Chapter 18 - The Challenge
The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam
The Challenge
“Princess Sparkle, I really must protest your actions,” said Papercut, attending to his princess charge in a very awkward earth pony way, actually using one hoof to brush a fleck of dust off of her dress. “We’ve suffered an unconscionable delay in our scheduling due to your extracurricular activities, and if we are forced to remain here for much longer, we will be unable to fly back to the Crystal Empire until tomorrow. Could you not simply leave a note?”
“Relax, Papercut. I just need to make an appearance at their council meeting, ask the question, and make our exit. We’ll have plenty of time to fly back to the Crystal Empire before it even starts to get dark.”
Twilight looked around her small group of friends waiting to be admitted to the outdoor arena. The small aerie had almost entirely emptied itself into the large amphitheatre ahead, leaving the corridors of the mountain castle feeling horribly dead and hollow to her ears. The zeppelin’s inhabitants had followed, giving a colorful air to the outdoor arena as the various wingmasters of the other griffon tribes proudly displayed the colors of their own tribes in ribbon bedecked wings and tails. She could see the activity going on inside the sand floored arena, surrounded by ranks of wooden perches growing taller as the distance increased from the center. She had never seen a Griffon Council Chamber before, but this one seemed to have faced the ages with less dignity than it should have, with more than one of the farthest back perches having fallen into a pile of rotten wood and splinters. Both Pumpernickel and Laminia had excused themselves, most probably taking their places on the most prominent perch as the Wingmaster and his mate, a concept that still did not make complete sense to her, and was probably a considerable source of stress for the griffon aerie.
All of the military histories she had read were fairly consistent about treating one single griffon as equivalent in fighting power to two partnered ponies, which is why the common strategy for the Royal Guard was to use four pegasi against a single griffon, along with as many crossbow-wielding earth ponies and magic throwing unicorns as possible, just to be sure. From what Laminia had said and the evidence on her husband’s criss-crossed coat, the fight he had gone through that horrifying night against the former Wingmaster had been a far closer thing than it had any right to be, a bloody sacrifice that the Night Guard had made without hesitation in order to save lives.
A sacrifice that she might have to make someday as a Princess.
And after a moment’s thought to consider, she realized it was a sacrifice that she had already been willing to make for her friends before she had even gotten wings. At one time she had thought the Royal Guard existed purely in order to protect Equestria, and something inside her had died a little when she saw just how poorly they had executed that duty during Shining Armor and Cadence’s wedding. Discord had just ignored them, Nightmare Moon had knocked them to one side with a thought, and even the cream of the Royal Guard, Flash Sentry, certainly meant well, but she was fairly sure Flash needed to wear glasses from the number of times he had stumbled in front of her.
It had taken wings before she had realized that the Royal Guard existed to protect everypony, it was true, but their primary reason for existing was to guard the princesses from mortal threats such as crazy ponies with knives or being crushed by panicked ponies rushing away from a disaster. Princesses raised the sun and moon, and anything that would hurt them would hurt all of Equestria. If the Royal Guard could save other ponies, that was good, but they would die to protect their charges, be they royal or common.
Shining Armor once had taken her to see the Memorial inside the Royal Guard Academy, a broad obsidian building with wide skylights that held the helm of every Royal Guard who had fallen in battle in defense of Equestria. It was a sobering sight, silent as a tomb with an eternal flame burning in the center of the building. One pony from each of the tribes stood guard every hour of the day or night, and three helmets rested within the flickering light of the fire. Captain Earthshatter’s helmet was folded and wrinkled with stone flecks from the fist of the troll who killed him still embedded in the crest. Captain Valiant's helmet bore a broad gash, precise and clean where a sword from raiding Naga had sheared off his horn and plunged deep into his skull. And Commander Hurricane’s helmet had three parallel slashes down it where a rogue pack of wyverns had overwhelmed him.
