Chapter 5
Twilight was not panicking. She found this comforting, if at some level disturbing considering what she was about to do. Her renewed confidence had managed to take her all the way out to the balcony overlooking the now slightly buzzing and shifting crowds that remained mostly unmoved from when she had walked past their bowing masses. Her confidence, though, did not mean she was at ease.
It was not the roar-screeches of her new advisers, nor the thousands of eyes that they drew to the grand balcony, that occupied her mind. Not even what she was about to say really made her concerned, but rather just who she was about to address.
"Subjects!"
Her subjects.
"I am Twilight Sparkle! I am your Empress!"
The former royals beside her lowered their heads to her flare-winged form, simultaneously confirming her claim to the audience, and prompting them to do the same.
After silently making sure that all had time to comply, the imperial alicorn slammed her hoof against the balcony with a force that could have have cracked the balcony had it been her desire to do so.
"Rise!"
The audience complied, once again revealing the beaked faces of several thousand supremely attentive griffons.
"Upon this day I have claimed this empire as my own, having defeated the last of those who stood against me. Though war was not of my starting, it was mine to end. The conflict was swift and decisive. Not a Griffon escaped me, all are now within my custody."
Noticing the crowd's subtle but clear reaction, she continued, "To those who seek to negotiate the fate of those I captured in my conquest, I will be opening the doors to the palace tomorrow. Come then."
The faintest murmurs had begun as she announced fate of the captured, but as she concluded, another slam of her hoof brought the crowd back to silence. The roar-screeches of the former imperials were joined by the crowd, as the enormous plaza again dipped into a bow.
As Twilight turned back towards the balcony portal, she smiled slightly.
I can do this.
"Very good your majesty," the griffoness said as she followed back into the castle, "I believe they will be very eager for tomorrow."
"I can only hope so, if we're going to get through them all!" Twilight said with trepidation as she stopped in the interior hall to glance between the Griffons, "You mentioned some sort of 'ceremony' or something for when they make their offerings? How long will that take, or rather, what is it? Is it just a recitation or some gestures or something?"
"The full range of intricacies are too numerous and minute to fully describe," the former Emperor mused, "but generally an offering begins with a submission, typically a full bow, followed by an introduction, where the one to make the offering introduces his- or her-self, the name one whom they are petitioning the release of, and their relationship. Then, the supplicant will make their offer, but here is where the complications arise."
"Complications? With the offerings? How so?" Twilight asked as she turned and motioned with a hoof for them to continue talking as they walked.
The pair followed down the hall they had come up just before. "Early on there will likely be no issue, but as time goes on and the ransoms increase, the complexity of offers will as well."
Twilight looked over her shoulder at the large griffon, "But I thought there wasn't a set time frame. Does the ransom increase with time?"
"No," the griffoness responded, drawing Twilight to look over her other shoulder, "It's a natural result of another tradition. You see, one of higher station is expected to have a higher ransom, something their pride enforces, therefore, an order naturally results for who will come when. As those seeking the release of the higher-ranking will purposefully delay, as to have the "value" of the previous ranks set, so that they will not face the 'indignity' of being seen as less valuable than one of lower rank."
"That seems...?" Twilight's jaw worked with a puzzled expression, but despite the start, no further words came forth.
"I suppose you have noticed the flaw in the system?" The grffoness puffed a laugh, "The base value of the next rank to be addressed will be, at minimum, the highest price paid for the previous rank. Therefore the value of successive ranks will climb exponentially, quickly outpacing the increase in their wages, and so at a point the ransoms become un-payable. As a result, while most early on can be expected to pay their price in gold, later supplicants will get creative in their means of payment."
"That's... actually fascinating!" Twilight said, her excitement turning to a look of hope, "I don't suppose there is a reference manual of some kind on these details?"
"I would imagine that there are at least records of previous negotiations in the records in the Imperial Library."
Twilight's expression melted away as she stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at the griffon on her other side, "Imperial Library?"
