Gina had never seen the palace in greater disarray.
A full detachment of soldiers seemed to be martialing outside, with birds doning old uniforms, testing swords and securing armor. She took her delegation past the prelude to war, up to the throne where Gaius sat already armored.
The metal he wore reflected the light like oil under moonlight, turning his outline into a dark suggestion of a bird more than the real thing. A massive warhammer sat on the ground beside the throne, as though he were ready to charge into battle at a moment’s notice.
Then they passed through the massive stone doors into the assembly hall, and left the last of the ordinary soldiers behind. It was all noble birds inside, surrounding a massive table filled with maps and diagrams instead of food. There was Lord Gerrard here too, in his own family’s armor, along with two other dark figures. Each of them belonged to noble families, hoarding the few irreplaceable sets of ancient masterworks. They were the only true answer to the Equestrian Alicorns. But they’ve never been enough to conquer Equestria, have they? The ponies are the ones sheltering us.
As they crossed through the room, it fell still. Gina heard birds whispering all around her—about the dead returning, and forbidden rites of the old magic that had been lost long ago. You idiots. You really think this is necromancy? But no one actually said so, and no bird lifted their weapons to stop her or the party she was leading. There were four groups of birds in here, one for each house—two of the groups seemed quite a bit smaller than the others. Santiago and Giovanni in particular were conspicuously absent, and instead one of Santiago’s lesser stewards was here for him. Archibald is the one representing a great clan during an invasion? Something isn’t right.
As they got close to the emperor’s throne, Gina glanced over her shoulder, speaking in a hushed whisper to her companions. “All of you, stay back. It isn’t proper for a non-bird to address the emperor without an invitation. I’ll introduce you, and after that…” She shrugged. Gina would be lucky if she wasn’t the one wearing a slave collar at the end of all of this.
As was proper, Gina removed the medallion from around her neck one last time, holding it up as she approached the throne. “Your Imperator returns to your service,” she said.
There was a long silence. Gina didn’t look up, but she did see the wide eyes of birds all around the room. It was possible the emperor would just kill her. Imperators held absolute authority over others just as the emperor did, but when they returned they always answered for their actions.
Gaius hadn’t killed any of his servants, though. He took the medallion.
“This is most curious,” said Empress Guinevere from the smaller throne. “To have a friend and loyal servant returned after one of our lords declared her dead.”
“Very curious,” Gaius agreed. He gestured subtly with one claw. It was such a minor gesture that the other birds didn’t seem to notice. But Gina saw soldiers closing the exit, shutting the door so quietly that it didn’t even echo. Upper entrances closed one after another, or were blocked by birds with crossbows. All without a word. “What do you think, Archibald? I think you should join us. To stand in Santiago’s place when my Imperator gives her testimony.”
Archibald wasn’t half as loathsome as some of the other Vengeance birds Gina had known. He wore only a toga as he made his way up to the emperor, not even a dagger. He didn’t so much as look at her. When he spoke, it was without spite. “She must have survived the crash after all,” he said. “Remarkable though that is. Unity has been known to preserve birds through worse.”
Gina didn’t speak—at least not until she got the emperor’s nod. She would have to be very careful. Statements directly impugning one of the noble houses were as good as an invitation to duel. Since she had no male relatives, that invitation would come from that of her house instead. The oldest male of that house being the emperor himself. “There is a traitor in house Vengeance,” she said instead. “I don’t know what you’ve been told, but I expect none of it is correct.”
Archibald finally seemed to see her. He turned, eyes narrowing to slits. “That seems hard to believe, Imperator. Gideon has served faithfully for many years. His honor is unblemished.”
She shrugged. “I do not know him or his honor,” she said, mostly to the emperor. “But I know he tried to kill me. I swear it on my life and office… and I was not alone.”
Archibald cleared his throat. “Lord Gaius, perhaps we should give this female more time to recover from her trip. She’s obviously delirious. Assuming the ponies haven’t poisoned her. She arrived on one of their ships. Perhaps they sent her here to disrupt our resolve on the eve of war.”
Gaius raised one claw to silence him. “Gina has served me faithfully. I can see she’s gone through great hardship to get here. She will tell her story. I am certain that story will explain why she used my authority to invite a powerful ship from a dangerous enemy directly into the capital while we are still preparing for war. I especially look forward to that part of her story.”
Gina nodded, taking one step away from Archibald. The bird was more of a clerk than a warrior, unlikely to attack her physically. But she didn’t intend to take chances.
