//------------------------------// // The griffon dispute // Story: Umbra Memoria // by Lunaexcelsior //------------------------------// “Well if I am going out, I might as well put on some clothes”, Darkrim thought to himself as he opened his wardrobe. Inside the old hardwood closet was only one outfit, hoof stitched by somepony from the village below. Apparently she was one of the best designers in Equestria, at least according to Luna. It was quite beautiful and Darkrim felt amazed that somepony would be so generous to make it for him, even if he didn't know them. The outfit consisted of three pieces: a pale blue cape, which pulled off an illusion of his pale blue flames extending from his mane and right towards his tail, four horseshoes fashioned similarly as the cape and a pendant crafted in the shape of his cutie mark. Darkrim slowly put on his outfit, in order to appear nobler to the Guards, and headed out of his room. As Darkrim walked through the castle hallways he could feel the gaze of the Solar Guard burn a new hole in his cape. It felt like each guard was throwing daggers at him. As he continued his walk Darkrim suddenly noticed something strange. The Guards were actually greeting him. “Good day, prince Darkrim!” he could hear one of the older guards speak to him. “Hope you are feeling fine”, another guard spoke to him as they exchanged glances. Even the guards that were ‘looking daggers’ at him appeared much friendlier now that he thought about it. They were probably just doing their job. Suddenly, Darkrim became to feel much more confident as he continued his walk through Canterlot’s vast hallways. As he continued his walk he saw Amethyst, in her golden armor, giving orders to some guards. “The Gryphon delegates will arrive at any point and you were sleeping?!” she yelled at the Guard, barely paying attention to Darkrim, who was observing the situation with a curious eye. “I’m sorry, but I had to work the night shift!” the Guard protested “I’ve gotta catch up with my zzs”. “Well you can reunite with your zzs once the delegates leave!” Amethyst argued “Now get back to your post! And if I catch falling asleep once more I will kick you so hard out of that door and back on the streets where you belong, you worm!” Amethyst foamed at her mouth. Darkrim watched the whole scene play out with his eyes wide open. His surprise was only matched with that of the unfortunate Solar Guard. “Is that understood?!” Amethyst asked the sleepy guard with fury. “Yes ma’am” the Guard saluted her and rushed to his post. Amethyst scoffed in anger as she continued to inspect the rest of the Royal Guards. Everypony stood up straight as Amethyst gazed upon them, with enfuriating fire flaming from her lavender eyes, inspecting every smudge on their golden suits. “I should probably leave them be”, Darkrim thought to himself as he slowly moved away from the awkward scene. As he returned to his path of exploration Darkrim noticed magnificent murals plastered over the castle walls, casting a magnificent shadow on the ground below. They showed so many different scenes and different creatures, but six figures caught his eye. These six figures were in nearly every picture and they even seemed to clash with another popular image of a being comprised of so many other creatures in, what Darkrim could only describe as ‘perfect chaos’. These six seemed so intriguing and yet they were nothing more than ponies. Two unicorns, one lavender and the other white, two earth ponies, an orange and a pink one, with puffy mane, and two pegasi, one of cyan fur and rainbow mane and the other of yellow fur and pink mane. Darkrim’s interest was especially peeked at one painting he saw. The painting depicted the six mares defeating an alicorn that looked so similar to Luna. However, something was wrong with this one. This alicorn seemed to have much darker fur than his beloved princess. Darkrim was so caught up in these painting that he didn’t even notice the pure white alicorn with rainbow flowing mane slowly approaching to him. “I wonder who these six were” Darkrim thought out loud as the white alicorn stood by his side. “They are”, the white alicorn began in a gentle manner as Darkrim finally saw who was on his right side, “the Elements of Harmony”. Darkrim’s lower lip trembled as he saw the magnificent alicorn standing by him. He suddenly dropped down to his knees. Celestia smiled at him. “No need to bow prince”, she spoke kindly, “we are