Another day dawned on the world, and the golden sun rose up past the hills to the East of Canterlot in shimmering glory and beauty. Starswirl the Bearded leaned on a small balcony on the second floor of his guest tower suite room. It was a wonderful morning indeed! He turned from the balcony, and nonchalantly teleported downstairs to the small living space below. He was humming a little tune he had picked up forty years ago that had suddenly wandered into his head this morning. It’s truly remarkable how such a tiny little thing as a tune can get stuck in one’s brain for so long, only to be dredged up in an instant by something so common as a sunrise, Starswirl happily mused.
Making his way over to the front door of his suite, he flung it open to find a startled Princess Celestia, her hoof still raised as she had been about to politely knock. “Good morning, Princess!” Starswirl cheerfully offered.
The Princess looked down at her old friend in mild confusion, “How did you know I was about to knock at exactly this moment? I was fifteen minutes late from last week.”
“Oh, our story demanded that you would raise the sun late, and I was willing to oblige what Father Time commanded.”
The Princess arched her eyebrow, “ 'Our story?' ”
“If you’ll recall, I am a time traveler, remember?” the old unicorn smirked.
“So everything you and I do is already set in stone; preordained and unchangeable?”
Starswirl shook his head, “Oh, no! Time is quite fickle if you get to know it; it changes its mind from second to second as things occur.”
Princess Celestia’s head began to hurt, “If that’s the case, then how did you know I was coming here at this instant in the first place?”
He shrugged, the bells on his cloak and hat jingling as he did, “Lucky guess.”
“May I just come in?” Princess Celestia asked in exasperation, her head spinning from the mental gymnastics she had just been through.
Starswirl glided past the Princess out the front door, “Actually, I believe our lesson for today is going to require another visual aid, so we’ll be going on another stroll once again.”
“And what is our topic today?” the Princess smiled, “I’m waiting with bated breath!”
“Kindness.”
“Where exactly are we going to learn about Kindness?”
“In the middle of a civil war.”
There was a blinding flash of light once more, and the two ponies were once again many miles from home. As in their first lesson, the Princess and the Sage were intangible and invisible. As the Princess got her bearings to the new environment, she found that the two of them were in a sloping valley surrounded by many mountains. At the bottom of the valley was a quiet stream that trickled farther down and away, to parts unseen. The grass was very fine but sparse, and she realized that had she been tangible she would feel a gusting breeze on her face. She looked around herself on all sides; there was not a soul around but for the two of them.
“For there being a civil war, the battle seems rather calm.”
“The battle is not here on the ground, Princess,” Starswirl placidly said while looking up to the thick clouds above, “but in the skies.”
The Princess looked up as well, the identity of the warring race coming to her in an instant, “The Griffons are at civil war with each other?”
“Indeed. History states that you met Adric, the great Gladiator-king of the Griffons, at the beginning of all culture, if I’m not mistaken?”
“I did,” the Princess furrowed her brows in anger, “He was a brute. He was utterly cruel, and he was the most wicked being I thought I had or ever would meet.”
“His family’s cruelty has lasted many years. Both strong sons and daughters were born to Adric blood for countless generations. With the last of Adric’s male descendants, though, it was not the case. Brastias I was a sickly child, and when he came of age, he was found to be both weak in stature and infertile. Factions arose, declaring who should next be the king of Griffondom. Some thought that Ailsa VI should rule; she was of Adric’s line, and she was strong. But others thought it was not right, allowing another chance for rule from an obviously decaying line, and a female at that, so they suggested Gawaine, one of the strongest knights of the eyries. They’ve been at war for several months now, but since only the Pegasi could truly witness the battles in action, nopony but the northern Equestrians have yet heard of the war, or of the raiding parties.”
The Princess turned her head back down to look at Starswirl, “What do you mean ‘raiding parties’?”
“The Griffons of Ailsa VI’s Old Blood faction will on occasion raid the city of Cloudsdale for supplies, mostly water. When the winter months begin, though, food will become more scarce for the Griffons of either faction, and taking into account their carnivorous diet-“
“They would start taking my ponies for food,” the Princess finished, her rage growing with each syllable.
“Yes.”
The Princess looked up to the skies again, and her eyes were full of righteous fury, “I will not let this pass. If I must, I will wipe the entire Griffon nation from the skies to save my ponies from being eaten.”
