Piece of Parchment

by Metemponychosis

Goddess

Discord woke with an echoing laughter in his head. It was strange as Luna was usually on point to rid him of that particular nightmare. Maybe something happened and she was too busy. He had slept in one of the guest rooms of the Jarl’s mansion and it was a nice rustic place with stone walls and heavy glasses and curtains on the windows. He couldn’t say that he appreciated the fur beds, but he had to admit they had their charm, as did the fireplace.

Apparently, the griffons didn’t have the means or chose not to use the temperature regulation spells the ponies used. It made for a much less comfortable bedroom, but he supposed it fit with them and their gruffer selves and the novelty could hold for a while.

He couldn’t say he didn’t like it. The stone floors, the sturdy looking buildings with that ancient feel, but he missed the pony masonry. Too many memories, he supposed.

He sat on his bed with his head bent at an angle and righted it with a crack.

“You know, I happen to be very proficient in all sorts of massages for that.” A female voice said next to him and he looked to see the steel-blue and silver griffoness his hosts had called Gwineth laying on her side right next to him, like a big cat staring at him.

No. He had not drunk that much last night.

“What are you doing here?”

She grinned all prankish at him, making gestures with her paws. “Well, I said that griffonesses were better than mares, so we made a bet and then…”

“At least you have a sense of humor.” He groaned. “What are you really doing here?”

“The Lion said he was going out to hunt for the archlich and asked me to invite you. But you were sleeping, and I just stayed here staring creepily at you.”

“Is that something that young ones do nowadays?”

She grinned even more self-congratulatory. “Only when we like you.”

He rubbed a hand on his head against a small headache when the laughter returned to annoy him. “I’ll meet you guys outside, just as soon as I get rid of this headache.”

She, however, stared at the window with none of her previous grinning. “Did you hear that?”

He paid attention. It wasn’t in his head. “Great…”

First, he tried teleporting. When that failed, he grunted again and followed her outside. The air was chilly and wet, not to mention unpleasant and indeed he was hearing laughter and it was the not good kind he had come to know, but it was the kind he had caused so long ago and that seemed to have returned to haunt him in his dream and then in his waking time.

They went straight to the gatehouse where what seemed like the entire guard complement of the city had gathered next to the old Jarl and to Lord Ironfeathers. They made way and the two of them reached the top of the gatehouse with the griffon girl throwing herself at the battlements while Discord placed himself next to it, close to Gilad.

The sun was barely above the horizon and its beams caused a phantasmagoric light and shadows show against the deep fog to the sound of that unnerving laughter.

“That is no lich.” The Lion said in his deep voice, straining his eyes against the fog and the sunrays that penetrated it. “I have no notion what that thing is.”

Discord couldn’t believe his senses. It had to be some sort of sick joke! A ghost from the past that he had left behind that had come back to haunt him. It indeed wasn’t a lich or any matter of traditional undead monster, but one he had created himself with the intention of upending creation and starting it all over.

He felt her damaged and sick magic much sooner than he actually saw her when the fog started to clear away like the curtains at a theater dedicated to shaming him. Her diseased magic literally reversed the spells that enchanted her armor and the leaf-shaped plates seemed discolored, brittle and ready to fall apart on its own. Her shield and sword were as gone as the color of her coat and mane, and she moved in the most bizarre way, staggering her way towards the gate, and laughing like an insane yellow-eyed hyena. It was simply impossible to identify what her original colors were and somehow that seemed to make the whole thing even worse.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” Gwineth cried next to them. The less incautious could call it a frost zompony, but it was clearly not undead. It merely had the appearance of sickness, not of death and rot.

“There are many frost undead griffons and ponies in the area because of the ancient battlefields and the Windigo magic…” The Jarl said carefully. “But this thing doesn’t look like an undead creature. No wonder it moved around so much.”

“She is a disharmonized pony from centuries upon centuries ago.” Discord explained. But not simply a normal pony. A loyal soldier his magic had turned into a monster to tear away at the sanity of those survivors that did everything to protect their future from his insanity. “She is a battlehorn. A corrupted battlehorn.”

Her kind had fought battles against him in close proximity to the Frozen North in the early days of the end of the world and she was likely from one of the first they had sent. The only explanation he could come up with was that her twisted magic somehow kept her alive and then his presence drew her to that place. Just the amount of time this creature survived was unsettling.

