Gryphon Greed is Good

by Snuffy

Barriers To Exit

The temperature of the summer morning promised a hot and humid day. Haywood especially seemed bothered by the weather, if his agonized expression were any indication, even though the parasol at the center of their roundtable kept them cool in the shade.

Her secretary also wasn’t eating the hayfries drowned in ketchup that the restaurant owner said was on the house, instead staring down at the plate as if contemplating his life choices. Granted, deep-fried pieces of hay weren’t the most nutritionally complete breakfast for a stallion his age, but one should always appreciate free food.

Her own portion was gone in under a minute.

”So,” Haywood began, dejectedly, then turned to look at Sugarcube Corner across the road. ”Why haven't we gone and asked Lady Pie yet?”

”Because breakfast is important,” she replied.

The actual reason was twofold. First, the Element of Laughter was an opponent not to be taken lightly; secondly, she wanted to field test one of the modern accessories designed to repel sunlight. According to her own research—studying a magazine she’d confiscated from a guardsmare the week prior—sunglasses also served as an efficient spy tool, often used by celebrities to remain incognito when out in society.

”We should have talked to Princess Celestia,” he mumbled while examining a particularly soggy piece of hayfry held up in his magic.

”That would be an unproductive use of our time,” she replied, dismissively. ”I know how dear sister will respond before even she does.”

”And?”

Luna looked about their surroundings for any eavesdroppers before answering. A dozen locals were roaming the street, some setting up food stalls while others strolled around seemingly with little to no purpose. They were getting a fair share of questioning glances, but none appeared too interested in their conversation.

”Gryphonstone is allowed to sanction or embargo any type of Equestrian goods within a certain timeframe if they so wish, but a blockade is illegal under our current treaty,” she began with a low voice. ”Though, if they don’t want to trade with us any more, then there isn’t much more to say about the issue. Celestia's first priority will be to keep the peace and order the WPTC to recall their ships from gryphon shores, or they'll risk having their trade license revoked.”

”And they’ll leave willingly?”

She shrugged and leaned further back into her stool. “News travels slowly at sea and it will be days before every vessel of the trade fleet is informed. Meanwhile, if a gryphon captain decides to fire another warning shot before then, who knows what might happen.”

”The WPTC are only authorized to defend themselves,” Haywood said, mustache twitching. ”You believe they might provoke the gryphons into firing the first shot?”

”They would never openly defy the Crown.” She allowed the rest to remain unsaid. ”If you’re done eating, I suggest we proceed with our investigation.”

They barely made it across the road.

”Hi, Princess Luna, hi, Haywood,” Pinkie Pie said, suddenly bouncing out of Sugarcube Corner and instantly recognizing them. Pinkie and Haywood had never met, from her recollection, but she decided not to pursue that line of thought.

”Good morning, Pinkie,” she began with a heavy emphasis on her last words. ”We wish to have a word with you, in private.”

Pinkie, in the motion of swapping away dust from the stairs with her tail, instantly beamed. ”Sure! Come inside, the Cakes are away with the kids, and we have no other customers yet.”

They followed Pinkie into a room with too many bright colors and resemblances to baked cakes, and when the mare opened a small gate to stand behind the cash register, she noticed several large sacks with the WPTC logo at the bottom of a shelf.

”So,” Pinkie said with front hooves up on the counter. ”Can I get you anything? We have cupcakes right out of the oven.”

Pinkie’s smile never wavered as Luna stepped to the counter opposite her.

“You import all your ingredients?”

“Yup!” Pinkie said and turned to pick up a sack from the shelf and place it on the counter. The barque riding a wave with three pegasi in escort formation revealed its origins, and Pinkie showcased two more sacks, half the size of a pony with different ingredients, ranging from raw sugar to cocoa and cinnamon. “We only buy the bestest available!”

In the back of her mind, Luna noted how none of the ingredients came from gryphon lands.

”I have another question,” she began with a hint of edge to her voice. ”Did you recently deliver a letter to the royal office in Canterlot?”

”Yup!” Pinkie replied, unperturbed.

Haywood retrieved the Hooffields and Mccolts letter from his backpack and levitated it over for Pinkie to read.

