Discord never knew that he could fly so fast. Obviously, he could in retrospect, but the thing was that he rarely had to actually fly anywhere until his ability to teleport was cut short. Not to mention that his magic, in short terms cheated its way around the typical rules that applied to spells used by most creatures. It really shouldn’t have surprised him so much that he could keep up.
In all honesty he was relieved he could keep up with them because he wouldn’t be able to bear the shame of the great ‘Lord of Chaos’ being forced to walk and then forcing his griffon company to walk too.
The two males flew fast and a fair bit above the treetops and to his sides. The little one rode on her brother’s back and seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, holding on to his clothing and their father now carried the bunnies they hunted. Discord would have liked to help, but he had the feeling that they wouldn’t accept it, anyway.
It was a bit of a journey, though hardly a boring one. The mountains not only made for diverse and beautiful scenery, but it was different from the sprawling plains of Equestria Heartland. The endless snow didn’t seem so overbearing after the blizzard had cleared, and he could see the area from above. Beyond the sea of white, the snow gave way to dark soil and green grass, crisscrossed by fast and shallow streams of clear water, all framed by the seemingly ubiquitous mountains in the distance, under the overcast sky whose clouds the persistent sun managed to pierce here and there.
It was a different beauty from the typical verdant and bountiful pony lands, and even of the Crystal Empire and Yakyakstan, but it was a beauty of its own and it certainly was also bountiful on its own way, else Discord couldn’t imagine how the griffons would be able to thrive. And so close to the Frozen North, without the Crystal Heart’s magic to protect them. These griffons had said it: monsters came south from it. He had to wonder why is it that they would prefer to live alone, under these conditions.
He would have a lot of time to figure this out as the travel to Brokenhorn ought to take a while and he’d have a lot of thinking time since these griffons didn’t seem particularly chatty while they flew. And then he missed his friends… Ponies had no problem chatting while they traveled, but the conclusion he had reached about these griffons is that they were like that because they lived a difficult and dangerous life. They were rugged. It made sense.
***
The Royal Guard air frigate under the command of Frigate Captain Wild Tango resolutely kept its chase after the Princess’ airship in the sky above and around the uncultivated lands near the small town of Haybale. Insistently on a repetitive dance, just barely lining for a shot, being outmaneuvered, left behind and led on a chase only to come just short of hitting them with the fifth consecutive shot of their grappling ballistae.
It came to the point Royal Guards onboard began questioning the sanity of their captain. He still stood on his hind legs, holding on to the rope tied to the main mast while the ship turned, in another futile attempt to outmaneuver the princess’ airship.
Just. A little. More!
“Keep her steady! We’ll catch’em yet!” His maniacal grin didn’t do wonders to their mood either.
One of his pegasus crewponies, particularly his Second in Command, a light gray and light blue big specimen of a pegasus walked to him with a less than professional expression of sheer frustration and firm steps despite the slight banking while the airship maneuvered. “Captain, we’ve been chasing them for hours.”
“Yes! We are Royal Guards! We shall succeed!”
Pure silent anger flashed on the pegasus’ gray eyes. His stoic voice let no indication of such a thing, though. “Captain… If the princesses were on the airship, they wouldn’t keep flying around as though they wanted us to chase then and not look for the princesses in the town.”
“What are you saying?” Wild Tango stared at him with big surprised eyes. “That they are in the city and not in the airship?”
“Yes!” The pegasus guard nodded with a hopeful grin.
“That’s good thinking commander! But that is what they want you to think! In all naval combat… Aerial combat… In all aerial naval combat, one must keep several steps ahead of the opponent!” He tapped his helmeted head twice. “Pay attention and you’ll soon have your own sloop to command!”
Before the pony could respond a golden flash drew all attentions to the mast of the ship. It was Prince-Consort Chocolate Velvet wearing his golden Royal Guard barding complete with his commanding rank insignia on the chest, Equestria’s Sun and Moon combined. His brown mane turned to a long decorative crest thanks to his helmet and his tail bundled in a similar fashion. On his back he carried a longsword and, on his chest the standard issue wheellock pistol of the guard.
“Turn this ship around, captain! The princesses are on the town of Haybale!” He cried, pointing towards the stern with his wings flared in urgency.
The pegasus sighed instead. “You see the problem with this country? Our leadership is blind to the most obvious of swindles.”
“Wow… Luna wasn’t joking.” The prince blinked twice.
The captain though grinned widely. “Her highness spoke of me?”
“Yes! She personally requested that I delivered a message directly to you.” His armored hoof forcefully connected with the captain’s muzzle and that was the last thing the pegasus saw.
The guard standing next to them looked at his unconscious superior, and then at the alicorn. “Oh no… Our captain… I suppose your highness is the commanding officer of the vessel now.”
“You’re acting captain now.” He pointed at the guard and nopony complained, so Chocolate Velvet made a spinning gesture with his hoof. “Get the helm to turn us around. The princesses are in Haybale. I need to talk to you guys too, the situation is a lot more complicated than it seems. Please, summon the crew once the course is fixed.”
***
Back in the cottage by the corn fields Cadance talked to their new griffon acquaintance while Twilight frowned at the crystal-encased letter. “I feel like we should have brought the letter I found… Only just so you could have a look at it. But Shining Armor was driving me crazy with his worrying and we did agree that we could be attacked eventually.”
The old griffon lady simply nodded sympathetically. “It seems like a dangerous situation, Princess. It is best that you took all the precautions you could afford.”
Twilight grunted her frustration, causing the others to turn to her. “This is odd. It’s remarkably similar, but also distinct from the one you found, Cadance.”
Her sister-in-law paid attention while Twilight hoofed curiously at the crystal casing, pointing at the writing and frowned some more, and her ears pulled back. “I’m almost sure it’s in the same language family, but it’s not close enough that I can read any of it, save for a few words… The writing certainly looks similar, though.”
“Well, if you can’t read it, I probably couldn’t either.” Cadance shrugged. “Miss Gerdie?”
“I assume that you are talking about the older version of the usually spoken Griffonese. Not that it is… Usually spoken. You understand. Well, this detail does speak of legitimacy, but that is from the standpoint of our traditional history.” She shrugged too. “I guess it makes sense since Queen Chrysalis corroborated it’s version of facts. It would seem that Grigor and his Empire used different languages between themselves and with foreign dignitaries.”
“So, does that mean we’re on the right track?” Twilight sounded hopeful.
“Oh! Definitively!” The griffon chirped.
“Why though?” Twilight frowned again. “I mean… I have heard of ‘battle languages’ that were used by warring factions that shared a common mother language, but that didn’t seem to be the case.”
“I have a suspicion. It’s because they would deem this language of theirs some sort of secret.” Cadance said. “Miss Gerdie, is this the same language they speak in Snow Mountains?”
“Indeed, it is, princess.” Gerdie nodded with a hint of respect in her voice. “This, on this letter is what we have called High Griffonese… Or rather, has been called since that time if one is to believe the Loremasters in Snow Mountains. It is the language spoken in Snow Mountains Hold too, and this is one of the reasons we thought the letter was likely a forgery, since it mentions fictional individuals and it is a contemporary language, albeit a reclusive and poorly studied one. Not to mention that the only ones who believe this story might be true live there. Then they could have magically aged the paper. A scholar might identify it as a forgery on this alone, but not an uninitiated.”
“I don’t get it!” Twilight frowned again and held the edge of the table with her hooves. “How can this language be spoken somewhere today and not alert Princess Celestia that something is wrong? I understand that nopony would know the relevance, but she should.”
“She doesn’t know…” She mused uncertainly by herself after a few seconds. “Or at least not with enough certainty.”
“Even if she knows, she may not be able to do anything about it.” Cadance looked around at the others. “She may not know enough, or maybe she thinks that it’s not relevant. Who knows? She’s probably lying about this too.”
Meanwhile Sunburst and Twilight’s librarian, Miss Goodread returned from the kitchen bringing a few snacks. Grilled corn, corn salad, some sweet made with corn and cheese wrapped in corn leaves Twilight didn’t know the name of, corn cookies. Corn juice. And corndogs for the griffon! It all seemed very tasty! Except the corndogs, obviously, but for some reason Twilight didn’t really understand, Cadance looked like she wanted to die. What was wrong with her? She’s been acting so weird since they arrived and now that.
Both of them refocused on the conversation, however.
“They do speak Common Equestrian, though.” Cadance came short of gagging. From the memories from her visit, or from the food that they were just served. Twilight wasn’t sure. “They spoke to me.”
“Wait. You’ve been there? I thought that no outsiders were allowed.”
“A traveling merchant came to the Crystal Empire to do business and he was scared by what he saw there. He told to me that those griffons didn’t follow livestock regulations. Since I was curious, I decided to go to Griffindell, their capital and see what it was all about. But I may be exaggerating a little when I say that I’ve been there. Let’s say that their eating habits didn’t agree with my stomach of a pregnant mare… I didn’t even get to see The Lion, just a rude lieutenant and I couldn’t get past the entrance to the city where they have the pigsties, cow fencings and a butchery. It all smelled so awfully of blood.” Cadance put out her tongue. “They won’t like it, but if you insist and remind them that you are indeed a Princess, they’ll let you in since they can’t stop you anyways. The point is that I couldn’t confirm anything so it never made it into a real investigation.”
“I suppose it was around the time Princess Celestia decided that they should be given their space since tensions were getting a bit high.” Twilight concluded. “Regulations about these things never came out right and the whole thing is a big gray zone. That must be why they get away with it.”
“Well, they will speak Common Equestrian if they receive a visitor that can’t speak their High Griffonese, or the common version. They are… Finicky, though.” The griffon sighed.