He could undo the damage he caused with a snap of his fingers, but they seemed glued to the cold stone. In another time it would be like a switch to flick and the creature would collapse, free of its mortal coil and whatever damaged magic it retained would follow its natural course and return to its original purity.

It wasn’t so simple in the present. He should have the obligation to free her, since he was the cause of her affliction. But it wasn’t so easy anymore. It would be a mercy, and he didn’t entirely understand the feeling that prevented him from doing it, but he felt like a coward.

The Lion stared discreetly at him, but he still didn’t find the courage to rid that pony of what he had done. Then the Lion jumped off the wall, softened his fall with his wings and started walking towards the battlehorn. Her laughter turned to a high-pitched wailing cackle amalgamated with a dry coughing that was simply unnerving.

“Raise, Snow Mountains. Ancient home of the Children of the Harpy.” He said calmly, but he also projected his voice. What drew Discord’s attention though was that the surrounding magic changed around him. “A foreign invader taints the land with corrupted magic. Heed my blood that its lame magic is undone.”

He had never met Emperor Grigor or any of his descendants and this was completely new to him, but magic swirled around him and flowed into him rather flowing out from the inside like when ponies cast spells, but the end result was the same: it coalesced into a magical effect when a threshold was overcome, and that effect was a magical disruption aura that surrounded him.

The battlehorn silenced and stared with what could only have been a remnant of confusion she could summon from whatever part of her mind still functioned properly enough, and then her horn lit up with magic and conjured a lightning bolt, which was proper counterspell magic, but her own magic didn’t function correctly enough for her to overwhelm his protection . A lightning did strike from her horn with a clap and it made the air smell of thunder.

In her prime a proper spell would’ve summoned lightning from the sky and would’ve turned the black dirty ground to glass and made him into a barbecue, but his spell protected him from any damage. Then the battlehorn summoned a magical version of her typical curved sword and charged with more wheezing laughter.

It wasn’t particularly smart, since he was protected by an anti-spell aura, and the idea that she somehow managed to recognize his protection and cast a proper spell, but at the same time was completely ineffective and then changed to the wrong tactic just made him think of the damage he and time had done to her mind. His fingers squeezed against the cold stone as though they had a life of their own.

He kept watching as the battlehorn charged towards the griffon, who sat and picked his weapon from his back: a long-shafted battle axe. Not particularly fancy, but it had a heavy head and its black metal was adorned with silver inlay of what seemed like runes. Silver being one of the magical conducting metals, it made sense. It soaked in the magic surrounding it and its inlay shone in white light.

“Primal ice from the mountains strike down this monster!” He didn’t have much time, but he seemed to have said enough. Icy claws rose from the ground, like an eagle closing its talons on prey and punctured the brittle armor just before the battlehorn was at striking range. Almost at the same time Gilad stood on his hindlegs and swung his axe upwards.

Discord turned his head, but there were no more cries of pain or insane laughter. The griffons cheered around him and applauded.

“Well, the ‘archlich’ is dealt with.” Gwineth said while Discord saw Gilad returning.

“Area’s monsters should be quieter now.” The Jarl nodded and hummed, then turned to one of his city’s guards. “Open the gate. Don’t make the Lion fly up the battlements.”

They followed the guard, still to the sound of cheering griffons and they met Gilad. “We should leave for Griffindell. Get everything ready for travel, Gwineth.”

She simply nodded and turned to go towards the Horn. Meanwhile the Jarl stayed with them. “Will you at least allow the populace to see you off?”

“A small affair. It is important that I escort the Lord of Chaos to Griffinsky without much delay.”

“Fair enough. If you excuse me, then.” He left Discord alone with Gilad and they said nothing for a while.

“Thank you.”

***

Cadance did get her drink. At first Applejack offered her some apple cider she had brought, but the way the princess stared at her convinced that offering it might not have been a good idea. Instead one of Twilight’s crewponies offered Cadance a shot of marula liquor from the Zebra lands. She gratefully accepted the bottle.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too early when she woke up and she’d been able to take a second to appreciate the sunrise. Celestia had just raised it and she remembered to appreciate that warm feeling that ponies took for granted and that made them forget the insanely powerful magic that thing radiated. Yes, she was pissed, but she still appreciated it.

She sat at a cute round table the crewponies brought from the underdeck, wearing sunglasses and a helpful pegasus crewpony massaged her shoulders. Ah… Relaxation for once. Then she took another shot of that fruity, caramel-ish drink and inhaled calmly with a smile.