”Did you write this?” Luna asked.

”Nope!”

”Who sent you to deliver it?”

”Can’t say!”

She moved to the edge of the counter and loomed over Pinkie. ”And why not?”

”I made a Pinkie promise not to!”

This caught her by surprise for a moment, and decided that it was necessary to force the issue. ”Your Princess asks you to tell me who gave you this letter.”

Pinkie shook her head. ”Sorry, Princess Luna. But a promise is a promise!”

A pleasant breeze from the open front door was the only thing that followed as she magicked over her sunglasses to Haywood’s saddlebags. The situation required a different approach, and she loomed as much as possible over the smaller pony who in turn matched her stern gaze.

”Is the letter related to the Gryphon blockade?” she asked without blinking.

Pinkie did not answer. Instead, she matched Luna's straight-faced expression to the point where both eyebrows touched. Neither gave an inch as the unblinking duel continued, and the hot summer air turned cold when ominous darkness began to emerge from every corner of the room. Haywood retreated for the front door, but unnaturally strong winds violently slammed the door behind him.

Darkness spread and a pained creaking of wood filled the air as the entire room appeared to bend inwards, yet Pinkie displayed an incredible determination as the contest of wills escalated further.

Then something unexpected happened. Pinkie’s grave expression faltered as her pink cheeks puffed up like balloons, and before long the mare exhaled audibly, spreading spit all over the immediate vicinity.

The darkness quickly rescinded from the room.

”Wow, Princess Luna,” Pinkie began in between gasps for air. ”The only other pony I’ve lost a staring contest to was Fluttershy!”

”Will you answer my question?” Luna replied patiently, not questioning why you’d hold your breath in a staring contest.

From somewhere inside the depths of Pinkie’s mane, a parchment was dragged out and placed upon the counter.

”Nope,” Pinkie said.

The mysterious parchment, embedded with long pink hairs, was a legal document of sorts. Reading from the top were long paragraphs of judicial language, the results of which meant that a warrant, signed by a majority of judges in Equestria’s highest court, was required to break a Pinkie Promise legally. The individual who swore the oath couldn’t answer anything that might lead, directly or indirectly, to breaking the promise.

Most surprisingly, at the very bottom of the page was Celestia’s elegant signature, adjacent to Pinkie’s messy scribble which formed a smiley face at the very end. Why her sister would agree to sign such a document needed to be looked into later.

”Then I will ask you directly, do you personally have any involvement in the Gryphon blockade?”

Pinkie opened her mouth without any words coming out, and it took a full minute as the gears could almost be heard turning in her head. The eventual answer was as unexpected as unhelpful.

”What does ’blockade’ mean?” Pinkie asked with full sincerity.

The two other ponies in the room shared an incredulous look, then both turned in sync for the exit and walked out into the open street.

”Come back at lunch hour for some freshly made pies!” Pinkie’s shouts echoed behind them.

”Well, that was a bust,” Haywood said as they aimlessly turned to walk down the street. ”What do we do now? Return to Canterlot?”

”No, we do not,” she replied, putting back her sunglasses for added emphasis. ”This situation is more dire than I feared, and beyond the capabilities of my dear sister to handle alone.”

While it was true that their only lead was a ’bust,’ they now had adequate evidence of a broader conspiracy by someone possessing a vast amount of cunning. Asking Pinkie to deliver a letter while simultaneously tricking her into taking an oath of silence was, in effect, the only possible way Luna could imagine to allow someone to remain anonymous while putting the blindfold over her department.

”We need to move our search closer to the source.”

Haywood sidestepped away from her at hearing that. ”Don’t tell me we are flying to Gryphonstone?”

”We are not,” she said as the old stallion let out a sigh of relief. ”But first, we need to brainstorm. What do you know of the trade between Gryphonstone and Equestria?”

Haywood mulled about the answer for a while as they walked through the streets of Ponyville, on a course for Princess Twilight’s castle.

”I don’t know the exact amount of tons at the top of my head.”

”Just humor me,” she said.

”Very well. The geography of gryphon lands is often rocky hillsides with few forests. The amount we sell and buy varies with the season, and more so if the winter was long or short, but mainly Equestria exports timber, utensils, furniture, silk, honey, and cider.”

