking?”
 
“How many griffons would you need to deal with the changeling hive,” he answered.
 
Rolling her eyes, she dropped her talons onto the table, allowing the claws to dig into the wood. “Fifteen hundred,” she replied.
 
Sidereal shook his head. “You should be able to do it with four to six griffons. It depends on what your intentions are.”
 
For Gilda, this just continued to prove that every pony in existence was crazy. “Six? How the hell can six griffons do what Celestia needs an army for?”
 
He started to smile, but seemed to think better of it. “Our intelligence on the queen is thin, but has improved over the last few weeks, so there are a few things we now know for certain. She is in the area of Garnet Point, she has been there for at most a month and a half, and she only has the help of a small group of drones to build the hive.”
 
Gilda just looked at the stallion, not sure what his point was.
 
“A brigade would be the right choice to deal with a fully established hive, but that’s not what you’re dealing with. We don’t have hard numbers, but there appear to be no more than fifteen drones. According to General Pharynx, even if she laid a new clutch the day she arrived, it would take at least another month before the grubs hatched and a year before they were useful to her.”
 
She blinked, not sure how to react to that. If he was right, what the hell did Celestia think she was doing? Why send an army to capture what sounded like a small camp?
 
“So, there are less than twenty changelings to deal with?” Greta asked as she set down a tray on the table. She had no idea how long her friend had been listening in, but it was clearly long enough. The tray held four bowls, each one filled with shortcake, fruit, and the whipped cream. It smelled wonderfully sweet.
 
“Thank you,” Sidereal said as he took one of the bowls in his field and pulled it towards himself. “It will be less than that, at any given time at least half the drones are patrolling and harvesting. A precision strike by a few well-trained griffons would be enough to resolve this situation, depending on what you want to do with the queen.”
 
Gilda pulled one of the bowls over as Greta joined them at the table. The last bowl was left sitting by itself, with no sign of Skychart anywhere around. She wondered where he had gotten off to; that wasn’t like him. Maybe he was trying to make peace with the pony princesses?
 
Brushing it out of her mind, she picked up a spoon and took a bite of the desert, taking a moment to savor it. She had baked the shortbread herself the day before, and somehow that made it taste better than if some other griff had made it.
 
“So, why the overkill?” Greta asked between bites.
 
The stallion paused for a moment, his spoon held in the blue glow of his magic. “It’s not my place to speculate on Princess Celestia’s motives.”
 
“Which means you know something, so tell,” Gilda said, making a quick gesture at him and accidentally flinging a small blob of cream off her spoon to land on the tip of his muzzle.
 
Sidereal just licked the cream off his nose while never breaking eye contact with Gilda. “There is a difference between hard facts, and wild supposition.”
 
“Then what are the hard facts?” she asked, making air quotes with her talons.
 
He looked intently at her for a few more moments before shaking his head and setting his spoon back down into the bowl. “The hard facts, Princess Gilda, are that there have been a number of attacks on Equestria over the last few years, even predating Twilight Sparkle’s rediscovery of the Elements of Harmony. Celestia has involved herself in many of them, but hasn’t been effective since the return of her sister.”
 
“Why is that?” Greta asked.
 
Sidereal just ignored the question. “Of those, there have only been two where she was involved directly in the fight. One was the recent invasion by the Storm King lead by Tempest Shadow, the other was Queen Chrysalis during her invasion of Canterlot. She lost both fights, but of the two, the fight with Chrysalis was the only one she went horn to horn with somepony. A fight that she lost in a single hit.”
 
That caused things to start to fall into place for Gilda. That feeling of anger and frustration that came from losing a fight you should have won. It was easy to fall into the trap of wanting revenge above all else, even to the point of losing sight of what was really important. “This is all about her pride. Chrysalis didn’t just beat her, she humiliated her. Celestia wants to crush her because of that,” Gilda said.
 
He shrugged his shoulders, taking another spoonful of shortcake. “It’s not for me to say. She was also turned to stone by Tempest Shadow, but Tempest was reformed by Twilight. There is one other thing that could be affecting her judgment, one that isn’t as well known. This is classified, as a princess you and your aides are allowed to know, but it doesn’t leave this room, understood?”
 
Greta and Gilda looked at each other, then Gilda slowly nodded. The fact that she would be privy to secrets had never crossed her mind, but it made sense. Every family had secrets, and what was a government other than the world’s most dysfunctional family? “Understood,” she said.
 