“You know a lot about them, don’t ya?” Rainbow squinted at her.
“I was going to become a Loremaster. But dad got a better paying job and we moved out. Their tales fascinated me though, and I just kept poking around. After all, I’m one of the few griffons outside that can speak their language. They hope I’ll return… But there is also hope that they’ll wise up, you know…”
“This is strange.” Miss Goodread adjusted her glasses. “Most languages change over time and this whole thing happened thousands of years ago. And there is this bizarre notion that they refuse to teach this thing to others.”
“They are protecting it.” Sunburst offered a hoof. “It is the language The Lion speaks his spells with! And that is why they protect it and only teach it to their own.”
“How do you know?” Cadance looked at him, as did the others.
“Some time ago I met a griffoness from Snow Mountains.” Before continuing he blushed, and his eyes turned downward. What followed was an awkward silence with ponies and griffon staring at him.
“Oh my…” Cadance gasped teasingly. “Does Starlight know that?”
“What? No! I was dating her before I reconnected with Starlight!” He shrieked. “Not to mention she’s dating Trixie now, not me!”
“Dating? Gotta tell us the rest now!” Rainbow teased with her smug grin.
“Fine!” He grunted and blushed even deeper. “I was working at a crystal mining company, in the Magical Properties department and I met this nice griffon girl in the dinner in front of our offices and we dated a few times. She was so cute and timid, barely speaking everyone’s language. Well, she needed some special crystals for her project, and I managed to get her some, but then she vanished.”
“Did you get laid, at least?” Rainbow asked and Twilight yelled at her.
“It sounds as though she used you, Sunburst.” Cadance concluded. “I’m sorry. I hate it when this sort of thing happens to nice ponies such as yourself.”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “Well, all that was just to mention that she once said that their language was important, and it was meant only for griffons because it had magical powers or something. I was interested, but never got her to explain further.”
“You know, you’re not very lucky.” Rainbow told him. “I mean, the griffon chick only wanted you because of some crystals and when you found Starlight Glimmer again, she decided to date Trixie.”
“Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I noticed! And by the way, Starlight and I were just friends!”
“Yeah. It’s called the Friendzone.”
“Why don’t you go back to looking out the window?” Twilight growled at her.
“Gee. Fine. I’m just saying.”
“Do you remember her name?” Twilight turned back to Sunburst while the pegasus left the table.
“Gal.” He said simply. “I think it was a nickname, but I’m not sure. All she really ever told me was that she needed these crystals and how important this language of theirs was when I found her writing a letter and asked about it.”
“So… This language of theirs is special. For sure.” Cadance concluded with curiosity. “I guess it makes sense and confirms what Chrysalis told us.”
“Can you read the letter, Miss Gerdie?” She finally asked the griffon.
“Yes, I can Princess. I’ll read it to you.” She took it from the briefcase and carefully laid it on the table, breathing in and taking some time to get her on-the-fly translation correct as well as adjusting her reading glasses.
She finally cleared her throat.
‘Glory to Your Imperial Majesty, Grigor The First of His Name and Holy Emperor of Griffonia under the Harpy’s Blessings;
I send this letter with the intention of informing Your Majesty of the arrival of your army to the lands previously held by the Equestrian Republic. We have suffered minimal losses due to disease or weather and your strong have once again proven to be of finer stock.
We have met no resistance on our way other than the great distance we have covered. What we have found however is disheartening. The great capital is no more. It lies in ruins no fit to shelter more than wild animals. The mighty Mage’s Guild is reduced to a pitying of recruits of lesser importance from the noble families which run the city of Everfree and the Archmage is a decrepit old unicorn with a whitening beard longer than his gumption and one of the worse attires I have ever laid my eyes upon.
The population is as passive as cattle waiting for instructions and I cannot imagine we should have any trouble dealing with them. This lot will surely benefit from your enlightened rule. Perhaps sometime soon they might even be prepared to receive one or two of the Harpy’s Loremasters.
More importantly, we have been received with lowered heads and submissive stares from the ruling families and they seem to understand their new situation. For some reason I cannot comprehend they seem comfortable with it. Additionally, there seems to be a disagreement between the Archmage and the city’s rulers. I will inquire further into the details as the opportunity presents itself as I feel this plays a part in their acceptance.
Head among them is Magnus Brightmane, patriarch of the Brightmane family followed by his daughter and now Queen of Everfree, Sunshine Brightmane, and her two brothers, thus named Maximus and Quake. As it so happened by the time of our arrival, the young unicorn mare had just been appointed sovereign queen of the city under strange circumstances.
The second family of importance would be the Bluebloods and I will eat my cape if I have before met such an unscrupulous and untrustworthy lot in my life. Patriarch Bullion Blueblood and his daughter, Platinum Blueblood seem to have the Brightmanes as very close allies in keeping the city under their hooves as masters of the law enforcement forces while the former hold the city’s coffers. They too cooperate with our forces.
The daughter had taken responsibility in explaining the situation regarding the heavens as the Archmage hesitated, but, as Your Majesty can attest to, the heavens have been put under control again. It just so happened that the situation seemed to have fixed itself in a most convenient and unorthodox fashion soon after our arrival.
I cannot grasp the details of this unfathomable pony devilry to save my life, but it seems that at the brink of complete failure of whatever magic that governs the heavens one with competence to sustain it has manifested. Such as though The Lord of Chaos himself makes fun of us it happens to be the elder daughter of a lowly baker that has taken control over the sky, the sun and the moon. A freakish abomination of a malnourished and disheveled, overly tall pony with a horned head and a pair of wings on her back.
The ponies seem to revere the young mare however, and the Archmage insisted that she ought to be elevated to Queen of Everfree and de jure Queen of Equestria, ordained to unify it, despite the actual queen. The relevance and validity of such claim remains to be verified and as per my most cautious judgement it is best that Sunshine Brightmane remains the Queen of Everfree under Your Grace for now.
I shall explain.
The winged unicorn child, so called Sol-Estia by the populace, and Sunny Days by her close acquaintances (I cannot be inconvenienced to understand) is uneducated, but of perspicacious mind and has assured me that no longer will the sun ravage the land with a great level of certainty. I do not like her. The Archmage seeks to educate her along with her young sister and I feel that she is dangerous. She hides something and seems to understand things that I, a grown and educated noble do not. Was she not pivotal to the maintenance of the magic of the heavens I would have this one executed before the end of the day. It bears mentioning, however that the child wants nothing to do with being crowned queen.
Regardless, the Archmage has secured for the sisters, both said to be responsible for the heavens, the title of Priestesses to protect them from the city’s leadership, according to some old belief. However, the ignorant masses seem intent on calling them Princesses. At the mere recollection I feel the urge to pluck my head feathers. I cannot stand the stench of grass these equines exude, and I have not been in this place for a week and already urge to burn it to the ground along with this inane nonsense that seems to sprout out of every corner in this cursed city.
There are a couple of families in direct vassalage to the Brightmanes and Bluebloods, but they are hardly worthy of mention with the exception of House Flameheart. Under Matriarch Cinnamon Flameheart, they are the survivors of the Fourth Battlehorn Legion of the Republic. They do not appear battle-ready, save for an irrisory force that can hardly protect their own mansion, but I have scarce information to report on them for the moment other than that their Matriarch seems to harbor an unquenchable hatred for her lieges and an unbreakable loyalty for the Archmage and for his new students.
I did not expect to see a pony, even a battle-hardened veteran to be able to harbor and keep under control such wrath. I respect her. And I also I shall explore the situation to the best interests of Your Majesty as I learn more of the “Princesses” and the Battlehorn survivors.
Thus, I conclude my report. I shall remain and defend Your interests in this cursed land of equines. May I serve your Majesty to the fullest of my abilities under the Harpy’s blessings.
Forever Your Loyal Servant,
Captain General Gorham Blacktallon’
The ponies stared at each other while the griffoness rose her eyes from the letter. There was a lot to unpack in that letter but Twilight’s mind was stuck on the ridiculous absurdity that ponies might still call them princesses on the present time simply because the less educated ponies of the past may have not understood the difference between ‘Priestess’ and ‘Princess’.
“What… The… What?” She blurted in a half-daze.
“I honestly expected worse.” The other princess casually and not at all impressed munched on a grilled corn cob. “Some murders or weird secrets.”
“Well, this corroborates that the griffons sent an army to Equestria.” Goodread offered.
“Hum… What’s a priestess?” Sunburst asked.
“The chosen representative of a deity in the realm of the mortals.” Gerdie lifted a finger. “It’s a concept you’re likely to run across if you study certain legends. Such as some diamond dog legends about the Mother and this story of Emperor Grigor. Did you notice that the General mentioned ‘The Harpy’?”
“Yes!” Cadance’s ears perked as much as the others paid attention. “Who was The Harpy?”
“The Harpy was believed to be the mother of all griffons. Literally.” She gestured with both paws to emphasize. “And it seems that she had seven favorite ‘sons’, the Griffon Patriarchs, one of which was Emperor Grigor, to whom the Lion is descendant. Supposedly. Outside of Snow Mountains everyone just thinks this is some made up thing so that he has some sort of legitimacy.”
“Didn’t Chrysalis say that they were the first griffons?” Rainbow blinked.
“It’s a small detail.” Twilight waved it away with a hoof. “It is possible that she didn’t know, or that the legend changed over time.”
“I believe the most important pieces of information here are that it seems that Luna and Celestia’s arrival did fix the Sun, and this account also reinforces that they didn’t rule from the start.” Twilight pointed at the letter with a happy grin. “We’re making some progress. But the problem remains we still don’t know why the princess did what she did. Unfortunately, this letter didn’t say anything about why the Sun started going bad. Just that Princess Celestia seems to have fixed it.”