All of those rows of eyeless helmets looking down at her had given the young Twilight Sparkle such a bad case of the shivers that it took an entire afternoon out in the sunny park to shake the feeling of despair that it had evoked over her. The outdoor arena with all of the griffons staring down reminded her entirely too much of that time, with rows of grim visages fixed in featureless glowers, concerned only with violence and death.
This was stupid. She should have been able to send a note — no, she should have just been able to ask Pumpernickel’s permission at the funeral, or even before that. She certainly would not have minded missing that eerie speech by the little griffon princess, but then again, she would have missed learning about her ancient relatives, one of whom had been standing right here two centuries ago, scared out of her wits but carrying on the duties she had taken up.
The thought gave her strength. Morning Glory had not traveled to the griffon aerie for her own benefit; she had a responsibility to try and find a way for griffons and ponies to live in peace. This request by her great-to-some-degree granddaughter would be another step along that long and winding road, filled with pitfalls and landslides, to a destination that most mortal ponies would never see.
But Twilight would see it. Generations from now, ponies and griffons would be able to live side by side in some small part by the small steps taken here today, a much smaller and less bloody step than the Night Guard Pumpernickel had taken, but still a step, nonetheless. It was even a step pushed forward by the Emperor of all Griffons, and although she approved, it just felt a little creepy that the Emperor would throw all of his schedules to one side just to take his private yacht/battleship/fortress haring off across the ocean to visit with a librarian princess who was getting married. He would have had to been notified of the wedding… She backtracked from the moment she had seen that small plus sign on the plastic tab to the present, figured out the relative speed of the zeppelin, the admitted visits Emperor Ripping Claw had already made, and considered the negative number that resulted. Even if a messenger had flown directly to the emperor from Canterlot the moment the news of her pregnancy had broken, the earliest it could have reached him was partway across the ocean when he was already on the way here.
The Emperor was lying.
It shocked her to a degree, but after a brief consideration for her lessons with Princess Celestia, she rephrased the statement to be more ‘diplomatic.’
The Emperor was taking advantage of the existing situation to provide cover for a different plan of his own which he did not wish to advertise.
An entire decision tree of possibilities forked off that realization, but it all boiled down to trust. Princess Celestia had to know about the Emperor’s visit ahead of time, but she had intentionally not told Twilight, therefore it was important that she not know, and rather than go all frantic about it like she wanted, she was going to have to ‘Princess Up’ about the whole thing because she trusted Celestia. She was supposed to exemplify Friendship after all, and the Griffon Emperor was making a friendly visit, so she was going to have to trust him just the same way Greenie had told her she could trust Princess Sunny.
With that realization, an armored griffon she did not recognize stepped up to the two sentries who had been barring their entry, spoke a few words in Griffon, and turned to go back into the Council Chamber. Following, the two princesses and the rest of the group walked down a short shaded corridor roofed in flaking wood that Twilight was not sure would last the rest of the year and out into the bottom of a large outdoor amphitheatre. It appeared that the very back row perches had been shunned by griffons who did not want to wind up on the ground in a heap of rotting wood and splinters, and the resulting crowding forward had filled the first and second row of perches to tight capacity, with several griffons taking their place where only one had been originally designed to sit.
There were even griffons sitting on the ground, mostly adolescents and a scattering of females, but all of them looked at Twilight as she stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine with the intense glare of predators, even Gilda and Sunny, sitting on a prominent perch higher than the first row. To their sides were the incredibly mismatched pair of Pumpernickel and Emperor Ripping Claw, the huge griffon making the bulky Nocturne seem small and harmless by comparison, until Twilight realized that the sand she was walking on had absorbed the blood of Wingmaster Talon, the second griffon that he had killed that night. Pumpernickel had discarded his back-and-breast armor somewhere before taking his place, a probable indication of his current role of Wingmaster at the moment instead of Night Guard, although he retained the knee-length shinguards and a somewhat battered helmet. The odd pieces of Night Guard armor seemed a little metaphorical to Twilight, as if the Nocturne were able to actually change his insides by switching his outsides, although Rarity would understand totally and Rainbow Dash would just ask if she had been drinking enough water while out in the sun.
