//------------------------------// // Part 1 // Story: The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Griffon Gala // by ElvenAngel //------------------------------// The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Griffon Gala A Pony Reimagining of Agatha Christie’s “The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan” Part 1 Twilight Sparkle stared woefully at her list of things to be done. Lists of things to be done were her bread and butter, she loved lists; she loved making them, checking and rechecking them and loved completing them. They were always quite long but this one took a prize. Both for length and importance. It was, after all, the list of things she was responsible for, while helping the Princesses organize the all-important Grand Griffon Gala. Glancing at the Great Hall around her one last time, she took the list from Spike, lifted a quill with magic and crossed off one item (“Oversee Great Hall Banners”). “Ugh!” Twilight flinched and reeled back when the quill made an ugly scratching noise against the parchment and ink sprayed around, leaving a sizable smudge on her list and spatters on her face. “Twilight, are you ok?” Spike blurted. Frustrated, she glared at the battered quill a bit and then sighed, sheepishly tossing it in a nearby cleaning cart’s dustbin. “Yeah,” she grumbled and took the cloth that Spike gave her from a cleaning cart, to wipe the ink off her face. “I think I’m just tired.” She pulled another quill from her saddlebags and handed the smudged list to Spike. “Twilight, you’re panicking again,” Rarity observed while perched on the top of a ladder, fastening a silk bunting arrangement to the chandelier. “You know what panic does to a pony’s coat and mane, darling.” “I’m not! I’m fine. I’m fine,” the unicorn replied quickly, tucking her list away. “You don’t sound fine,” Rainbow Dash countered, lazily flying around the same chandelier after helping Rarity get the arrangement up there. “No, really,” Twilight insisted. “I got the memo from Codex Bright saying he managed to fix the stand and he’s bringing it to the Palace right now. So, everything is fine.” “Aw c’mon Twilight! You’ve been jumping and twitching like a rabbit all week!” Dash snorted and hovered in midair, shaking an accusatory hoof at her friend, several meters down at the floor. “We get it! Princess Celestia asking you to head the organizing of the Grand Griffon Gala is a big deal, but it ain’t the end of the world!” Twilight sighed a bit. The Grand Griffon Gala… Two Weeks Ago “Twilight Sparkle, thank you for coming. It’s been a while,” Princess Celestia said kindly, smiling at her favorite student. The Canterlot Palace throne room always made Twilight feel like she was at home. Seeing Cadence with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna added even more to that comforting feeling. She was not awed or overwhelmed by this imposing and elegant place anymore. Twilight bowed to the sister princesses and then stood up eagerly. “Of course Princess. I came almost as soon as I got your letter. You said you needed my help for something. I’m always willing to help! What seems to be the problem, Princess?” Twilight blurted, almost expecting to hear that Discord was up to no good. “No, no, nothing like that,” Celestia said with a small chuckle. “I have need of your talents, Twilight. You see, in two weeks time, Canterlot Palace will host a special gala. The Grand Griffon Gala.” Twilight felt her ears perking forward with interest. “The Grand Griffon Gala?” she echoed before she could stop herself. “You mean, an event in the palace? What for?” “It is the eve of the 300-year-old Feather Barrow Treaty,” Luna explained. “Oh!” Twilight interjected. “The Feather Barrow Treaty, signed at the hamlet of the same name, in the eastern part of Equestria, between ponies and griffons for the formation of an alliance that could stand up to the dreaded dragon lich Mordremoth – an alliance that ultimately succeeded and resulted in 300 years of prosperity for both nations!” she said quickly with her now trademark grin of a true nerd. “Oh, this is so exciting! Is the gala to honor the treaty?” The three Princesses exchanged amused and somewhat awkward looks. Twilight never changed. “Yes. Celestia and I will visit the Griffon Kingdom's capital, High Rock, for the first half of the festivities,” Luna explained patiently. “Then, emissaries from the Griffon Kingdom will be joining us on the journey back to Equestria where they will attend this gala. The gala will be the most important part of the festivities.” “It will?” Twilight quipped, a little surprised that a party was given such importance. “How so?” “You see,” Celestia said and shut her eyes briefly. “This anniversary coincides with a very important, recent find. The Griffon Sun Opal has been recovered.” Twilight felt her jaw making a valiant effort to reach the floor and her mane frizzle a bit in surprise. “The Griffon Sun Opal?!” she exclaimed. “Part of the Griffon Royal Family regalia, that’s been missing for almost 400 years!? Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh—but when was it found?! Where?! Why didn’t I hear about this?! It’s only one of the biggest mysteries of Equestrian and Griffon history! Is it even the real thing?! There have been dozens of fakes presented over the years!” Cadence suppressed a chuckle, amused at how the prospect of answers to an academic mystery could send Twilight off in her attempts to maintain the proper decorum around the Princesses. She nodded. “Yes. It was rediscovered in the Crystal Empire, in fact, just a couple of months ago. We’ve kept it rather quiet because of the large number of fakes that have been passed off as the true Sun Opal.” “Of course,” Twilight said, shaking her head and regaining her composure. “The Griffon Sun Opal went missing during the succession war between Talos III and his brother Pelias over the throne after their father, King Talos II died unexpectedly—the civil war caused such chaos that the regalia were lost in all the conflicts. But how did it end up in the Crystal Empire, of all places?!” “It was found along the mountains, during a border patrol,” Cadence explained. “One of the Queen’s ladies in waiting tried to smuggle it into Equestria for safety while seeking sanctuary. However, it appears that her caravan got hopelessly lost on the way and they all perished in the mountains of the Crystal Empire, trying to negotiate crossing into Equestria. The border patrol came upon a very old, abandoned watch post. We believe the caravan sought shelter in there but ultimately succumbed to the elements. The Sun Opal was discovered with her remains, in a locked and sealed box. Her journal was just barely preserved enough to make out the story. It took quite a considerable amount of magic and time to even open the box, and then identify the jewel as the real Griffon Sun Opal.” “But that’s got to be one of the most important historical find of the century!” Twilight said, astonished. Celestia nodded. “Yes. And it gives us the wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our alliance and friendship with the Griffon Kingdom by returning the Sun Opal to the Kingdom in an official ceremony.” “Of course,” Twilight said, still reeling back from the excitement of the news. “It would be wonderful for the Griffon Kingdom to reclaim such an important piece of its history. But, what do you need me to do, Princess?” Celestia smiled. “What you do best, Twilight Sparkle. I want you to head the organization of this gala. It’s a delicate affair and I feel I can trust you – and your friends – with it.” Twilight swelled with pride at her words but it was deflated almost at the same time. Organize a party?! Her?! “I… uh…” she spluttered momentarily but straightened up and nodded solemnly. “You can count on us, Princess,” she said confidently. Now And now she almost wished she’d kept her big mouth shut. Organizing a Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville was one thing. Organizing an all-important, formal gala at the Canterlot Palace was another beast entirely and had it not been for her friends, Twilight would’ve completely and utterly lost it. The initial list of things that Twilight thought needed to be done was several meters long and dragged along the floor when she pulled it out in full. It almost mummified Spike when he tripped while carrying it. Fortunately for everypony, Cadence, who was staying in Canterlot as part of the long celebration to help, stepped in and helped Twilight pare down on unnecessary or extravagant things and then acted as a source of advice every step of the way. They’d gotten through the first week of preparation fairly smoothly. Pinkie Pie helped Twilight narrow down the bare bones of organizing a party, although it was a bit of a struggle to rein Pinkie Pie in enough to keep the gala from devolving into one of her trademark wild parties. Pinkie had to constantly be reminded that this was going to be a grander event; Twilight agreed it should be fun but she didn’t think party cannons were really appropriate. Fireworks and impressive balloon structures though, were perfect. Rarity was all too happy to take over making the elegant decorations for the gala, including banners bearing the Griffon Kingdom and Equestrian coats of arms, decorative buntings with the colors of both nations and other decorations. Rarity needed little overseeing; she had the appropriate taste and aesthetic that naturally resulted in a stunning collection of elegant decorations. Fluttershy and Dash were more than enough to help and keep her in check from going completely overboard. Rainbow Dash turned out to be a veritable font of knowledge concerning griffon tastes from her association with griffons and everypony consulted her about… everything. Wanting to provide the griffon dignitaries with a wide variety of Equestrian delicacies, Twilight brought in Applejack and the Cakes to provide with some more provincial foods and sweets along the elegant Canterlot fare and the exotic griffon menu. All in all, everything was going smoothly. In fact, everything was going so smoothly that Twilight started to worry that it just couldn’t last. So when Rarity unpacked the decorative stand commissioned to showcase the Griffon Sun Opal to find that it had broken a little in transit, with some of the decorative wires and filigree in pieces or sticking out where they should not have, Twilight could cope with that little disaster much better than she would have if things had been going consistently wrong. Yes, she threw a bit of a panic fit for a moment until Spike suggested a lovely idea. “What about Codex Bright? Doesn't he have a smelting workshop? You know, the one who comes all the time to the Library for reference books. He makes the tiny figures they use in some obscure board game or something.” Of course! Codex Bright was a small, lanky unicorn stallion with a propensity for fire spells and a very slight tendency to be a worrywart. He did