"Yes, the Grand Imperial Library, it holds records from as far back as the the great freezing."
"The grea... Hearth's Warming!" Twilight nearly shouted, "You have actual records from the pre-unification era?"
"Yes? Not many, and they are in Old Griffish and Chirp, but yes. The library itself is ancient. Where the pony tribes were divided and chose to flee the ice beasts, for us the coming of the ice beasts served as a unifier. It was the only time the whole of griffondom would stand together until the formation of the unified empire. Prepared originally as the final stronghold, what is now the imperial city has remained inhabited by griffons since before the freeze." Apparently not recognizing that his empress was about to overload, he continued unabashed, "For better or worse, without immortal rulers to maintain our histories, we rely upon texts to keep the experiences and wisdom of our forefathers. The destruction of knowledge, therefore, is a high offense. The imperial library maintains all of the compiled knowledge of griffondom since the coming of the ice-beasts and before."
As he finished, Twilight's look of awe flashed into a face splitting smile, only then to turn into a frown and look of contemplation.
"Ok, so I need to get word to Spike to have the prisoners released, I need to get the guards that came with me off the street, either into the palace or back to camp, and then..." she laughed, smile returning with vigor "-and then that library is mine!" As quickly as it came, the madness evaporated from Twilight's eyes and she set back off at an excited pace.
Not noticing her new advisers lag behind as they followed, she missed as the griffoness whispered to her husband.
"I dare say that she appears considerably more excited at the prospect of the library than she did at becoming empress."
The former emperor looked at his wife with agreeing eyes, yet held his tongue, looking ahead at the mare who, for a moment, put some fear back into his heart.
"She's an interesting one, most certainly."
They made it as far as the courtyard before an armored stallion passed through the front gate and galloped up to them.
"Your- *huh* majesty!" He huffed dropping into a bow.
"Stand up commander, there's no need for that. Now is there a problem?" Twilight dismissed as the comander of the escort unit rose from a deep bow.
"I'm afraid there may be, your highness." He said hastily, a very uncharacteristic event, given what Twilight knew of him.
She frowned, "How so comander? Is something amiss?"
He looked around, looking basically anywhere that wasn't the purple alicorn.
Twilight was growing worried now, even more so as closer inspection revealed what looked like perspiration beginning to dampen his features.
"Permission to speak freely?” he waited for a nod, ”I wish you would have contacted us before your little speech up there. Is what you said up there true?"
"Yes...?" Twilight cautiously answered.
"Horseapples..." She could hear him say under his breath.
"What's wrong comander?" She asked, growing more concerned, and a little frustrated.
With a similar mood, the stallion glared back at her, "What's wrong? What's wrong! What's wrong is I may be supposed to be arresting you at this point!"
That threw Twilight for a loop, "Wha-? What are you saying?"
"I don't know! And that's the problem!" He snapped, though now glaring around aimlessly, as if the answers could be found in the sky or in the stones of the path "This is so unprecedented! I do not know where we now stand. If Cadance and the Crystal Empire is anything to go by, by claiming the Empire you have renounced your Equestrian citizenship! You just instated yourself as a foreign power, and not just that but one that, to the best of my, or anyone else's knowledge, Equestria is still formally at war with! Without consent of the princesses, what you did, or even we may have just done may well be treason!" He looked to be on the verge of a breakdown before his eyes lit up in realization, "Did you sign a peace accord? Please tell me you signed a peace accord, or an alliance treaty of some kind! Something! Anything!"
Her reaction made the situation clear.
"Horeseapples!" He swore.
"It's fine comander, we'll write one up right now!"
"Prince- Empress, you don't understand, you can't sign any treaties for Equestria, you already renounced your Equestrian citizenship!"
"Then you sign it!"
"I'm a member of the Royal Guard, not a diplomat! It would have no meaning! That was what you were here for!"
"Well what can we do?" She asked exasperated.
