//------------------------------// // Chapter 85 // Story: The Darkness in our Souls // by Black Light //------------------------------// Chapter 85 "I'll ask again. Who sent you?" I asked the griffin putting a little more pressure against his throat. He struggled against my hoof trying to pry it away, but it seems that griffin's don't realize Alicorn's also have good old Earth Pony strength as well. "Like I'd tell you." He choked out. "I see, so you're obviously not just some guard sent to make sure we don't get in trouble, otherwise you would've just said so. Meaning you have a bit of a darker motive for following us, correct?" I responded to his response. He glared at me. "I'll take that as a yes." I said. "Now to find out what that goal is." I started looking over the griffin. 'There's an easier way to find out than just looking you know?' 'I'd like to exercise my own powers of deduction every so often, thank you.' 'I'm just saying.' I looked at the griffin's bag. It had a few bottles of alcohol in it. Some empty, some half-empty. I focused back on the griffin he did have the slight smell of alcohol surrounding him. "That's quite a fair bit of alcohol there isn't it?" I asked him. He remained silent. "Though you don't seem nearly as intoxicated as that amount would lead to." I continued. I started thinking back. "If I recall correctly, the previous ambassador was assaulted by a drunk and disorderly griffin who in his drunken stupor thought the pony insulted him. Was that going to be the story this time around too?" I asked with a small smirk. The griffin growled slightly and looked away. "Another one right for me, but tell me do you think you could fool all of us into believing that. Especially your own princess." I said tilting my head towards Gilda. The griffin took a glance at her he didn't seem to respond and then he turned his head away. "I see, so you don't have any hatred towards the royalty, but there is some uncertain distrust it seems. I'm going to guess your part of some secret organization outside the king's knowledge who has been working in the background to try and advance griffin standing in the world. Your group just doesn't trust the rulers to get the job done does it?" I asked. Now the griffin reacted. He swung his head to stare at me with surprise before regaining his composure and glaring at me again. "Well I'm three for three right now. Do you want me to keep guessing or do you want to come clean now?" I asked him. In response the griffin spit at me. I casually levitated a tissue out of my saddlebag and wiped the spit off of my cheek. "Alright then. Let's see how long you keep that attitude." I told him. I levitated the pill I had taken out of his mouth back up. "Twilight tell me, what type of pill is this and what is it's purpose?" I asked her. She was surprised for a moment before levitating the pill over to her. "It's designed to keep whatever it contains inside until it's broken, the pill doesn't dissolve like most." Her horn began to glow a bit brighter, as well as the inside of the pill. No doubt analyzing what the inside was. "As for what's inside it's- it-" She said faltering slightly. "It's okay you don't need to say anymore, I understand." I said as I levitated the pill back to me. "So it's a kill pill?" I asked him. Both Gilda and Rainbow gasped. While Bright Wall's eyes just widened for a moment. Skies stood there her normal smile missing, but she just had a stoic look. "You know I've done some studies over poisons, And I know what amount of this will kill you-" I told him as I split the pill in half and levitated a small portion of the liquid inside out of it. "-and how much will start to melt your insides while keeping you alive through all the pain." I said glaring at him. I could feel the looks from my friends around me, they were getting scared of me. The griffin reacted strongly starting to sweat slightly. "So I you can come clean now, or after you've had a little drink." I said as I levitated a beer bottle out of his bag and mixed the poison into it. I moved the bottle right in front of him. He began to squirm more. I grabbed his head with my magic and lifted it up so that his mouth was open and began to slowly tip the bottle so that the liquid started slowly inching towards the opening. "3-" I started to count down. The griffin squirmed more and I tilted the bottle more. "2-" He started to thrash about. "1-" The griffin froze and stared at the bottle as the liquid was just about to spill out and down his throat. "Down the hatch." I said. "STOP! I'LL TALK, I'LL TALK." The griffin shouted out. I moved the bottle away. "Good, so start talking. I want to know everything." I told him. The griffin was breathing heavily, trying to clam himself. "I'm just a servant of one of the nobles. He's the one that's part of the organization." He told me. "They aren't bad, they just don't think the king is helping the griffin race." "Assaulting and hospitalizing a innocent pony sounds pretty bad to me." I said to him. "All they're trying to do is get the Equestrian princesses to stop sending ambassadors and just give in and give the territory to the griffin kingdom. They're sure that eventually the princesses will consider the land not worth injuring more ambassadors over." The griffin was silent for some time. "They...They just want what's best for the griffin race." He said silently. "Do you truly believe that?" I asked him. He looked up at me surprised. "Do you truly believe that what they're doing is what's best for all griffins?" I asked him. "I...I don't know." He told me. "Do you have family?" I asked him. He looked surprised for a moment. "Yeah, A wife and a daughter." He told me. "They work for my master as well." I removed my hoof and he fell to the ground free from my grasp. "The last griffin who assaulted the ambassador, he