She stepped forward, keeping her eyes on the Royal Perch and trying not to smile at the way Sunny wriggled the talons on one claw as if sneaking a tiny wave to her. Behind each of the primary Royals was a second, and Ambassador Sharp Feather rolled his eyes at Sunny’s little indiscretion, while Laminia gave a poor attempt to suppress a smile of her own. Both of the Nocturne were wearing sunglass lenses clipped to their helmets, which was a little distracting to Twilight’s nerves even though she realized it was to protect their sensitive eyes from being blinded in the bright sunlight. What was more distracting was the way Emperor Ripping Claw’s son watched her as she walked, with his eyebrows lowered over narrowed eyes, and a certain rhythmic flexing of his sharp talons.
Sunny stood up as soon as Twilight stopped, turning to the side and announcing in a surprisingly loud voice, “Wingmaster Pumpernickel, I would like to invite Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire, Keeper of the Crystal Heart, Mate of Shining Armor the Protector, and Princess Twilight Sparkle von Twinkle of Ponyville, Bearer of the Element of Magic, Mistress of the Silver Diadem and Defender of the Realm, Mate to Lord Green Grass, Teacher of Kings, into our council meeting to present a request.”
“Granted,” rumbled her odd Wingmaster. “The aerie of the Misty Mountains welcomes Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, now and forever more. Your eggs shall be protected in our nests and your fledglings may fly in our sky as they wish. What request does the representative of Equestria have for our proud aerie?”
So far, everything was proceeding according to the schedule, and something deep inside Twilight’s chest relaxed a little. Only a few more lines and she could excuse herself for the flight home.
Looks like we’re going to get back to the Crystal Empire before dark after all.
“My mate and I would like to request the presence of Princess Sun Shines as a member of our mating circle. She is an honorable representative of your aerie, and a friend to my mate. We would be deeply honored and indebted to your aerie for this, and would view it as a symbol of how ponies and griffons can live together in friendship and harmony.”
Pumpernickel nodded, turning to the little griffon who was so proud she looked about ready to burst into a cloud of downy feathers. “I see no problem with allowing — “
“What!” The emperor’s son shoved himself forward, attempting to go nose-to-beak with the Nocturne wingmaster if not for the restraining wing of his father. “You can’t be serious! Allow one of our royalty to take part in a pony wedding? Are you insane?!”
The amphitheater around Twilight seemed to be filled with nervous whispers as the surrounding griffons talked among themselves, but Pumpernickel’s vibrant tenor cut through the whispers like a knife.
“Emperor Ripping Claw, control your fledgeling.” Both pony and griffon had struck nearly identical poses, glaring at each other with their wings risen slightly off their backs.
Twilight was surprised to find that both she and Cadence had taken a few quick steps backwards and tried to compose herself as the emperor turned to Sky, head down and wings beginning to rise.
“Stand DOWN, my son!”
Rather than back off, the smaller griffon raised his wings too, snarling back at the emperor. “I shall not stand down, Father. If you shall not rise up in defense of our sacred traditions, than I shall. Wingmaster Pumpernickel, I hereby challenge you for the leadership of this aerie!”
There was a strange feeling in her head as if a dance had been called out at a fancy party and Twilight did not know the music or the movements involved. She took another few steps backwards alongside Cadence, feeling the welcome warmth of her friends as the mismatched royalty continued to glare at each other. Finally, Pumpernickel turned away with a derisive snort.
“I need not accept the challenge of one from another aerie.”
“Fine!” snapped Sky. “I, Prince Turbulent Skies Churned To A Violent Storm Upon Our Enemies, Son of Emperor Ripping Claw, Scion of the Heavenly Empire, Bearer of The Emperor’s Cup, do hereby resign my position within the aerie of the Heavenly Crown. Do you accept my resignation, Father?”