indeed operate a little smelter and foundry in his back room where he crafted figurines for games – he did, after all, work for one of the biggest table-top game developers in Equestria. At one time, Twilight used to hate his guts for reasons that were long and complicated and which she would dearly like to forget and pretend they didn’t exist because they had been horribly wrong. Point was that they now got along swimmingly. He could certainly fix the stand without a problem. She wrote a note to send to him, asking for help, just to have Spike point out that it sounded so panicky that Codex could reasonably assume the castle had come down around her. So, she wrote another, much more reasonable note and off she sent it, getting a favorable reply, much to her relief. The stand was sent over and Codex promised to bring it himself so another disaster could be averted. So that was that and Twilight felt she might’ve avoided losing a decade or two of her life from anxiety. But then came another little bombshell. “Have you thought about your speech?” Cadence said innocently while she sat with Twilight to tea-and-cake – a break she forced Twilight to take. D’oh! She’d almost forgotten. “Of course! I… um… have something really good ready!” Twilight said with an attempt at a confident smile but the look Cadence gave her told her that she wasn’t drinking that FruitAid. Twilight almost bonked her head against the table. “Uuuugh, I know!”she groaned. “I do have a speech written up but I just don’t know! It’s… it’s a bit off! I’ve never had a problem in Ponyville but this is a really big event! How do you and Princess Celestia do it!?” Cadence chuckled a little and shook her head. “Well, if you really aren’t confident in it, you could always ask somepony to proof-read it for you.” Twilight looked up from the table. “…I can?” “Of course you can! Nopony will mind,” Cadence replied. “But choose somepony you trust.” Twilight sighed and mentally run through her friends and acquaintances. Nopony really stuck out as knowing enough about speeches to help her – and most of her friends were already busy helping her prepare the gala. Cadence had enough on her plate, what with her and everypony else coming to her for directions while Celestia and Luna were absent. Who was left? A guard tactfully hemmed at the door. “Beg your pardon, Princess Cadence,” he said gently. “A Codex Bright to see miss Twilight Sparkle at the gate.” “Oh! He’s brought the stand—“ Twilight blurted, jumping up. “Please let him through, I’ll see him right away!” Then she turned to Cadence. “Thanks Cadence, I’ll keep that in mind. I’ve got to make sure we’re still on schedule!” The Princess just smiled kindly at her. “You’re welcome Twilight. I know you’ve got a lot on your shoulders but please try to take it a little easy. We’re almost done.” Twilight almost didn’t hear the latter half of Cadence speech, she was rushing down the hall from Cadence’s rooms and teleported herself to the lobby of the palace just as Codex Bright was coming through. That off-orange coat and ‘lawn’ of bright green hair was unmistakable. He was coming through the gates, pulling a small cart where the box containing the stand presumably was. And there was another familiar face with him: A chubby, deep purple pegasus mare with a triple-colored mane of hot pink, white and brown – which always forcefully reminded Twilight of a tub of triple-flavor ice cream. A pair of smart, teal-rimmed glasses was perched on her chunkier muzzle. Crazy Quills had moved to Ponyville with her coltfriend, the chef Majestic Sunrise and owner of the ‘Sunny Stop’ bistro. She was a writer that had come to some attention since the publication of her first book “The Raiders of the Storm”. Twilight liked Quills a lot after she and the other girls had helped Quills deal with a horrid case of nerves when all the fame and attention that came with publishing a successful book drove the shy writer around the bend. She was a particularly kooky and sometimes spacey mare and there were times when Twilight couldn’t decide if she was a genius or just two straws short of a basket case. An idea started forming in Twilight Sparkle’s head but getting the stand ready took precedence. Codex waved at Twilight a little too enthusiastically. “Hi Twilight! I brought the stand! It wasn’t as bad as you thought, all it took was a little soldering and fixing the filigree at the—“ Codex started, before Twilight almost fell on her face to stop galloping before she crashed into him. “It was?! Oh thank the stars!” she blurted. “Thank you, thank you so much Codex! You’re a life-saver. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” The other unicorn blushed a bit and fidgeted his hooves awkwardly. “Aw, well… Don’t worry about it,” he said kindly. “Just let me know where you want it. Oh hey, I hope you don’t mind, but Quillsie and Sunny came over from Ponyville with me.” “Hello Twilight! Sunny’s gone to lend Applejack and the Cakes a hoof with the catering and I came with Codey to see if there was anything I could do to pitch in,” said Crazy Quills, giving Twilight a happy grin. “And say, if we’ve got time left over, could I nip into the palace Library real quick and have a look at some books on ancient Trottikan? I need some material for—“ Suddenly the idea forming in Twilight’s head earlier snapped into clear manifestation. “Crazy Quills!” Twilight gasped. “I need your help!” Of course! It was so obvious! Crazy Quills was a writer! And a damned good one too, despite