The stallion leaned in slightly over his dessert. “A couple years back, Chrysalis attacked Equestria again, but this time she did it from the shadows. The aim was to decapitate the government by taking out all our leaders, and it was a complete success. In one night, she was able to replace all the princesses, Twilight’s friends, the prince regent, core castle staff, head of the royal guard and Presider Fancy Pants. She was defeated by a group including Starlight Glimmer and King Thorax, and in defeating Chrysalis they discovered how to reform changelings.”
 
“Shit…” was all Greta said in response, slumping back into her chair and pushing away her bowl.
 
Gilda just nodded in agreement, curling her talons together as she thought about the implications of that. The idea of everypony in the government being replaced by changelings, it was terrifying to think of. It was amazing that nothing had happened during it, at least nothing she had heard of. “She wants to make sure there is no possible way for Chrysalis to escape this time.”
 
“Except there is no indication that it is Chrysalis,” Sidereal added.
 
Gilda was starting to get tired of all the surprises. “What?”
 
He nodded, finishing his dessert. “The intel doesn’t point to it being Queen Chrysalis. There have been signs of her skulking around the badlands, but nothing near you. I don’t believe she’s involved with this hive.”
 
Greta shook her head in disbelief, wings twitching against her side. “She’s just assumed it’s Chrysalis, and overreacted?”
 
“Once again, I can’t speculate,” he replied.
 
Gilda tapped her talons on the table top, thinking about everything she had just been told. It was a lot to take in, but it did help her understand why the princess had acted the way she did, but it didn’t excuse her. For now, there were more pressing issues.
 
“I’m sure I could find six competent griffons in town.” Well, Gruff would be able to find them, he would know exactly who she needed to talk to off the top of his bald head. “What will they need to do?”
 
Sidereal responded with a shrug of his shoulders. “It all depends on what you want to do with the queen. You would need fewer griffons to kill her then you would to capture her. Both could be considered valid options in this case.”
 
That made her blanch. Even griffons didn’t like the idea of killing some creature because they were causing problems. “That doesn’t sound like something ponies would do.”
 
“Officially, no, it’s not. We believe that every creature should have a chance to reform, and at this point the queen and her hive haven’t done anything to warrant such a reaction. Unofficially… it seems like that is exactly what we do,” he said with a chuckle. “Even I was expecting it to be otherwise, but it hasn’t happened that I’ve ever seen.”
 
“And then what?” Greta asked. “We don’t have any place to put her, and we can’t exactly lock her in the closet.”
 
Gilda crossed her forelegs over her keel, tapping the side of her beak with one of her talons. “I don’t know? What do the ponies do, ask her to be nice, then let her go?”
 
“Sometimes. It works for Princess Twilight,” Sidereal said, giving her a tiny little smile. “Though that’s not what we should concern ourselves with. You need to find the griffons you’re going to have do this, and then we can start training them. We should also find some that can be your guards, that way you have some sort of security. I was working in intelligence before being assigned to work with you, so I’ll arrange to have all the current intel and anything new sent to you directly from the service desk.”
 
Her eyes narrowed as she gave the stallion an intent look over the edge of her beak. She wouldn’t put it past Celestia to assign a pony to keep tabs on her. “You’re a spy?”
 
Sidereal chuckled. “Hardly, I mostly worked with processing and analyzing the data that came in. Primarily unsecured, though I had access to other areas. Don’t worry, I’m not here to spy on you, and Celestia's order put me directly under your authority. Right now, you are the only princess in my chain of command. If I was going to be spying on anypony, I would be doing it for you.”
 
Gilda nodded, wondering just how much of what he had told her was the actual truth, and not just an artful form of the truth. The stallion had an honest face, but in her opinion that would make him better at lying. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much of a choice at the moment, he was the only guard she had so she had to trust him to some degree, but not as much as her friends. She would still be keeping an eye on him.
 
“Fine, get me all of that information, and I’ll write up a call for griffons to sign up for guard training. Maybe we can find more than just six who have some skills for that,” Gilda said as she pushed back from the table and stood on her four feet.
 
“Very well. I will pitch my tent in the back by the secure wagon,” he said, standing up as well and picking up his helmet in his magic.
 
Gilda gave him a nod as she left the room, taking the stairs up to her bedroom. She needed some time to herself to clear her head and think about everything that had happened this afternoon. It was nearly enough to be overwhelming, but she would deal with it. She had to, there was no one else who could.