“Are you certain you wish to take this path, my son?” Although he looked just as regal and powerful as before, something in his expression made Twilight think this had actually been planned by the huge griffon, and the deep sigh he gave out when his son nodded sounded suspiciously like Celestia’s best mournful intonation. “Very well. Fly free, my son. Let the winds guide your path.”
“Fine!” snarled Sky, turning back to Pumpernickel. “Wingmaster Pumpernickel, I hereby challenge you for the leadership of this aerie!”
The whispers of the griffons died down again as the Nocturne shook his head, the tattered crest on his helmet waving ever so gently in the soft breeze. “As Wingmaster, I am not required to accept the challenge of one who is not of my nest.”
“What?!” screeched Sky. “You challenged Wingmaster Talon, and you damned well weren’t a member of the aerie then! You killed First Heir Plummets and—“
“I executed First Heir Plummets for his crimes,” snarled Pumpernickel, stepping forward and making the larger griffon take a step back. “He was a murderer, a traitor, and a coward. There were none in the aerie who would confront him for his actions, and it fell to me, a pony to bring him to justice. Blood calls out for blood, young prince. Would you have me reject one of your most sacred tenets? He murdered Stargazer and drank her blood. Leave him rot.”
“Leave him rot,” echoed around the outdoor amphitheatre in an eerie echo that made the cool spring air seem cold and frosty, each griffon reciting the words with a cold determination that brought a shiver up Twilight’s spine and made her friends huddle closer.
“Again,” said Pumpernickel, “I shall not accept a challenge of one who is not of my nest. However,” he added in a perfectly flat tone, “the aerie of the Misty Mountains is a refuge for all. We will accept any who accept our rules, regardless of their position in life.”
“You think you’re so smart,” spat the griffon with a snap of his beak. “What if I were to take you up on your idiotic offer?”
“I would have no choice but to accept.”
The whispering from around the amphitheatre had died down to only the faint whistle of a mountain breeze as each griffon’s eyes were riveted on Sky and Pumpernickel. Finally, the emperor’s son snapped, “Very well pony. I request to join your aerie.”
Pumpernickel deliberately turned away from the angry griffon and faced out into the attentive crowd. “Any objections?” After a moment, he continued, “Turbulent Skies Churned To A Violent Storm Upon Our Enemies, do you swear to follow our rules, to place your wings upon our pathways, and to uphold the honor of our ancestors?”
“Yes!” he snarled.
“Then I bid you welcome to our aerie.”
“Finally!” Turning to Pumpernickel again and shouting in a voice that was just one step away from pure frustration, Sky screeched, “Wingmaster Pumpernickel, I hereby challenge you for the leadership of this aerie!”
“I accept your challenge, Prince Sky. However, you will have to wait your turn.”
“What?!”
Gilda stepped up to stand beside Pumpernickel, her wings partially extended and her head lowered into a hunch that looked somewhat like an angry bulldog with a bad tooth. “I have challenged him first. It was my right, by blood, honor and tradition. On the night when he killed my father and became Wingmaster, I cast the challenge before any of our nest.”
That seemed to throw Sky for a loop, and he looked back and forth between Pumpernickel and Gilda before asking in a somewhat hesitant tone, “But you lost, right?”
“Our challenge is not complete,” said Gilda. “It was interrupted by a disobedient tircel of our nest, and we have not yet resumed our combat.”
It was difficult to read Griffon’s emotions due to their dissimilar features and the immobile beak, but it was obvious that Sky had skidded into uncharted territory here. He gawked in amazement before turning to the emperor with an anguished, “Father!”
“My son is correct to be upset,” rumbled the emperor. “This is most unusual. After surviving a challenge for leadership, it is traditional to wait a least a moon before a second challenge may be raised.”
“But—“ started Gilda before being cut off.
“In addition,” continued the emperor, “it has been more than two months since your challenge, and you have not resumed your combat. Unless you continue this day, I shall be forced to judge your challenge null and void, First Heir Gilda.”
