The Twilight War

by Brian Dagame

3. Use At Your Discretion

Aurora Shade sat on the large windowsill in her chambers and stared at the disturbing, yet strangely beautiful sight outside of her window.

When Princess Celestia had gone out to raise the Sun that morning, the stars and the moon were still there. No matter what she did, she was not able to get them to go down. When she gave up and raised the sun as usual, the result was a sky that was completely colored purple. The world seemed to be stuck in twilight, now that the two alicorns that controlled the sky were no longer unified.

Aurora Shade thought back to last night’s events, but she could not make sense of it one bit. Princess Luna, the very same pony that she had studied magic under for most of her life, had disappeared overnight. She also took a thestral commander charged with treason with her and left behind three dead guards. And if the rumors were true, she also left a message for her sister, stating her intentions for a war.

There was no way any of this added up, no matter how Aurora Shade looked at it. Was it all an elaborate setup to blame Luna for something she did not do? Was it true, but was there a good reason why Luna did what she did?

Aurora Shade reread the note she was holding. She had done so at least fifty times in the past hour, and was mildly disappointed that it did not reveal any new information this time either.

_{Aurora, you must hate me right now. I am asking you to trust me, however. Meet me at midnight were we first came to practice magic together. I will explain everything there. Please don’t tell anypony about this and please destroy this note.
-Your friend Luna.}

She had already made up her mind about what to do when she first read the note, but now she finally dared to admit it to herself. She got up and walked to her desk. She held the parchment in the flame of one of the many candles spread around the room. She watched as it slowly turned to ash.

---

It was late in the afternoon when Celestia and Diamond Prism sat across from each other in her chambers. She lost track of how many times the two of them had met in the past two days, but she did know exactly what another meeting meant. More bad news.

“My scouts tell me that word about what happened yesterday is going around,” Diamond Prism said. “The news of Princess Luna declaring war on you seems to be spreading like wildfire. “

“Are they aware of what happened prior to that?”

“Mostly yes. But there are a lot of false rumors too. My scouts have even heard versions of the story in which you were the one to order an attack.”

Celestia sighed. “It seems we have no choice but to send out an official statement then. The longer we wait, the more salacious these rumors will become.”

“We have to be careful to word it in the right way. The population is already pretty restless in a few places.”

“Restless? What do you mean?”

“This is mostly based on rumors as well, but my scouts tell me there is talk about certain families with strong ties to Princess Luna… It seems they are openly coming out in support of her declaration of war. There haven’t been any major incidents yet, but tensions are high in certain cities.”

She walked over to the map of Equestria on Celestia’s wall and pointed out the cities. They were mostly relatively small settlements near Hollow Shades. All of them with a good number of thestrals living in them. It was no wonder that ponies who felt connected and loyal to Luna would choose to live there.

Celestia kept staring at the map for a while longer. Hollow Shades seemed to be the most logical place for her sister to have gone. She was no doubt counting on the loyalty of the thestrals living there if she was actually considering waging a war to take over as the sole ruler of Equestria. Loyalty she was likely to receive. Celestia had never been liked very much by the nocturnal thestal population. And Luna had Maulden, something of a legend amongst the thestrals, at her side.

What worried Celestia about Hollow Shades was how close to the castle it was. It was still a very long walk away, but an airborne army could easily fly over the mountains between the two locations in under two days.

She turned her attention to Diamond Prism, who also appeared to be lost in thought staring at the map. “How are the efforts to mobilize the guard coming?”

Diamond Prism answered, while still looking at the map. “Every single member of the guard and the reserves are either here at the castle now or on their way. We meet with the generals of all the different divisions of the guard early in the morning tomorrow.”

“Contact your scouts in the meantime. We need to know everything that goes on in or around Hollow Shades. That seems to be the place we need to be concerned about right now.”

“I agree," Diamond Prism said as she took down some notes. "We will have to spread the scouts a bit thinner in the immediate area, but a focus on Hollow Shades seems like the right approach.”

Celestia got up to stretch her legs and clear her mind before dinner, but Starswhirl stopped her. “One more thing. We received a message back from the griffons. They have sent an emissary with a message from the crown. He will arrive sometime tomorrow.”