For a while he stood, deep in contemplation. Finally he stiffened up, his hoof twitching as if he was about to salute, but his hoof ultimately remained planted, "Until I can receive updated orders, my troops and I cannot act within the griffon empire." He paused, "For now we will withdraw until such time as we can bring another princess with us." His hoof again twitching as if compelled to salute, it went again unraised as he nodded and turned.
Twilight could hear the comander's frustrated whispering as he trotted away, only caching "...and hope this one doesn't run off to become queen of the breezies..."
Eventually he was gone, and Twilight was left in shock. Her hoof raised to her chest and was extended as she exhaled a held breath. Rinse, repeat.
With Cadance's calming technique satisfactorily completed, she then took her own stock of the situation.
"Ok Twilight. Don't stress." she took another deep breath, "Don't stress. Despite... that... you only have to send a letter to Spike before you can visit a library older than Equestria. Besides, Princess Celestia will sort this out. She always knows what's best." She then turned and began to re-enter the palace.
Happy to pretend as if their leader's monologue was as internal as she had probably thought it was, the griffon pair again followed behind.
"What now your majesty? I would imagine you are in no mood for a tour at this point, but would you at least like to be seen to the study? We have plenty of quills and scrolls there."
A moment of silence followed, wherein Twilight gave no indication of having heard the former emperor's inquiry. Just as he was about to ask again, she finally responded.
"No, if it's not too much trouble, could one of you fetch some scrolls and ink while the other shows me to the library? I'd prefer to..." she started before pausing and giving up, "Just... could you?"
"Of course your majesty." The griffoness responded, bowing before retreating back and taking off.
Again returning to the palace proper the former Emperor now took the lead, slowly bringing the current empress closer and closer to a place that had so recently been such a point of obsession.
Now she was largely focused on other matters, matters that she managed to cope with better and better as she walked.
By the time the Imperials reached the doors, Twilight had almost calmed down. Of course, this immediately changed upon remembering where she now was.
Before her stood two massive (though not quite as massive as the now-ruined throne room) doors.
The sight sent a shiver up her spine. Cent wood. She could tell just from looking at the dark nearly black fine grain. The most she had ever seen in one place, and certainly the largest single pieces of it.
Cent wood, said to have grown in the waters of creation, it was nigh indestructible. Unable to be burned, flexible and workable, yet unyielding and unbreakable, soft enough to make a bed, and hard enough to be made into swords, but most covetably: inert to magic. In fact, the material was even able to dull the effect of ambient magic in small doses.
Whereas the doors to the throne room could likely have held off an army, these doors could hold off the very forces of nature, and thinking of their intended purpose, that was likely exactly the point.
The sight of the portal would have been awe inspiring enough, but the depiction on the door made it almost spiritual. On the doors were depicted an incredible diversity of forms: griffons, minotaurs, donkeys, what looked to be breezies, all three races of ponies, small dragons, what looked to be something similar to timberwolves, and even some things that she didn't recognize. They all lay in a circle, two of each race, a male and a female. With their eyes closed and heads lying upon the backs of the pair before them, each and every one bore a serene smile, as if asleep in a good dream. A forest scene played around them, creating the image of a clearing, and in the middle of the circle was the sight of a truly majestic alicorn. Clearly not intended to be Celestia or Luna, the alicorn appeared more to be the amalgamation of ideal traits. Her wings were flared, yet she did not look intimidating. Rather, she looked inviting. Her muzzle pointing downward towards an open book that appeared angled toward the observer.
Though enough to bring any artist or scholar to tears, the doors were not the extent of the glory, as the doors' frame was also cent wood, thick and carved with an inscription Twilight couldn't read.
"It's pre-old griffish, or more likely what came before. From when all beings spoke the same language. It was taken from the inscription found on the cover of the Book of Creation, from when the first of the the sentient races came to be." He nodded to the carvings on the doors, "as is depicted here."
"It's..." Twilight truly couldn't summon the words to describe it. From all facets the doors were unparalleled, in their craftsmanship, to their materials, to the history both implied and that must have been involved. If the doors were to be enough to nearly drive her to tears, what knowledge must be contained within.