There was a brief moment where Gilda just glared at Pumpernickel as if she wished she could make him fall over dead, then she scowled and looked away. “I shall not fight him today. Our aerie is host to Equestrian princesses. To challenge for leadership in such conditions is bad enough, but to spill the blood of a pony while guests are present would be a great dishonor to our aerie.”
The murmuring of griffons was cut off as the emperor asked, “Do you still wish to challenge Wingmaster Pumpernickel?”
In the dead silence that followed, the grinding noise of Gilda’s beak flexing against itself could plainly be heard even over to the pony guests. “No,” she growled. “He has acted with honor as Wingmaster. My father threw away the honor of our aerie by his actions, but Wingmaster Lumpy has restored the honor of our aerie by slaying my father. There is nothing to challenge in his position.”
“He wants to permit your niece to take part in a pony mating ritual!” snapped Sky.
“And?” Gilda moved closer until her beak was pressing against Sky’s. “My best friend is a pony! Sunny’s best friend was a pony! And my uncle killed her before my worthless father ate from her corpse! You’re a blithering idiot who thinks griffons are the only race in Equestria worth anything. You deserve to have somepony beat some sense into your thick head, and our Wingmaster is just the pony to do it. Just remember, he killed my father. I have a blood debt against him, and if you kill him instead, then I’m going to kill you. I don’t care how long it takes, or who your father is. You kill our Wingmaster in this stupid challenge of yours, and I’m going to kill you. Your fault, his fault, nogriffon’s fault. I’m going to kill you. Do you understand?”
“No!” snapped Sky. “Why will you not revenge yourself upon him now? He killed your father!”
“He did that which I was too cowardly to do myself!” snapped Gilda. “I shall not take my revenge while he occupies the perch I do not deserve! Still, I will not stand in the way of your foolish challenge, provided you do not kill him, for if you do, his blood debt shall be yours, and I will not rest until your heart’s blood stains the sands.”
“Fine!” snapped Sky, turning away from Gilda and to the object of his ire. “Wingmaster Pumpernickel, I hereby challenge you for the leadership of this aerie!”
“You’re getting really good at that,” rumbled Pumpernickel. “Do you accept the conditions of my First Heir?”
“Yes,” snarled Sky.
“Swear it,” replied Pumpernickel.
“I swear by the First Egg, by my family honor, and by my heart’s blood, that I will accept the responsibility of blood vengeance against myself should I kill you.” Sky spit to one side, making a griffon on a lower perch scowl upwards. “What other hoops must I jump through in order to—“
“Helmet,” said Pumpernickel in a commanding tone that stopped Sky cold. “If I’m going to be beating some sense into your thick head, you’re going to need it.”
While Pumpernickel flew down to wait in the center of the Council Chamber on the dirty sand and Sky was strapped into a griffon helmet by one of the guards, Gilda and Lamina flew down to the waiting princesses and gave an extremely shallow bow each.
“Princesses,” said Gilda in a very quiet voice, “I apologize on behalf of my aerie and all of the griffons here today.” The fuzzy crest on her helmet wriggled while she talked in a very distracting fashion, and some small corner of Twilight’s mind took note that nearly all of the Misty Mountain griffons in the audience were wearing helmets, different than the Night Guard, but with the individual flair for extravagance that griffons tended towards.
“We’re sorry that we dragged Optio Pumpernickel into this,” started Twilight before being stopped by a raised claw.
“Wingmaster Pumpernickel,” said the scowling griffon hen. “He tries to keep his jobs separate.” She spared a glance at the young griffon who was taking his place on the edge of the platform as if he were getting ready for a dive into the pool. “My job for this challenge is to keep anybody else from interfering. Not that I think anybody is going to help Prince Itchy.”
