• Member Since 25th Oct, 2012
  • offline last seen 4 hours ago

Winter Quill


AKA Theo Winters. A Long time pony fan, writer and all around wacky pony. Now with a patreon & ko-fi.

T
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The Griffon Kingdom was once a prosperous and happy country, but in the past century it has fallen into ruin. It now sits as an empty husk of what it once was, leaving the griffons living there to scrounge for whatever they can find to survive. There is no government, no leaders, and for many griffons, no hope.

Princess Celestia has done all she can to try and aid it and the griffons living there, but there is only so much she can do without causing an international incident. Now her hoof has been forced. A changeling queen is building a hive deep inside the kingdom, and once fully established it will be a threat to ponies and griffons alike.

Gilda doesn't care about any of that. She's far more interested in finishing her new bakery. It hasn't been easy, she had to persuade a number of griffons to come together to build it, but she had gotten it done. Now, with the help of her two employees (who she might go as far to even call friends) she's almost ready to open for business.

Unfortunately, Gilda's hard work is about to put her front and center in Celestia's plan to save the Griffon Kingdom. A task which comes with a whole host of problems, as well as a crown.

Editing by m1ntf4n

Custom cover artwork by silfoe

Chapters (12)
Comments ( 594 )
Dan

Chess reference title. Cool.

Always remember: Elegant descriptive notation>newfangled plebeian sophomoric algebraic BS. I don't care what fide says.

I KNEW Gilda had to be distantly related to the royal family, they're the same combination of bird and cat after all.

Congrats! You get a like.

I think Celly is going to be digging through any remains of the griffin royal family tree while she's at it.

I've honestly kind of resented Celestia for sitting on her flank while Griffonstone rotted, but this fanfic provides a very satisfying reason for Equestria not being able to help. Plus, it honestly makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for this story! It's my headcanon now!

Seems like a promising introduction.

This is interesting, i hope you continue :twilightsmile:

9537499

Knowing how griffins are, I think helping them would have probably bankrupt Equestria in 2 days

Luna watched her sister as she fanned her wings, her ears perked up high above her head. She could only shake her head at the site. ”You are right, there is no need to summon Twilight. You seem to be filling in for her quite well at the moment.”

Is Nightmare Moon back? Because there sure is a lot of shade around here.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

9537273

Chess reference title. Cool.

Yep, it seems very fitting considering what happens to Gilda (it's also reflected in the cover art too).

9537499

I've honestly kind of resented Celestia for sitting on her flank while Griffonstone rotted, but this fanfic provides a very satisfying reason for Equestria not being able to help. Plus, it honestly makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for this story! It's my headcanon now!

That's so flattering, thank you!

9538242

Well, at least Celestia's an equal opportunity employer.

Well cute marks aren't gender specific, so why should jobs be? (And this wasn't an error on my part, I actually did that one intentionally).

Now this is a rare find, I'm interested in seeing where this goes. I will however note that the way Celestia sounds like she is approaching this issue maf have some major unfortunate implications.

When you read the phrase:

“I believe there is a way we can aid the griffons, and without having to invade. We must take ownership of their country.

it implies that despite deciding not to invade Celestia still intends to take effective control of The Griffon Kingdom, a ideally bloodless conquest but a conquest none the less, all while dressing it up in the trappings of best intentions, ones that come out sounding uncomfortably slimier to ones used justify plenty of messed up things in the past. There is a real danger here of Celestia, rather then helping to restore the nation to functionality with a independent ruler, ultimately just effectively taking over and indirectly ruling it, of The Griffon Kingdom ending up as simply as a client/puppet state of Equestria with Gilda as nothing more then a puppet queen at best. In addition things go this route it's still going to look very bad to Equesria's allies.

Personally I'm hoping that by the end Gilda will have both the resolve and strength of character to rule as a true queen and not as a rubber stamp doing whatever she's told by those who "know what's best."

Interesting start, looks good up vote and follow.
found these for you. Three examples of the dreaded typo. Well known to be able to insert themselves between the intent to hit the publish button and the act itself,

another attack form Queen Chrysalis [ from ]
her ears flick back as she tilted [ flicking ]????
The borders have been thrown opened, [open ]

Pretty good so far. I would like to see where this is going.

All hail Queen Gilda the First! Eventually.

Princess Grizelda people!

a small smile on her face, one that almost appeared genuine.

I wonder which of Celestia's numbered smiles that is. :-)


(with one exceedingly annoying exception)

Heh, they're family?


" keeping your own government and laws as long as they do not violate the third great charter. "

This would be insanely awkward since Ponies and Griffins have such different cultures. For instance, Rabbits are LUNCH, not friends.

And the griffins being basically conquered without firing a shot.

Why do I imagine Skychart moved to Griffinstone because he was banished from Equestria, and once Griffinstone is conquered he's going to have to move out of his home, AGAIN.