”And imports?”

”Iron, sand, clay, and perhaps marble, I think? Goods brought back are often unrefined and basic, and the traders usually don’t earn much from selling it back home, but it’s better than returning with an empty cargo hold.”

”A substantial trade deficit then?” she asked.

”Most months of the year, at least.”

Tracing the flow of coin was often the most efficient way to find the source of any financial trouble. In this instance, it all began in the gryphon mainland, where the locals bought Equestrian made goods distributed from the merchant classes in the coastal cities, who in turn purchased the products in bulk for a far lower price from the West Pony Trading Company.

The WPTC was a publicly-owned company, whose shares were bought and sold on an open market, and while the Rich family owned the biggest block of shares, their total percentage barely reached into the double digits. Collectively, it was Equestria’s upper and middle classes who were given most of the dividends.

In situations like this, the cynical would point out how much of the wealth created by the work of mainland gryphons was filling the pockets of already well-off merchants and ponies, but she knew that none of those hard-working gryphons wished to return to the days when there was never enough wood left to keep your home heated during the winter months.

”What parts of Equestria would be most affected if trade halted?” She already had a solid idea what would happen, but hoped Haywood would notice something she missed.

”The companies who import iron could likely buy it from somewhere else, albeit at a substantially higher price,” Haywood began. ”The export companies will have a tougher time compensating since there are no other big markets for timber. It will be hard for the countryside since most small towns and mills are established near large forests.”

Haywood paused for a moment before continuing. ”I believe my own firewood comes from a small town called Rosewood, somewhere in the woods past Dodge City.”

”Anything else?” she asked.

”Nothing off the top of my head,” he replied. ”We might face some short-term economic pain, but the economy should equalize within a few years, even if the gryphons decide to isolate themselves.”

A few years was likely a low estimate, and the decline would eventually spread to urban areas. Manufacturing was centered around the large cities because of easy access to skilled and educated labor, and any collapse from there could snowball into unrelated businesses.

They walked on hard-packed dirt, kicking up dust, only a few yards away from the main entrance of Twilight’s castle. ”There will always be winners and losers when there is a sudden imbalance of goods. You believe potential winners could have orchestrated the dispute?”

”Very unlikely,” Haywood said while they moved up to the door. The castle’s shadow allowing them a reprieve from the heat. ”Are we visiting Princess Twilight?”

”Briefly, there is something I need to confirm.”

She took a step forward and knocked hard on the crystal door thrice in quick succession, followed by a long silence. Eventually, Twilight's dragon assistant peeked in from behind the door.

"Oh, hello, Princess Luna."

"Greetings, Sir Spike," she replied, taking extra care to make sure her introduction was up to dragon standards. "Where is your liege, Princess Twilight?"

Spike looked up at her in confusion, eventually answering with less elegance than expected.

"Uh, Twilight and Starlight left for Gryphonstone yesterday."

This wasn't breaking news. She surmised her sister wouldn't hold back her greatest diplomatic asset, and yet wondered if even Princess Twilight would be sufficient to avert disaster.

Haywood took a step forward and peered at Spike with narrow eyes. "Are you alone in the castle without supervision?"

"Nah, Big Mac and Discord are over," Spike said, then hit one clenched claw into an open one. "I know, why don't you come inside and join us?"

Every mare instinct in her possession flared with warning signals at the offer. "Haywood, it is time."

"Time for what?" Haywood asked, and found his answer when he began floating upwards into the air. "Don't tell me we are—"

"Heading for Manehatten," she said while holding him up in her magic, then extended her wings and took off into the air at the speed of a Wonderbolt.

"Uh, I guess that's a no then," Spike said to himself.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Hmm. An intriguing mystery. Motives unclear, suspects hiding from sight, and even the outcome uncertain at this juncture.

That said, I feel they gave up on Pinkie too soon: "There are a bunch of ships keeping ponies from going into griffin ports. Did you have anything to do with that?" Sure, it probably wouldn't get results, but it's a straightforward response to her question.

In any case, looking forward to more.

[Shadowshame]

Yep this is just as good as the last one