pretty much equal after all”. “I know, I know”, Darkrim spoke quickly, “but it’s such a huge honor of finally seeing you princess”. “Well you were going to run into me eventually”, Celestia joked, and “You are residing in my castle after all”. “Oh, right”, Darkrim said and awkwardly returned his gaze at the mural on display, “So you are saying that those six ponies right there hold the most powerful magic in all of Equestria?” “That’s right. Makes it a bit harder to steal, don’t you think?” Celestia smiled and winked at the banished prince. “Oh I wasn’t”, Darkrim mumbled confusedly. Celestia just giggled a bit at Darkrim’s faux pas. Darkrim chuckled alongside with Celestia as he realized that she was only kidding. “You know, you are much more different than I imagined”, Darkrim said to Celestia. “Oh”, Celestia faked surprise, “What do you mean by that?” “Well, if I am going to be honest”, Darkrim began, “I thought of you as a much more restricted ruler, a ruler who has complete control over everything and thus has no time for jokes ”. As Darkrim said those last words he feared Celestia’s scorn. “Strange”, Celestia said wrapped in her thoughts, “That is the same thing my student said to me when we first met”. “Really? I didn’t know that”, Darkrim said in a bit of confusion. As they watched the painted glass, a sudden sound of hooves echoed through the chamber. They both turned their heads around only to see Amethyst rushing at them. “Princess, we have a problem”, Amethyst said after she had greeted them both. “What’s wrong, Amethyst?” Celestia asked worriedly. “The delegation”, Amethyst spoke, barely catching her breath, “They’ve been spotted coming to the Canterlot gates. They’ll be here any moment now!” “What?!” Celestia exclaimed “They weren’t supposed to be here for at least two more hours”. “Well general Switchblade has to reposition his army so they wanted to move the meeting a bit earlier. I couldn’t have turned him down! He might have gotten insulted. I am so sorry!” Amethyst apologized as quickly as she could. Celestia sighed, “It is fine. Just please inform me next time these changes occur”. Darkrim was surprised at how gracefully Celestia was taking this news. He’d probably be panicking right about now, but she seemed so calm and collected. “Understood princess“, Amethyst responded and rushed off. As Amethyst left Celestia turned her attention to Darkrim. “Well it appears we will have to continue our conversation later”, she sighed. Suddenly a wild idea popped in Celestia’s head as she smirked slyly. “Although”, she began in a mischievous tone, “You could come to the meeting with me. They’re always such a drag and since Luna has left to improve security on all of the Tartarus connection points, I could definitely use the company”, Celestia explained to Darkrim. After thinking about it for a second, Darkrim gave in. “Well, it couldn’t hurt”, he said with an awkward smile. “Excellent!” Celestia clicked as she moved to the throne room. Darkrim soon followed her hoofsteps as the two Royal Guards moved their spears to let them in. Darkrim watched in awe at the beautiful room. Just like in the hall there were murals here too. On the right side were murals dedicated to the Sun and its glorious daylight while on the left were murals portraying the gorgeous night and its magnificent stars. A single throne was positioned in front of him and it seemed to be protected by two more Royal Guards. “Seriously, how many of these guys does she need?” Darkrim whispered under his voice. “Considering the number of attacks that keep happening here, I’d say I am understaffed”, Celestia joked with Darkrim. He just let out an awkward laugh and walked with Celestia over to the throne. The guards let Celestia and Darkrim through. She positioned herself on the throne while Darkrim stood right by her side. He was feeling so nervous that even his flames started to flicker. Celestia gave him a reassuring smile as the trumpets signaled the incoming griffon delegation. After the horns died down, Amethyst came in through the doorway. She was slightly surprised when she saw Darkrim standing next to Celestia, but she chose to ignore it. “Presenting the honorable general Switchblade, noble powerhouse of the fourth Griffon Armada, conqueror of Allensword, defeater of the infamous Charibda and” , Amethyst paused for a second before she read the final part, “The lover of duchess Greta”. Darkrim wanted to laugh at that part, but