---

Sneaking out the castle was nothing new for Aurora Shade. She had lived there for almost her entire life and she had plenty of late night adventures in her younger years. She and Luna would often go into the forest at night to practice advanced magic, away from anypony that could get hurt by any errant spells. Later in life, Aurora Shade had snuck out every now and then to go to nearby small settlements, where they had actual bars instead of the snobby high society wineries in the castle. She loved to sit in those, listening to other ponies’ conversations while staying quiet herself.

For the first time in a long time Aurora Shade felt actually nervous about sneaking out the castle. If she was caught now, she would probably be tried as an accomplice to all the crimes committed at the castle in the past two days.

She made it out of the castle without being spotted and headed toward the forest. She knew there were pegasi circling high above here, but she was confident that as long as she was wearing her dark cloak and kept moving slowly they would not spot her.

Aurora Shade felt relieved once she passed the tree line and entered the forest. She was finally sure that she could no longer be spotted. The thought of nearby animals did not scare her. She had been in the forest many times before and knew from experience that they tended not to come this close to the castle.

It was quite a long hike, taking her way beyond the settlements she went to on her usual trips. She had to go past Rambling Rock Ridge all the way to the base of Foal Mountain. All in all it took her almost four hours before she neared her destination.

After making her way through a seemingly endless amount of thick bushes, she finally reached a small clearing with some badly overgrown ruins in it. Six oddly shaped rocks surrounded a stone basin. There were ancient runes inscribed in the stones that seemed to tell a story, but Aurora Shade could not understand them.

She thought back to the first time that Luna had taken her to these ruins. It was just weeks after Star Swirl the Bearded had disappeared. Luna seemed to think there was some connection between him and the ruins, but was unable to figure out anything further. There was a lot of magic emanating from the ruins however, as if they had been enchanted with a powerful spell. This made the ruins a perfect site for a powerful alicorn and her inexperienced pupil to practice magic together. These early days of her studies were some of Aurora Shade’s favorite memories.

Aurora Shade walked around and looked for signs of anypony else having been there recently. She found none, but kept looking to kill some time. She estimated it to be just a few minutes away from midnight. She wasn’t sure, because it was no longer possible to tell the time by simply looking at the sky, which was still colored a deep purple.

Just when she started to worry, Aurora Shade heard a soft pop behind her. She turned around and was greeted by her oldest friend and mentor, smiling warmly at her.

The two hugged in silence for a few seconds. Aurora Shade slowly let go of Luna and backed away. She had almost forgotten why they had come here in the middle of the night.

“Luna? Is it true what they are saying? Do you really want to overthrow your sister and take over Equestria?” She said meekly.

Luna’s smile made way for a sorrowful expression. Her voice was soft, not at all like her normal cheery or boastful self. “In a way this is true, yes. My sister and I can no longer rule together. For the good of us all I have decided that it should be me alone on the throne.”

“But why? Why now?”

Luna looked up at the purple sky. “Celestia and I have been disagreeing more and more over the past few years. Over time I kept seeing more behavior that I could not tolerate. She looked the other way when ponies suffered under griffon raids. She did nothing as our thestral brothers and sisters suffered from poverty and discrimination. She is fast friends with rich unicorn nobles while the rest of the population grows poorer and more divided every day.”

Luna looked back at Aurora Shade, her eyes full of pain. “It is time, Aurora. I have known that I would have to carry this burden for a long time now.”

"So you set all of this in motion by ordering your guards to attack those griffons? To create an opportunity for you to get rid of your sister?"

"I did. But you know as well as I do that it was time something was done about the griffons anyway."

Aurora Shade let her tears flow freely now. She was incredibly angry, yet could not help but feel also feel saddened by what her friend was telling her. The result was a feeling of pure frustration. “You killed those guards Luna!” She wasn’t quite yelling yet, but a few nearby birds got startled by her raised voice. “And now you’re going to start a war? Thousands will die!”

“I do not want to hurt anypony. You know this.”

It took all of Aurora Shade’s willpower to not scream at Luna. “Ponies did get hurt! Those guards did nothing wrong and now they are dead because of you! Maybe the griffons had it coming, but you cannot claim to be above violence.”

Luna looked away, unable to meet her friend angry gaze. Her voice sounded weak. “I know, and I will regret that for the rest of my life. I swore I would not let this happen ever again…” She paused and closed her eyes, seemingly experiencing a painful memory. “But that is why I need you now, Aurora. I believe I may have found a way to end this war before it truly starts, using ancient magic.”

Aurora Shade was not convinced. “Me? Why not ask somepony else? I have no interest in war. Besides, you taught me everything I know. Anything I know, you know.”

