//------------------------------// // Diplomatic Courtesies // Story: Wings Against the Sun // by sentinel28a //------------------------------// The winged chariot landed smoothly, pulled by four of the strongest of Celestia’s Imperial Guards. It had been a long trip from Canterlot to Flankfurt, even with a stopover for the night in Trottingham. Twilight Sparkle wished that someone would invent a covered chariot, or some sort of rear doors; being several thousand feet above Equestria with nothing but a safety strap behind them seemed a rather dangerous way to travel, even for alicorns. Now that they were down, however, Twilight could look around without feeling airsick. Flankfurt was Germaneigh’s most western city, about a day’s flight across the no-pony’s land of the Forsaken Forest to the Griffin Kingdoms, and half-a-day’s flight to Snappleshore, one of Equestria’s easternmost holdings. As such, it was perfectly positioned as a trade city between the Griffin lands and Celestia’s. For this reason, it became a prosperous city, one centered around banking and trade. It was also, like all of Germaneigh, fiercely protective of its neutrality. An invader with an armed forces the size of Equestria’s or the Griffins’ would be able to overrun Germaneigh—but would pay such a high price that it would not be worth it. It existed in the eye of the storm. A body-armored pegasus walked towards them, with a phalanx of less well-adorned soldiers with him, of all three kinds of ponies. Twilight remembered that Germaneigh was as diverse as Equestria, even more so to a certain extent, as many griffins lived here as well; Gilda, Rainbow Dash’s erstwhile friend from flight school, was native to Germaneigh. Twilight dismounted from the chariot first. For the occasion, she dressed formally, in the sequinned cape and golden crown she had worn to her investiture. Twilight felt rather self-conscious, and as the pegasus bowed to her, she felt herself blushing. She bowed her head in return, hoping she did it right, then stepped aside to allow the unicorn behind her to dismount. Golden Lily was one of Celestia’s Chancellors of Exchequer, and the most senior, responsible for the day-to-day operations and budget of Equestria. Her coat was an off-cream, shading towards tan, her cutie mark a harp with a crown atop it. Her cape was quartered in the colors of Equestria, adorned with the full sun of Celestia. Her bow was perfectly executed, even with the added bulk of saddlebags. Last, of course, was Princess Luna. Luna wore no cape or badge of office, aside from her small crown, nor did she need to. She was taller than the other ponies present, and her bow was likewise done with the grace and self-possessed confidence of a true princess. Twilight noticed a brief, almost imperceptible shudder go through the guards: it seemed that the stories of Nightmare Moon had reached Germaneigh as well. Initial formalities complete, the pegasus drew himself to his full height. “Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Chancellor Golden Lily, I am Grenzer, Captain of the Flankfurt Guards. May I welcome you to our humble city, in the name of the people of Germaneigh and the Sacred Balance?” Golden Lily was the one who responded, after a glance at Luna. “Thank you, Captain. I must say, it has been awhile since I have been here. Much has changed! The city seems somehow more beautiful.” “You’re always welcome here, ma’am. Business has been quite good as of late.” He turned to Twilight and Luna. “Is it correct that neither of you have ever been to Flankfurt, Your Highnesses?” Twilight shook her head, and Luna responded, “The last time I was here, it was not much more than a small village.” “Ah, then I must apologize, Your Highness. You may not be aware of our customs. As the highest-ranking member of your party, would you mind stating your purpose for coming to Flankfurt, for the record?” Luna visibly fought down an expression of irritation, but complied. They had known this was coming. “I, Princess Luna, along with Princess Twilight Sparkle and Chancellor Golden Lily, will carry out to the utmost of my ability, my tasks as charged by the ponies of Equestria and Princess Celestia. Our purpose is to procure a loan from the Iron Bank of Germaneigh. No fraud will be perpetrated. The Sacred Balance shall endure," she said formally. Grenzer nodded. “Well spoken, Your Highness.” He motioned them to walk forward, on an appropriately laid out red carpet, between the two ranks of guardponies. Grenzer’s bearing reminded Twilight of her brother, Shining Armor, though his mane was dark blond and his coat was more gray than her brother’s