Swearing, and then Pinkie promising, to bask in the glory of the doors another time, she reluctantly decided to leave them behind for the time being and proceed with what she had come for and needed for tomorrow's court.
Excitedly, but with the utmost care, she reached out with her magic to open the doors, only to be quickly reminded just what they were made from. Unlike previous experience with smaller Cent artifacts though, the doors had the effect of not just being inert, but actually drawing in her magic.
Not even in the mood for feeling abashed at her mistake, she walked forward, putting a hoof onto the door and pushing.
She only got as far as a step in before the sight before her froze her in place.
The library before her was like nothing she had ever seen, both in scale and design.
The room was enormous. "Only" extending a few hundred meters up, the place where she stood was revealed as a balcony over a, immense chamber, going down many times more than it went up.
It also expanded nearer to the bottom, giving the whole chamber an egg-shape. At her level the far wall was hundreds of meters away, and further down the chamber could be over a thousand across at its widest.
The deepest part of the chamber, in the dish-shaped bottom of the egg, appeared to be a green blob, and upon closer inspection appeared to be a grove of trees.
What shocked her more than the rooms size, or even the apparent forest within was its walls.
Books. What had to be tens of millions of books lined the walls. Shelves in the walls circled the entire chamber, only those slightly above the height of the balcony and higher were not currently occupied.
There were no floors save the one at the bottom of the chamber, no ladders or catwalks, though she realized they wouldn't be to the benefit of a 100% flight enabled population anyway.
That's when another facet of the room's design struck her. The room seemed well-lit yet dark, but not because the only light source was the clouded sky through the domed crystal spire skylight. Rather, she noted, it was because of a feature of the library itself.
The shelves were black. Black like cent wood.
Before disbelief could settle in, the former Emperor again spoke.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He asked, "It was designed to be the final refuge. Should even that have failed, it was to be our legacy, preserved until the creator once again breathed life into the world. In fact, this may be where it begins again; they say that the Book of Creation itself is in here somewhere," he laughed softly, "though I haven't found it."
Twilight was hardly listening, hardly able to listen.
"How?" She asked breathlessly.
"'How?' your majesty? What do you mean?"
"How is this possible?" she asked again, this time sounding a little more aware of herself.
"How is what possible?"
She turned to face him, throwing a frustrated hoof towards the chamber, "This! All these books! Records from the pre-unification era! All this cent wood! It makes no sense!"
"Oh? What makes you say that?" he asked, drawing a brief look of disbelief from the mare before a frustrated anger returned.
"We barely have records of the playwright who wrote the Hearth's Warming story hundreds of years after the fact, let alone records contemporary to the actual event! How is it even possible that you could have such things when we didn't even know Luna was a real mare until a few years ago."
"You should know why," he said leadingly, “and I can assure you that there was somepony who knew Luna was real."
"What are you saying?" Her frustrated scowl soured further.
"Think about it. You spoke as if old records are rare? While I could understand many records being lost in the ponies' flight from the old lands to what is now Equestria, how could it even be possible to lose records of the Crystal Empire, Sombra's very existence, or of Princess Luna?"
"What are you saying?" She asked, eyes narrowed.
"Though her method is more subtle, Celestia has almost certainly played a role in the elimination of records that would cause public unrest. She could do this secure in the knowledge that she would be around, and leading the ponies once those threats returned. We, though, rely upon the Imperial library."
Anger mostly abated, Twilight's face now held only disbelief "Celestia wouldn't..."
her whisper was overlooked as he continued, "But much like her, we do restrict some knowledge. Tell me, how many griffons do you see in here right now?"
Though she knew the answer already, a quick scan revealed not a soul.
"Our griffons are simply aware there is knowledge they may not know for the greater good. Some have attempted to break in over the centuries, but what better way to discourage looking into the forbidden, than for the public to not even know it exists?"
