//------------------------------// // Trouble Brews // Story: The Trouble with Gryphons // by Broniesrponies2 //------------------------------// "Legions of the Gryphon Kingdom, hear my call. Equestria has begun to stagnate. The Princesses are blind to the danger they face. Now is the time to strike. We shall take the kingdom of Equestria while it is weak. Let us strike now!" shouted General Feltha over the roars of the crowd. Angel Dancer watched from the second storey window of the Equestrian embassy. She could just about hear the voice of the gryphon leader over the crowd. She turned from the window as the massive roars of the crowd signalled the end of the address. She walked from the window towards her desk, speaking to her assistant in the corner. "We need to get a message to Celestia, Dak." "Is it as bad as it sounds?" asked Dak, jumping up from his chair by her desk. "Worse. Feltha's calling for immediate war. We need to speak to Celestia right now." Dancer picked up a pencil and started scribbling a message onto a sheet of parchment. She rolled it up and threw it over to Dak. He picked it up and blew fire over it, sending it to Celestia in a flash. The cheering was dying down and soon General Feltha's aide would be coming to the embassy to require an audience. No sooner had Dancer thought that did the General's aide knock on the door. Dak opened it, standing slightly between his mistress and the tall gryphon that was stepping through the doorway. "Is it really going to come down to war?" asked Dancer. "It appears so." said Feltha's aide sadly. He had always liked the ponies of Equestria, but it looked like war was going to be inevitable. "Does the General want to see me?" "No. I am sorry to say, but he wants you out of the country." said the aide, a tear actually showing in his eye. "What?" "He knows that he can't do it legally without requesting a new diplomat. or fabricating charges against you. Requesting a new one is easier. He doesn't expect the Equestrian government to be able to send a new diplomat on short notice. At least he is giving you a comfortable ride out of the kingdom." "Any idea why the war is going to start?" "None. Personally, I think that he's just xenophobic." "It seems likely." The aide turned and left. Dancer sat down at her desk and looked out of the window. "This is going to be bad." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A sheet of paper appeared before Celestia while she was sitting on the toilet. It was so urgent that she had barely hitched up her dress before running out of the bathroom door. As she left her bedroom, she grabbed hold of a servant. "Find Luna and Josh and have them meet me in the great hall ASAP!" she shouted, continuing running down the corridor. She reached the great hall and turned, smoothing the ruffles in her dress just as Luna and I ran in. Celestia's face was grave. "We need to send a new diplomat to the Gryphon Kingdom. We don't have anyone else who is ready. Josh, I trust that you would be willing to help?" "Of course, what is going on?" "They are threatening war. When you arrive, you will have six months of immunity before they can request a new diplomat. I need you to stop the war. Can you do that for me?" "I can try." "Very well. Pack your things, you leave in ten minutes. I will send you there by magic. We need to maintain a presence in the kingdom." "Okay. I should get started now." "Okay, go." I turned and ran out of the great hall, sprinting to my room. I grabbed my well-used backpack from the cupboard and ran to the dresser. I stuffed clothes into the bag, grabbing as much as I could. I filled the pack and stuffed toiletries and luxuries into the side pouches before running back to the great hall. I arrived there to see two stallions waiting with the princesses. One was navy blue with a dark purple mane. The other was the reverse. "Allow me to introduce..." "You know what, just introduce the purple stallion. I have a feeling that I know Midnight Guardian." "How could you-?" asked Midnight "I umm. In my universe, I created you, but you?" I pointed to the purple one. "Please tell me that your name isn't Night Raven." "It is." said Night Raven. "Oh shit. You're alive? Brilliant!" "What? I... Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be?" "Have you two been to the Saddle Arabian palace yet?" "No, why?" "Never mind. It's time to go. You really don't want to know." Celestia teleported us to the Equestrian embassy in the Gryphon Kingdom. A white unicorn looked up from her desk, a look of shock on her face at the sight of a strange creature and two fully armed and armoured Equestrian guards appearing in her office. A red dragon was sitting in a chair by the desk. "O my god, that was fast." said the unicorn. "I only sent the message twenty minutes ago." "I'm Josh, the newest diplomat in Equestria with no training and no intelligence about the Gryphon Kingdoms and most importantly" I paused for effect, "no idea what the rules are, so I don't know when I have to stop. I have the two best guards from the Equestrian Special Operations Group and instructions to stop a war. Time to get started. I don't need a briefing." The unicorn just looked at me blankly, then shook her head. "Well, I have to leave. I wish you luck." She stood up and walked past myself and my guards and out of the door. The dragon followed her out. I walked to the desk and sat down. "Right, first order of business, I need to get two comfortable chairs in here. You two may as well be comfortable while you are protecting me. You deserve it. Next, we need to arrange a meeting with the gryphon diplomats. I need to speak with them and find out what the story over here is from their end. Thirdly, we need to establish sleeping arrangements. This embassy is now one above normal running capacity. We have two options. Option one, you both share the room for the previous diplomat and her assistant and I take the spare room. Option two, one of you shares the diplomat's room with me and the other takes the spare room. I, personally don't mind, but I believe that you two would prefer the former. Its not like you trust me anyway and we are technically in enemy territory. Finally, it is almost dinner time in Euqestria but the clocks here read noonish. That gives us the afternoon to make appointments and then take dinner and go to bed. Any thoughts?" "How do you know us?" asked Midnight "That is something that I can never tell you." "How do you know about ESOG." asked Night "The same thing." "Why can't you tell us?" "Because I don't know what would happen if I did, but-" "Wait, you said that you created me in your universe." "Yes. I did." "Then, did you create ESOG?" "Yes. I did." I said. "Then, did you create me?" asked Night. "Yes." "Then when you were so happy that I was alive, does that mean that you killed me?" "No, it means that I would have killed you. I altered this reality the instant that I came here. You will survive and for that, I am profusely grateful to the universe." "What are we to you then?" "Stop right now. You are literally my creations. If you want to, you can destroy me. The reason that this will work so well is that my thoughts are your thoughts, or at least, your thoughts are mine. We will work together perfectly. We are the best hope for Equestria. You will have to trust me." "For now, yes. We can trust you. If you earn it, we may even come to respect you. We will follow your orders as instructed by Celestia, but other than that, forgive us if we don't exactly feel like enjoying your company." "Understood. By the way, if we stop this war and save Equestria, would you trust me and respect me then?" "Yes." "Well then." I tried to swivel my chair. It worked. I did a full circuit and smiled. "Lets get to work."