Gerdie thumped her fingers together timidly. “I’m sorry. It seems that this letter didn’t help that much at all. Unfortunately, General Gorhan didn’t inquire into the details. I believe, though, that you should find that sort of information back with The Lion, as this is all that I have. Maybe a travel straight to Snow Mountains is in order?”
Cadance shook her head. “Discord was adamant we should talk to a pony called Naminé in Manehattan. Before we went to Griffonia.”
“That may be a waste of time, Princess.” Gerdie worried. “You could lose your opportunity if Princess Celestia silences him, in order to hinder your investigation.”
Twilight didn’t answer right away, pondering at the suggestion. It was instead Cadance who spoke. “Miss Gerdie, would you happen to have any record about Mother Farfalla or about Night-Made-Flesh?”
“Mother Farfalla? I suppose you mean the original changeling queen? There is a mention of her in one of the stories where she is called Queen Farfalla. According to it she tried marrying one of her daughters to Emperor Grigor. But also that she might have been doing the same with other powerful leaders.”
Cadance frowned. “It has just occurred to me that Chrysalis must have erased everything there was to know about Mother Farfalla as soon as she became the queen and the only reason we have the legend of Mother Farfalla is because pony oral tradition kept it alive.”
“Seems to me that it would be wise to visit Snow Mountains as the Lion must have information that you are seeking. Even if from the griffons’ point of view. It might provide some good insight, if you manage to reach the Lion before Princess Celestia realizes that she should.” Gerdie insisted.
“Well, I agree with you, miss Gerdie. But Discord was adamant we must see an important pony in Manehattan first. Not to mention that my airship simply can’t cross the ocean without resupplying, and we figured Manehattan is the best place. Not that it is going to be easy.”
The old griffon lady hummed and joined her paws. “Have you considering asking The Lion for political protection against The Princess?”
Cadance’s mouth opened but no words came out. Then she closed it with her ears folded down and opened it again, but still no words sounded.
“We could do that…” Twilight stared at the table. “Yes, we could… But I don’t know if we could come back from it… I mean…”
“Princess Celestia would disown us…” Cadance blinked a few times. Twilight wasn’t so sure, but their relationship would certainly suffer a damaging rupture.
“With all due respect, Princess…” Gerdie went on with a low voice. “You are both adults and also Princesses of Equestria. Else, I don’t think you would have had the courage to start this investigation. Furthermore, why does Princess Celestia get a pass at lying and hunting you?”
“That is a good question…” Rainbow simply stared with big dumb eyes at the two. Back on the table.
“She is phenomenally powerful.” Twilight said. “The whole time we were betting that we can get away with a stern talk and one or two punishments. We’re assuming that she’s not ill intended and that she had a good reason to do all that she did. Including lying to us.”
“If that is the case, then why aren’t you willing to ask for help? She should understand.”
“But that would be going too far, wouldn’t it?” Goodread rubbed her hooves uncomfortably. “I mean… Princess Celestia would certainly be cross with this.”
“But still…” Gerdie still went on. “She is not against him becoming the king of the griffons. I really don’t see why it would be so bad.”
Twilight wasn’t so sure. Something about him scared her and it scared Princess Celestia, so it really scared her. Not to mention that Discord told them not to go to the griffons before talking to Naminé. At the top of it all, the notion of betraying Princess Celestia like that was something she had never entertained. She owed everything she was to Princess Celestia. Cadance would certainly think the same. Perhaps even more considering she was actually adopted by Princess Celestia.
“We will keep the possibility in our minds, Miss Gerdie.” Cadance said, actually. “I do feel like she could afford to be more accountable to the things that she’s done when all she’s ever taught me would be against it.”
Oh-oh…
Twilight coughed and smiled sheepishly at the two. “Well, we can’t stop now, can we? I guess we’ll see where our needs take us. What else can you tell us about this Harpy, Miss Gerdie? Sounds like she was important to Emperor Grigor and his General.”
“That is precisely what this stone tablet is about, Princess. It is actually a portion of a song that was engraved in the walls of a temple, in a supposedly destroyed city. It has a fascinating tale around its origin.”
“How come the griffons have these things and we don’t?” Cadance seemed to have slipped into quite a bad mood.
Twilight softened her expression and spoke softly. “Well… If Emperor Grigor realized that things were not going too well for him, he might have taken precautions. And that is why such things escaped Princess Celestia’s and King Grover’s purge.”
Cadance sighed. “I’m sorry, Miss Gerdie. Please continue.”
Gerdie brought the briefcase closer to her and showed it to her audience as she talked. “Supposedly, Emperor Grigor built a city for the Harpy, and she lived in this temple where this very stone tablet supposedly came from. There griffons would worship her. They would sing for her, about the great warriors and leaders of her people. It is ghastly, but they also sacrificed prisoners, slaves and valuable animals in her name.”
“Why?” Sunburst gasped at the barbarity.
“Because she was ‘The Harpy’. Mother of all griffons, who taught them their language, and then taught Emperor Grigor how to cast magic with it. As long as the Harpy was pleased, she would remain there and bless the griffons with this power.” She pointed at the stone. “But this portion of the song speaks of when Emperor Grigor failed at culling the weak from his ‘pride’ and they were allowed to sap the strength of his empire. We don’t have the whole song, but it seems that a class of nobles within the Empire wasn’t happy with Grigor and secretly sought help from the outside to dethrone him.”
“Can you imagine a world where ponies would go to… Temples. And there they would sing, dance. They would make offerings to the princesses expecting… I don’t know… Gifts? Maybe preference. It’s not like Princess Celestia or Luna would give us or any pony any sort of preference.”
“Cadance!” Twilight didn’t want to scream, but what she had heard shocked her. “What are you talking about?! Princess Celestia adopted you! She trained you! She made you what you are today! Just as she did for me. And not because we did some creepy weird thing that she liked. But because she expected us to help her make the lives of other ponies the best possible! We are very fortunate ponies! Some would call us privileged.”
Cadance frowned in a way that Twilight didn’t like at all and spoke a little too loud. “Excuse me? You were a unicorn born in Canterlot! Princess Celestia literally took you into her care because she thought that you have a very powerful latent magic. And I suppose she was right! Because you breezed through being admitted into one of the most difficult teaching institutions in the world. Not only that, but you became her personal student. Her protégé. Then she literally sent you on your path to become a princess with all your friends to help you! Creatures all over Equestria adore you just as much as they adore her and her sister! Don’t you ever call me ‘privileged’ again!”
“But you are a princess too!” She shouted again, more out of surprise than anger.
“How dare you! I don’t even know where I was born, or who my parents are or if I even have family alive! I slept with cold and sometimes our matron sent us to bed early because we didn’t have food! When I reversed that witch’s spell, I didn’t even understand what was going on! I was a pegasus!” Her voice broke and she hit the table with a hoof. “Suddenly I was a freaky alicorn and the other foals were scared of me! It was a small village, nothing like Canterlot, filled with libraries and educated unicorns! They thought that I was the witch!”
“Cadance… Please…” Twilight showed her hooves defensively. “Stop! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Didn’t Princess Celestia raise you afterwards, Princess?” Miss Gerdie asked and Cadance nodded softly with her ears folded down.
“Yes… I can’t say that it was bad, or that I wasn’t loved. But she didn’t let me do the same things I saw the other rich foals doing… Now I know that they were wrong… But… I don’t know what I’m trying to say anymore… But it would be nice if ponies would come to me and say that they love this or that pony and asked my help. And did something nice for me…”
Twilight’s eyebrow raised. “Are you saying that you’d like ponies to come to you and buy another’s love from you for a gift?”
“Well, when you put it like that…” Cadance frowned and pulled her ears back. “Maybe… You help ponies with friendship problems, don’t you? I know it’s different, but it’s my special talent, isn’t it? If I wanted, I could make you fall in love with Maude’s pet rock!”
And she could make her fall in love with a rag doll, but Twilight thought it would be better to let that go.
“Well, you rule the Crystal Empire.” she smiled friendly instead. “Don’t you? I don’t.”
Oh boy… Did that backfire with Cadance’s angry stare. “I don’t really rule anything, Twilight. It’s more like I administrate it for her. Ponies only come to me when they have problems. And you don’t rule anything because you don’t want. I’m sure that if you laid on Mayor Mare Ponyville would turn into another empire.”
The way she stared made Twilight imagine she left a lot unsaid. What the hay was she supposed to say? It was one of those occasions when a pony simply wanted to be angry. Fortunately Cadance let go too.
Twilight simply sighed.
“If this Harpy was so important and influential, then King Grover might have wanted to rid the collective griffon memory of her.” Twilight taped her chin with a hoof, back in at the mater they should have been discussing. “And Princess Celestia might have been wanting to help him if she knew of how dangerous this Harpy, or her teachings were. Or, maybe if there was something in Equestria that she felt the need to hide. The whole story with the griffons might have been nothing more than a simple excuse to do whatever she wanted on her side.”
“Such as her not being appointed ruler immediately after her ‘arrival’?” Rainbow air quoted sarcastically. “Or that we ponies have some loose screws in our heads?”
“Yes.” Twilight agreed. “Or hiding that there was a bigger problem with the sun than our History indicates. The whole griffon invasion would also ruin the lie. Let’s call it what it is.”
She then landed her head on the table with a loud sigh of frustration. “We still don’t know why she did it. By what Discord told us, this is the actually important thing that we must learn.”