white. Stuck between two rows of impassive, armored, and well-armed guards, and without their own—the charioteers had left as soon as the formalities were complete—Twilight felt rather naked, and wished her brother was there. Golden Lily took the lead, and Grenzer joined her. “If you don’t mind me saying so, Chancellor, it is rumored that you alone in Equestria have the credentials and qualifications to put this loan to our bank’s board of directors.” Lily smiled. “It’s very sweet of you to say so, Captain Grenzer.” “Rumors are best left in the barracks, Captain,” Luna said. She nodded ahead of them. “Is that customs?” “Yes, but only for departures.” They left the carpet and the guards, and came to several open-air checkpoints, surrounded by glass partitions, with more of Flankfurt’s ubiquitous soldiers. From here, ponies and griffins—Twilight even noticed a few zebras in the crowd—went in and out of Flankfurt to meet chariots and other means of transportation. She saw that, above them, a squadron of pegasi orbited, in case any winged creatures tried to illegally leave the city without going through customs. It was impressive: there was no place in Equestria that had such security. Twilight thought the Flankfurters were being a bit paranoid. That opinion went up even more when she got closer and saw that a trio of unicorns were inspecting each and everypony leaving the city. As each pony or griffin walked past, the trio would lower their horns and magic beams would play across the traveler. Grenzer noticed and explained. “It’s necessary, Princess Twilight Sparkle. We have a real smuggling problem here. Not surprising, perhaps, given Flankfurt’s reputation as a place to store precious metals. We do not worry about ponies smuggling anything in, since that would be unprofitable, which is why you will not be magicked until you leave. It’s very routine,” he reassured them. Grenzer led them to another checkpoint, manned by a single uniformed unicorn. “This is the arrivals customs point. Sergeant Wachter will see you through.” Wachter was a young stallion, and he bowed deeply to all three of them. “Highnesses, good morning! Have you anything to declare?” “Our luggage has yet to arrive,” Luna replied. “It’s following on another chariot later today.” Twilight had noticed that royalty did not travel light. “The only thing we have to declare are the diplomatic pouches in the saddlebags.” Wachter nodded. “Ah. Well, as I’m sure you know, Your Highness, diplomatic pouches are exempt from inspection. We’ll proceed to the last step, then. All visitors to Flankfurt must learn and understand our laws—of which, essentially, there are only four.” He spoke with the bored rote of somepony who said the same phrases dozens of times a day. With a hoof, he pushed across a sheet of paper written in the heavy but readable script the Germaneighans preferred. Twilight read through the laws: In Flankfurt, these crimes are punishable by immediate execution, no matter the status of the perpetrator: 1) The unlawful removal of precious materials, including metals and magical items. 2) The unlawful possession of weapons by non-citizens. 3) The unlawful use of magic to injure or kill either a citizen or visitor to Flankfurt. 4) Willfully conspiring to defraud, discredit, and deceive the Iron Bank of Germaneigh. “Do you acknowledge these laws?” Wachter asked. “We do,” Luna answered for all of them. “Very well, then.” Wachter smiled at them. “You are now free to go about your business here in Flankfurt. Thank you very much for your patience. Have a pleasant and profitable stay, and good luck on—“ “Their luck has just received a nasty setback.” Twilight and Golden Lily whirled to face the voice; Luna, with an expression of exasperation, turned more slowly. Standing there, legs slightly spread and magnificent wings tucked in against his brown fur, was the largest griffin Twilight had ever seen, twice the size and stature of Gilda: his white-feathered front alone was larger than her. Like Luna, he wore no badge of office other than an iron circlet around his brow and metal taps on his talons; like Luna, he did not need them, for everypony and griffin knew of Emperor Ironwing. His beak curled into a cruel smile. “Princess Luna. A pleasure, as always.” Luna’s lips peeled back in a snarl. “Ironwing.” She noticeably left off the honorific. “What an unpleasant surprise.” She made a show of looking behind Ironwing. Three others stood behind him: the gray-furred griffin was no surprise, but the buffalo and the unicorn were. “I see you didn’t bring your army with you, but they’re not much good without weapons.” Luna paused. “Or