Twilight gestured as if she was going to argue, but her raised hoof faltered, her furrowed brow breaking.
Before she could make any further motion, the door behind them moved, revealing the returned griffoness with rolls of paper, some quills, and an ink pot tucked beneath her wings.
Twilight looked to the crystal spire skylight and sighed.
"It's late. I'll send a quick letter to have the captured soldiers released and to have them begin their journey back. You can go to bed if you want. If you need me I'll probably be here all night."
"By your will," the former emperor dismissed himself with a bow, leaving through the doors.
Without much else, she took the offered writing materials from the griffoness and laid out belly-down on the balcony.
"Your majesty?"
Twilight looked up at the griffoness who had not followed her husband.
"If I may be so curious, before we go, may I ask to the condition of the captured?"
Twilight gave a weary smile.
"Don't worry, they are being held just outside my hometown. Sweet Apple Acres was kind enough to let them roost there for the time being and friend of a friend has been providing fish from a river he... well.... lives in. He's a sea serpent." She let out a little chuckle at the memory of Steven's antics, "Anyway, I'll just tell Spike and he'll have them on their way."
The griffoness sat, and then too laid out on the balcony.
"And who is this Spike?" She asked conversationally.
"Oh, Spike is my number one assistant! Well, and he's the interrum captain of my guard. Funny story, Celestia let me use her troops, but when I was to deal with all this 'on my own', apparently meant I couldn't use her captain or top administrative staff. So he went from my assistant to a ranking officer. He took it in stride too. I'm quite proud of the little guy, even if all he has to do is read my orders and reference my contingency lists." The quill flicked away against a scroll as she spoke. "It feels like only yesterday he was just a little hatchling..."
"Hatchling? You have an adopted griffon cub?"
"Oh, no, sorry, I forgot that you don't get much news from the outside. No, Spike is a dragon. My number one assistant, savior of the Crystal Empire, and Banisher of Shadows."
"Crystal Empire? Shadows?"
"He, uh... he's the one who defeated Sombra and saved the Crystal empire."
"A dragon capable of slaying the Slave King? And he is your assistant, overseeing our prisoners? He must be quite the fearful being."
Twilight laughed, "Spike? No, he's a little sweetheart. He's only a baby! Well, for a dragon. He's hardly above my back at full height, not counting his frill." She mused, still scratching away at the scroll, "No, I hatched his egg only a few years ago, he's very mature for his age though."
"You sound quite proud of him." The griffoness noted with a smile.
"I sure am! He's been a great help, and he is certainly responsible... most of the time... I just..." her writing stopped and she looked up to the griffoness, "I just feel bad sometimes about how much I put on him at his age. Especially with all of what’s going on now. He seems to take it all in stride, but I worry he may be under too much pressure."
"I know what you are going through." She said, smiling thoughtfully, "...but despite how it may feel, it's important to not baby them too much. You will know if it gets to be too much. It sounds like you love him very much; I'm sure you are a fine mother to him."
"Mother? I wouldn't go that... well... I don't think he..."
Seeing the alicorn struggle with her words, she helped, "We have a saying, it goes 'it is not who lays the egg, but the one who sits on it.' Even if you are not his dragon mother, or even if you hadn't been the one to hatch him, if you are the one who raised and cared for him you are his mother, even if neither of you realize it."
The two looked at each other for a moment, before the griffoness stood up, gesturing towards the scroll, "Do you want me to fly that out to the pony encampment?"
Twilight looked back to the scroll herself, giving it one last look over before signing it, "No need," she said rolling it up in her magic, "it'll be in Spike's claws momentarily." She lit the scroll in a green flame and the ashes dashed away.
"Well then goodnight Empress, pleasant dreams.”
“Yeah… goodnight…”
As the griffoness closed the great doors behind her, Twilight surveyed the massive library, releasing a heavy sigh.
“Looks like another all-nighter for you Twilight.”
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I like it.