“Again, I must insist that your best chance of figuring this out is visiting the Snow Mountains and talking to The Lion. He, considering the circumstances, has the best chances of having this sort of information you are looking for. Lord Discord may have been trying to protect The Sister and their lie.”
“So, guys…” Rainbow began again. “What if you end up putting Prince Blueblood in a position that he can challenge Princess Celetia for the throne?”
“I’m not so sure this could happen, Rainbow.” Twilight shrugged. “To be honest, I’m more worried about the griffons that the Lion seems to be garnering to his side and his disposition towards everypony. If we go on this direction, we will end in a situation where we prove that Celestia and Luna changed our History and, at the same time validate that The Lion has some legitimacy to his claims. Whatever they are… I can’t say that I know that he is using these legends to bring griffons to his side. But regardless, whatever he is doing is irrelevant because Princess Celestia already declared that he can be king of the griffons.”
She sighed. “What worries me is that if the Princess decided to hide this whole affair, and so did the griffons… It can’t a good thing to use and garner support.”
“What is with these old ponies and griffons making stuff up?” Rainbow groaned and huffed. “I mean… If it was Princess Luna that turned that pony into Mother Farfalla, then why make up this whole silly stuff with this talk of goddess and that fancy appearance. What even is a goddess? Was this Harpy a goddess? Are Luna and Celestia goddesses? This is annoying! Twilight could be a goddess for all I know, and it probably wouldn’t change anything!”
“Well, there is clearly something we’re not seeing in this whole affair, Rainbow.” Twilight said.
She had barely mentioned her name and glasses broke. Before they even knew what was happening, there was a bright flash, and something exploded so close to Twilight she could swear it was right next to her head.
Whatever it was, the magical wards in her barding protected her from most of it and she regained her bearings in time to see the door crashing in with a large armored pony literally coming through it.
Chocolate Velvet. Damn it, Rainbow was supposed to be looking out the window!
Cadance acted much faster than she did, and her horn shot out a burst of bright magical missiles straight at him. They never hit him though, and dissipated on his barding’s magical warding shield.
He opened his wings and several pellets flew from them exploding with so much smoke Twilight suddenly could barely see what happened. She was sure a gold armored pony crashed through a window and that Rainbow Dash turned the table on its side. There was so much of a mess that Twilight barely understood the bangs she heard were shots being fired. There was also screaming. A lot of screaming.
“Get out of here Twilight!” Cadance shouted at her right before she jumped over the table. “Get them out of here, Rainbow Dash!”
Twilight shrieked back at Cadance. What was she doing? “Get back here! We’ll exit through the back!”
She never seemed to have heard her though and she attacked Chocolate Velvet with the tip of her bladed crystal bow straight at his shield spell and then slammed her body against him. That was stupid! She is much lighter than he is! Their armor’s clanged, and rather than falling over with her (duh…), he grabbed her and spun around outside with her, outside of Twilight’s view.
It was when Rainbow shoved her towards the corridor in the back. “Move it, Twilight! Cadance can take care of herself!”
One of the Royal Guards, coming out of nowhere, jumped on top of Sunburst and held him into the floor. More shots rang and she heard Miss Gerdie screaming something about the artifacts. Miss Goodread, under a chair gestured frantically at her. “Run Princess! They won’t hurt us, but you must escape!”
That, and another incisive push from Rainbow convinced her. She turned but a couple of earth pony guards blocked the way and were coming at them. She reacted more than anything and teleported past them. The two stopped and turned at her, only for Rainbow Dash to smack one of them headfirst into a corner in the wall.
Twilight quickly summoned her staff and push-magicked the other backwards to crash on the table and split it on half. She was sure he would be fine, with his Royal Guard barding and all, but spent an instant looking for the others in the smoke. Her magical barding protected her from it and even granted her a level of visual clarity in the dense smoke, but the others would be completely lost and disoriented.
Then Rainbow pushed her again. “Come on Twilight!”
She gave up and flew with Rainbow, both crashing against the rear door in an explosion of splinters. Outside a pair of Royal Guards waited for them. A pegasus and a unicorn, both of which shot their pistols at them. Had Twilight not been with Rainbow, she would certainly have the agility to dodge away, but in trying to keep with Twilight the magical bullet hit her. Twilight never saw where, but it was enough to disturb her control over her flight and Rainbow went face first in the green corn plantation.
Twilight flew overhead but spun to see where her friend had fallen. “Rainbow!”
One of the guards, the pegasus flew at her too fast for her to see anything while she was looking for Rainbow and tackled her. She didn’t have time to even look at the pegasus that tried to spin with her and throw her flight off to spiral out of control to the ground. That is what she deduced was the intent, but Twilight’s wings were mightier, and she spun with the guard instead and threw him off. He didn’t spiral to the ground though. He was a good flier and hovered a few hooves away from her.
A white and light green pegasus that looked like one of the older veterans. He didn’t say anything and simply stared at her. She found it weird as he had no weapon with him. He probably left his pistol by the cottage after discharging it, but he didn’t have any other weapon with him, such as a stun baton, for example. She didn’t feel like drawing her own weapons and something felt off. Maybe it was the excitement of the situation.
“Are you just gonna stare intently at me?” She tried not to sound confused or intimidated. “Just because you work for Princess Celestia, it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up or something.”
“I’m going to let you go. Just this once because you are who you are.” He told her. “If we catch you again there won’t be any quarter.”
Her initial reaction was to question him. Ask him why, exactly. But she saw Rainbow Dash flying up from between the green corn stalks and Cadance coming up from behind the small house they were in. Not to mention her airship coming in from over the small town.
“Fine…” She said finally. “Just. Just don’t hurt our friends! Alright?”
“Wouldn’t ever, Princess.” He touched his chest over his barding.
Rainbow flew past her, flying backwards turned to them, staring at the two until Twilight rejoined her and Cadance was catching up. The Royal Guard pegasus allowed himself to lose altitude and withdrew.
“You okay, Twilight?”
“Yes! What about you?”
“I’m cool. That guy wasn’t really trying that hard.”
“He let you go too?”
Rainbow’s eyebrow rose. “I don’t know about that. All I know is that I left him behind”
“Curious…”
Cadance flew past them towards the slowing airship. “Come on Twilight! Rainbow! We have to go!”
The two picked up their pace and lined up with Cadance. Twilight yelled past the wind. “Did Chocolate Velvet let you escape?”
“No!” Cadance coughed out. “He… I kicked his flank.”
When they finally landed on the airship the others surrounded them and Shining Armor immediately held Twilight and started inspecting her like she was a fragile work of art. “You guys okay?”
“Yes Shining! Quit fussing!” She bated his hooves away. “We have to go back and help the others!”
“No! We have to leave! Now!” Cadance tip-tapped on the floor nervously. “Princess Celestia is coming!”
The airship’s Captain looked at Twilight, however.
“Fine. I think they’ll be okay… Get us out of here, Captain. Straight to Manehattan, please.” She pointed onward urgently. “Cadance, we’ve got to talk.”
***
The citizens of Hay Bale were simple folk, so when the ponies in the unmistakable golden armor of the Princess’ Royal Guard arrived in their golden airship they stopped everything and obeyed every command as though it had come from the Princess herself.
The big brown alicorn they had seen in the newspapers added to that sense of urgency.
They didn’t question as it wasn’t within the pony mindset to do so when they were ordered by those who had sworn to protect them that they must all hide inside The Barn and wait until they were cleared to leave. At most, a few mothers took some time fetching their foals before obeying.
Doors and windows were shut and locked. The only light came from a small set of candles or from gaps in the walls and ceiling. They heard its arrival though. It sounded like a roaring monster riding on a thunderstorm. The Barn was a sturdy building, but it rattled with whatever monstrosity was outside. Dust fell from the wood beams and small pebbles rolled around in the floor.
Most importantly, whatever magic it emanated was so strong the earth ponies could feel it as though it vibrated in their bones.
The light that filtered in darkened and the sound changed to a low rumble, like a resting beast stood right above them, breathing coarsely and filling the air with petrichor in an unsettling combination of pleasant odors and scary sounds.
“Don’t worry, milady. You are safe and it will be over soon.” One of the Royal Guards reassured a small filly with her parents next to him.
***
A large black griffon landed near the cottage by the corn field. The place looked like it had been raided by a small army. The air smelled of powder and windows were broken. The door was just barely shut. Next to him landed six of his master’s soldiers: sturdy griffons wearing the black cuirass of Griffindell. They wore black capes and black and golden embroidered helmets. Most importantly. They were armed with the modern semi-automatic rifles that were sure to soon put the fear of griffons back into these grass-eaters.
He carried his own rifle on his back, together with his heavy spear with a lock of blue pony mane. He wore his own cuirass, forged larger than the ones the other griffons wore. His clear white head didn’t hold a helmet, though, only his green eyes, focused on the small building.
He expected there would be some fighting once they arrived, and that disappointed him somewhat but didn’t stop him from advancing and his soldiers followed suit to his sides.
He pushed the flimsy door open and it collapsed from its hinges. Looking inside he was greeted to a view of a turned table folded in half, a few chairs and a brown alicorn sitting in the middle of the room. The male alicorn they had heard about.
“I am sorry.” The alicorn grinned petulantly. “But your princesses are in another cottage.”
It was the most punchable grin he had seen in a while.
“You are outnumbered.” The big griffon snarled.
“Yeah, I had a joke or two to throw in here, but I guess this is a tough crowd. Are we done with the formalities? Really, I’d rather we got this done because I’m dying to meet your boss and explain to him all the ways he fucked up.”
