Interlude I: Blood
Father Dmitri Kvorof always preferred his meat raw. There was something about the feeling of ripping into the flesh that was lost after the food was cooked. Was it the change in flavor that got him… or the smell? Perhaps the appearance? Father Dmitri shook his head and smiled. No, if he believed any of those reasons, he would be lying to himself.
Obviously, it was the blood that he loved the most.
The golden griffon held a hunk of flesh in a talon and examined it. The beautiful lines of the muscle enchanted him, captivated him, held power over him. Of course, the wonderful thing about that was that Father Dmitri had the ability to eat the object of his fascination. It simply would not do for something to control him if he did not possess the power to destroy it.
“So, what you are telling me is that you failed,” Father Dmitri said quietly. His eyes never left the meat in his talon. He toyed with it, turning it over and over.
“Yes, Father. I failed you, and I failed the Fatherland.” A single griffon stood in the middle of the enormous throne room. Tapestries, depicting scenes of griffons conquering creatures of all sorts and bowing before one of their kind sitting upon a throne that shone like gold, decorated the towering stone walls. Other beings had gathered beneath the soaring ceiling, and while each had the potential to captivate an audience, this griffon was the center of attention.
Father Dmitri smirked. That throne now belonged to him. “That is unfortunate, Comrade Volov. I sent you on a mission of utmost importance to deliver a confidential message to one of your very own Comrade Generals. And within the hour, you lost the message. This saddens me, Volov. This saddens me greatly.” He continued to twirl the meat in his talons. He never even looked at the other griffon.
“I… I’m sorry, Father. I was attacked and overpowered, and—”
Another griffon flew over to him and covered his back with a wing. She placed a talon over his beak to silence him. “Oh, Volov. You do not need to excuse yourself.”
“I don’t?” Volov asked, confused.
“No! Of course not!” The female griffon smiled at him. “Everygriff makes mistakes, and the blame rests on those who attacked you.”
“You understand?” The soldier’s face brightened and a huge smile crossed his beak. “Oh, thank you!”
“Nah-uh-uh… what?” the female asked. “Oh, we understand, but you shouldn’t be thanking us.”
Father Dmitri’s voice boomed in the cavernous room. “The griffon is the apex predator! The world and nature itself have appointed us to be so! We are greater than any who have come before, higher than any who will come after, and so much more than any others who are. We reign supreme in spirit, and we shall soon reign over all of Equus in truth!”
The ten guards who had escorted Volov into the room as well as the four honorary guards that Father Dmitri aways kept by his side all cheered. Volov shifted uncomfortably.
Father Dmitri stood up on his elevated throne. “We are griffon! We are perfection. And you.” He looked down upon Volov, finally meeting the other griffon’s gaze. “You failed. We do not fail. Tell me, Comrade Volov, are you a griffon?”
Volov shivered. The female griffon circled him, the guards all around looked upon him with disdain, and his Father’s eyes burned with fire. “Yes, Father.”
“And yet you failed… Volov. I cannot call you comrade, for you are not a griffon. And that means that you mean nothing.” He held up the hunk of meat once more. “Comrade Yvonne. Let us eat.” He tossed the hunk of meat into his beak.
With a blood-curdling scream, the female griffon’s beak shot out and ripped the male’s throat open. Blood spurted out of him, covering her feathers. He tried to squawk in his agony, but the action only caused more blood to flow from the jagged slash. The female pecked and clawed at his face. The attack lasted for a minute. In the aftermath, one griffon remained standing over an unmoving corpse. She held a feathery mass in her talon, and, with a cry, she brought the flesh to her beak and ate.
The guards cheered, and Father Dmitri turned to his left. He faced the quaking ponies who leaned up against the side wall. The seven of them were flanked by two guards on either side.
“So, my little ponies, do you understand?”
The ponies nodded furiously.
“This is how we reward failure. This is the price of betrayal. You are all servants in this house now. My house! My home! As such, you will follow my rules.”
The ponies trembled in fear. Most of them were unicorns, but two were earth ponies. Father Dmitri had little use for pegasi as servants, but the winged ponies were still his favorite.