That's not going to come back to bite her in the ass. Nope. Not at all. Why would you think that?
I admit the Equestrian guard has a point : Twilight didn't mention Celestia or Luna during her proclamation as Empress, neither she clarified the Gryphon Kingdom future position regarding Equestria , either independent or subordinate.
oh yay this updated! Twilight has gotten herself into a big mess here.
Well, technically if she's a proper tyrant, the rules are what Twilight says they are!
If she says she can declare herself Empress immediately, then DAMN IT, SHE CAN BE EMPRESS AND PRINCESS AT THE SAME TIME AND SHE'LL BANISH YOU TO THE..uhm... Twilight Zone? Yeah, that works... SHE'LL BANISH YOU TO THE TWILIGHT ZONE IF YOU DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE TO OPPOSE HER!!
I remember Nero was like that. What a jerk.
Oh my, now that library, the doors, it's very reason for existence is awe inspiring. Pretty much the Griffons whole being is that library. And a point about Celestia. Please, not so long between chapters!
Interesting, good luck.
Your worldbuilding and concept of politics amaze me. However, I believe the quote should be
not the one who legs it.
6115413
Well Equestria really doesn't have a reason to continue the war and I'm sure the higher ups (the Princesses) wouldn't actually charge Twilight with treason.
Especially since 1: Twilight was the one who stopped the war and 2: She didn't know... A lot of things about griffon tradition when conquered.
If anything, this puts Equestria pretty far ahead since they now basically have a puppet empress. (Tell me that Twilight would say no to Celestia's subtle suggestions and advice for ruling the griffons).
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kanonart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/egg-leg.jpg
(fxd, thx)
Wow, captain dumbass's objections and rant are even more stupid and nonsensical than the griffin's. Complete and total surrender isn't a valid conclusion to a war? Moronic. Princess Twilight was given complete control over the war and sent to negotiate the end. That means she has been given the full authority of the crown in these matters, authority she used to accept their surrender and set the terms and conditions of such. Frankly the so called captain-who-really-isn't-since-she-said-Celestia-kept-her-officers-and-she-had-to-make-Spike-her-captain is the one being treasonous here.
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I have changed that in the chapter for clarity. He was a "captain" as in the highest officer out of those there, but not a Captain as in the rank. Much like how there is a naval rank of "Captain" but it doesn't necessarily put you in charge of a ship. In this case it was a description of his role, not his rank. Now he is a "commander" to reduce confusion.
Even though commander is also a rank...
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6115457
Lol, no. She was not supposed to name herself EMPRESS OF ANOTHER COUNTRY. She's not making new title for griffons, she inherited old one, and she can't be Empress of one country and Princess of another one.
"I am now Princess of Griffonia, and old Emperor title is obsolete!" -> okay, good, if you wish.
"I am Princess Twilight, your conqueror!" -> no problem boss
"I am Twilight Sparkle! I am your Empress!" -> welp ok, you got new title, bye Equestrian Princess hello Empress of Griffons
Oh my dear god, the library, the lore, motherhood.
I just love everything about this chapter, and it's really making the story all around better!
I do hope that the diplomatic crisis can work itself out. If she gets to speak with the Princesses, surely they'll understand it was become the new ruler, or kill someone. Also, dual citizenship may be a thing they can start!
Technically everyone in Equestria swears fealty to multiple princesses who rule them, and Twilight isn't really swearing allegiance to another being, so she isn't being a traitor. I believe since she is a leader in both societies, she can be loyal to both.
Though that is idealistic thinking, I'm sure there will be more conflict. I just hope they can sort this out BEFORE we get to the "Celestia withholding knowledge" part. Or else we'll have a double-war on our hands. :(
Anywho, keep up the great job! Love it, and I'd love to read any side stories you might bring up! In fact, following you now!
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Unless Princess Celestia & Princess Luna says she can.
6115584
I dunno about other arguments, but yes, you can have two different titles in two different countries. For example, William the Conqueror was simultaneously Duke of Normandy and King of England.