He didn’t know if the alicorn meant to be funny, but he didn’t find it so, particularly when he didn’t find his quarry and would have to return with the alicorn instead of the two princesses his master sent him to fetch. He also shifted his head at the realization that this alicorn spoke a word that wasn’t very common for ponies to utter. “Take him.”
Two of his soldiers rushed at the alicorn, who didn’t resist, and hit him with the butt of their firearms. He collapsed on his back, and bled out of his muzzle, but infuriatingly didn’t lose conscience.
“You know, you just had to ask.” He grunted after his comment when one of the soldiers rifle-butted him again, this time in his stomach.
“Shut it, pony.” He growled while he and his partner grabbed on his legs and dragged him along the floor.
***
Pony officials in charge of large cities and small villages always paid attention to whatever the nobles of Canterlot were doing. As the years passed, they noticed Princess Celestia’s tendency to show up a certain amount of time after ‘important events’. Not the typical city goings… No, they were supposed to deal with those and then report it up the hierarchical chain. But as soon as an unknown griffon airship turned up from nowhere via the teleporter and a group of griffons attacked the teleporter’s crew, certain ponies from Baltimare knew that ‘The Mare’ would show up soon.
The Princess, on her side, too noticed that the city officials picked up on her methods. But in the past years, she noticed something even more peculiar that made itself evident again when she teleported with a pair of her Royal Guards into the reception of the Baltimare House of Mercy. It had been decorated with golden ribbons and a banner that read “Welcome Princess Celest”. For some reason that escaped her, cities had started receiving her with banners that blatantly and seemingly intentionally missed the two last letters of her name.
It mystified and amused her to no end and since it had started on Ponyville, she suspected Twilight might have had something to do with it, but she preferred to simply let ponies do as they wanted rather than make a scene about something so trivial.
Still, it was incredibly amusing to see the Baltimare’s mayor, the Lord Protector for the city and the Lord Surgeon smiling at her under the banner and in front of a sizeable three-layered cake. They even had time to procure little sweets and potato salad canapes.
Either she should start appearing in cities sooner after big events, or she should start bringing something too. Well, at least her guards would have something to eat while they waited.
“Gentleponies, I greatly appreciate it, but this is not necessary.” She looked around the table and at the present ponies sheepishly staring back at her as though they are guilty of what happened. It was kind of creepy, to be honest.
The mayor, a light gray earth pony with a large and bushy darker mustache coughed into his hoof. “Princess your presence is always a pleasant one and we could not afford to have you among us and not dispense such pleasantries towards your Highness!”
She smiled pleasantly at him. Though, of that was the case, he might invite her to a nice meeting every once in a while, when there isn’t something going wrong or when he didn’t need support for something. But he did a good enough job that quirk was tolerable.
Fortunately, the Lord Protector coughed in the most indiscreet way possible. “Princess, we followed instructions from the Royal Guard and let the airship be. They left the city with nothing more than the problems they caused on arrival.”
Next the lord Surgeon spoke. “Two ponies were injured, Princess. Given the exceptional situation the mayor asked the doctors to keep us informed and the director for the Baltimare House of Mercy decided that she would keep an eye on the situation personally. One of the ponies is an Intern at EQMagical and her horn was broken. She’s supposed to recover in a few months but is being kept sedated. The director is with her right now.”
The princess waited for him to go on and the Lord Protector spoke instead. “The other injured pony is the Director for the teleporter… Miss Top Brass. According to her the griffons were simply intent on teleporting in their airship and left as soon as it had arrived.”
“Is it possible that I speak to her?”
“Absolutely, Princess.” The Lord Surgeon nodded. “She was admitted for observation and already received a visit from her husband and foal.”
“The population is scared, Princess.” The mayor spoke again. “They never expected anything like that when the teleporters were first built!”
“The teleporters aren’t to blame, Mister Key. And neither are your city’s administration or security. Much less are EQMagical or its employees.” She held a sigh. Politicians… “Those griffons are. And as such, I would like to speak to the witness. Despite your welcoming atmosphere with this reception I would prefer not to dally. This is important.”
The mayor nodded again. “Absolutely Princess! Whatever you prefer!”
“Follow me, please, Princess.” The Protector motioned with a hoof. “My ponies have their rooms isolated.”
She nodded and then turned to her escort. “Wait for me here.”
They both nodded at her and she followed the three ponies into one of the corridors that connected to the reception and the whole place seemed deserted. She hoped the city’s officials didn’t disrupt the hospital’s service just because of her visit. She didn’t even announce she would be arriving soon, and they made this whole fuss about it. At the same time, the population wasn’t part of it. That meant they were scared. Someone was going to pay for that mess.
Nonetheless, she followed them through the corridors and doors. The Lord Surgeon was the one that seemed to know the way around the building.
That hospital was an old institution, about as old as the city itself and it grew with time. In fact, it seemed that each time Celestia visited one such place for whatever reason they seemed to grow bigger. It seemed to be a response to the city growing wider and taller as time passed on
It was nice to see because she typically saw this in the form of numbers and figures in reports, but as time passed, she realized that her presence had a tendency of disrupting services more than anything else, as evidenced.
Regardless, this time she needed to be present and the Baltimare Local Militia had isolated the area of the hospital to all but interested and professional ponies, so there wasn’t too much of a commotion, especially since it seemed that the hospital had closed the whole wing by itself. Of course, she had hoped to see the injured ponies and reassure them they would be fine, but there was an executive officer for EQMagical in the corridor. She assumed she was because the unicorn mare with dark yellow coat and reddish-brown mane, curled up and all shiny, wore one of those ‘suits’ the ponies who worked with money seemed so fond of.
At least she knew they had reached the right place.
They were in a not too long corridor that the militiaponies had isolated for the special patients. It had a few sittings and some ornaments in the form of plants and some framed pictures of the city’s skyline, but nothing out ordinary.
“Princess Celestia!” The mare stood and walked briskly towards the princess just as soon as she had seen the princess arrive, in a way she managed to make the militiaponies and officials uncomfortable. Celestia wondered if the mare even realized she had done that. “Do you have any idea of how much money we lost because of this whole affair?”
Every now and then Celestia missed the times when these ponies would have been more cunning. In the past they would coerce the poor injured ponies that work for them into guilting her into paying for all the money they didn’t make and pretend that it was money they actually had lost. Instead of having a representative sitting on the hallway waiting impatiently for her.
She partially blamed herself for making the ponies more civilized, though. It was annoying, but better that way. A least she was direct.
“I suppose you are going to tell me anyway.” She said, stopping on her way with the smaller mare before her. The militiaponies each side of the corridor simply stared at each other and at their superior who kept patiently waiting for the whole show to be over.
The mare blinked at her and didn’t quite know what to say, seemingly caught completely off guard as though for some reason she expected the princess to be falling over her hooves apologizing. As thought, it was her fault. Yes, somepony in headquarters thought that it happened close enough to her request to plausibly blame her. Celestia had seen this before and every time they seemed to think that they were the first ones to come up with this brilliant plan. Again, she blamed herself.
This pony at least seemed confused enough to have legitimately believed that they were entitled to a compensation from the Royal Treasury.
Infuriatingly enough, if they were humbler and more friendly, she would have obliged. It wasn’t their fault after all.
“I don’t believe I know your name?” The princess smiled at the pony, who perked her ears and stumbled a little with the words.
“I’m Cash Flow, Princess. I am the local CEO for EQMagical in the city.” She shuffled her hooves a little. “We are concerned about the present situation. It has caused us to lose quite a significant sum in Bits.”
“I am sure it has, Miss Flow.” Celestia walked around her, towards the first of the isolated rooms. “First of all, I would like to ensure your superiors that your employees, I am told by reliable ponies, are being well-treated. Additionally, I have already authorized payment of the sum related to the transfer of Mister Snake’s airship, and also the amounts related to the fees associated with the changes in the schedule.”
The unicorn followed her. “I am… Well. Sure you did, Princess… But…”
“Your superiors wouldn’t presume to imply that I should be held responsible for the damage caused by those griffons, would they?”
“Well… I have been asked to… Hum… Nevermind, your highness.” Her ears flopped.
Celestia simply nodded at her. If her little ponies had learned, then these big companies could learn it too: trying to manipulate their princesses would inevitably end poorly.
The princess excused herself with a nod and proceeded into one of the rooms where a couple of unicorn professionals cared for the young unicorn mare the princess recognized from the report as Amber Flower, the EQMagical intern that was most injured in the situation.
She stopped next to the bed, paying little mind to the nice room, carefully looking over the unicorn that was laying on her side and covered to her neck with the bedsheets. Her mane was a mess, but it looked like somepony had cleaned what blood must’ve clung to it. Celestia had seem broken horns before and knew what a mess those could be. Regardless, what remained of Miss Flower’s horn hid under a large ointment-soggy dressing. She was sleeping soundly though, despite how painful her injure must be.
“How is she?” Celestia finally turned to and asked one of the unicorns now standing next to her. The Lord Surgeon remained by the door and the others took the hint, leaving her alone.
The doctor, a tan female looked at her patient and then at the princess. “Her horn should grow back in a year or two. She just won’t be doing a lot of magic until then. In a week or so she should have recovered from the worst of it. She did have to go through surgery, but nothing our specialist isn’t used too. We’ll keep her sedated, though. At least for the first week. I suppose your highness wanted to talk to her?”
“Not if it can’t be helped.” Celestia shook her head slightly. “I rather she slept if it would be too much for her to wake up. What about the others?”
“Two of them were unharmed. They were released from the hospital and left with the city’s militia. Another pony checked in with little more than bruises and was admitted for observation.”