her occasional eccentricity. Surely she could look over her speech and help proofread it! The chubby mare balked and reared backwards on her ample plot with her ears drooped and her face scrunched in worry when Twilight all but pushed her face into hers. “Weh?” was all she blurted. Twilight didn’t realize how frantic she was and just kept on going. “I really, really, really need you to look over something for me! I need help with this speech! I don’t know what to do!!” Crazy Quills looked around awkwardly and then at the panicking unicorn in front of her. “Er… Twilight, you wanna slow down a bit?” “What’s going on?” Codex asked, looking confused. “Take a deep breath.” Twilight did just that and shook her head to stop hyperventilating. “I’m supposed to deliver a speech at the opening of the Grand Griffon Gala on behalf of Equestria and I need somepony to look it over. I…I just don’t know if it’s good. I’ve never delivered such a formal speech before. Cadence suggested I have somepony look it over and Quills is a writer, so…” “You want me to proof-read it?” Quills asked, straightening her glasses. Twilight assumed such a puppy-like look that it was almost painful to watch. “Will you? Please?” Crazy Quills smiled awkwardly. “Sure, sweetie, if it makes you feel better. I’m sure it’ll be fine anyway, but I’ll have a look at it. I’m kinda flattered, actually.” “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Twilight said, relieved and grabbed Quills in a sudden hug that nearly knocked the pudgy pegasus’ glasses clean off her face. “No problem,” Quills said, bemused. Then a pinkish aura surrounded Quills and she was hoisted off the ground. “Hey?!” Completely unperturbed, Twilight turned to Codex, still holding Quills off the ground with her magic. “I’m so glad you could fix the stand. I had a bit of a scare with it. Can you get it to Rarity so she can finish the presentation arrangement she’s working on? She’s in the Great Hall with Dash and Fluttershy. I have to get to the Library.” “Uh… sure, no problem,” Codex blurted, staring at the spectacle of Quills hovering off the ground without using her wings. Her weight was affecting her balance and even before his eyes the purple pegasus was starting to tilt sideways. Any time now she was going to turn belly-up unintentionally. “Twilight, you do know I can fly, right?!” she squeaked, flailing her legs and wings, trying to keep her balance. “Thanks so much again Codex! I’ll see you in a bit! Bye!” Twilight said before she and Quills teleported away in a flash of light. “…Right,” Codex said, staring at the evaporating fizzle of magic left behind from the teleporting mares. When they reappeared (almost scaring Spike to death) in the palace Library where Twilight had set up her ‘war room’, Crazy Quills was dizzy and disoriented and nearly fell flat on her face before she recovered, picked up her dignity, straightened her glasses and fluttered her wings to sort out bent feathers… right before Twilight shoved a stack of cue cards under her nose. “Here it is!” she said earnestly. “I tried to keep it simple and formal because the occasion is so important and everypony will expect an account of the history of the treaty between griffons and ponies and the history of the Sun Opal and—“ “Hey, hey, slow down, motor mouth,” Quills said, fairly stuffing her hoof in Twilight’s mouth. “Let me look at this…” “Huh? Crazy Quills, what are you doing in Canterlot?” Spike asked, picking up the sheaf of papers that he’d dropped. “Nice to see you, Spike. Oh I just came over with Codex to see if I could lend a hoof,” the writer said casually. She took the pile of cards off Twilight and gave the first couple of them a cursory look. “This isn’t bad. I can see some room for refining and streamlining but it’s pretty good,” she said appreciatively. “It’s not my usual line of work, obviously, but I’ll do my best.” “Oh good!” Twilight said happily. “That's only the introduction. I think that if we work methodically we should get through the whole thing by tomorrow.” She complimented the relieved sigh with a gesture to the table where another two sizable stacks of cards were tidily waiting. Crazy Quills froze, staring. She stared at Twilight Sparkle. She stared at the stacks. She stared at the shrugging dragon before conveying a weary sigh and a stern expression towards Twilight, glancing at the unicorn over her glasses. “Twilight,” she said patiently but with the kind of stern tone that mothers assume with foals. “Sweetie. I’m going to be brutally honest with you. This ain’t a speech; it’s a three-course university elective. I respect your eloquence and your enthusiasm and I bow to your knowledge about the background of this event but… you’re just going to bore everypony to death.” Yep, this was another thing about Quills. Sometimes she would be heart-breakingly frank – usually with good reason. “…You think so?” Twilight said, a little crestfallen with her ears drooped. “I’m sure. Nopony said your speech can’t be interesting, but keep it short, for everypony’s sake.” “I tried to tell you the same thing, Twilight,” Spike huffed. “But you were really gone while working.” Twilight sighed and bowed her head. “You’re right, Spike. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” Quills marched to the desk, sweeping aside the stacks of cards with her wing. “No use muttering about spilled milk, my dears. We’ll start from scratch and write you the best speech ever, Twilight. Grab a quill and let’s get an outline down.”