In front of her Flurry Heart sat on the table and stared intensely at her.

“You are judging me, aren’t you?” She asked the baby staring at her through the sunglasses.

“u bether be dam shuwe i am!” Flurry shot back at her.

“Well, stop that! You can live with a few meals of formula and mashed apples.” She served herself another shot from the bottle and held it in her magic. “Mommy’s been through some really rough times.”

“oh, boowoo! Mommy ish been thwough some weawwy wough times…” Her baby mocked her waving her head from one side to the other and then started counting by clopping her little hoof on the table. “u took me to fwom wome, took me to scawy changewing nest, ponynapped me to go on Twiwight’s aiwship, went away fow a wong time, jumped off the aiwship with auntie Twiwight, and now you scawed me with scawy scweaming!”

“Hey! You said you were fine in Chrysalis’ nursery.”

“Yow awe my mothew! Yow have to take cawe of me! Not othew way awound!”

“I do! Would you rather I left you home with Miss Calcite to drink that formula you hate every day?”

“I wanna be with gwanny Cewestia! She gives the bestest toys evew!”

“Well, Princess Celestia isn’t your granny. She’s your auntie, because she adopted me as her niece instead of her daughter. Do you think that made me happy? And, you know what else? She’s lied to mommy! She hid a lot of important things about mommy. You should be angry with her, not with me. With her and with Princess Luna! They are both big evil baddies that don’t want mommy to be too important! Do you really think they’ll be any better to you?”

Twilight and Shining Armor stared from a safe distance next to their friends. From the door to the private room while the baby raised her little hooves and made some baby noises they didn’t understand.

“Oh, do you now?” Cadance spoke back to her. “You bet she will! She’ll stick you to some cold end of the world city and the newspapers will say that ‘conveniently, a city just materialized out of nowhere to get the Princess’ niece a public paying job’. Yeah… Right. Ponies used to give me gifts so that I would grant them Love. And here is more! I bet my hoof Princess Celestia has no idea how to take proper care of a baby! Pfff… Who cares she can raise the sun and rule all of Equestria! I bet she’s never changed a diaper in her life! But, oh! I bet that if you were Twilight, you would’ve been given the whooooole world to rule! But do you know what I can do? Mommy can give you all the stallions and mares you will ever want when you are old enough to understand why mommy and daddy make noises at night. Nopony else can do that for you!”

“This is scaring me!” Shining Armor stared at the two having their conversation.

His sister grimaced and looked at Starlight Glimmer. “Please say this is normal…”

“It looks like some sort of bizarre coping mechanism.” She said with a hoof on her chin and narrow eyes.

“She’s plumb crazy, is what this looks like.” Applejack interjected.

“You should talk to her, Twilight.” Rarity said from behind. “She seems to have discovered some important things in that dream of hers that seem to be bothering her.”

“I think Cadance needs some distance, Rarity. She’s really not very friendly right now.”

“She is talking to a baby! About forcing ponies to be in love with her.” Applejack reminded them. “Princess Cadance doesn’t need some distance. She needs a straight jacket.”

“Actually, I’m a little scared too!”

“Take Shining Armor! He’s married to her.” Rarity retorted anxiously. “We have to do something! This doesn’t look healthy at all!”

By then Cadance and the baby hugged each other over the table and had started crying. Rarity winced and gestured for the two to do something.

“Alright! Fine! I’ll go talk to her.” He finally started walking and Twilight followed closely up to the table.

He cleared his throat, looking at the pair hugging and crying in Twilight’s airship, in the middle of this whole mess they found themselves in. For a second, he wondered where it all had gone wrong. But he was stuck loving his career, his sister, his wife and daughter, all of which seemed to be somewhat crazy in that exact moment.

“So, uh…. You girls understanding each other?” He grinned as friendly as he could, given the situation.

Cadance sniffed and raised her head. “Yes. Flurry Heart is right. I need to mare up and talk to you guys about the dream. It wasn’t so bad.”

“I’m glad she made you see the light.” Twilight laughed awkwardly. “You sure you don’t need to sleep for a bit? Or eat anything?”

The other sighed. “No. It’s important stuff. You better get something to write and gather the others.”

Meanwhile Flurry Heart sucked on her little hoof.

