I
SUNSET
Naturally, Equestria had to fall into mass hysteria the day I was supposed to move in to my new apartment.
I was even thrown a surprise party, because, according to Pinkie Pie, I was now officially a member of the Ponyville community. I had been living with Twilight for a few months, so I had to grown to know and love the town before then, but, as she explained, I was now DEFINATLY staying here, and so a party was in order. The party doubled as a celebration for Starlight Glimmer's heroics in the Crystal Empire, which I had not been there to witness, so it had all worked out; that is, until the Griffons flew over.
I had heard about it from Spike, and not seen it actually occur, but from what I was able to gather later, they had arranged with the weather team during Rainbow Dash's absence (she was at the party) to change the weather schedule, making flying conditions perfect, before flying by at high speed and dropping numerous pamphlets into the town to let everypony know of their intentions; to annex the Northern Territories of Equestria--which included the entirety of the Crystal Empire, Vanhoover, Manehatten, and possibly Fillydelphia--in one week's time.
The first thing that popped into my head was how laughably stupid that idea sounded; facing the might of Cadance, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight AND the Equestrian Millitary was foolish enough, not even mentioning our allies, but the more I thought about it, the more horrified I became. The Griffons were aggressive, yes, but also a highly intelligent race, and King Sanguis Talon was no fool; he would only do this if he absolutely knew it would work. It seems that Celestia was concerned as well, because almost immediately after reading the letter out loud, Spike coughed up another one, which I didn't even have to guess was from the Princess of the Sun. Twilight did not read this one aloud, as it was from Celestia, and when she had finished skimming it over, she looked around the room.
"Alright everypony, just stay put and don't panic; I need to grab Sunset, Starlight, and Spike, and we have to leave. I promise, we'll get this all sorted out," she said. The party began to murmur nervously, but they had a lot of trust in Twilight, and so they let her gesture to the three of us to walk outside with no complaints. As I headed towards the door and opened it, holding it for the other three to walk through, I couldn't help but play a guessing game as to what it said. Once we were finally out of the apartment, in the outside hallway at the base of the stairs to the front lawn area, Twilight showed us the letter; it was rather brief.
Twilight,
Public transportation is too crowded. When you're ready, send me a reply back, and I'll teleport you, Starlight, and Sunset to my location; we have much to discuss without a lot of time to discuss it.
Tia
I had always known one thing about Celestia; if she didn't sign her full name at the end of a letter, she was anxious. Again, this surprised me, because, as I said before, this seemed like an invasion doomed to fail; if anything, she should have been confident. But she was anxious, and because I knew I was going to find out why, I was anxious as well.
Twilight raised her eyebrows, silently asking if we were all ready; when we nodded the affirmative, she had Spike quickly sent notification that we were all set before sending it off. About ten seconds later, I was blinded by a flash of yellow light, and, as expected, I quickly appeared with the rest of the girls in Canterlot Castle; what was unexpected, however, was that we had been transported to her private quarters, a place where she usually would not let anypony, not even Twilight or Luna, enter.
It had always been simple. A pleasant purple, the color of royalty, dominated the carpeted floor with a large purple bed in the dead center, with a singular, large cylindrical pillow at the end of it. The fire place was purple as well, and the inside of it had been illuminated orange from the cackling flame. The wall, however, was different; it was colored a deep blue, the very shade of night, and a mural of the stars hung upon it at the west corner of the room to the left of the bed; I never asked, but I very much knew she had the wall repainted after Luna's banishment, as a reminder of her presence as she lived her daily life.
Despite appearing to sit comfortably on her bed, Celestia looked worried. It may have just been the fact that she'd done a highly advanced teleportation spell that even Twilight had yet to master, but there was this look in her eyes that I hadn't really ever seen from her; exhaustion. The very Goddess of the Sun had exhaustion, even a tinge of fear, in her eyes, and it was then, and only then, that the situation at hand became all too real. When she first set her eyes on us, she smiled and sighed in relief.
"Oh, thank the stars you're all safe; I didn't know what was happening down there. I assume you all got the letters?" asked Celestia. Twilight nodded, but she was interrupted by her student before she could speak.
"Well, yea, but...I don't see what the big deal is. We'll crush them," Starlight said, a tone of disbelief dripping from her voice. Celestia pulled out a piece of paper from behind her and levitated forward to me; I grabbed it with my magic.
"This was given to my royal guard personally by one of the Griffons flying over the city; I received it at the same time the other letters were falling down. Read it aloud," she instructed. Nodding, I cleared my throat before I did so.
Dearest Tia,
By now, my military has dropped informative letters across every city in Equestria thoroughly detailing our intentions to take your northern territories. That, of course, is what I told everypony; This is what I'm only telling you.