“I need somepony else to assist me with this. I simply cannot do it alone. Besides, you are not giving yourself the credit you deserve. I’ve seen you pull off magical feats that even my alicorn magic could not match. Do you remember what Star Swirl said about you all those years ago?”

The unexpected reminder of an old mentor softened Aurora Shade’s anger. She realized that above all, she was concerned about her closest friend. “He… He said I had an important role to play… Are you sure about doing this Luna? I want to trust you, but this seems…” She trailed off.

Luna gave her a pained smile. “I have thought for a long time about all of this. Long before the events of the past days. I kept coming to the same two conclusions: I need to do this and I absolutely need my best friend at my side when I do it.”

Aurora Shade smiled through her tears and tried to sound confident. “I am with you Luna. What do you need me to do?”

Luna returned her smile. “If you truly want to help me, I’m afraid you will need to leave the castle behind and come with me.”

“I would do anything. Where are we going exactly?”

“All thestrals not already there, are on their way to Hollow Shades right now. We shall join them and prepare them for a war. I will need army for appearance's sake. You and I will win the real war together.”

“What do you need me to do once we get there?”

Luna embraced her friend once again. “I will explain everything later, in Hollow Shades. Right now we should get going, it’s going to be a long trip.”

---

Celestia stood in front of her mirror and gave the most cold look she could muster. A cold and imposing figure stared back at her. Like all facial expressions she had endlessly drilled herself to make, this one came easy to her and succeeded in giving her the exact look she wanted to achieve.

It had been a long time since she had ‘put on’ this particular face. Since she and her sister wrote the Age of Harmony Declaration after the last great war, there had been few reason for such an expression.

With a single flick of her horn, she magically equipped her traditional golden armor. It’s helmet featured a spike that ran parallel to her horn, making it seemingly longer and more dangerous. A purple gem on her breastplate contained numerous defensive spells, making her nearly invulnerable to any kind of magic attack.

She took one last look in the mirror before she left her chambers. Four royal guards stood outside of her door waiting for her. Ever since the events two night before, her guard had been doubled. Every castle inhabitant looked on in awe as their Princess strode by in full battle regalia, with two guards in front her and two behind her. Nopony said anything but they must have all thought the same thing: ‘good thing she’s on our side.’

She was the last one to arrive in the war room. The top brass of the guard all sat on either side of a long table. The head of the table was reserved for her, of course.

Celestia sat down and looked around for a while, meeting each attendee’s eyes for just a moment. She had not seen most of these ponies in a long time.

Cloud Spear, the general of all the Pegasi forces, looked a lot older than she remembered. He still kept the same short beard as always, but it was no longer brown. The years had turned it and his mane white, contrasting sharply with his cream coat. He still looked as fierce as ever despite of it. As one of the few ponies in the guard old enough to have actually fought in the last great war, he was easily the most experienced guard member alive.

Stone Tail, general of all earth pony members of the guard, looked just like the last time Celestia had seen him. He was as big as ever and still hid the numerous scars on his cherry red coat under a set of chain mail armor as always. Stone Tail’s brutal strength was not just legendary amongst ponies, as a result of his many travels many other races had come to respect him.

Of course Diamond Prism, general of the unicorn guards, was present. Not only was she the only female general, she was also by far the youngest. Combined with her immaculate white coat and long blue mane, this made her stick out among the gruff military folk. Those who had seen her in action, however, could verify that she definitely deserved her seat at this table. Celestia couldn’t help but feel a little proud at seeing her sitting there. It felt like yesterday that Star Swirl the Bearded brought her and Aurora Shade to the castle, ranting about how one of them could take over for him as one of the pillars when the time came. Celestia had no idea what he meant by that and he disappeared just a few days later, before he could ever explain anything. Since then Celestia had taken Diamond Prism under her wing, while Luna looked after Aurora Shade.

Finally, there was Silver Strike. Technically not a general, but a captain, he was in charge of the royal guards that were tasked with protecting Princess Celestia and the castle. The royal guards have been around since before the guard existed in its current form, which is why they have their own ranks and customs. Silver Strike’s coat was painted white, a longstanding tradition amongst the royal guards. His own cutie mark had been similarly painted over by a standard royal guard mark, showing his rank.