This makes me think of Ganondorf, mentioning the winter killing griffins every year (makes me wonder how they population hasn't dropped to zero yet), where in Wind Waker, when he mentions what the Gerudo have endured, and what ORIGINALLY inspired him to invade Hyrule.

9538936
Well, they'd be a protectorate, and would technically be the kings regent. So, I'd say Governor is a more appropriate title. Or maybe Consul; that has a nice ring to it.

So question, there is a romance tag and the cover picture has Celestia and Gilda, therefore is that the pairing? Because I honestly didn't know I wanted it until I thought about it.

9539027
Governor Gilda. Works for me!

9538332
This is one of the over all story threads that will be covered in this story. Doubly so when they get to a point where Celestia wants one result and Gilda a different.

9538488
Thank you for pointing them out. I'll get them fixed right away.

9538982

(with one exceedingly annoying exception)

Heh, they're family?

Kind of, based on what we've seen/heard in the show there is a relationship. Lets just say that Gruff collects strays.

" keeping your own government and laws as long as they do not violate the third great charter. "

This would be insanely awkward since Ponies and Griffins have such different cultures. For instance, Rabbits are LUNCH, not friends.

Hum... that might make for an interesting minor plot point. I'll see if I can do anything with it, though nothing in the charters outlaws eating meat or hunting non-speaking animals.

Why do I imagine Skychart moved to Griffinstone because he was banished from Equestria, and once Griffinstone is conquered he's going to have to move out of his home, AGAIN.

Luna is going to be wondering that too...

What is the pairing?

9539265
Spoilers ;)

Though, Gilda and Celestia are both my waifus...

9539431

There is a high chance of Gilda ending up with a mare.

Such an interesting idea, you have my attention. Let's see if this goes anywhere or falls to the wayside like so many other stories

It's been a long time since I've been this excited to see where a new story goes.

Interesting. I'm curious to see how well this develop.

9539497
It'd be quite intriguing - and a mighty game changer - if that mare is Celestia.

his silver army slightly dulled

Armor instead of army?

This has a LOT of potential. I really love it so far because I love stories about the Griffon Empire so I am really looking forward to more.

I imagine the experience with the Crystal Empire might HINDER things rather than HELP!

The Crystal Ponies are PONIES, it's like Wales and Britain.
The Crystal Ponies might have some different historical traditions, but at their core they still have the same values as Equestrians. Griffins, do not. Or rather what precious little cultural identity griffins have left with their civilization having collapsed.

It's disturbing the symbol on Gilda's cloak resembles a pawn.

9539812
To a point, as many griffons (say as much as 5% of the population) went to Equestria for school, there is some familiarity with the differences between cultures. And we have seen that griffons can live with ponies. There would still be some culture shock none the less.

As for the Crystal Ponies, Cadence will have some thoughts on that when the time comes.

When it comes to the Pawn... there will be some chess symbolism in the story, starting with the title.

So, who's going to tell Gilda what tends to happen when you have a regent but no one with a claim to the throne itself?

When there is no de jure choice, it is common for de facto to become de jure.

"at the site" should be "at the sight", unless Luna is amused by the location.

"soon the crowd soon parted" - two soon too soon!

Great story. Looking forward to what will happen in the future.

9539027
depends on a great many things, in several monarch based cultures in earths history if a king or heir should become undefinable then the regent is automatically given the throne and it's power.

This has my interest. Political intrigue foisted on one who is not wanting is one of my favorite subgenres. Love the 'Diplomacy For the Strong' fic with Twilight taking over the Griffon Empire(This started before Lost Treasure obviously), and this is shaping up to be quite good on its own right. It moves quick, but that's because it assumes the audience already has some foreknowledge of events, given we're on a MLP fansite, that's not a bad assumption at all to make. Characters work motivation wise, though I'm curious to see how the changelings will tie into this, and if Thorax's brood will be playing any part. Or heck, any of the other 'nations' of the world, as we now have Dragons, Hippogriffs, Yaks, and others.

Heck, are the Hippogriffs going to be part of this in some way? Are they related to the griffons? All things I hope to learn going forward. keep it up, my good wordsmith.

On the one hand, you have commissioned cover art from Silfoe of all people. Super good vibes.
On the other hand there is an error right in the synopsis of all places. Bad vibes.
What to do... what to dooo...

9539843 Ya, especially when the traditional griffon 'Blood and Guts Feast' comes around.

:pinkiecrazy:

And so, Alicorn Gilda happens. :rainbowlaugh:

She could only shake her head at the site.

sight

Off to a great start! Can't wait to read the next chapter. Syke, I don't have to

Excellent setup, I am very eager to how it develops. :pinkiehappy: Celestia working with Gilda is a very interesting match up.

9539912
9539916
9540511

Thank you for posting those out. Got them fixed!

9540390
Point out the errors to the author so he can fix them and get rid of the bad vibes? :)

9540765
Well... I was mostly joking around, but:

She's far more interesting in finishing her new bakery.

Well, Celestia tried to warn her~

Remember kids: Never sign anything without reading it first.

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