Celestia gave him a stern glare, so he withheld his laughter. As their names were read two griffons entered the room. One had a rough expression on his face with a red scar running through the right side of his face and dark brown feathers covering his head, while the rest of his body was a light brown color. He also seemed to have worn a golden helmet with red feathers sticking out of it and a red cape running down his back. Another interesting thing on his attire were the golden knee pads that he wore on all four of his paws and the plentiful war medals he held so proudly on his chest, the shiniest one of them being a medal of him atop of some beast. The female griffon wore just a scarf and a golden earring and had a more slender physique and lighter fur compared to her partner. She wore a golden laurel on her head and a white toga dress. She also seemed to have green face paint, but that might have been just her feather coloration. The two griffons walked in elegantly and gracefully bowed to the Equestrian ruler. Celestia bowed in return. Darkrim followed her example. “Esteemed guests”, Celestia began, “Welcome to our annual summit. May we look for an era of peace oince more!” “We hope so too princess”, the general replied. “Umm, princess”, Greta began, looking suspiciously at Darkrim, “Not to be rude, but who is that pony next to you?” Darkrim hid his head as Greta pointed at him. “He is an esteemed guest of my sister and a wrongfully exiled prince of Tartarus”, the princess explained. “From Tartarus you say?” Switchblade said while rubbing his chin curiously “Say old boy, you wouldn’t happen to know a flamerhocerus chap by the name of Grimdor?” “As a matter of fact I do”, Darkrim replied, much to Celestia’s delight, “He is the father of my best friend Larbo”. “How’s old’ Grimy doin’? Is he still the same jester he used to be at the academy?” Switchblade asked with a wide grin plastered on his face. “Last I heard off him, he was still pulling pranks even on Hadeus himself”, Darkrim replied with a pleasant smile. Switchblade gave a hearty laughter as Celestia grinned. The only one who was bemused at this display was Greta. “Oh that’s good old Grimy! Once a joker always a joker”, Switchblade commented with tears of laughter rolling down his cheek. “Maybe you two can catch up later”, Greta sternly said to Switchblade, “But right now we have more important business to attend to then just simple pleasantries!” “Oh, right”, Switchblade remembered, his wide grin slowly turning back to his stone cold expression, “Thanks for the reminder sweetie”. “That’s why you brought me here for”, Greta joked with Switchblade as she smiled at him, before turning her attention to the princess. “We wish to inform you, princess, that suspicious activities have been spotted near the Griffon walls”, the general said. “What do you mean?” Celestia asked confusedly. “We have noticed a large increase in changeling activity near the borders of both Griffonstone and Grifferia”, Greta explained, “More and more reports of these wretched beasts have been popping up near our border and while we were able to fend them off, we require some assistance from your unicorns in order to fully chase them away”. “I will gather ten of our best changeling hunters and send them over to the kingdom as soon as possible”, Celestia said. The two griffons grunted, dissatisfied by the decision of the solar guardian. “Forgive me princess”, Greta spoke passive aggressively, “But we believe that such a small number of ponies wouldn’t stand much of a fight against the invading forces”. “I understand your grief, duchess”, the princess responded calmly, ignoring Greta’s disrespectful tone, “but we simply cannot spare anymore of our forces. It is simply out of the question”. Greta wanted to protest, but Switchblade interrupted her. “A group of ten measly warriors are supposed to stop the ever-growing changeling threat to our kingdom? Don’t joke with me princess!” Switchblade laughed off the princess’ decision. Darkrim watched the princess with both intrigue and admiration. Her face showed no anger or frustration. She was eerily calm with the same dignity and grace she had at the beginning of the summit, even though both griffons had shown clear disrespect. “I can assure you that we shall choose ten of our most powerful hunters, but at the moment it is impossible to spare. A recent attack and a threat of war has placed the most of our guards at full alert. You