Then she began. She told the whole story, with as much detail as she could remember. She omitted nothing, despite the ponies being there to listen. She’d already told them what Griffonstone was making to help convince them to take her. There was no real secret left there.
Eventually they came to the confrontation with the Equestrian ships on the border, and the room had become very quiet. She described Gideon’s betrayal, him igniting the ship and probably killing its crew, of the way Isabelle had saved her life. Their eventual rescue and the trip here.
“I believe Gideon is a traitor,” she finished. “To Accipio, anyway. It seems to me as though he nearly succeeded persuading you to invade Equestria and get revenge for an attack that he perpetrated in the first place. That is why Captain Caliginous has come. The Equestrian navy has granted her authority as an emergency negotiator. Equestria hopes to avoid a war, and so do I.”
The great assembly hall fell utterly still. Gina felt the eyes of many birds on her, particularly Archibald. There was shock on his face at her story—any objections he might’ve raised had all fallen away, and he looked only afraid.
“It is a late hour to sue for peace,” the emperor finally said. He gestured forward with one claw, and the captain approached with her marines. She didn’t bow to the emperor—but Gina wasn’t sure she could’ve made her no matter how many times she insisted.
“Equestria will not sit by and permit these attacks on its creatures and land,” Caliginous said, meeting the emperor’s eyes in his terrible armor without flinching. “But we would prefer to see only the guilty punished. A war will drown us all in blood.”
Gina began to retreat—she had no place in this conversation. She would probably never serve as an Imperator again, even if the emperor didn’t punish her for her failure. But either way, she had nothing more to add.
But the emperor stopped her with another subtle gesture of his claws. Gina sat down behind the unicorn captain, listening. This is probably where he punishes me for not stopping this sooner.
“I am afraid it might be too late,” Gaius said. “When we discovered… when we heard the earlier version of this story, there were only a few pony captives to interrogate. You had thrown our own crew overboard before the monks finally rose up and fought you off. Lord Santiago suspected treachery from Equestria, and he had been preparing for it from the beginning.” He gestured, and one of his marines approached from the wall. “Lance Corporal, your rifle.”
The uniformed marine extended one claw without a word, and the emperor took it. He spun it over once in the huge gauntlets of his Voidsteel armor, making the whole thing look like a toy. “We all thought using Griffonstone was genius. A way not to break the treaty and still be prepared for the knife in our back.”
“Lord Santiago appears to have been sharpening a knife of his own,” Guinevere muttered. She’d been scribbling something through most of the meeting—taking notes on Gina’s testimony, but she was still writing now. She barely even looked up. “How well do you think a dozen of our palace guards would do if his whole army is properly armed? After we’re tired from an Equestrian invasion, no doubt.”
“Is this a formal accusation of my lord?” Archibald had remained fearful and silent all this time, backing towards the handful of lords wearing Vengeance green. His voice shook a little as he spoke.
“I would prefer it wasn’t,” Gaius said. “If you can supply an alternate interpretation of what we’ve just heard here, please do so.” He leaned forward from his throne, and the wood creaked under the terrible weight of Voidsteel, metal squeaking against metal. “But use your words carefully. Imperator Gina has served my family long and faithfully. Given the evidence, I will not look fondly on suggestions that impugn her testimony.”
Archibald moved uneasily on his claws, shifting between her and the pony captain. “Then let me suggest only that she obviously suffered very seriously in the destruction of the Lapwing. Strong males have suffered injuries that never healed. It was ponies who recovered her, probably led there by her pony slave. Ponies whispering these things in her ears while she was delirious and had their strange pony medicines in her veins.”
Gina shouldn’t have said anything—it wasn’t really her place. Archibald was a lesser bird than herself, but he represented a clan lord. She shouldn’t be arguing with one. But she had done a great deal lately that she shouldn’t. “I wasn’t delirious before Gideon blew up my ship, and the ponies never medicated me. Gideon is a piece of treacherous slime. The ponies might be partially to blame for the confrontation, but they were just doing their jobs. Gideon betrayed Accipio. He murdered my friends, and at least one member of my household. He isn’t fit to be gutted and left out for the crows!”
Gina finally stopped, though she was panting from the exertion by the time she’d finished. She glowered at Archibald, baring her beak in the same way a male would’ve in her place. It meant she would put her life on her word, sprained wing and exhaustion and all.