“I believe that would be Miss Top Brass?” She asked and the medical pony nodded. “I believe I will talk to her now. If you will excuse me. Please take good care of Miss Flower.”
She replied to their bows with a curt nod and left for the next room where she found the mare she had mentioned. Sat on the bed and looking out the window, she seemed perfectly fine and ready to leave for home if not for some overly careful medical pony. Well, the Princess supposed it was for the better since she had hit her head and been in a rather dangerous situation.
“Excuse me?” She called from the door, rapping on it with a hoof. “Miss Top Brass?”
She started a little and then gasped at the sight of the princess. “May I come inside?”
“Yes! Please! I mean… Uh…” She fussed with the bedsheets for a while before giving up and simply stared at the princess, now standing next to her. “Can I help you, Princess?”
Celestia smiled at her. “First I would like to know if you need anything.”
“No.” The smaller mare shook her head, somewhat conscious of her position. “I’ve been treated wonderfully.”
“Good. I would then like to know what you can tell me about your assailants. I understand that the Lord Protector commander of the city’s militia already talked to you?”
Top Brass simply nodded, and the Princess went on. “I would like to hear from you what happened. If you are comfortable with that.”
“The teleporter seemed to be malfunctioning after Mister Flying Snake’s airship had been teleported, so I went up the control tower to see what was happening. Our unicorns were having trouble with the magical controls and then one of the griffons came inside and threatened us with a firearm.”
Her eyes shifted down at the memory, but she looked back at the princess and resumed her account. “Next came other three griffons and one of them seemed to be in charge. One of them had a device she used to control the teleporter after she…”
The mare fiddled with her bedsheets a little more. “I don’t really understand how it works, but she pushed Amber Flower’s head against the terminal so hard… She bled all over the floor… And, uh… They managed to activate the control panel. I’m sorry Princess. I’m not very comfortable talking about this.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Brass. I understand. She will be fine in a while and I would appreciate if you could tell me more. Did the griffons say anything?”
“One of them… The one that was in charge made a speech about how… I’m not sure what the meant, but it was something about us taking things for granted. I think. Like we couldn’t see when our lives were in danger anymore. He was scary.” She shook her head a little. “It was the only time they spoke Common Equestrian. All the time the spoke to each other in some language I don’t know. He sounded so… Serious and angry. The one that used the device on the teleporter controls. I think she enjoyed hurting Amber.”
“Can you describe these griffons to me?”
“Their leader had purple fur… I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of griffons with that color. And his head was mustard colored. She was yellow. I think… She wore a white coat. But her head was all white. She looked beautiful, but so scary.”
“Do you remember anything else?” The pony shook her head timidly and the Princess nodded and smiled at her. “Very good. Now please don’t concern yourself with these things. The Royal Guard is going to take care of the situation and those griffons will be dealt with. The mayor should be making an announcement regarding the event and I want you to know that I will personally ensure that all involved are dealt with as demanded by the law or protected as such.”
The mare nodded thoughtfully at her and the Princess was pleased that she seemed to understand what was implied.
“With your excuse.” She nodded and left the room, meeting the other ponies outside who walked with her until the very end of the corridor, a dead end with bare walls and a simple potted flowering bush for witnesses.
“We have converging descriptions of the griffons from all the witnesses, princess.” The Lord Protector began as though he could read her thoughts. “Their leader was a purple and mustard male griffon of medium build. The female which interfered with the magical terminal was yellow and white, wearing a white coat. One of them stayed by the door and was of large build, dark-gray and white with green eyes. The last one was rather skinny, brown-furred with a darker head. All of them spoke with an unknown accent the witnesses described as ‘sing-song-y’ as was the foreign language they spoke on between themselves. Our linguist suspects it might be High Griffonese by the descriptions.”
“It most certainly is.” She frowned softly, not communicating her thoughts further.
“The yellow one mentioned she went to Bay County University and graduated there. That she was a researcher and that Your Highness had expelled her.” He rose and eyebrow at her while the Princess’ frown turned to a blank expression. And then a smile.
“I see.”
Miss Cash Flow cleared her throat in that obnoxious way ponies did when they wanted attention. “EQMagical would like to prosecute these griffons, Princess. The Lord Protector has asked of us to wait until you had been informed of the details of the situation and still hadn’t identified them for us because it seems to be something out of the ordinary. Our lawyer team is prepared to visit those responsible and present them with a settling accord first, though. Regardless of what legal action the Crown will take against them.”
“I would prefer if your company let me deal with this situation. It is more delicate than a few Bits you didn’t earn from the hours of the teleporter being out of operation and this might be a matter of national security. I can assure you that they will be held accountable for the damage they caused and will restitute your losses.”
The mare gasped. “Princess! Are you protecting them? Who are they? Some important griffons?”
Celestia blinked at her a couple of times. The nerve on this little mare. “By all means, Miss Cash Flow. If your superiors are sure that your legal team can intimidate Lord Gilad Ironfeathers, otherwise known as The Lion, into a deal outside the Royal Court, by all means it would spare me a few headaches and hours of boring speeches in the Hall of Friendship. Because the griffon that led the attack is Grigory, his son.”
She took a step back at the mention of the epitaph. “But… But… They must be held accountable!”
“And they will. As will your company be given fair compensation. If you let me do my work. Maybe your executive officers could take a day off once in a while and relax a bit?”
“Princess!” She wished that panicking ponies would speak more softly rather than louder, but the mayor bawled further. “We just suffered an attack from a foreign power! This was an act of war!”
Fortunately, the mare was too busy calculating the effects of that on her salary and the Lord Surgeon seemed more mature. Or at least trusted her, like the Lord Protector.
“No, that wasn’t an attack, and neither was it an act of war or from a foreign power.” Her now serious tone at least seemed to freeze the pony into listening rather than panicking and drew the other’s attention. “What happened was that a young and impulsive griffon, propelled by their proud ideology dragged his friends and some resources he might have been yet too immature to be responsible for into a situation that all of them might have avoided had they been wiser.”
“And that is why you will calm the population and assure them of their safety, while EQMagical will patiently wait until the investigations are done and the Royal Guard has dealt with the situation and the Princess has peacefully cleared this unfortunate situation with the future King of the Griffons.” They blinked at them. “Understand?”
The mayor and the mare nodded at her with huge eyes.
“Wonderful.” She smiled. “Run along now. There are things you must care for.”
Without much thought they scampered off past the local guards securing the corridor and left the princess with the Lords Protector and Surgeon. She turned to the latter, who spoke calmly. “All their injuries will be covered by the Public Health System, majesty. The whole thing’s gone through already.”
She nodded silently and the pony then bowed at her and left, leaving her alone with the Lord Protector.
“What a mess, princess.” He sighed when they were alone. “I have a couple of militiaponies riling up the others about asking questions in the griffon neighborhoods. And I thought that the ‘Dragon Incident’ in Manehattan was bad… And some of the nobility is making noise about this to the mayor and other city officials. This could turn ugly if more griffons are involved in attacks, especially with their recruiters going around in griffon neighborhoods and talking about The Lion.”
“They want a culprit they can reach. That is not acceptable. Remind them that those griffons, even the ones that attacked the teleporter are still my subjects and that Griffonia, with all its holds is still part of Equestria under my rule. And that includes even Lord Gilad, who is likely to become the King of the Griffons and that Equestria supports him and his promise of dutiful and honored rule after all the accusations of corruption Chancellor Silkfeather has suffered. Please, help the mayor keep the city under control and its population safe, Lord Protector. The griffons are my problem.”
“Absolutely, Princess. I’ll make sure my stallions and mares reassure the population that things are under control. Do you need me to do anything else? Because of the whole situation with Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Cadance?”
“Are you implying that the attack is related?”
“Neither of us are stupid, Princess.” He grinned. “For example, this yellow griffoness seemed important. So, I took a gander. She is on a watchlist and she is to be rejected a job at all universities and magical research institutions in Equestria. Princess Celestia is not spooked very easily like that.”
She mimicked his grin, appreciating a perspicacious pony that wanted to help. “Well, you would be right. But you should also know that I am dealing with this and all the assistance that I require from you and your militia is that you make sure your airships are prepared to intercept Princess Twilight’s airship if the ambush by the Royal Guard causes them to divert their course into your range. Additionally, under no circumstances any militia under your jurisdiction should engage with those griffons. You do not want to see your militiaponies dealing with those griffons, which is something that those griffons too understand, and that is why they left the city without additional drama.”
His lips turned into a smug grin. “Don’t worry, Princess. I know when something is above my pay.”
She rolled her eyes turning to leave him with his ponies in the corridor. If only a pair of princesses understood that.
Back in the reception hall, after getting herself lost a couple of times, she was met with the mayor glaring at her two Royal Guards and a few missing canapes and pieces of the cake. Also present was Luna and Lieutenant Crucible Wings, the former of them halfway into eating one of the canapes.
“Hello sister.” The blue alicorn greeted. “Everything is going as it should.”
But then the two mares stared at the mayor who huffed and pouted. “Fine. I’ll be in the City Hall if you don’t need me. Excuse me.”
After he stormed off, Luna spoke again. “Crucible went to Manehattan and spoke with the Lord Protector.”
“He was not happy.” The pony in armor shrugged. “It sounds like this Naminé is trouble. And also slippery like an oily-eel. He said she has been quiet and not creating her usual trouble and because of that they left her alone.”
“It is just one pony. One unicorn nowhere near as powerful to be on the Unicorn Watchlist. Why would they have trouble with her?” Luna finished her canape and asked him while Celestia sat in front of them.
“She has amassed a following. A sort of cult and they protect her like she is their… Well… Leader.”