with their weapons, actually.” Twilight’s eyes widened at Luna’s temerity, and both Flankfurt guardponies and Golden Lily had taken steps back. Ironwing scowled; Luna’s barb had evidently hit home. “I shall ignore your pitiful attempts at humor, Princess Luna, as well as your discourtesy. But then again, you have been gone for a very long time, yes?” He sauntered past her, as Luna visibly fought for control of herself. He paused before Twilight Sparkle, and his smile became genuine. “This must be Princess Twilight Sparkle. How do you do? I am Emperor Ironwing, King of the Griffin Empire.” He lowered his head and put one taloned hand over his heart. “It is a pleasure to meet Princess Celestia’s most faithful student.” Twilight hurriedly returned the greeting, bowing her head so low her crown almost fell off. “You—you know of me?” “My dear Twilight,” Ironwing said, “the entire world knows of you. I will be watching your career with great interest.” He graced Golden Lily with the barest of nods, then walked towards customs, followed by his retainers. “What are you doing here?” Luna called after him. “I come on a mission for my people, which I shall not discuss with you, Princess Luna.” Almost as an afterthought, he flicked a claw at the three behind him. “May I introduce my porter, my valet, and my secretary. Now, if you will excuse me, I was proceeding with customs.” He turned to Wachter, who came to attention so quickly that his horseshoes made a smacking noise. “I have nothing to declare but this diplomatic saddlebag, sir. My needs are small.” He pointed at the pouch worn by his porter. “Just some extra feathers and kittens to strangle,” Luna said. When Ironwing turned on her with a glacial look, she smiled. “Oh, don’t tell me, it’s a secret.” Twilight tried to gently nudge Luna with a hoof in warning, but she was ignored. “And your retinue doesn’t fool me for a second, Ironwing. Your ‘valet’ is Daggerclaw—one of the last of the griffins’ assassin guild your father wisely destroyed decades ago. Your ‘porter’ is Dark Storm, of the buffalo tribe, who Chief Thunderhooves banished for attempting to murder him. And your ‘secretary’ is Whitemane, who was banished by my sister for studying illegal magic.” She nodded. “Yes, Ironwing, I may have been gone awhile, but I’ve spent the last three years studying. What you are here for is quite obvious.” Ironwing’s reply, if he intended to give her one, was cut off by a shout from one of the unicorns at the departures checkpoint. “Captain Grenzer! This pony is a smuggler!” He was pointing a hoof at a very surprised earth pony. The unicorn’s horn glowed, and the earth pony’s lips were forcibly peeled back to reveal gold teeth. “No, wait! I can explain!” the earth pony shouted, but as he saw Grenzer and two other guards approaching, he did the worst thing possible: he ran. The unicorn at customs did not even wait for Grenzer to give the order: he lowered his horn and fired a beam of red energy. The beam went unerringly through the earth pony’s side and dropped him instantly. The earth pony twitched once and was still. Golden Lily gasped in horror, and everypony was visibly in shock—except Flankfurters, who went about their business as if nothing had happened. Grenzer gave the unicorn a nod. “Good work, Corporal Scharfricter.” Twilight opened her mouth, about to protest that the pony might have had a legitimate reason for golden teeth: not everypony practiced good dental care, and while gold implants were rare in a magical society, they did exist. This time it was Luna who gently nudged her with a hoof, shaking her head: it would do no good, and the dead pony was beyond help. “Justice is swift here,” Ironwing observed, impassively staring at the corpse. “Justice is a double-edged sword,” Luna countered. “Perhaps.” Ironwing motioned at his retinue and brushed past Luna, on his way out of customs. “Enjoy your day, Luna. We will meet again.” “That’s strange,” Twilight said to Luna. “Why would Ironwing come here? He’s the ruler of the griffins. This is kind of a weird place and time to take a vacation, and I’d think every other reason would have something to do with money. That seems…kind of beneath him.” “It is,” Luna replied, staring after Ironwing. “He’s not here on vacation, and he’s not here about money—at least not his. He’s here to stop us from getting the loan.” “How?” “Oh, ‘tis a simple task, Twilight Sparkle.” She glanced at Golden Lily, who was obviously trying not to be sick. “All he has to do is kill Golden Lily.” Twilight shook her head. “But that’s crazy. He’d cause a war with Equestria!” “I know.” Luna looked away. “And so does he.”