“You will follow all expectations and guidelines. If you do not, you will be punished. You will follow all orders. If you do not, you will be punished. You will labor to the utmost of your abilities and beyond. If you do not, you will be punished.” His eyes flashed. “If you enter an area in which you are not allowed, you will be punished. If you fail at your tasks, you will be punished. If you are discovered to be an Equestrian spy, you will be punished. And, ponies, hear me well.” His voice dropped to a whisper that reverberated through the silent hall. “If this is how I reward my soldiers, how shall I punish you?”
The ponies stood silently.
“And one final thing. The meat I ate? The pegasi who were captured alongside you?” Father Dmitri grinned darkly as realization and horror spread across the ponies’ faces. “Yes. You may go now.”
The guards all left the throne room, leading the new servants to their quarters.
As the door slammed shut, another griffon walked out of the shadows behind the throne and slowly clapped his talons together. “Oh, well done. You frightened yet another group of hapless servants and slew another of my soldiers. Tell me, are we punishing all errors with death now? If so, I’ll have to be extra careful with my spelling whenever I write you letters.”
Father Dmitri gave one of his rare genuine smiles. “Oh, Chaput. You do know how to turn a phrase. How delightful to be graced by your company.”
The female griffon hacked violently several times. She leaned over and coughed out the feathers from the bite she had taken.
“Oh, and now they think that we are cannibals. Excellent.” Chaput’s accent sounded like a blend of one who had learned Prench as his first language and one who had learned Griffon and Equestrian from a Canterlot noble. He delivered his words with perfect dryness.
“Ach! I don’t think that creature had bathed in a week!” Vice Chief Yvonne spat. “Next time, Chaput gets to eat the guard.”
“Oh, that would make me sad,” Chaput replied. He leaned against a wall and examined his talons. “Unlike you, I prefer my meat cooked and of a species that is not my own, thank you.”
“If you even eat meat…” Yvonne muttered.
“Now, now. Play nice, both of you.” Father Dmitri turned to face Chaput. “You do understand why we put on this charade every time that we get new servants, do you not?”
Chaput raised his eyebrows and met Dmitri’s gaze. “Yes, I certainly do. Because she tells you that inspiring this level of fear in the servants will encourage them to stay loyal to you. Of course, that could never lead them to become spies if they weren’t ones already… No, that isn’t possible.”
Yvonne growled. “Maybe you should stay out of subjects you know nothing about…”
“‘About which you know nothing.’ Please do not end your sentences with prepositions. It is unbecoming.”
Father Dmitri sighed. “Enough. Chaput, do you have a better method in mind?”
The Comrade General nodded. “Actually, I do. Give them better quarters, adequate food, and pay them for their labor again. Slaves are not the most loyal of creatures. And please, consider not eating them whenever they drop a plate. We wouldn’t have to get so many new servants if the ones we have didn’t… expire, I should say, quite so regularly.”
“And how would you stop their spies? We would be swarming with them! They must fear us, or they will risk betraying us!” Yvonne said. Her voice carried the highest level of disdain.
“Comrade Yvonne, if you think that we are not crawling with spies already, then you are an even bigger fool than you appear. When you changed the policy a month ago to replace paid servants with enslaved labor, you allowed an uncountable number spies into this house. Even those who were not already spies now have a motivation to bring us down. I told this to both of you when the change was proposed, but budget cuts are apparently more important than our security. If you want to be rid of as many spies as possible, pay your servants. Win their loyalty. Then, if you discover that they are, in fact, spies… you dispose of them. Quietly.”
Father Dmitri stroked the tuft of feathers on his chin. “You say that spies would be here anyways, did you not?”
Chaput nodded. “I did.”
Father Dmitri waved a talon. “Then a few more would get them no more information than the ones we would never be able to weed out. The boost to our budget by changing how we pay for labor citywide makes me willing to pay the price of a few more spies.”
“I see.” Chaput sighed. “I shall desist. You realize, however, that this will make my negotiations with Equestria far more difficult, don’t you? They generally disapprove of any living creature being eaten, and when they hear that we enslave ponies and eat them when we are finished with them… well, let us say that the results may be detrimental to any possibility for peace. And peace, mind you, is needed if you plan on betraying them like you did all the other nations.”