The emperor smacked one gauntlet onto an armrest. The wood shattered as though it wasn’t even there, showering them with splinters. “That will do, Imperator. Archibald, you have it. The formal accusation of my house. As Gideon is no longer here, we will have to hold you in his place until trial.”
Birds from Vengeance and Victory rose immediately from their seats. The air in the great hall grew thicker. Birds rested claws on weapons, or raised them to fight.
Victory is part of this too? Come to think of it, Giovanni wasn’t here either. All the Voidsteel in this hall belonged to Valor or Virtue. Those nobles, they’re all like Archibald. They’re third and fourth sons. Losers. Like Santiago planned this from the beginning, so didn't leave behind anything he couldn't afford to lose.
She realized what was happening perhaps a second before someone fired the first shot, and the assembly hall descended into chaos.
I suspect none of the prisoners survived their interrogation at the hands of the griffins. I have no one to root for in that room, as far as their kind goes. Excellent chapter as usual, though.
Lets all hope just the actually guilty get punished. Meaning the attackers.
Well... Anyone got bets on who survives?
Wooooo! SHIT IS GETTING REAL!
The fuse is lit, it has entered the cannon. All hooves, prepare for detonation!
SOMEone's gonna get a blast out of this, for sure.
Wonderful chapter. Good story. Time to go back and rereread again.
9035164
Yeah, Celestia melts the entire country side leaving nothing but molten rock
9035258
That... Would be greatly counter-productive and villainizing to her. Even IF there is a magical (, and potentially boring) "reset-button" present in this universe.
9035149
It's more than a little ironic, isn't it? Even Gaius was so ready to undermine the treaty with Equestria, he embraced Santiago's plan—only to find out that you can't trust a backstabber.
However, we might yet be moved enough to feel a little bit of pity for the birds Vengeance and Victory left behind. It's possible they didn't know Santiago's ultimate plan and now find themselves served up as a distraction while their bloodthirsty kin are off bombing Canterlot.
9035345
It's hard to feel pity for even the best of the griffins, mired in prejudice and violent, archaic traditions as they all seem to be. The only griffin I'm holding out any hope for at all at this point is Gilda, and that's only if she's been revealed to have been fooled/imprisoned for Accipio's Griffonstone shenanigans to bear fruit.
Gaius... make me respect you all over again.
9035357
Point. I shudder to think how Gabby feels about the looming conflict.
I feel like this is about to go really poorly for Archibald.
Well, looks like we're getting that bird civil-war. That is probably a positive for diplomatically blaming this whole mess on Vengeance and Victory. And since the main body of their forces may well be getting burned out of the Equestrian sky as we speak, it could be a pretty short one.
Extra points if they lose entirely due to the power of the Equestrian Navy as opposed to the alicorns this time. Considering the number of pieces of tech that Equestria has pulled out that the griffons had no clue about, their military intelligence is likely to be similarly not up to date. Their capability estimates could be incredibly inaccurate.
A civil war while fighting an enemy you could never beat.
GREAT PLAN YOU IDIOTS!
Note that is to Vengence and Victory
9035483
I fully expect Victory to change sides last minute and claim they were fighting for the winning side all along.
9035491
it will not save them
9035525
Nope, but they'll probably do anything to get their victory. I see them becoming worse than Vengeance as the war progresses.
9035164
Well unless his guard are massive screwups the Emperor is likely to live. Given the nature of the betrayal said guard might watch over the ponies as well, as honour demands emissaries not die under their watch, but given that their lives aren't worth their Emperor's their chances are more iffy. Gina is not an important target at this point, so I expect her to be mostly ignored.
9035345
The irony does leave a rather persistent metallic taste. So paranoid he was that Equestria would stab him in the back he handed his true enemy the blade that's currently being swung at it.
9035535
As much as I want her to live she's probably a target for at least SOMEONE from Vengeance... probably Archibald.
9035535
And that's not even going into how showing Equestria they could not be trusted could have pushed the ponies into attacking. Playing a game of chicken, no pun intended.
9035561
Oh it goes a bit deeper than that. I mean, this bit?
This bit reveals that even Gaius did not trust Equestria, that even he considered Equestria betraying them to be a likely scenario. It shows that there is just a fundamental disconnect between the two societies, one side simply does not understand how the other thinks and in Accipio's case that means they simply cannot fathom the idea of a society in which its members aren't plotting and scheming to overthrow one another. To them, Equestria existed and therefore had to be plotting something.