Once the griffon prince had been strapped into his helmet, he faced only one more small obstacle before stepping off the platform and attacking the rather calm looking Nocturne sitting in the middle of the council chamber, with tinted lenses over the eyes of his helmet and a certain relaxed look about his shoulders indicative of the idea that he was more comfortable solving this problem with violence than trying to talk it out. Princess Sunny stood in front of Prince Sky with one claw held up and addressed him in a loud voice that echoed throughout the deathly still amphitheatre.
“Before you challenge the Wingmaster of our aerie, I must ask you to desist one last time. First Heir Gilda has already spoken that she sees no dishonor in Lumpy’s service… I mean Wingmaster Pumpernickel’s service to our aerie, and I now add my voice to hers. Stand aside from this foolish challenge, for if you win, I will be unwilling to remain your Second Heir, and will leave this aerie.”
For the first time, Twilight Sparkle could see uncertainty in the young tercel. He looked over in Twilight’s direction, his gaze passing between the two Equestrian princesses and the pregnant Nocturne. “I shall not leave his eggs unguarded,” said Sky. “No harm shall befall his mate when I defeat him.”
“Damned straight,” muttered Gilda in a quiet whisper.
“Insufficient,” called out Sunny. “Your actions prove you unworthy of rule. Should you emerge victorious, I shall withdraw until I have attained my majority, at which point I shall return and kick your—“ She paused and glanced at her father, who apparently had made a disparaging noise quiet enough not to have reached the rest of the audience. Somewhat abashed, Sunny cleared her throat and continued, “At which point I shall return and challenge you for leadership.”
The little griffon stepped to one side with bright eyes watching Sky as he stepped forward on the perch. It was obvious that every move the older griffon made was being stored, analyzed, and prepared to be used in several years when she returned, and a shudder ran down the back of Twilight’s neck at the thought of the neverending chain of violence that it indicated.
“Relax, Princess,” whispered Gilda out of the side of her beak, still standing in front of the Equestrian diplomatic group. “Lumpy’s going to beat the socks off of that idiot.”
“I hope,” whispered Laminia. “He’s still not fully recovered from the clawing he got from our last trip here.”
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Thursday Cliffhanger. Enjoy.
5843865
Goddammit...
cliffhanger? DAMN YOU!....thanks for the update
5843865
Jerk.
Although, I have to say, since I was just at a video shoot at the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier this morning, that bit about the Royal Guard Memorial was... beautiful. I would chip in for artwork of that.
Not Again..... You're really mean, you do know that?
The emperor staged a situation where his son would be killed?
5844054 I would think it more like publicly humiliated and taught a lesson. He DOES have a helmet so at least he won't die from blunt force trauma to the head. That said, I'm looking forward to the fight.
5844054
I'd say the emperor staged this to have Lumpy beat some sense into him. That, or show that a pony can be just as worthy as a griffon.
5844054 It seems more like he is trying to set up a situation to get his unhinged, violent son out of any lines of ascension to any thrones so that he can at least live.
DAFUQ! Is that Griffin completely ignorant? Pumpernickel kicked the motherloving shit out of two Griffins in one night, and held a third off to a standstill, and that whelp thinks he can just waltz on in... I do hope Sky is prepared for the ass whooping he is about to receive
5844113
5844126
It is what we (ponies
) think about Pumpernickel, but the griffons may think otherwise. Sophia was terrified, for example. The emperor could not know about the wedding, but he knew about the pony who killed two griffons. And he also knew legends.
5844054
No, the Emperor staged a situation where his son left the ruling Aerie and gave up his position of heir to the throne of the Griffon Empire. Which he won't realize until after he calms down (and/or wakes up from Lumpy's beating).
Woops.
5844157
It is probable... but how much hope can he have that his son will live? Pumpernickel is somewhat like a shadow of a legendary hero for the griffons .
5844205 Sophia met Pumpernickel in the dark. They look a lot more harmless in the light of day.
5844166 Sky has heard that a pony killed the previous Wingmaster and his heir. Seeing is believing, or in this case, a hoof to the gut trumps a few rumors.