“Oh, great. Another Starlight Glimmer. At least she’s not on the watchlist.” Luna grunted. “Why don’t we have her and her cult under ‘preemptive arrest’? That's what they call it, right?”
“Because that is a violation of civil rights, Luna.” Her sister glared at her. “Talking with Twilight and Cadance would not be a crime, even in the present circumstances.”
“You could call it conspiracy, Princess.” Her guard shrugged and Luna glared back at her.
“If I remember correctly, ‘civil rights’ weren’t exactly a problem when you decided that Lord Magnus should eat a bowl of glass.”
“Your memory fails you, Luna.” She spat right back and Crucible had trouble deciding which glared the hardest at the other. “Civil Rights hadn’t been invented yet and I am glad you were too young to understand or remember any of that.”
She frowned at Luna. “Of all the things that happened that is what you remember?”
“Well, I also remember that you had the hots for Cherry.” Luna rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine. I’d hope that the militia of a large city such as Manehattan would be able to keep her under control.”
“That is not the problem, Luna. The problem is that as Discord let slip, Chrysalis had decided to help them. She certainly has sent her agents to facilitate their meeting or is going to as soon as she feels she can get away with it.”
The worst part of it was that Luna couldn’t convince herself that Celestia was wrong. She grunted again. “What do we do now?”
“We can’t have the city militia looking for changelings right now.” Celestia turned to Crucible. “Please, visit the Lord Protector again and explain that changeling infiltrators are to be ignored and that he must focus on capturing Twilight and Cadance if they make it to Manehattan. If things go the right way, we’ll have been much sooner than that. In the meanwhile, don’t even think about Naminé.”
“Why don’t you make Chrysalis call them back?” Luna asked and Celestia simply stared at her with a flat expression. “Right… She’ll deny it until the day she dies… I feel like we should do something about her, though.”
“And we shall. That is why she is going to help us and stay with us until this whole mess is resolved. Chrysalis does want to know ‘The Truth’. She thinks it will validate her hurt ego. But she is not ready to understand it yet, and you must be careful she doesn’t twist her words around in your mind. Don’t forget that Chrysalis is dangerous. “
“There is another very important issue.” Celestia went on. “The airship that teleported. The Lion’s son is likely commanding it. And he has an interesting friend.”
“Wonderful…” Luna sighed. “But not really surprising.”
“Crucible, you must contact all the local militias and order them, on my authority to not engage with these griffons under any circumstance. At the same time, also inform all Royal Guard garrisons that Grigory is likely to be accompanied by a yellow and white, young griffoness named Galensa. They are authorized to apprehend and restrain her with any measure necessary upon sight. Her friends are likely to defend her and tell them to be aware of that. She will be surrounded by professional soldiers from Griffindell, if Grigory is with her.”
“Yes Princess.” Was all he said. “It’s a shame Captain Armor isn’t around.”
“What is so scary about her, Celestia?”
“Galensa was a genius student from Snow Mountains that graduated with excellent grades at Bay County. She was offered a job in thaumatoengineering research and she excelled in her work. Then I found out she was creating a magical weapon capable of destroying half Canterlot County.” Luna gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof in a way Celestia wasn’t entirely sure she was making fun of her worry or legitimately scared like she was at the time. “Some two years ago I had her expelled and ensured she wouldn’t get a job anywhere near a place that could enable her to continue her research and made sure somepony kept an eye on her.”
“But she returned to Snow Mountains and my informant lost her. I didn’t worry too much because the chance of her continuing her research there was miniscule and I hadn’t heard about her until now.”
Luna saw Celestia’s eyes changed. She was worried. Not in the funny way she was when Chrysalis showed up in Canterlot and started talking about their joint project or about a dead griffon emperor. Celestia was ‘we all could die horribly’-worried. “Do you think that The Lion is funding her research?”
Then Luna gasped again. “If they are after Twilight and Cadance… They could be after the Elements of Harmony. I don’t think so, but can they be used to power such a weapon?”
Celestia shook her head. “They are a physical focus of Harmony itself, Luna. They can’t be used for wanton destruction. But Twilight and Cadance are likely to be accumulating information and it seems that The Lion, or at least Grigory is interested in what they have found.”
“Princess…” Crucible called. “Twilight’s airship had to change course to go to Haybale. It is on the way to Manehattan, but not on a direct course.”
“Correct.” She agreed, then looked back at Luna. “Twilight likely has friends that are helping her, and they found something of interest there. Or they were drawn there.”
Luna nodded back at her. “And at the same time, Grigory knew to look for them in there… Which is why his airship went straight there and didn’t follow Flying Snake’s… And you’ve put Chocolate Velvet in their way!”
“He will be fine, Luna. He will protect Cadance and Twilight. And even if they hurt him… I trust in his ability and loyalty.” The younger sister nodded at Celestia’s words. “I don’t think The Lion has the resources, to make a functional weapon, Luna. I don’t even think that he would have the desire to do so. We need more information. Crucible, order a search in all the records for the other griffons that appeared with her and Grigory in the teleporter facility. I need to know everything there is to know about them.”
“Aye, Princess.”
“In the meanwhile, Luna, go back to the Bordello and ask Chrysalis to join us in the Break of Dawn with all the soldiers she can spare from The Rock. Preferably with Thorax too.”
Luna simply nodded.
“Look for me. I’ll be waiting onboard and in position when you arrive, and we will try to intercept the griffon airship before they contact Twilight. This is turning into a mess and we have to fix this soon. I need to know how much The Lion knows of Emperor Grigor and interviewing Grigory and his friends might be ideal. Then we’ll have to escort them back to Griffindel. We may not be able to participate in the ambush near Baltimare.”
“Princess, I don’t like the fact that everything seems to be happening at the same time and in the same general area.” Crucible added. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to stop them from coming into contact with Twilight and Cadance.”
Something clicked inside Celestia’s head. “Isn’t it peculiar that there was an issue with money being diverted from Ponyville’s militia and then everything started happening? Cadance found the letter… This airship appeared. Galensa resurfaced. Twilight and Cadance were drawn to a small town out of the way…”
“Chrysalis made her super-soldiers…” Luna reminded her. “Although, she’s likely been messing with those from much earlier… Still. Do you think that they are trying to distract us?”
“No…” Celestia mused quietly. “Discord might have wanted to distract us because he wanted Twilight and Cadance to find Naminé, but it’s different. Someone ensured Cadance would find the letter and knew that she would find Twilight to investigate it. Incidentally, we discovered the problems with Ponyville’s militia. They didn’t intend for Discord and Chrysalis to get involved. That was because Twilight and Cadance sought her instead of seeking The Lion right away.”
“Inadvertently, Twilight and Cadance threw a wrench in their plans and everything got complicated. So, they’re scrambling to fix the problem before we figure out what they are doing.” Luna nodded. “Do you think that they caused the problem with the militia too? Somehow?”
“No. It’s easier to assume that they exploited an existing situation.” Celestia nodded. “Whoever it was, understands what those ponies were going through and exploited the situation because they were that much more vulnerable. Very, very few creatures in the world could have understood that. Not only that, but they had the resources to probe for that sort of thing.”
Luna frowned and nodded in agreement. Then she looked at her sister with pained eyes. “Discord?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that he would… I just don’t know yet. Right now I need to deal with the funding issue. I think they were siphoning money for something. Luna, do you think you can deal with the griffons and with Twilight?”
“I think that I can. You’re going to Canterlot?”
“I must ensure that those responsible don’t vanish. Or worse. I have some questions that need answers.”
“Celestia…” Luna ears fell a little. “What about Chrysalis’ children? Her Praetorians?”
“I’m afraid they’ll have to wait.” She shook her head softly. “They are safe with Chrysalis.”
“Didn’t you just say that she is dangerous?” Luna frowned.
“She is. But not to them. Chrysalis is confused, but she is compelled to love them and to nourish and protect them. They are safe with her.”
“How do you know? I mean… She killed them. Several times, as ridiculous as this sounds. She’s done horrible things to them.” Luna pouted a little. “You sound like those times when you know something and won’t tell me about it!”
“And she suffered through it. It was not meant to be, and she hurt herself as much as she hurt them. I know this, Luna. And you know it too. You’re simply not paying attention. We share that imperative. Which is also the same reason Twilight and Cadance are doing what they are.”
“Huh…” The other looked down thoughtfully.
“Yeah… This is too deep for me.” Crucible deadpanned at them. “With all due respect, I have orders to follow.”
***
The griffons had decided that they’d walk the final stretch of their journey and Discord didn’t complain. Apparently, it was forbidden to fly near the cities, or something like that. It was a nice walk anyways. Out of the snow and the short grass was nice on his feet. It was cold though. And wet. But that didn’t bother him. The griffons had stopped to replenish their water supply, canteens. One for each and they took the cold water from a fast and crystalline stream. The young male even gave him to drink before replenishing the thing.
“It comes down from the mountains.” The young male pointed at the tall snow-covered peaks. “Griffons love the mountains! They provide everything. Food. Water. Shelter. And roosting.”
The image on Discord’s head was a bunch of griffons piled up on a tree that was toppling over from the weight.
“They even protect us from the monsters.” He went on with a gesture. “They diverge them elsewhere, particularly the undead creatures since they are rather stupid.”
“Bah!” We don’t need any help from the mountains!” The small cub cried disdainfully. “We kill all the monsters!”
“We can’t kill all of them.” The male retorted and rolled his eyes.
“Yes, we can, you dope!”
“We won’t be killing any monsters if we don’t make it to Brokenhorn.” The father told them, and it was all it took for them to focus and resume their walk.