Civil war it is then
9035345
Pretty sure those birds are in on it too considering the fight that broke out. If anything, they probably don't know how expendable they are.
9035149
Nothing yet to confirm that. Wouldn't be surprised if they were tortured a
bitlot. Worse case scenario is slavery. Whatever scenario it is it's not good for diplomacy.9035535
Keeping the emperor alive is probably more important in keeping peace right now, though. A few more dead soldier ponies wouldn't really make the situation more worse than it already is. Replacing the emperor with war hawks would.
9035639
The ponies have already been established as masterful politicians. Considering the retaliatory measures the Equestrians are taking just to free the pony slaves is it really unreasonable to suspect the Equestrians might be tempted to push for more? Especially since they probably hold more diplomatic cards than the griffons. It's pretty much the Cold War. No one can trust each other. Only difference is the Soviets have a rogue faction clamoring for WW3.
Still wonder that if the arms production was done with the Emperor's blessing why would he hand the keys to Vengeance? Did the Emperor simply entertained the idea but didn't really act on it or took it seriously?
9035357
Regardless, one of those griffon factions would rather not have war (or at least delay it for another day) and are the closest thing you can call an ally at this point. Strange bedfellows indeed.
9036662
A desire to delay such a conflict on Accipio's part is in no way a good deal for Equestria. They only want more time to arm and prepare if that's the case, and it definitely is coming across that way. If anything, the rogue houses of Accipio running rampant is quite possibly a boon to Equestria in the long run, as long as it further destabilizes their own state. I'm not suggesting the ponies present at that meeting act irrationally, mind you.
If Gaius is willing to ally in the short term, they should absolutely take him up on that. But I'm suffering no illusions that he desires anything else beyond the maintaining as much of the status quo of his awful ass empire as possible. Ponies(and all non griffins) are little more than slaves-to-be to him and his house, if they're lucky. Obviously no war at all would be ideal, but from Accipio's actions throughout the story, I seriously doubt that was ever an option without Equestria capitulating to their every action.
9036700
Trying to take advantage of the chaos does make sense but the eruption doesn't give much room to maneuver in case the civil war backfires (or worse case makes the winner stronger and antagonistic).
Helping the emperor out isn't ideal, true. But at least you know he won't back stab you until they move back out. A necessary evil. Definitely a lesser one.
9036662
9035639
The measures they took after Newcippio proved they don't care about the spirit of their agreements, only how much they can exploit you. Keroko is right, Newcippio's society is so based on the concept of exploitation, it seem they can't fathom how the ponies wouldn't want to break the Griffons and subjugate them. That is, whenever they're not talking smack about how weak Equestrians are and how they should all be enslaved.
9036662
Cold War scenario implies both sides expect the other to stab them in the back and prepare accordingly. The difference is that the Equestrians, even Celestia, did not expect the griffons to do so. That's what allowed Accipio to get away with the treaty and its loopholes, and the resulting retaining of slaves and military build up, to begin with: Equestria trusted Accipio.
Accipio well and truly burned that trust thrice over by now, but Equestria did trust them.
Heck, even after the treaty deception came to light we've seen some of the mane six speak up in Accipio's defence. Not sure if they're still holding that opinion now that several Equestrian ships have gone down and Canterlot is under siege, but I can easily see ponies going #NotAllGriffons.
9036900
You're forgetting about luna's fleet. They were preparing for a backstabbing. At least from a war standpoint. For the others, again it's a flaw with the equestrians (or celestia). Trust without verification.
9036808
I'm not talking about the spirit of the treaty (this time). But it's clear that equestria has the upper hand in negotiating power. And the griffon societal viewpoint of exploitation certainly feeds their belief and suspicion that the equestrians intend to influence the griffons. Whether it's true or not is unknown. Though if equestria were modeled on a modern western civilization, it wouldn't be impossible to think they would try to influence accipio to their benefit. Different shades of gray and all.
9036951
Well, in a sense, they are. No pony slaves would mean the Griffons would have to stop enslaving ponies just because they can. The Royal Sisters are probably rather interested in their subjects not getting thrown in chains as soon as they set hoof in Newcippio because some bird wants to make a quick buck.
9036971
Real life western civilizations aren't exactly paragons though.
Im not talking about the pony slaves. That's just considered intolerable. Perhaps they could go after the other slaves as well as other aspects of accipio life. Weaken accipio in other ways. We just won't know where equestria might go because everyone's focused on surviving and it's probably beyond the scope of this story.