Shit. And I thought this was complicated before.
6115639
YES! But they didn't yet!
6115654
As you hear from fanfic itself, you can't, that's not Earth :)
6115584
Have you never studied European History? There are plenty of people who held titles in multiple countries. Catherine of Aragon for example was both Princess of Spain and Queen of England. Given that all the Royal lines of Europe were related to some degree there were plenty instances of a Duke or something of one country becoming King of another because of the line of succession. The greater title held precedence, but that doesn't mean the old one disappeared or they suddenly had to cut all ties to their former country.
Twilight screwed up. Or Celestia tricked her. I love it when Twilight screws up and it's her own worst enemy.
6115716 6115676 Or the guard is wrong.
This is a country they conquered, and it is now an Equestrian Protectorate. There is nothing strange about the nobility of one country taking on a new title to reflect their control of another country they just conquered. Prince of Wales, anyone? It doesn't mean they have to give up their old title and are no longer a part of their original country.
Yeah, she made a mistake not declaring the Empire a protectorate or mentioning that she rules on behalf of Celestia, but that soldier is severely jumping the gun.
I have a feeling Celestia knew about the griffon grand library too so hiding knowledge wasn't so hard for her as she knew it would be there to be recovered when the time was right.
As to Twilight being Equestria's princess and the griffon empress that problem can be fixed though the peace accords themselves, if Candace can't act as Equestria's representative then it will need to be Celestia or Luna and they have supreme executive power in Equestria. Now Twilight has supreme executive power in the Griffon Kingdom. That means they can change laws, retroactively if they like. They just sign a peace accord and in the document say it's now legally NOT treason if a equestrian princess take control of a concurred enemy territory and she DOESN'T for fit her status and the new law is applied retroactively and from a legal standpoint the problem just evaporates.
Humm actually I could see freaking out trying to find some legal loop hole in the law for Celestia to just point out "We make the laws Twilight, we can just change it with the peace treaty"
6115584 I'm not seeing how its mutually exclusive here. She stated she was their Empress by right of conquest. This officially acknowledges Equestrias victory in the war, the griffons have been conquered, defeated, rendered a non threat. She then instates herself as the new government. Isnt that exactly what Cadence did? defeated the previous ruler and took his kingdom?
Oh boy. The Empress of the Griffins is demanding the immediate release of her troops back to her country to rebuild her armies.
And Princess Spike has the signature, seal, and power, and the instant communication before the Official channels say its been canceled.
This reminds me so much of stories of claim jumping and corperate takeovers and buyouts in the asteroid belt. Just, accidentally delay the air shipment a day.
6115413 :| *stares at your user name* ...... *attempts to recover the expunged data?* D:
6115676 as that guard said, he's a guard, not a diplomat.
What the hell does he know?
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6115751
The issue seems to be that the surrender hasn't formally happened. The Griffions offered their surrender, sent their announcement of their surrender, and that's what Twilight was there to do in the first place. To sign the documents, formalize everything, ect.
Which she hasn't done yet. She skipped that step, and went from arriving in the city after the Griffions offered their surrender, straight to suddenly becoming their Empress.
Empress of a nation that Equestria is still technically at war with, because she never signed a treaty or formally accepted their surrender.
Cap. [name of a Group / Organization].
___________________
Cap [name of book],
________________
Cap [title.]
_________________
Other than cap errors. Not bad.
6115794
This more of incompatible customs and laws than anything that's making up this problem or that guard is a complete imbecile (seriously going for the latter one given their track record) . To the Griffins she is now their ruler and still a Equestrian Princess; to Equestria she just ceded from them. Seriously though I'm with the majority on their not being any problem with her being Empress and Princess it just means she has more authority in one place than the other.
6115716
OH god when the former rulers mentioned Celestia's manipulation of history my paranoia shot right up i started imaging book burnings and such (shiver...)
6115908 <3 thx! (Fxd!)
Ugh. Politics.