“Genocide for crimes that have not yet been committed?” Starswirl shook his head, “No. That’s the old you.”
“What other option is there?” the Princess asked in frustration, whirling back around to her sagely teacher, “Just allow my subjects to be slaughtered?”
“You can support one faction, and win the war. Status Quo is restored to the region, and no one else has to die unnecessarily.”
The Princess turned away from Starswirl, muttering to herself, “How can I trust any them? How can I trust a carnivore?”
Starswirl chuckled softly, “Even in ‘enlightened times’, it seems the old prejudices die hard, hm? We are all blessed with different natures in this world, from both our bodies and our minds. For some, it is natural and good to eat meat. For others, it is good to eat of fruits and vegetables, or both! You must judge an individual for the individual’s sake, not for their species or diet.”
The Princess sighed, “Very well. Who should I trust, based on their character?”
“Ailsa VI is just like her ancestors; cruel and powerful. Gawaine, while still as much a bird of prey as any of the Griffons, is a knight. He will be bound by honor to hold to whatever agreement you reach with him should you aid him.”
The clouds which had been obscuring the battle above had begun to part as the sun warmed the valley. Hundreds of Griffons were engaged in the conflict, the Old Bloods of Ailsa VI wearing the royal color of blue, while Gawaine’s New Bloods wore his color; green. As some Griffons began to weaken from their combat, they would fly back to their eyries to take rest. The Old Bloods would attack any and all New Bloods, and they began to prey upon Gawaine’s flying wounded like carrion.
“I choose to help Gawaine,” the Princess decided.
“Then in that case,” Starswirl nodded as he lifted their enchantments, making them visible and tangible once more, “let us be quick to help him in his time of great need!”
Princess Celestia spread her wings and burst into the skies, the air roaring behind her as she gained altitude. Starswirl surrounded himself in a azure-grey field of energy, and he rocketed into the skies as well, propelled by his powerful magic. Gawaine was fighting three Old Blood warriors at once, his armored talons slicing through their commonly made chainmail. His light plate armor was taking the majority of the brunt of his foe’s barrage, but he was beginning to tire. A charcoal blur flew up from the skies below, and Ailsa Vi sliced through Gawaine’s green armor; her armored gauntlet deeply scouring his belly.
“You are old and frail, Green Knight,” the Gladiator Princess sneered as she readied herself to attack the ailing Griffon once again, “and now let the Valkyrie take you to her honored halls!” The four Griffons meant to tear the old Griffon apart, as he soon would fall towards the earth below.
Suddenly, a shining gold light roared up around them, and a whirlwind of fire blazed about them on all sides.
“I AM IN THE FIRE, AND THE STORM,” a voice boomed.
The four Griffons looked about for the source of the voice. “It is a demon!” one of the younger Griffons screamed wildly.
“I AM IN THE THUNDER, AND THE EARTHQUAKE,” the roar continued.
A pale light dawned on the five Griffons, and a white horse with wings and horn flew slowly towards them, “AND NOW IS THE HOUR THAT I EMPTY MY WRATH UPON YOU!”
“Sol Invicta!” Ailsa VI shrieked, and she flew upward out of the inferno, as did her three warriors.
Gawaine began to fall as he slipped into unconsciousness from his wounds and the heat of Princess Celestia's flames. She ceased her fiery magic and plummeted toward the ground after Gawaine, coming alongside him and catching him in her forelegs. The Green Knight momentarily opened his eyes to see the blurred form of what appeared to be a majestic pale white Griffon.
“Is my time come? Am I now to enter the hallowed halls of Elysia, the fair Valkyrie?” he groggily asked.
“Not yet,” the angelic being said, “Not if I have a say in it.”
Gawaine slipped into unconsciousness once again, and Princess Celestia bore him up to his eyrie. Starswirl, in the meantime, had been safeguarding the passage of the other wounded forces of the New Bloods. Any of the Old Bloods who came to inflict more harm on them were simply swatted away with his telekinesis, or were forced to float away by a temporary gravity cancelling hex. In the end, the Old Bloods were forced to retreat and return to their eyries as well.
The battle was ended, with neither side truly able to claim victory. Had the Princess and the Sage not intervened, though, it would have most certainly been an Old Blood victory.