have my royal word that your changeling problem shall be resolved, but we can onl ygive you ten of our soldiers”, Celestia responded to the two griffons. Both of them scoffed at the idea that ten ponies could be of any help, but they didn’t want to disrespect the princess. “Don’t think we won’t hold you to your word, your highness”, Switchblade responded half-jokingly. “I would hope so”, Celestia said with a sly smirk. “Fascinating”, Darkrim thought to himself. “Now let’s talk about our monetary issue”, Switchblade said, rubbing his claws together, “Greta, if you would” “Certainly, honey”, Greta said and shot a quick smile to Switchblade. She then proceeded to pull out a golden scroll out of her pouch and cleared her throat. “Considering your request for protection, the Griffon Armada would like to make a request of their own”, Greta said, starting to read from the scroll, “We wish to be paid 5000 bits per year for the protection of Equestria. The transaction is to be completed on sight”. Darkrim felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. 5000 bits was an insanely huge price! He took a concerned glance at the princess. She seemed somehow even calmer than before. “Is her temperature below zero? How is she so calm about all of this?!” Darkrim thought. Celestia noticed Darkrim’s confusion and just shot him a reassuring wink. She then turned her attention to the griffon warriors, who eagerly awaited her decision. “Well that is certainly a hefty fee you are charging”, Celestia said in fake shock. “Well, you have to understand our expenses”, Switchblade began, “We have to make our ends meet as well”. “Oh I understand that very well”, the princess said, “It’s just that the king Taurus already offered me protection for 4000 bits”. “What?!” both Greta and Switchblade said in unison. “Yeah, you can even see it here”, Celestia said, as she brought up a parchment from her throne. The two Griffons read over it in bafflement. “And also he told me something pretty interesting about the ‘ninth division’” Celestia said as she watched Switchblades face lose its color. “Why that no good backstabbing bullhorn!” Greta foamed at her mouth. “What did you expect?” Switchblade said “That hardhead would sell his own mother if it made him money”. The two griffons stood now in front of the princess as Darkrim’s surprise only continued to grow. He suddenly understood why the princess had been so calm. She had them in her hooves the second they came through the doorway. Switchblade sighed in defeat. “Due to these new facts we have decided to negotiate the price with your majesty. We are willing to lower our offer to 3500 bits”. “That is certainly a generous offer”, Celestia said, “but I believe we can do a bit better. How about you lower your prices down to 2700 bits and we shall forget all about the ‘ninth division’ as well”. Greta felt like she would faint. “Princess, please, let us be rational here. 3500 bits is a perfectly reasonable price and” Celestia cut off Switchblade right there. “I might have accepted it if I hadn’t already seen your earnings”, Celestia said, reading the bill that Taurus provided her with, “You have 3000 bits coming in from the Minotaur Kingdom, 5000 bits from the Saddle Arabian ponies, 10000 bits from your own government and not to mention the earnings of the ‘ninth division”. As Celestia finished, Darkrim could clearly see embarrassment washing over Switchblade. Greta was shocked by the numbers she was hearing. “I think 2700 bits is a perfectly reasonable price”, Switchblade mumbled as he accepted the princess’ offer. “Agreed”, Greta said, still furious that she couldn’t get the money they wanted. “I am glad we could resolve this issue”, Celestia thanked the two representatives as they brought her the parchment, “Things go oh so much better once we compromise”, Celestia said kindly as she handed the signed parchment to the Griffons. Once it was all signed the guards brought two bags filled with bits from the royal treasury to the Griffon. “Thank you princess”, the general responded, “May your fields be ever so prosperous”. “I hope there are no hard feelings towards us, princess”, Greta said as she bowed down to the princess. “Why, of course not! You are still a very powerful ally to the Equestrian Empire”, Celestia said as she descended down from her throne and shook hooves and paws with the Griffon representatives. As the two Griffons left Celestia and Darkrim exited the throne room.