Under different circumstances, Maulden, Commander of the Night Guard would have been present as well. The Night Guard was essentially the same as the Royal Guard, but their ranks consisted completely of thestrals and their duty was to protect Princess Luna instead. Like the royal guard, they had their own ranks and customs. Their leader, usually the biggest and strongest member, was simply referred to as commander. Nopony had seen a single member of the Night Guard since the disappearance of Maulden and the general assumption was that they had all left to side with Luna.

Celestia began speaking, informing the attendees of each detail of the events over the last few days. They had all been briefed, but Celestia knew that there was a lot of misinformation being spread, even amongst the members of the guard. Once she was finished, she gave the word to Diamond Prism.

Diamond Prism had received word from her scouts that thestrals seemed to be massively flocking to Hollow Shades, making it all but certain that Luna had gone there to plan her next move. She had quickly devised a defensive strategy based on that information and used a map of Equestria to explain it to the other generals.

There was a large group of mountains between the castle and Hollow Shades. It seemed likely that Luna and an army of thestrals would simply fly over it and reach them that way. General Cloud Spear and his pegasi were instructed to form a defensive line in the mountains.

To the East of the mountains was a large open area near the city of Fillydelphia, consisting mostly of small Earth Pony settlements and farmland. General Stone Tail and his Earth Pony guards given the same task as the pegasi: form a defensive line. Doing this would prevent any non-thestral troops and siege weapons from reaching the castle. Diamond Prism made sure to point out that getting a clear path to the castle was likely a high priority objective for their foes. The castle had excellent defenses, and taking it without any siege weaponry was almost unthinkable.

The unicorns were to stay at the castle, to work with the royal guards on a fortified version of the magic barrier that could be erected in the event of a siege. Luna and the Night Guard members knew about this barrier, so changes needed to be made as soon as possible. The unicorns were also getting ready to move out at a moment’s notice in case of an attack elsewhere.

The meeting went on for a long time after that. There were a lot of questions surrounding the events that had led up to Luna’s declaration of war. Celestia admitted that she did not have all the facts, but stated that she believed the altercation between the Night Guard and the griffons had been planned by her sister. The idea seemed to be to put Celestia in a position to fight two wars at once.

The generals mostly worried and speculated about the number of foes they were going to be dealing with. If Luna had in fact convinced all thestrals in Hollow Shades to join her cause, she would have a force about two-thirds as big as the entire Equestrian guard.

The fact that thestrals were known to be fiercer and psychically stronger than most ponies made that number a scary proposition. Not to mention the fact that almost no guard member had any actual life or dead combat experiences. The Bat Ponies of Hollow shades were known to leave Equestria and fight wars alongside other Bat Ponies living in different parts of the world. Which also led to the worry that those Bat Ponies could come to Equestria and join Luna’s cause as well.

There was also the question of how many citizens of Equestria would take up arms to assist Luna. Many families had ties to her, owning their settlements to her or having been assisted in some other way by her.

Then there were the griffons. It was almost certain that they saw this political turmoil as an opportunity to drop the subtleties and go for an all-out invasion. The fact that griffon ‘citizens’ had died on the ponies’ territory meant that neighboring nations would view this action not as an invasion, but as a just retaliation.

Celestia assured the attending generals that she would meet with a griffon emissary that same day and she was confident that she would be able to settle any animosity between the two nations diplomatically. She realized that nopony at the meeting really believed that and she could not blame them. She didn’t believe it either. The griffons had always hated the ponies and would obviously jump at the chance to make a move.

When the meeting finally wrapped up, Celestia and Diamond Prism stayed behind while the generals went to rally their troops and relay their orders. Celestia felt relieve wash over her as she could finally drop the cold expression from her face. She never liked having to do it, but she knew the situation called for her to present herself as a battle hardened leader who was not afraid of making difficult decisions.

‘Would any of them follow me if they knew just how much I’m haunted by doubts and regrets?’

“We are in an okay shape, I think.” Diamond Prism said. “We are basing a lot of this stuff on assumptions, but I think we have some solid plans.”

Celestia did not answer. She had her fair share of wars and knew enough about them to realize that they were basing far too much of their strategy on assumptions. They basically did not have anything solid to go on. As solid as Diamond Prism’s initial defense strategy was, Celestia knew that there were some hard times and tough choices ahead.

After she magically removed her golden armor set, Celestia finally managed to get comfortable in her chair. She was about to suggest to take a break and grab some coffee when the door to the war room opened. Captain Silver Strike walked back in.

“Did you have anything else to say, Captain?” Celestia asked him.