***

Celestia sat at her throne, but not the one in the Hall of Friendship. That place was closed for the day, fortunately, as the griffon senators had more important things to do rather than bore her and the rest of Equestria with another speech about how great or evil was the Lion.

That morning she occupied her throne in her wing of Canterlot Palace. A little more modest, even if it sat at the top of a few steps, it was meant for her to receive her subjects and help them deal with their day to day problems, and thus make them feel welcomed, not project her power, something, something she didn’t care about. Her throne room had the nice stained glass mosaics and it was little more than a long room with her throne in the end with the white and red curtains hiding the wall behind.

To her left, by the steps was Miss Raven Inkwell with her book, taking notes of the meeting and in front of her was Madam Justiciar Golden Rule talking to her nephew Blueblood who sat in front of her throne and before the Justiciar.

“My goodness auntie.” He scratched at his mane in a most unbecoming way for him that indicated he really was nervous. “I simply don’t know what to say!”

“To think that Lord Stalwart Star would be implicated with something of that sort is appalling! I feel somewhat morally…” He stopped for a second and coughed. “But not legally… Responsible for this whole situation! To think that your highness was forced into such an awful situation and saw yourself forced to intervene! I feel awful!”

“It is important to remember that your name wasn’t mentioned in the letters or in Lord Star’s interrogation. Much less by the ponies involved in the attempt to whisk him away.” Golden Rule said.

“I merely called you here because I thought that I should inform you personally.” Celestia added. “Your administration will be notified by the Royal Court and you will need to replace some of your officials, at least temporarily, as they cannot be involved in the investigation and actively occupy their positions.”

“Absolutely. There is no place for the sort of thing that Lord Star was involved within our midst!” He raised his muzzle in the most aggrieved way imaginable. “Rest assured that I will personally lead an internal investigation on these affairs. This sort of sedition should be unthinkable in our fair world, much less in the royal city of Canterlot!”

“Then, if we are understood, that would be all, nephew.” Celestia told him and he responded with a deep but courteous bow, then left. Golden Rule waited for a few seconds after he had left before she talked to the princess.

“Huh… We did call him to see how he would react…” Golden Rule looked over her own notes. “Did you think he seemed a little too solicitous?”

Celestia shook her head slowly. “It’s his flamboyant way of doing everything. I didn’t think that he would be involved. It would be too obvious of a scapegoat, and it is glaring that the presence of the griffon assassin is a sign that the money went to fund the Lion’s new airships and weapons. Not somewhere within Canterlot County Administration.”

“We are dealing with someone that really knows what they are doing, aren’t we?” Golden looked up at her. “Not just some moronic overly rich plothole that wants to be richer.”

“We’ve been watching all the movement of resources along the northern regions of Griffonia so closely, but we haven’t seen anything. I imagine that if the Lion is to blame, he has a very resourceful agent infiltrated in the Griffonian administration…” Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof. “Very discreetly start an investigation on the movement of resources within Griffonia. Use your talent for unearthing the unusual and keep to your most trusted team. Anything going into Snow Mountains is likely to be going undercover through conventional means, but it is also possible that clandestine lines could take resources from Mount Aris or Saddle Arabia.”

The unicorn covered her eyes with a leg and grunted. “Ugh. This is going to be a pain!”

Celestia smiled. “Still, I trust your ability, Golden Rule.”

“This is strange, though. By the way that…” She took a quick look at her notes. “Schlick talked, I was sure there be would ponies that wanted you ousted and that is why they would help the Lion. Number one candidate with you and Luna gone would be the Archduke. Or Princess Cadance.”

“We’re dealing with someone very resourceful and crafty, Golden Rule.” Celestia agreed. “It’s likely that they wouldn’t involve him until all the risk was removed and taking the throne would be too easy and tempting for him to resist. And then control him like a puppet.”

The Justiciar rose an eyebrow. “Are you aware that this could be Cadance’s doing? Or even Twilight’s or Luna’s doing? Heck. It could be the Prince-Consort.”

“I am aware.” Celestia nodded again. “But I doubt it.”

Golden Rule simply hummed to herself, and sensing the meeting with the justiciar was over, Miss Inkwell looked up the next meeting in her records, but Golden Rule wasn’t done yet.

“Princess, may I ask you something?”

“Absolutely.”