“Mmm.” Father Dmitri grunted. “Well, I suppose that we are lucky that you are such a canny negotiator then.”
“Do you enjoy making my life difficult, Dmitri?”
“Father Dmitri!” Yvonne hissed. “Show respect.”
Father Dmitri grinned. “Actually, I am beginning to.”
Chaput glared. “I’ll assume that preposition was intentional.”
“You assume correctly, Comrade.”
Chaput smiled and shook his head. “Well, this was an amusing distraction. With your leave, I must go to prepare for the trip. I have many things to research.” He bowed stiffly.
“Very well, Chaput. Thank you for your input.” Father Dmitri waved at the griffon. “You may leave.”
Chaput nodded to both of them. “Oh, and one more thing. If you could please stop killing my best messengers? Volov had served me well for years. This was his first mistake in his entire career as a messenger. He did not deserve this.”
Yvonne growled. “He died as he lived. Serving the Fatherland. He was a beautiful example of our principles and the true meaning of loyalty to Griffonia. He should be proud. We should all be proud of his sacrifice.”
“Actually, he died at the talons of those he had dedicated his life to serve. He did so as an unneeded message to an audience who wasn’t even listening. There is nothing beautiful about that.” Chaput sneered. “And I’ll be sure to tell his family how proud they should be.” With that, Chaput left the throne room.
“I hate him so much,” Yvonne growled.
“I know, I know…” Father Dimitri stood up and walked toward the female griffon. “He is a useful tool, however.”
“There are always more tools. Maybe we could get one who would show you the proper respect, Father.”
“Chaput is one of the greatest minds of a generation. Disposing of him would be a waste. Until we need him again, I would rather occupy him with tedious tasks of little consequence, such as convincing the cowardly ponies to agree to peace. As if we even need to ask them. They are too afraid to attack us openly.”
“Yes…” Yvonne said. “And soon, your might will reach across the entire world.”
“As will yours, my dear. As will yours.”
Yvonne approached him and ran a talon through his feathers. “I do enjoy it when you show such power. It is quite an exhilarating thing to watch.”
“Mmm... “ Father Dmitri sighed. “And you were not bad yourself. Not at all…” He grabbed her talon with his own. “And I must say, the sight of you covered in blood is… enticing.” He ran his other talon through her crest.
Yvonne shivered and purred quietly. “Enough talking,” she whispered.
Their beaks met and tongues danced. All thoughts of anything else left their minds, and the last of the guards quietly removed themselves and Volov’s corpse from the throne room.
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To cliche.
Oh god, I can imagine Button and Luna's meeting now.
Button: Princess Luna!!?!??
Luna: Yes? We art waiting for our friend, so please move.
Button: Im waiting for a friend too, from an online game.
*Luna's eyes grow wide*
LUna: ... you art Fade?
Button: Your Mem!??!
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Yes, this chapter was almost totally cliche. I'm very well aware, and I'll explain a couple of things under the spoiler.
The cliches are intentional. I wrote this chapter to subvert common tropes, and these sometimes take time. The setup for subversions are key. It's like a strawman argument. Ya gotta set it up before ya knock it down! I would encourage you both to reserve judgement of this chapter until the next one is published in a few days. The reason for the cliches of this chapter will become clear then.
6267515
I almost spat my tea all over my screen. Dangit, warn me first next time!
Uhuh. Right.
All in favour of either a) Celestia sun-scorching the enemy palace/country to ashes or Luna just dropping the moon on it and rolling it around for a bit?
Actually... I don't actally see these guys as a real threat. Sure, they may well kill a fair number of people, but that will be the limit of what they will achieve. History has proved time and time and time again the "be as chaotic evil as possible" fails utterly and given enough time, THAT level of contempt for everyone around them they won't - CAN'T last long. (I can think of at least two historical occasions off the top of my head where butchers of that level, came to a point where that contempt filtered through to the underlings and one day they ended up getting shot by their own troops.)
Chaput is the only one actually worthy of being called a "villain." I look forward to when he disposes of THEM once they have outlived THEIR usefulness, since he's - thus far - appearing to be the only one capable of presenting a truly credible threat. The other two are the worst form of self-deluded fanatical morons; ones that aren't even fun to watch.
