I rested on my throne as the door opened and I looked up.
"Envoy Silverstreak and escort," Iron Shine announced and stepped to the side, allowing the three griffons past her.
The lead griffon was of an owl type, brown feathers starting to gain streaks of grey at places, the other two more taking after different kinds of eagles if I'm any judge.
"Prince Page," Silverstreak said and bowed, "Please, accept my gratitude at receiving us and the well wishes from our king."
I smiled and nodded to him, "You are most welcome. And give my own well wishes in return to King Darkfeathers. It has been too long since we talked."
He straightened again, wings shifting slightly as he smiled, "Nocturnis is a beautiful city."
I nodded, "It is," I agreed, "I hope you find your accommodations satisfactory?" I then asked, completely ignoring that calling somewhere with just over five thousand inhabitants a city a bit of an exaggeration.
It was a town at best.
"Absolutely, your highness," he agreed, "Most comfortable. We have been quite enjoying trying the local food, quite different from what we have run into in our previous journeys to Equestria."
"More to the griffon taste?" I asked.
"Much more," he said with a smile.
I nodded, "So what can the ponies of Nocturnis do for you, Silverstreak?" I asked, "I doubt you traveled all the way to our remote corner of Equestria to sample our local cuisine?"
That got a smile from him, "To business," he agreed, "And as a matter of fact, that is part of why I'm here. King Darkfeathers would like to open official channels between Nocturnis and the Griffon people."
I flicked one ear, "Such as?"
"We would like to establish an embassy as well as an official trading station at Nocturnis," He said with a smile, "To facilitate communications between us and set up direct trade."
Considering that for a moment I then slowly nodded, "While Equestria already has an embassy from the Griffon Kingdom, we could certainly use a consulate," I agreed, "As for a trade station, are you considering shipping along the river directly to your lands across the ocean?"
Silverstreak smiled, "In fact, that is exactly what we are hoping for. It would cut weeks off the journey instead of having it travel to harbors in Equestria by train first. It may even make shipments of perishables possible, such as fruit."
I slowly nodded, "That may be more difficult than you think," I said and looked to Flower, "Flower, do you have the report of the survey we did of the river?"
"Yes, your majesty," she said, "Would you like a summary or the full report?"
"A summary would be sufficient, but I think we can give a copy of the full report to the envoys delegation if they wish."
She nodded, "In short, while the river does flow all the way to the ocean, at places there are significant sandbars and other obstructions beneath the surface. It was decided that the effort to map and clear the ones necessary was not economical. Then there is the significant danger of the local wildlife to long travels along the river to take into account."
I nodded and motioned towards Silverstreak with my hoof, "You will be given the full report of course, but I don't think it will be possible."
He looked thoughtful, "Perhaps, perhaps not. We have quite skilled dredgers and craftsgriffs. Perhaps we may accomplish something."
"If you manage to get a ship or even a boat here," I told him seriously, "We'll build a port matching it. That's an agreement you can have from me right now."
Silverstreak nodded confidently, "Our people will study the findings and see what can be done. As for the consulate?"
I smiled, "I have no problem with that, closer ties with the griffon people is only a good thing in my mind. However, whomever is assigned here should likely be warned that there is a rain period. Our weather is not always this pleasant," I said and motioned towards the clear sky and Luna's moon in the sky outside.
He smiled, "Considering I am hoping for that posting myself, I'll take it under advisement, your highness."
"In which case, I suppose it's a good thing you enjoy our food," I said with a smile, "And on that note, perhaps you would like to join my family and myself for dinner this morning?"
"I would be delighted, your highness."
"Excellent," I said with a nod and motioned to Flower, "Flower will arrange it with your people."
Silverstreak bowed, "In that case, by your leave, Prince Page."
"I will see you at dinner," I agreed and the griffons filtered out of the throne room, the doors closing behind them.
I stretched and then jumped off the throne, walking over to look out the open side of the throne room and towards Lunas moon for several long moments. Their suggestion sure was an interesting one.
If they could get ships here, or even large enough boats to be worth it, it would significantly increase our possible trade throughput. Wouldn't make the Equestrian traders happy as the competition would drive prices up, but that would make my ponies very happy, especially as it would also drive prices of what we imported down in turn.
Assuming of course that it could be done.
We did discard it as an option before for a very good reason, even after the railroad went down and we gave it a second and much harder look. The river was fine for good parts of it, but parts were impassable for anything larger than a rowboat, especially as it got close to the sea and entered what could only be described as mangrove territory.
Even with magic it did not seem like a valid option.
But if they could pull it off...
I turned to glance back, "What do you think, Flower? Think they can pull it off?"
She looked doubtful, a quill held in her muzzle between a pair of fangs and she considered it before answering, "...I don't know," she finally said, "The griffons are very good builders and craftsponies. It's possible."
"I hope they are as good as they think they are," I said as I nodded, "That's an amazing opportunity if we are able to open up that trade route."
"Especially if they cover the cost of it," Flower said with a grin.
"Really?" I asked innocently, "I had not even considered that."
Seriously, we could also clear a way through that river. Of course we could, it was just a matter of the number of ponies and the amount of bits to do it. That was a multi million bit project and made running the railway look outright affordable.
But if the griffons were willing to hoof the bill for it...
It could even be used for Equestrian shipping. That would be win-win-win, at least for Nocturnis. Holding up our part of the bargain and building a port matching whatever they managed to get here was the cheap part of it.
Buck, if they pulled it off, we'd have to increase production of everything they were interested in just to keep up with demand.
We might need more pylons as well, to expand the shield. But that was far in the future, even if they cleared the river and the first ship arrived tomorrow, we were good for decades with the area we had now.
Nodding to myself, I returned to the throne, "What's next, Flower?"
"Next is a meeting in twenty minutes with Tight Bit, discussing our next month's budget and possible repayments of our loans to Equestria," she said without even looking at her papers.
Oh, joy.