was a servant too wasn't he?" I asked. The griffin nodded. "He's in jail for a long time now you know?" He nodded again. "So, if you do this risking jail time, you and your family are freed, right?" I asked. He looked at me surprised, but nodded after a moment. "Do you know the rest of the nobles in the organization and where they meet?" I asked him. "Yeah, my master takes me to the meetings sometimes. I'm one of the head servants." The griffin responded. I reached down and took one of his legs lifting him up. "Well then come on." I told him as I started to walk out of the alley. "Wait, where are we going, what are you doing?" The griffin asked. "Simple. We're going to reveal the organization to the king and put a stop to this all once and for all." I told him. "You- you can't do that. My family, my master will-" The griffin started. "-Be arrested before he can do anything to hurt them." I interrupted. The griffin just stood there stunned. "You- you're really going to reveal them?" He asked. "Oh I'm going to do more than that." I said with a smile. I began to leave. "Oh before I forget." I said turning around. "I actually know nothing about poisons at all, in fact that bottle didn't even have the poison in it I teleported the poison out of the bottle before it got mixed in." I said with a smile. The griffin's eyes grew slightly. "...You are a very scary pony." "When I try." I responded with a chuckle. "...and some other times." We left the alley soon after and arrived back at the castle within minutes. We immediately requested an audience with the king. We waited in the hall for a few minutes while he was sent for. I asked the griffin with us to write down all the nobles he knew that were in the organization with his master. As he finished the list he gave it to me and I looked it over. There were quite a few griffins in this organization. The king arrived a few moments later with a slightly annoyed look. "I hope you are aware you pulled me away from a meeting with the nobility that was waiting on you to arrive." He said. "I'm am sorry for that, but I think you might be a slight bit more interested in this. I said as I gave him the list. "What's this?" He asked. "This list's a good amount of nobility. A few waiting just a few rooms over." He said. "This is the list of the members of an organization that doesn't respect you and wants to undermine your authority." I told him. "What!?" The king asked. "That's a very serious allegation." "Father." Gilda said stepping up. "I can confirm that what he say's is true." She told him. "...Explain." He said sitting down. "This group were the one's that injured the previous ambassador." I told him. "According to what I know it was a single drunken griffin." The king said. "Did you see the griffin after the incident?" I asked. "Yes, if I recall he was a servant. He had bottles of alcohol in almost every pocket he had." "Good, then that makes these next questions easier. One, would a servant have enough money to get that much alcohol? Two, did he seem as drunk as the amount of alcohol suggested he was?" I asked with a slight smirk. The king's eyes widened slightly. "A servant shouldn't have enough to buy more that two bottle max, and I know the griffin was sober enough to answer every question clearly that night, but that level of intoxication should've taken at least a day to wear off." "My allegation seems much more plausible now doesn't it?" I asked. "With my own daughters support it seems more like it's iron-clad." He said, he sat silently for a moment before speaking again. "Guard, take this list and apprehend each griffin on it for questioning." The king said giving the list to the guard who left quickly. "If I might make a request." I said as I got his attention. "Which is?" The king asked. "If the griffin's do turn out to be guilty, which I already know they are. I would like full custody of all their possessions." I told him. The king's eyes narrowed slightly. "You are aware that many of those possessions are servants and maids?" "Fully." I responded. The griffin we brought with us looked at me with a slight hint of fear. "And what do you think entitles you to their assets? With the amount of nobles on that list all their possessions together would be enough to support hundreds of normal griffins for over a year." The king said. "An ambassador from Equestria is in critical condition because of them, and I would be as well if I hadn't discovered the ploy myself." I told him. "I believe that I have the most reason out of any to take them." The king glared at me with some annoyance. "...Fine, and what do you plan to do with all their assets?" He asked. "Simple, when the nobles are declared guilty and I take possession I want all living assets released." I told him causing the griffin beside me to look at me surprised, then he smiled. "Then I want all other assets sold and the profits split among the previous servants." I told him. The king continued to stare at me, but his annoyed glare was gone. Instead it was replaced with a smile. "You don't want to keep any of the assets for yourself?" He asked, his tone saying he already knew my answer. "Not at all. I mean I didn't really even want this job. I'm just doing this as a favor to the princesses." I told him. "I hate being an ambassador." All the others in the room just stared at me surprised by how informal I was speaking to the king, I'm fairly certain Twilight was having some sort of seizure. The king on the other hoof though was laughing. "It's been a long time since a pony talked to me like that." He said. "Most are too intimidated to even risk upsetting me, I like you." "I agree, I like me too." I responded with a smile. "Perhaps now we can work out the details about the land?" I added on. "I can tell that it's going to be a pleasure." The king said with a smile.