6115940
You're welcome, glad to see another chapter come out btw ^_^.
6115889 but in Griffin law that is how you formally accept a surrender, sounds like a cultural clash . I just hate that the story isn't already finished so I could keep reading
6115716
Celestia should have been aware of the griffons' rites of conquest and all that. She planned this, I bet you.
6115816
[Information redacted by order of O5-██]
That was unexpected, though it shouldn't have been. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
That guard is an idiot.
6115983 agreed. I hope the pony end of it gets sorted out reasonably quickly, I'd hate for this fic to get bogged down by excessive shenanigans from the pony end of things, the griffons are going to be the source of antics enough as it is.
6116160 I'm worried trolestia is going to use this as a "teaching" experience and treat her like a foreign power that just lost a war. Technically she can't release the captured troops now. If the commander was right. And if spike does he'd technically be a traitor too.
Good chapter.
6115584
Yes, you can be the Empress of one Empire and the Princess of another Kingdom. Please refer to Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India.
Twilight wants to be Empress of the Griffons and a Princess of Equestria? Go for it. If she gets kicked out? Well: She's a friggin' Empress now; that's definitely of higher "rank" than lowly 'Princess'. (If I recall correctly, which I probably don't; Victoria was made Empress of India, because her son-in-law was the Emperor of Germany; and it just wouldn't do to have one's SIL be of a higher "rank" than yourself, especially when your countries aren't quite friendly…)
This is why I stay away from politics.
I gotta admit that the idea that becoming ruler of another country (by conquest) automatically forces you to renounce sovereignty in another country seems pretty absurd. Even in the US, with its rather strict laws that to be president you must be a native citizen etc etc etc, there are a few conceivable corner cases in which dual citizenship might interact to allow someone to rule another country at the same time they were US President. Not that that's at all likely, but it's not constitutionally forbidden. And just about anywhere else at just about any time? Nobody would have any legal objection.
And since, in this case, no sane pony actually wants continued war or for Twilight to stop being Princess, it seems strange indeed that there might be some arcane legal objection that anypony would pay the least mind to. Such things have a way of being conveniently swept aside when the will of the people is so unanimous … assuming they existed in the first place, which is also very strange given that Equestria hasn't had more than half a dozen rulers, ever, and this problem has therefore probably never even been considered.
6116017
I'm going with Celestia setting things up. She grabbed one piece of the world with Cadence, and now a second with Twilight. Just needs to figure out what to give her sister and she'll have finished a massive global annexation expanding the Equestrian Empire many times over, all without a drop of blood shed.
How long till Twilight gets the hint that as Celestia is the one who would hide old information about the griffons, Celestia know this would happen and did not want Twilight to be able to avoid it.
Why else would she hide stuff about griffons?
Who wants to bet that Twilight could use the Griffons to take Equestria and Win?
6116264
Sadly, since duel monarchs HAVE existed in the real world, I have to concur.
I was greatly enjoying this story until that royal guard used some pants-on-head logic to justify deserting his princess, in the middle of a dicey situation.
And Twilight just let it happen.
...what? I thought she conquered the Kingdom, not apply for citizenship and become empress... Why would she not be Equestrian? Does that mean Cadence is no longer Equestrian because she usurped King Sombra? Huge logic fail here.
Is she just supposed to open the millennia-old books and read them? I was expecting them to take her to the library full of copies of the books copied from the original Library. Either that or the physical books don't last that long and they're all just copies of copies, in which case there should be scribes in the process of making new copies.
6116264
Apparently it's not just some old law that no one pays attention to, since it was stated that it happened to Cadance.
The law itself was not elaborated on, so it could easily apply to more than just the princesses; for example, a law that merely states that one cannot have dual citizenship with another nation (with new citizenships overriding the old) would result in this chapter's event. By declaring herself the Griffon empress, and thus implicitly a Griffon citizen, she would naturally automatically give up Equestrian citizenship, and thus Equestrian Princesshood.
Good chapter.