“I went to the Changeling Rock and spoke to the Queen’s Librarian… Princesses Twilight and Cadance seem to have found something peculiar about our astronomical records. The changeling told me that they were investigating irregularities with our historical records. Something seemed to have distressed Princess Twilight and that is why she went to have a conversation with Queen Chrysalis. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to reach her, but in Ponyville the militiaponies told me that the princesses had something of a disagreement with you...” She rose one of her pink eyebrows. “Is there something you would like to tell me? Because even if they are plotting against you… That doesn’t mean that they aren’t right in something.”

“Yes. I do want to tell you something.” She glared from her throne. “Please don’t distract yourself from your investigation.”

“Hmmmmm….” Golden Rule thought that Celestia always looked too cute when she glowered like that, but she frowned and stared at the princess with marked intensity.

“Well then, might there be anything you wish to tell me, Madam Justiciar?”

Raven’s jaw dropped a little while looked at one and another as though they were two duelists in one of those Appleloosan theather pieces.

“Hmmmmm…. Nope!” She grinned extra happy. “I’m good! I’ll see you later, Princess!”

She simply turned and pranced out the door, humming a little song.

“You know, you are supposed to wait for me to dismiss you.” The princess pouted. “Who would be next, Miss Inkwell?”

“Princess Luna wants to see you.”

“Luna?” That surprised her. “She should be in the Bordello taking care of Chrysalis. And she’s not supposed to queue to see me! Goodness, please send her in, Solar!”

The guard by the door called to Luna and she came inside. Celestia frowned. “Luna, you’re not supposed to wait in line to talk to me!”

“I know! I was trying to figure out the best way to tell you this… So, I took the extra time, but I still don’t know how to make this sound good. Therefore, I am simply going to say it!” She inhaled deeply. “Cadance found a way into the Palace of the Self and started freaking out so I had to unlock some of her memories, or her brain would turn to jelly!”

“Oh, no! What memories?! Is Cadance well?! Are you hurt?”

Raven recoiled a bit with a raised hoof, surprised. She expected the princess to be angry, given how apprehensive Luna seemed to be, but instead she looked worried sick. On one hoof it was nice that she had that level of trust on her, not to asking her to leave. Not that Raven understood it at all… But seeing the princesses acting like that was never a good thing.

“I don’t know for sure! Luna rubbed the bridge of her muzzle with a hoof. “I didn’t have a chance of seeing what damage it has caused yet! I need her to go to sleep, but I think she is reasonably healthy because I left Tantabus and she hasn’t told me of any problems yet!”

“I’m terribly sorry, sister!” Luna went on. “I did everything I could, but Cadance was relentless and I was scared. I was worried she’d hurt herself in the process and I wouldn’t be able to help. Nothing like that has ever happened before!”

“Calm down, Luna. It’s not your fault. “Celestia sighed and put a hoof on her forehead. “I can’t believe this! Now, of all times! How did it happen?”

“I caught her in a nightmare and dealt with it, but it kept repeating and that was when I saw it! I cleared everything away, but she was fixated on that memory that was causing her a lot of grief, and then I tried finding the problem, but it turned out that she’s been seeing those things about Emperor Grigor with Twilight and that messed the whole thing up because a of conversation about the Harpy made her recall memories from that time! You know! Before Discord!”

“The Harpy?!” Celestia almost screamed. “No! This is awful! Who even told her about the Harpy?”

“Yes… It’s… It’s a mess. You better talk to Sunburst and Twilight’s librarian that are waiting to see you. You’ll understand… They are involved.”

“Luna, I destroyed the Harpy. I destroyed everything there was about her. It is simply not possible that she is even known anymore.”

“Well, you’ll be surprised. And probably angry.” Luna said plainly. “Just talk to them.”

“We’ll deal with this. Cadance is more important.” Celestia sighed again, eyes turned downward and with her ears flopped on the sides of her head. “So, it’s began. We feared that would happen. It’s not that bad. We can deal with that too. It is just a shame it had to happen in this way, before we were better prepared. What about Chrysalis?”

“I had to leave her to come here. But she knows the plan… She’ll be waiting for us in the Break of Dawn come the right time. I told her where she’ll be, and she should find it.”

“Good. I want to finish this as soon as we can so we can leave. Now would be an excellent time to get Twilight and Cadance under control. With some luck we can intercept the griffon airship and then deal with them without they ever coming in contact.”

“So, I guess I’ll wait for you and we can go together to Chrysalis or to the Break of Dawn? I mean, she could try something naughty. We do know that she was originally intending to help Discord help Twilight and Cadance reach Manehattan.”