As you know, my soldiers have already the Crystal Empire, Manehatten, and Vanhoover. Written below is a list of requirements set up that will be met within the next week until my soldiers (hopefully) take these territories peacefully and uninterrupted by Equestrian opposition; the breaking of any one of these rules set out for your nation to my or my military's knowledge will result in the immediate siege and destruction of the cities in question, because, I assure you, these cities do not interest me in the slightest; I only require the land around them, and thus slaughtering every pony within them will mean absolutely nothing in regards to my ultimate goal. The requirements are as follows:
First and foremost, I am willing to engage in negotiations, under a singular term; Twilight Sparkle will be the ONLY Alicorn to do so. She may bring no more than four other ponies to the engagements, but NONE of them can be an Element of Harmony. If I find any one member of the Elements of Harmony, along with any of your other Alicorn Princesses, seen within Griffonia (including the Equestrian Colony of Cydonia, which I shall allow you to still maintain) within the time this letter was sent to the end of the week, my soldiers will immediately lay siege.
Secondly, if any Equestrian Allies, whether they be Saddle Arabian or Zebrican, are called to arms within the borders of Equestria or the entailing bodies of water around it within the time this letter was sent to the end of the week, my soldiers will immediately lay siege.
And finally, if any one member (up to the complete force) of the Elements of Harmony, along with any of your Alicorn Princesses, arrive at any of the above cities mentioned within the time this letter was sent to the end of the week, my soldiers will immediately lay siege, regardless of how many casualties this will cause to my soldiers in question; I assure you, I have plenty more.
There will be no drastic change of action, unless negotiations are met at the Griffon capital of Auster. You will meet these terms, or your subjects will be slaughtered.
Best Regards,
Excelsi Regis Sanguis Talon
We stayed silent for a moment, and then Celestia looked us over inquisitively.
"You three are perhaps the smartest little ponies I know. So tell me this; what is wrong with this picture?" Celestia said. We all three looked at each other, and when Twilight nor her student were offering anything, I became the first to speak.
"Cydonia," I remarked, causing Celestia to turn to me. "Why would he let us keep Cydonia? Doesn't it seem a little bit dangerous to have and Equestrian colony in the middle of your nation during a planned invasion of Equestrian Soil? I don't get it," I said.
Cydonia was the only Equestrian Colony on the entire planet, located within the confines of Griffonia. It had been established long ago, around three hundred years in the past, and we had been allowed to keep it as part of a treaty known as the Lunar Pact, as it had all been orchestrated by the Princess of the Night. It was oft spoke of at home, but there was always a newspaper from the colony available at every store for those intrigued. I picked it up occasionally, but nothing really seemed to happen all that much down there, so it was never super captivating. In response to my question, Celestia nodded her head.
"There's one. Even if Talon surrounded the colony with his armies, the ponies and griffons living there identify as Equestrian, and they'd still find a way to gather intelligence and send it to us, especially since it's only twenty miles away from the Griffonian Capital of Auster; not immediately seizing it from our control would be downright idiotic. Anypony else?" asked Celestia. Starlight was the next to raise a hoof.
"Um, yeah...if they wanted these territories so badly, and they already have their armies stationed around the cities...wouldn't they have taken them already? You'd think they'd use the element of surprise to their advantage! Also, the whole negotiation thing seems like a desperate ploy to keep Twilight out of Equestria during the invasion and to hold her in Griffonia, possibly as a hostage," said Starlight. This time, though, Celestia shook her head in the negative.
"I don't believe so; quite the opposite, in fact. Twilight, can you guess what I'm thinking?" Twilight looked at her with a shocked face, which led me to believe that Twilight had guessed her former mentor's thoughts perfectly.
"You don't mean to imply that he's bluffing, do you? That he actually doesn't want these territories? Why would he mobilize his troops and bring them all across the ocean for something he doesn't mean to actually do? Are you implying that thousands of soldiers are standing at the gates of the Crystal Empire as we speak, prepared to do nothing?" asked Twilight. Celestia smiled.
"You were always a smart one, Twilight. Yes, I think he's bluffing; he has no intention of taking these cities or the land beyond them; not now, anyways. However, that does not mean we aren't in danger; I believe that Sanguis Talon means to do harm far, far worse than this, and that he's merely doing this as a distraction. His plan he has laid out seems foolish, idiotic, and doomed for failure; I would use none of those terms to describe the Griffon King. He is extremely intelligent, cold, cunning, and calculated, and he means to throw us off of his trail while he puts on this fancy play. Thus, I'm sending you to Griffonia to find out exactly what it is he's planning, and then, if my suspicions are correct, stop him from doing it, whatever "it" may be," said Celestia. I could see where she was going, but I still thought it was a stretch, so I immediately brought attention to the counterargument.