9036951
You don't exactly pioneer new weapon's technology and build an airfleet in a matter of months when you're diverting all resources to agriculture and climatology to stave of an ecological disaster. That airfleet had to have already existed.
And yes, Equestria has an extremely powerful presence at the negotiating table. That's kind of the point though: Accipio simply could not fathom the idea of a nation with that much power not using it. And since Equestria wasn't using it obviously, their paranoia made them conclude that they had to be trying something behind the scenes, and so they embraced the snake and his whispers to prepare for a threat that did not exist, all the while the snake coiled around their arms and prepared to strike.
9037063
Considering accipio was the world, the fleet was pretty much meant for them regardless of when it was built.
Again, we don't really know what the equestrians would do with that power if there wasn't a crisis. They can remain as peaceful as ever or they might start pushing accipio around. The paranoia on the griffons' end isn't completely misplaced. And the original plan was to use it defensively, much like luna's fleet. Though I admit the griffons will use this to push equestria around. Much more certain than equestria and their fleet. The one thing they really shouldn't have done is give the keys to Vengeance if the gun making was authorized.
9037186
Uh- we do know. Nothing. Equestria isn't a country that invades others. They barely care about what goes on beyond their borders to begin with.
9037223
Well, they are neighbors with the griffons. That's certain to change foreign policy a little bit.
9037232
They're neighbours with griffons, dragons, whatever Azuihothl is, yaks, minotaurs, buffalos and changelings, and everything seems to have happened as it did in canon until the mountains went boom. I don't think their policy is that different. There's certainly no evidence there is, just Accipian paranoia.
9037252
They weren't exactly world powers though. And the situation is exceptional. Accipian paranoia isn't entirely unexpected. The equestrians are technically backed up against a wall. In their view an equestrian preemptive strike out of fear can't be ruled out. Actually, in any situation this bad, paranoia would be a normal response.
9037223
9037232
We do know what their policy at the brink of a possible war is, though: Find a really nice place to live for as many Griffons as want, who would then be required to not slaughter or mass-enslave their next-door neighbours, please.
9037291
How is their paranoia justified? If anything the existence if half a dozen minor powers right next door to Equestria that aren't conquered into the Grand Equestrian Empire is a strike against the assumption that Equestria is a sinister force just waiting for Accipio to lower its guard.
9037643
I didn't say it was justified. I didn't intend to say the Equestrian have it out for Accipio. I'm trying to spell out the Griffon POV not the objective reality of the world. I'm saying paranoia is expected. Perhaps natural like what happens often IRL. Ingroup-outgroup thinking. It's why Equestria has its fleet and the Griffons have Griffonstone. Both are primarily intended to be defensive. Unfortunately, a faction of griffons want to start a war.
9037412
My concern with that policy is how do you relocate the gryphons willingly? They've already rebuilt their cities and theres a massive risk as the only thing keeping that nice land hospitable lays in another country proven to be vulnerable. If anything went wrong the nice land in its entierty becomes vulnerable putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. I cannot fathom the emperor agreeing to such a proposal. Then again I'm not certain that he will be around for much longer
9037722
I think we're both talking about the same thing here.
9038330
"Hey there! Would you like to move from a desert with little water or food to a much more temperate place?"
New Scythia doesn't come even close to its original. It's in transition from shelter to actual city at best. They could probably build something far better up in the north where there's actual lumber and such, never mind the aid Equestria and the Crystal Empire could provide.
And if Gaius doesn't like the plan, tough salami. They can extend the invitation to the people of Newcippio. Objecting to any free bird leaving would mean making them all prisoners in their lands.
I know it’s a bit late, but I just realized something that I don’t think anyone has talked about yet. This line here:
I think this is telling for the mindset of the entire Accipian people to some extent or another. It means even that Gaius, arguably the most intelligent, wise, and reasonable of the birds still had it in his head “well of course we need to arm ourselves. Those dirty, dishonerable Equestrians are going to try and stab us in the back.”
I’m reminded again of one of the sad truths of the world: no one thinks they’re the bad guy and will come up with any justification to make themselves look honorable (or at least justified) and “the other” evil. That’s how a race that exploits loopholes in treaties and obeys only the letter of the law and not the spirit can see themselves as honorable, and see a race that is actively trying to find them better and more sustainable land for their temporary stay is deceitful and inherently untrustworthy.