5844157 Oh, the Emperor has a lot of sons. This one is somewhat younger and less educated.
5844126 Staged? Would the Emperor of all Griffons stage a fight between his son and a pony? Whatever for? (whistles)
5843950 I love you too.
5843927 It would be hard to do justice to the concept. One of the advantages of modern monuments is people *know* what they stand for, where a ponyfied version has to tell a background through the picture. It's a difficult balance between details and the stark simplicity that most monuments use.
5844223 Well a situation has been set up where Sky can't kill Pumpernickel so I imagine that Pumpernickel won't kill Sky and there will be some rule of honor/loophole that helps him in that situation.
I had to laugh at the griffon version of red tape. Look, you can try to claim mastery of the aerie over the previous wingmaster's dead body, but you're going to have to wait your turn and you're going to need to get your citizenship status in order.
The circumstances surrounding that? Less funny. Sky clearly can't take a hint, so this will come to blows unless someone pulls an eleventh-hour miracle. Definitely looking forward to whatever comes next.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. The politics of a griffon aerie are complex! It was interesting seeing that different culture again. This was a really clear look at it. Good luck, Lumpy. I've got my fingers crossed for ya.
5843865 You evil SOB. I hate you. No wait. You're my favorite writer, so I guess I luves you. But I still hate you for dangling us over a cliff. I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO FEEL ANYMORE!!!!!!!
...
Ok, rant over. Great update. Griffin politics are quite interesting. I saw Twi and Cadence feeling quite threatened, but I have to figure that even if they were attacked for whatever reason that Twilight would easily be able to handle it. Or at least teleport her crew to a slightly safer location. I understand that they weren't being threatened, just feeling threatened. Kind of like my cat around a really big dog, lol.
Somehow, I get the feeling this is the best political education a royal griffin could buy.
If he lives through it. Which is likely. But an if.
5844242 Less educated is a understatement lol, hopefully Lumpy can bulldoze some sense into that hard headed close minded brain of his.
That sneaky, stupid motherf*****. I really hopes this goes goes south for that pompous idiot. Still, nice chapter.
I guess this is a political way to extricate lumpy from his current position, he looses against sky who can't kill him (and hopefully doesn't go for the crippling option instead), Gilda then steps up and beats sky, the eyrie gets a pony friendly ruler, the griffins don't start a war by killing a guard, a powerful griffin with anti pony sentiments is removed or at least humiliated and lumpy gets to live to see his foal grow up, seems win win
5845568 ...still leaving Gilda with a blood-debt against the pony who killed her father, and in charge of a aerie of griffons next to the Crystal Empire. Yeah, that won't end well.
5844769 Note that the two Equestrian princesses felt threatened, although they were never actually threatened. The worst that Sky planned on doing was keeping Sunny from being a part of Twilight's wedding.
5844372 Ponies have arcane rituals of red tape in much the same way. Wait until you see what GG has to go through to get a rental wedding coronet.
And this is why I hate politicians. You have to look underneath the underneath the underneath, to borrow a phrase from Naruto, to figure out what's going on.
I predict this ends with Lumpy beating him up. Or, if you really want to humiliate him... Fluttershy Stares him down.
OH MY GOD. Dude just gave up his position as prince, then got trolled by how Gilda has priority over him. Trollestia would be proud.
Well, I hate Sky so bring on a one sided beat down on him.
5844113 You mean getting his cat butt kicked, his eagle head pounded in, his wings stripped, and Lumpy in general using him as a training dummy?????
5845423
Who?
There are multiple sneaky Motherf***ers in this scene, and there is one REAL stupid motherhumper (not bright enough to find the hole); but the stupid one isn't sneaky, and the sneaky ones aren't stupid.
Though it does seem Prince Airhead Who Doesn't Realize He Has Just Abdicated (a better translation than Prince Turbulent Skies Churned To A Violent Storm Upon Our Enemies) is in for a world of hurt.