“No princess, but I have a message. The griffon emissary has arrived. Should I send him in here, would you rather speak to him in the throne room?”

“Tell him to wait in the throne room. I will be with him in a little while.”

“It is not my place, but uhm…” He stammered. “We really should not make him wait too long…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Who is he?”

“The griffons appear to have send Gusev, their crown prince.”

Celestia and Diamond Prism exchanged a shocked look. “Send him in here please. And thank you, Captain.”

No sooner had she said that and a griffon walked right past Silver Strike and entered the war room. He was scrawny for a griffon, and according to griffon customs would have likely been cast out as a child, had he not been born in such a powerful family. He carried himself with a pompous air.

“No need to stand up, Princess. And no need to stand on any ceremony either. I am simply here as a friend, coming for a friendly conversation.” He had a slight accent, but his Equine was perfectly understandable, a rare skill among griffons.

Celestia hid her surprise well and gestured at the nearest empty chair. “By all means then Prince Gusev, have a seat.”

Silver Strike gave a quick bow before he closed the door behind the Prince. His eyes betrayed his feelings towards their guest, which were not particularly warm or welcoming.

Gusev sat down at the table and gave Diamond Prism what was meant to be a warm smile, but looked like a terrifying smirk because of this sharp beak. She found herself caught off guard and awkwardly smiled back. “Welcome to Equestria, Prince Gusev. Would you prefer for me to stay here or would you and the Princess like some privacy?” She said after recovering from her initial shock.

“Like I said, I’m just here as a friend, feel free to stay here. You might be able to help clear some questions for me while I am here.” His tone was friendly, but his demeanor suggested that disagreeing with him was probably not a good idea.

“I suppose I do not need to ask you what brought you here.” Celestia said. “Given the events over the past days it seems reasonable enough that you chose to appear here yourself.”

“Indeed it does, Princess, Indeed it does,” He said with an amused look on his face. “But know this, I am not here to demand an apology or make any threats. We all fully realize that it is in fact your sister that is to blame.”

“I still would like to offer my apologies, Prince Gusev. I sincerely wish I would have done something that had prevented this situation from happening in the first place.“

“Apologies accepted, of course. Now, before I tell you why I am really here, I have to ask you if we are alone. Are you two the only one that can hear me right now?” Gusev said.

Diamond Prism took out a small gem and tapped it with her hoof. “We are now,” she said.

“Good,” Gusev said as he slumped in his seat. “I will speak freely then. I realize you must think I came here to threaten you and make demands, but the opposite is true. I am here because I need your help.”

Diamond Prism made no effort to hide her skepticism. “You want our help?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“As you may or may not be aware of, my father has fallen ill,” Gusev continued. “It is not common knowledge yet, but for the past few weeks I have been the de facto ruler of the griffon empire. I make the decisions, and my father signs them. He can’t even read them anymore.”

“I am very sorry to hear that,” Celestia said.

“Thank you, Princess,” He said. “The thing is, things have not been going great. My father has always been very vocal about not engaging in open warfare with your nation. He greatly preferred to handle our territorial disputes in a different manner.”

“I guess you are referring to the raids on our border towns?” Diamond Prism said. “The raids that are being carried out by so-called criminals that have nothing to do with your government?”

“That is correct. I assume you were already aware of-“

“So you admit it then?” Diamond Prism said with venom in her voice. “Your father gave the orders? We should-” She trailed of as Princess Celestia motioned for her to stop.

“Please continue, Prince Gusev,” Celestia said.

“Right,” he continued, seemingly unbothered. “My father never wanted a war, but every other member of our ruling class feels differently. Now that my father is no longer able to voice his objections, there is tremendous pressure on me to declare war on your kind. Especially now with what just happened at Mistshore…”

“And I assume you agree with your father that going to war is not the best option?” Celestia asked.

“Absolutely, Princess. Respectfully, the other griffons are fools. They have been blinded by hatred and greed. Going to war with your nation would mean going to war against you. I am very familiar with the history of the last great war before the age of harmony. We would simply not stand a chance.”

“You wouldn’t,” Diamond Prism said coldly. “Why don’t you just keep saying no? It seemed to work for your father.”

“My father is a respected and feared ruler. Every single griffon in the empire does exactly what he tells them to. Myself, on the other hand have not quite gained such respect yet. If I don’t go along with the others, they will simply spread the word that I am a coward across the empire. Within days we would be dealing with burning palaces and toppled statues.”