6267514
Fair enough; I can respect that.
(I'm personally still holding out for Chaput being the "proper" villian, though (unless, like Sombra or something shows up and shivs the lot of them up or something...!))
Thank you for the birthday chapter update. lol
Okay, the levels of 'cartoonishly evil' are going right off the charts now, especially if Father was telling the truth about the pegasi. So far this griffon regime seems to be propped up entirely by the demands of the plot: they apparently cook and eat their prisoners from other races (again, if Father was telling the truth) yet currently run no less than three hostile occupations without running into serious problems every other week with the local populace? Father doesn't even need to be telling the truth for that anyway, people just need to think he is and problems start occuring left, right and centre. And the griffons also supposedly need complete and total surprise to take on Equestria? Given what's said in the meeting in chapter two, this should be literally impossible unless Celestia achieves Stalin levels of retardation, which thanks to what's said must be immediately discounted - they seem to be plently wary of the Griffons already and are setting up contingency plans for an invasion despite the 'peace talks' that are going ahead.
It just feels like the griffon's republic should be imploding on itself due to hilariously bad management of everything, yet somehow it's going to pose a military threat to Equestria later in the story? I'm worrying already that whatever they pull off to make their plan work is going to be some sort of giant asspull, which is a damn shame considering how well the other half of the story is shaping up.
I am so looking forward to Luna and Button's meeting each other.
I can't help but think it would be adorable somehow...
heheehee eue I ship Luna/Mash.
Awesome job!
Keep it up man!
Resulting mental image from above sentence:
Servants' expiry date and time:
27/5/XXX8 3:30p.m. Green Hoof
2/6/XXX8 4:25a.m. Lily Flower
7/6/XXX8 6:42p.m. Star Burst
How fast do you write these things? One moment I'm taking a relaxing break after reading a chapter, then the next you upload another. Not saying that it's a bad thing, of course.
I wonder what Yvonne's periods are like for father Dmitri.
I'm so sorry the joke just wouldn't leave my head until I posted it:
I'm sorry, I just can't pay attention to any part of the story except for the parts involving Luna and Button.
It feels like I'm reading two very different stories in one but they both affect and change each other
I love it.
Also,
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lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gghUt15LTsk/VQxKKVeM_7I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/asFUodR-U_8/w500-h281/GIF-Anime.gif
My OTP is ButtonBelle, but I'll give this a shot.
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I am so sorry
6267738
Can't help but laugh at this considering they're run by two Stalins.
This just keeps getting better and better.
I upvoted it ages ago.
If this chapter uploading speed keeps up, I will want to HUG you, Doc.
So in conclusion absolutely none of them but Chaput are going to be actually threats?
And in their defense, horse meat is actually not bad when it's cooked. I can fully get behind the systematic slaughtering of enslaved ponies for the sole purpose of eating them.
...Actually, nope. My video-game sense is telling me I need to slaughter all of them for the sole purpose of getting 20 gold from someone...
6268277
There's a much better reason for killing them than gold.
You've gained Karma!
guides.gamepressure.com/fallout3brokensteel/gfx/word/239275203.jpg
6268329 As if gaining Karma would ever counteract blowing up Megaton...
6266374 Yeah!
Very nice. The only issues I have with this are personal, great story.
Half of me's hoping against the odds that Chaput is actually a spy himself and will be using his diplomatic trip to screw his leader and his leader's pet. The potential foreshadowing for something like that is real right now, and it would be satisfying to see. The other half really wants to see how criminal mastermind Chaput faces off against political juggernaut Celestia.
Oh, Jesus. Don't put your love life and personal business in a fanfiction. It's just sad.
Loving this story right now!
Haven't been this addicted to a story on here in months :D
oh Come on. this story is so awesome and now I have to wait, again. But you can't rush perfection. I hope to see another awesome chapter soon. I can't wait to see Luna and Button meeting up FACE TO FACE. It would be so Awesome
This is such an awesome story, I especially like how you give the story a dark tone when it needs one and effortlessly switch when it requires a different tone. I foresee that brilliant strategist stabbing his friends in the back, no way a gryphon like him would let these intellectually lesser gryphons push him around. That, or his motivation for supporting them is VERY strange. Looking forward to the upcoming chapters!