Let us count the sneaky ones:
Emperor Ripping Claw, divested himself of a problematic heir who persisted in creating civil unrest. Done, no takebacks.
Wingmaster Elect Gilda, freed from her blood debt challenge against Wingmaster Lumpy. Done, no need to rechallenge.
Wingmaster 'Lumpy' Pumpernickel, negotiated things so that even if he loses, he wins. Best case scenario for ex-Prince Breaks Wind is to lose.
Prince Sky Is A Real Sucker, Is not on this list. Nor is he likely to get on the list with how easily he is manipulated.
5845797
I meant the idiot Prince Moron. Not every comment I make ever has to be smart, plus I wrote that right after an hour of being owned by a Spy in TF2 so I kinda ended up venting that into it. Like I said, not everything that comes out has to make sense.
Every once in a while, you get a character who is so eagar to earn a partial or a full Darwin award that he cuts in line and makes everyone around watch while the pain is delivered. It probably won't be a full Darwin since Lumpy most likely won't kill the idiot (unless something terribly unfortunate is about to go down), but by his own actions his status is taking such a dive it might cause a metaphorical rainboom all on its own as it plummets.
Let's get ready to rrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5845928
Ah! All is explained!
Those spies can be real pains in the hindquarters.
This is weird. I'm not convinced that this is bigotry anymore. Sky's behaviour is too desperate and too forced. He's being either manipulated or pushed into this position by somegriffon and I'm not sure why.
5847274
Worst part was that his name and pic was based off my favorite pony Princess Luna.
This is probably even better than the prequel(s).
I have no idea why wasn't I following you yet, but it's been rectified.
5856791 Personally, I think Changeling Queens would always have daughters. I can see that conversation happening.
5847865 Out of all of the sons that Emperor Ripping Claw has to bring with him, he brought Sky. Consider that.
5856182 Thank you. Feel free to wander about my vast collection of wanderings for other little tidbits. I'm particularly proud of Diamond Tiara Buys a Little Sister, and this particular chapter out of Letters From a Little Princess Monster, which can be read as a standalone. (I had written it for a write-off, but didn't get it done on time). If you complete it and are not worried about poor Scootaloo hey I'm not going to put it here. Go read it , I've done something wrong.
5856811 Well, if they have any sense, they'll eat the boys while still larvae.
5846347 Sky is just so much fun to write.
5845689 Note: Sky has not given up his position as thirty-seventh or so son of Emperor Ripping Claw, he just changed aeries/houses. Then again, he is a fully adult son who hasn't moved out of the house yet, so it's probably good that he goes out into the real world and gets a little educational experience. Yeah. Let's go with that.
Welp. No thorough analysis this time, on account of me breathlessly reading on as all this unfolds.
Here's hoping Lumpy will beat him down... but Sky is kind of a griffin in the prime of his life
Remarks and corrections:
> The zeppelin inhabitants had followed
Should be either "The zeppelin's inhabitants", or "The zeppelin-inhabitants".
> a bad case of the shivvers
I'm fairly sure "shivers" only needs one "v".
5890056 "Here's hoping Lumpy will beat him down... but Sky is kind of a griffin in the prime of his life ..."
...Who has never fought against a pony."
There we go, and fixed both typos. It appears that 'shivvers' is a grain drying company, which is why Gdocs didn't flag it.
So it looks like Lumpy is a Grade A troll.
It only occurred to me now, but wouldn't that murderer be Gilda's half-brother, instead of uncle?
7854745 I'd rather not think about it. I'm going to go on the assumption that griffons use family relations as casually as royal titles, with 'cousin' being anygriffon below you on the pecking order, and 'uncle/aunt' for those above.
5844769
Yeah, that aforementioned big dog must cower behind his house whenever you come by
Hehe, we thought it was suspicious.
Sky brings dishonour. One could say he... falls.
I knew instantly what this meant and cackled like a madman.