“Still, I am surprised,” Celestia said. “Our nation is currently divided and me and my sister are going to be very busy fighting each other. It seems like the perfect time for you to go to war.”

“Well, with all due respect, Princess, I do not see the war between you and your sister lasting very long,” Gusev said. “I suspect the reason the two of you are both still alive is because you still care about each other on some level. But as soon as this war truly starts and ponies and thestrals start dying… Well I think one of you will see no other option but to 'deal' with the other Princess.” He sliced his talon across his throat for emphasis. “And I am here because I cannot imagine you not coming out victorious in that scenario.”

Sadness overwhelmed Celestia for a second. Gusev has just said out loud what she had been thinking for two days. It was true. She feared she was going to have to face Luna herself before this war was over.

Gusev noticed the effect his words had on the Princess, so he continued. “But this is why I am here Princess. I believe I have a plan that helps both of us. You want to end this war without killing your sister and I want this war over as soon as possible so I have a reason not to join it.” Gusev was speaking fast now, making wild gestures with his claws. “Since it seems you and me appear to have the same hopes for the outcome of this war, I would like to, unofficially of course, tell you that there will be no more raids coming out of the griffon empire during this war.”

So not only are you not going to war, but you are prepared to stop the raids now? Why?” Celestia asked.

“My father’s approach is never going to work. I want to do things differently. It is actually pretty simple, Without the griffon Empire to worry about, you will be able to focus on doing what matters to me. Making sure your sister goes away as soon as possible.”

“And how exactly does this solve my problem?” Celestia asked. “No longer having to worry about a griffon attack would help our war efforts, but in the end the situation between my sister and me remains the same.”

“There is a way to resolve this war without it coming to the point of you and your sister fighting face to face,” Gusev said as he leaned in closer. “Score a decisive victory on the battlefield. Make it clear to your sister that she won’t be able to be able to come near this castle without getting absolutely annihilated. I am talking about total military domination here. “

Diamond Prism scoffed. “And how in Tartarus are we going to do that? Our defenses are spread incredibly thin. Even if Luna has half the army we fear she has, our victory is far from a sure thing.”

“Very true,” Gusev said. “And for obvious reason I cannot give you the support of the griffon army. But there might be another way. I could provide you with information. Information that would give you a considerable tactical advantage.”

“What information? What could you possibly have to say that changes the realities of this war?” Diamond Prism asked.

“I have it all here in writing.” Gusev reached for a stack of papers, tucked under his wing. “So I will not bore you with all the details. As for how you use it, I leave that up to you. Use at your discretion, as you ponies might say."

“And you would be willing to just give this to us? Celestia asked. “Do you want to see us win that much?”

“Well, that is not exactly it. If I thought your sister would be better to work with, I might make her a similar offer.”

“So what’s in this for you then? Besides not going into a war you can’t win?

“Well, after you have successfully beaten back Luna’s forces and your victory is assured, my army will move in and claim a reasonably sized piece of territory for the griffon Empire. And your guards will not intervene, because they will be busy keeping the peace with the thestrals.” Gusev leaned back and spread his talons. “Does that sound fair?”

“Have you lost your mind?” Diamond Prism blurted out. She turned to Celestia. “Please tell me you are not considering this, Princess.”

Celestia remained quiet for a few more seconds, lost in thought. She would essentially be trading the life of guards and thestrals for that of her sister. It was not something she could ever forgive herself for. But the loss of her own sister, who still had the capacity to do a tremendous amount of good, was an even bleaker outlook. “How good is this information? And how much territory would we be paying for it?”

“I’ll tell you what. Feel free to study this information at your leisure for the rest of the day.” Gusev said as he slid the stack of papers across the table. "Tomorrow morning we will discuss how much this this information is worth to you.”

“So you have lost your mind,” Diamond Prism stated dryly. “You’re just handing this over without us agreeing to anything?”

“If we cannot reach an understanding tomorrow, Princess Luna will receive a letter containing this same information. She will anticipate every move you could possibly make based on this information and it will be like it never existed in the first place. Oh and by the way, this letter is on the way to her anyway. She will receive it unless I contact the courier and tell him not to go through with it. So please do not do anything stupid, like slitting my throat.”

“And after we reach our agreement?” Celestia asked. “How do we know you are not going to occupy the rest of our nation as well? As you said before, our guards would not be in a position to stop you. Do we just take your word for it?”