Soon they were climbing a soft incline covered in patches of grass on the dark soil. The ubiquitous clouds closed most of the sky, but Discord could imagine it wouldn’t be too long before Celestia set the sun and Luna rose her moon. He was curious about how the griffons viewed that daily cycle since they didn’t seem to like ponies.
His thoughts were interrupted when the cute griffon child flew and hovered before him. “Why do so many monsters come from the Frozen North? Especially undead monsters! They’re the worst! They cast frost spells all over the grain fields, and they make it really cold, which doesn’t really bother me, but they moan and growl in such a weird way! What is up with them? Don’t they just know to die already?”
Discord actually knew the answer! “Well, not all of them are really undead.”
For an instant, he wasn’t really sure he was supposed to talk about that with a young child, but if her father took her to track a lich, it should be fine.
“Truly undead creatures have a functioning soul trapped and corrupted in them, and that is what makes them so powerful. Like the archlich. But there are also other kinds of false undead monsters that are nothing more than the physical remains of a creature that was reanimated by foreign magic looking for a host! Typically, evil magic.”
“It’s usually their intelligence that gives it away, you see. Truly undead monsters are dumb! Except for especial ones. Like liches. They are truly evil creatures that turned themselves into undead monsters to stop the process of aging and become immortal, but in doing that they corrupt their own magic and most of them become mindless, even if rather smart for these kinds of monsters.” He stopped for a second. “Uh, did you understand that?”
“Uh-hu!” She nodded excitedly. “But why do they come from the North? There are plenty of dead things in the South too!”
“Well, that is because of the Windigos!” He gestured like he was telling a spooky story. “Their magic damages the magic in everything. They make good creatures bad. They mess with the very magic of the world and that is why they cause the everlasting winter! It’s like that part of the world is not working right.”
“Oooh! That makes sense!” The small griffon nodded enthusiastically. “I guess it took some courage for the ponies to summon up this kind of cursed magic just to hurt us!”
Whoa! Wait! What? “Come again?”
“They summoned the Windigos to destroy our lands because they couldn’t keep us from taking theirs too.” She explained calmly. “It’s what they call ‘starched land strategy’!”
“It’s ‘scorched land’, dumbass.” Her brother growled.
“Whatever.” She waved away the correction. “When you destroy the very land that you can’t keep your enemy from taking and you hate them so much that you don’t want them to have it either. Filling it with an unlivable winter that creates monsters is pretty much that.”
“Whoa! Hold on!” He put out his hands. “It’s not like that! The ponies didn’t do it to hurt the griffons! Those things hurt them a lot too!”
“The Harpy says they did!” She retorted with some confusion. “She said they hated us and that the pegasuses wanted the sky for themselves! The earth ponies turned the tress and the earth against us, and the unicorns made the animals rebel! Can you believe this? What kind of animal doesn’t want to be hunted by a fierce griffon?”
The little one suddenly delivered a lot of information, didn’t she? “Is that so? Hum. Where can I find this Harpy?”
“The Lion will show her to you, Lord of Chaos.” The father said in his stoic tone. “We are mere students in the path that he mastered. Like a true Patriarch for the True Griffons, her Chosen.”
Well, that didn’t sound worrying at all. Or creepy. Worrying and creepy. Maybe that was enough to run back to Celestia and tell her of this Harpy, but he had to remember he was there to make friends first. Hum… Should he have an opportunity, perhaps.
“Hum. That sounds interesting.”
“I am sorry, Lord of Chaos.” The father said. “The cub spoke out of place. We are not allowed to discuss the Harpy with outsiders, for our safety.”
“I understand.” He did his best to sound understanding rather than disappointed. “I really do. You live under threat to your way of life because… Let’s say the rest of the world doesn’t agree with you. I’m not here to judge, you know. I’m here because you guys made me feel like I’m important to you. Celestia said I should cultivate that.”
“We may not agree with the pony Princesses. And some of us hate them. But even in our deepest moments of wrath we recognize and respect honesty. And in that she has never failed with us. Even in our darkest songs of grievance we recognize that she has never lied or used dirty subterfuge with us.”
“Well, that is actually a promising start!” He grinned at the griffon and he almost, kinda… Sort of grinned too. Discord could see that smiling wasn’t his forte.
Then he turned to the two younglings. Brother and sister staring at each other like an old feud was about to blow up. “So, I hope you’re not in trouble for speaking to me about the Harpy.”
“Nah!” She waved her little paw about and then put it over her chest while she recited. “Lady Gwendolen says that cubs are supposed to do silly things. Chaos is in our nature and it is futile to suppress it.”
“Meanwhile the ‘young toms’, now able to grasp that rules exist are supposed to exercise their restraint and comprehend that rules must be understood before they can be safely broken.” The older brother growled in the same cadence.
“Is that so?” He winked at her. “Can you tell me about Lady Gwendolen?”
“She is the greatest! And coolest! And most awesome griffon EVER!” She screamed all the excitement Discord imagined could fit inside her body.
“She is the most beautiful griffoness in existence…” Her brother sighed at the same time, all dreamy eyes and silly smile.
“Eww…” The small griffon followed.
“I’ve been told that she is some sort of leader?”
“Lady Gwendolen is more than that.” The father spoke again. “She is Lord Gilad’s mate and as such she ensures that all their subjects are properly educated and behave in a manner befitting our race.”
“She stays in Griffindell, right? I suppose I should pay her a visit after I met The Lion.”
“He will likely take you to see her. There… Brokenhorn.”
From the top of the hill they could see the city past an open field covered in a few plantations. Small stone and wooden houses dotted the fields amid the tapestry of flimsy green plants clinging to life, barely surviving the cold. Behind a weird crooked rock rose several hundred hooves above. It was dotted with holes and some of them showed light coming from inside. The top looked sharp and jagged, actually as though it was a broken horn. Several houses of different sizes and shapes circled the rocky formation and it all was surrounded with a black stone wall with some tall towers and a large gatehouse. At least from where Discord could see.
The whole thing radiated magic too. It didn’t sing, or whisper to him this time. It was like the natural magic of the world. It simply sat where it was and made things happen. The whole wall was covered in strengthening magic. Maybe it was the material they chose to build the walls with? It seemed filled with purpose, like the pony enchanted weapons that he knew. Maybe the griffons knew a way of enchanting the things they created. Even without horns to focus magic. They had wings and stood on clouds like the pegasus, after all and Discord’s seen Rainbow Dash do some impressive things with their natural magic.
They walked at a brisker pace now that they were so close to the city and things seemed livelier. A few griffons that watched over the fields stopped in their tracks and stared. A merchant, or something of the sort stopped on the beaten path to the gates between the fields and stared still with his cart filled with ‘stuff’ hitched to his shoulders.
City guards congregated on the walls to watch them approach the city, all wearing a silvery cuirass and armed with those guns. One of them ordered the others to do something and soon the gates started slowly opening outwards.
They were bigger than he had noticed from afar. Heavy, noisy black metal gates. And past them the gatehouse was a simply stone structure. Past it the beaten path continued, and a lot of griffons gathered there. Of all ages and sizes. Wearing different clothes or none at all. They were on the sides of street, in front of the houses because in the middle of the street was one single male griffon.
Sweet Celestia on a pogo stick, did that griffon look formidable.
He was big and mean. He exuded power with his serious stare. All blackish-brown under a combination of black armor and a heavy fur coat. Discord didn’t know what sort of fur that was, but it was black, thick and heavy. Above it, the griffon’s head as a pristine white with brown eyes and he wore a small and discreet golden diadem with a single ruby. He really didn’t need more to project an aura of majesty.
Then he bowed before him. It almost scared Discord. The gesture spread like a wave in all directions among the congregated griffons. Discord didn’t even began imagining how to react to this. Should he bow too? Should he wait? Still, the others rose when The Lion stood again. His wings flared open and threw his fur cloak in between them and he spoke with a deep bass.
“Witness, Brokenhorn! The Lord of Chaos comes to the Snow Mountains. Celebrate, Children of the Harpy! History writes itself before your eyes at the edge of a new age.”
Around Discord the griffons jumped, cried, whooped and some of them even sang. Some of them stood and pumped fists into the air or jumped with a flap of wings and made pirouettes. The small cub that accompanied him and her brother celebrated as well as their father, even if he seemed a lot more restrained.
The excitement died down after a while once their lord returned to his regal poise. An old griffon approached, but he still seemed physically fit and wore a golden chain around his neck, along with a plain silver diadem that went well with his gray fur and cyan head. Calm yellow eyes hovered over Discord until he lowered them and bowed slightly, next to Gilad.
Then the tracker griffon approached, and his two cubs remained respectfully a body’s length behind him. “My Jarl. My liege. We searched for the creature, but it eluded us. It moves quite a lot for a lich and we couldn’t even find tracks to follow.”
“No matter, friend.” The silvery griffon held his shoulder with a paw and spoke hoarsely with a smile. “You’ve brought us something far more important.”
“Quite.” Gilad added with his much more impressive voice. “The foul monster can wait for all I care. Tonight, we will feast. No goat, or cow. We will eat roasted caribou fresh out of the woods.”
Their audience celebrated again, and Discord noticed he hadn’t yet spoken a word. It made him conscious, as though it might look like he didn’t care enough for their reception.
“Thank you, Lord Gilad. I am very honored at your reception.” He grinned sheepishly. “Even if I’m not entirely sure I deserve it. It is a bit overwhelming.”
The big griffon nodded. And then he smiled in a way that Discord never thought would be possible in such a stern and powerful creature. “You will understand. She will show it to you.”
Yeah… Creepy.