Ah, fanaticism and mismanagement. Gotta love em.
Personally, I can easily see Chaput setting himself up as the "reasonable" choice after offering Equestria the two "leaders" heads on a plate. He's the "moderate" one who'll see about undoing the wrongs of Daddy Derp and Derpette, and in turn earn the undying love and respect of the populace, gaining a fanatical level of public popularity while vilifying Communism (and maybe those damn dirty ponies too), repairing the nation's doubtlessly defunct infrastructure and economy, and spurring on a level of national pride the likes which have never seen.
Because he's just such a nice, reasonable, intelligent guy. Though thinking of it now, I do recall another story about a charismatic, intelligent young leader that read kinda similar to that. Must be my imagination though.
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I... Don't quite understand.
Are you implying that I am a romantically inept pony princess whose only friend is another pony that she has only met over the internet? Because... If so...
38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwe77nj6sC1qdthxwo4_250.gif
6267515 I swear, comments on Fimfiction are 10x funnier than the ones on Youtube.
6269249 And so the dastardly Rad Chad strikes again!
Hopefully Chaput turns traitor. What does he have to gain serving a violent idiot that refuses to listen to him?
Some power plays are going to be made here, I can feel it
Damn, Dmitti and Yvonne are quite crazy bastards. From killing a messenger over one failure, disliking the one guy who' shown to be a better politician/strategist (Chaput), and then getting it on over the execution of said messenger. Yep, the antagonists if this story are quite interesting.
6278011 They actually quite remind me of Sith characters from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
6267514 Cliche? Touche!
6270181 Amen.
6269901
WooT! I thought you were just a pegasus mare. But you secretly being Best Princess is even cooler, although I totally understand the need of a Princess to moonlight as a common pony. *laments the lack of Luna emoticons.*
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You're just jealous that best Princess has a better life than yourself
.
Ehh, i'll be honest, i got sick of stupidly evil bond style villains by the time i was about 10. The most interesting antagonist is the tortured soul, the righteous fallen, the wingless angel. Instead it appears you have given us the Get Smart of dastardly villains which disappoints me greatly.
Tiny, amusing rant for you guys. (BTW I'm loving the story so far)
I never understand the whole leader of country villain going against the princesses thing... I mean... An army against two celestial controlling immortal all powerful alicorns. It's... not even fair to the army.
r28.imgfast.net/users/2814/18/25/28/album/pr/majora10_800x600.png
If that's not enough for you, or too much for you... there's lovely stories like these:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/250333/ill-kill-you-with-my-tea-cup
But, my ABSOLUTE favourite:
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/180434/a-letter-to-the-griffon-emperor-on-the-matter-of-war
Even if I don't like this fanfic anymore it's still a better love story than Twilight.
~T.CC
These two psychopaths remind me very strongly of Ryu and Eun-a from Hate Plus. It's creating a recursive hatred loop within me as I want to see them and their little world burn around them more and more violently with every passing thought.
So in other words, you've made some pretty good antagonists.
One almost unnoticeable thing that I noticed is that when Chaput referred to Dmitri by his name rather than Father, Yvone flipped her sh*t, but in the previous chapters they said that she despises titles and even tried to get Dmitri to drop his title of Father. If she doesn't like titles, why would she hiss at Chaput for not using one?
Sounds like Chaput is setting himself up to become the new leader of the Griffons. The others' behavior certainly won't endear them to the common griffon if they continue to grandstand and then kill off thousands of their own.
If between Dmitri and Yvonne they don't end up wiping out nine tenths of the population between famines and purges, that is.
Well, I suppose with those two they'd take a while longer than others to die from famine, since I'd expect them to easily move into cannibalism if it came down to it.
Sounds more like Nazi than Commies.
Ok, so the gryphons are basically stereotypical communist Russia. Except mixed with hitler, Japanese concentration camps, the Cupcakes fic, and the Rainbow Factory.
P.S. Why the HELL does this not have a gore/dark tag?!
6499995 How did you know I was thinking the same thing!! Though, the little gore wasn't bothersome.
By the All giving Throne! This guy is a regular Stalinist!