"And if he isn't just trying to trick us?" I asked her. Celestia gave me a sly grin.
"Then we demolish him. The Griffon Empire has perhaps the greatest military force in the world, but they'd still be outnumbered once our allies get here, along with Luna, Twilight, Cadance, the Elements, and I myself. I understand we'd be violating his little treaty, but there must be casualties in war; it is simply the horror we face," said Celestia. Our group grimly nodded in understanding, and Celestia quickly moved onto the matter at hand.
"He said you could bring four individuals with you, and we're going to play along with him for now. Sunset and Starlight would make you three, so you'd need another one. If you'd like my recommendation, I would bring along Trixie Lulamoon; her magically knowledge will add on nicely to the group. I'd be sending you to Cydonia, where you'd come into contact with two of my most trusted associates," Celestia said, after careful consideration. I gave a grunt of displeasure; I didn't like Trixie, at all, but I could see why she'd be valuable, as long as her hubris didn't get in the way. Twilight, however, smiled warmly; it seemed she was a big fan of the idea.
"Ooh, Trixie would love to go! She travels all over Equestria, so the prospect of Adventure isn't new to her; I bet she'd love it!" exclaimed Twilight. Celestia smiled back, eager at her former student's enthusiasm, but there was still one thing I very much needed to know before waltzing into the Griffon Empire during a time like this.
"Who would these associates be, exactly?" I asked. Twilight turned to me and gave me a smile, indicating I'd asked a good question.
"Lotus and Blaze Skywalker will be your contacts. They're adoptive siblings, and--why are you laughing?" Celestia asked me, a genuinely confused look on her face. Twilight and Starlight were giving me the exact same look.
Due to the magic that allowed Pegasi to naturally be able to walk on clouds, the surname of "Skywalker" was naturally very common in Equestria and its territories. Of course, having lived in the human world for an extended amount of time, and watching and then subsequently becoming a MASSIVE fan of all seven Star Wars films, the surname had been completely ruined for me forever, and I found it very hard to take anypony with that particular surname even remotely seriously. I quickly waved my hoof in the air as I stopped laughing, dismissing the thought.
"It's nothing; continue, please," I said, getting out the last of my laughter. Celestia seemed to get it, playfully rolling her eyes as she continued.
"...As I was saying, they're adoptive twins, and they're your age, so you should get along well enough. Well, you'll certainly get along with Blaze--I've never seen a stallion more charismatic--but Lotus is...difficult, to put it lightly. She isn't shy, per se, but she won't be open and conversational when you meet her; in other words, she is extremely unapproachable and very much reserved. She is, however, extraordinarily intelligent, and very wise in regard to the world around her; if anypony will know what Sanguis is planning, it'll be her. Now, does anypony here have any other questions before I send you away? Well, actually, I'll have to summon Trixie first, but we shall proceed then," said Celestia. We all nodded our heads at the same time, signifying that we understood our mission. Celestia nodded back before silently moving to the far side of the room, to her writing desk. It was very plain, looking much like a school desk a filly would write on for a standardized test; plain undecorated brown wood. She magically grabbed a quill and began to write, and I assumed she was writing to Trixie Lulamoon to ask permission in summoning her here.
"There is one more thing I must tell you, Twilight, and I don't think you'll like to hear it, but it must be done, if possible," said Celestia, looking down at the paper she was currently writing upon. Despite not being able to see her face, Twilight cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Yes, Princess?" she asked, an innocent curiosity in her voice. Although Celestia still did not look up from what she was doing, I could tell the next words that would come out of her mouth would be very, very serious.
"While extremely unlikely, If any of you four should find yourself alone in a room with the Excelsi Regis, in a scenario where no living thing could see or hear you..." began Celestia. Suddenly, she stopped writing, and turned to look at Twilight; her face was grim, and she stared straight at her former student with an iron gaze.
"I want you to kill him."
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
619 users online
944,301 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
*sigh* The other story was reasonably entertaining. Admittedly, I rolled my eyes and skimmed or ignored the Gryphon kingdom junk that came up, really detracted from the more entertaining bits, but to end it with the whole Gryphons going to war thing... well, it is just sad. I can already tell what this is going to be like, the prologue made it so very clear. Good luck with your, erm, creative endeavors.
I agree with Sunset if I ever came across anyone names Skywalker I would never stop giving them good natured crap.
If it was 300 years ago, how did Luna orchestrate it? She was busy on the moon at that time
I spoke too soon about the new 3rd person look
Celestia also felt odd this chapter.