“You have much more than our word Princess,” Gusev said with a smirk. “You have me. Tell your guards to prevent me from leaving the castle and to cut me down if the griffon army does anything other than what we agree on. You can even throw me in a cell if you’d like.”

“You want us to imprison you for the duration of the war?” Celestia asked incredulously. “What about the rest of the griffon leadership? Would they not immediately invade us to get you back?”

Gusev shrugged. “It was their idea. I asked for alternatives to an all-out war and this is what they came up with.”

“Have you considered that they might not care whether you live or die?” Diamond Prism said. “They could finally start their war and have us get rid of the coward who tried to stop it at the same time. Two birds, one stone.”

“I’m sure you are aware of the fact that I am my father’s only son. If I die, our family line dies. And if that happens, the line of succession is murky at best. The last time something like that happened, our empire nearly crumbled under a civil war. It took my great-grandfather several years and thousands of lives to gain control over it. The average griffon might not care, but at least our leadership is not that shortsighted.”

Celestia and Diamond Prism were both quiet. The proposal seemed to hold up so far. They were both still trying to come up with something else to poke holes in it.

“I would love keep going here and answer all your concerns,” Gusev finally said. “But I feel like our conversation would be a lot more productive once you have seen the information I provided. Shall we continue this later?”

Celestia quickly exchanged a look with Diamond Prism, who gave her a small shrug and a nod. “Very well then, Prince Gusev. It looks like you are officially our prisoner now. For now at least.”

“So I suppose this is where you call in your guards and drag me out the room then?” Gusev said.

“For now, feel free to make use of our guest accommodations,” Celestia said. “There should be some royal guards right outside the door. They will take you there. We will decide how to further handle your stay here if we come to an agreement.”

“Very well then, I suppose I should rest up. Tomorrow the real work begins,” He said with a big grin. With that he left the room.

“What do you think? Do you trust him?” Celestia asked as soon as the prince closed the door behind him.

“Not in the slightest,” Diamond Prism said. “But he is giving us an awful lot of assurance. The griffons might be ruthless, but it is true that the ones in charge would never do anything to put the succession of the throne at risk. It seems to me that we are safe from any griffon aggression as long as he is our prisoner here.”

“Do we have any way to find out if his father is actually sick? Just to be sure that part is true at the very least”

“I will send the word out immediately. This should be something my contacts can find out by tomorrow morning.”

Celestia was quiet for a while. The more she replayed the conversation in her head, the more it was bothering her. “There is something about the way he talks. I have never seen a griffon acting so… calm before… Normally they either scream your ears off or cower in respect. I never knew there could be anything in between for them.”

“I have met a few upper class griffons before, at some diplomatic dinner in Zebrafica. I think most of them are like that these days. They like to emulate us upper class unicorns, I suppose.”

A smile appeared on Celestia’s face. “Well he did say he wanted to do things differently than his father. Perhaps he meant he was going to be a passive-aggressive jerk instead of an aggressive jerk.”

Neither of them could stop themselves from laughing at that.

Comments

[IDontWatchMLP]

Congrats! You get a like.

[Purple Patch]

This is shaping up to be a very well-made story.

I'm actually planning a 'Banishment Prelude/Civil War' fic myself and I could use your advice. There's a lot I need to plan out.

[Brian Dagame]

9597188
Thank you! I'm glad someone besides me is interested. That's all I can ask for!

9597196
Thank you! I shall cherish it always

9597208
Thank you! And feel free to ask me about anything you need!

[BradyBunch]

This world seems very fleshed-out and thoughtful. I can easily see this happening on TV, in a Game of Thrones-esque fashion. I haven't watched it yet, but political drama and violence and wars seem to be right up both of their alleys.

[Brian Dagame]

9597236
Thanks again!

Game of Thrones indeed serves as a major inspiration for this story. Chapter two is even named after an episode!

[Mystic Sunrise]

Of course as any SANE MLP fan will tell you, all of this is utter bullshit and never happened period. This isn't Game of Thrones.

I like the story by the way. Just that, putting the AU tag on this would help.

[Brian Dagame]

9597350
I was hesitant to add it, since this story takes established canon and adds to it. It is not replacing anything, just building on top of it.

But I do see where you're coming from. I'll add it anyway.

[stjee04]

This seems to be off to a good start and I’m looking forward to reading more! Also to finding out what sort of magic Luna thinks will end the war...