“Sounds good!” Celestia smiled and then tapped on the side seat of the throne with a hoof and Luna took her place there.

“Very well…” Raven adjusted her glasses. “Next on the list would be Corporal Spear with Mister Sunburst and Misses Gerdie and Goodread, along with evidence confiscated in Haybale.

“Yes. Please let them in.” Celestia told the guard by the door and he gestured for them to enter the room.

She was glad none of them seemed to have caused problems since they weren’t wearing any sort of restrictive measures or were accompanied by additional guards. Only the one guard, Long Spear that brought a cart with a stone tablet and a letter encased in protective crystal, as Chocolate’s letter had mentioned.

Why in Tartarus did parents give names such as Long Spear to a newborn male foal was beyond her. Maybe her mind has been a little dirtier since she and Luna started dating their consort… She shook the thoughts out of her head when they stopped by the steps.

“Princess, these are Mister Sunburst, Miss Goodread and Miss Gerdie.” Spear said. “They were with princesses Twilight Sparkle and Cadance when we stormed their meeting place in Haybale. Also, as planned, Prince Chocolate Velvet was taken prisoner by the griffons.”

The white and blue earth pony in armor pointed at the cart. “They had these artifacts with them. Miss Gerdie insisted they were invaluable so we were as careful as we could afford with them. They do seem to be quite old.”

“Wait!” Sunburst blurted out. “The Prince was captured by griffons?”

“Yes.” Celestia said coldly. “So that they wouldn’t take you or the princesses. You didn’t know, but Twilight’s airship was being tracked by a griffon warship that teleported into Baltimare.”

Given the tone of her response, he decided to shut his mouth while she stepped down from her throne and walked to the cart to pick up the letter in her telekinetic magic, then proceeded to reading it. Luna bent a little to the side to see it too, but she was too far.

“Does it jog your memory, Princess?” Gerdie gave her the most complacent of grins she’s ever seen in a griffon’s beak. If she didn’t strike the princess as one of the good griffons she might have thought that Miss Gerdie would be the kind for which she harbored… Intense disappointment.

“This is a forgery.” She said plainly, not taking her eyes off the letter yet.

“My feathers it is.” The grin vanished from the small griffon’s face and Sunburst and Goodread started worrying. Luna just hid her muzzle and tried not to laugh. “The information on the letter Princess Cadance found corroborates this. It confirms that a griffon army invaded Equestria. Something the princesses are adamant you hid from our historical records. That Equestria was under the rulership of the Brightmane family, associated with the Bluebloods, both families from that time, and you and your sister were not made rulers when you arrived… From Tartarus knows where. And that the Sun was doing weird things. It speaks of Emperor Grigor and of an entity called the Harpy. All of that never mentioned in griffon History or equestrian History.”

She sat and crossed her eagle forelegs. “Why don’t you start from there, Princess? Tell us where you are from and then move on to what you are hiding.”

Luna simply stared while Celestia still looked at the letter. She knew that her elder sister was probably reminiscing on something painful, but she had to suppress a laugh at the old little griffon lady’s nerve at talking like that to Celestia. Not that Celestia might be angry or do something, Luna knew better, but most creatures in the world would never talk to her like that.

“Excuse-me, Miss Gerdie. I wasn’t aware that I was being interrogated by the highest authority there is in our world. Where are my manners?” The griffoness blinked a few times when she remembered who she was talking to. Celestia though was fed up with that whole mess. She looked up to the ceiling and sighed, letting the letter go on the cart. It was all so tiresome. And Raven knew that when Princess Celestia looked tired things were bad. Luna was a bit surprised, though, and raised an eyebrow at the scene.

“The only problem we face today, Miss Gerdie is also an ancient one. It is that the world is full of creatures that are incapable of being satisfied with what they have. Instead of living happy lives in a perfect world that caters to their every need, they must seek more than they need and in such they make it impossible for others to do just that.” She looked back at the griffon and the two ponies next to the guard. “You could live in a perfect world where you would have a job that fulfilled you and then access to nourishment, health and entertainment, but some creatures have always wanted more. They didn’t trust the others, so they must have enough to sustain then when the inevitable betrayal would come. They didn’t trust the others to do their part, so they wanted those that did to do more so that they wouldn’t be left without theirs.”

“I have lived for millennia and I still don’t understand why we are like that. Maybe the problem is free will. Or that we are all inherently cowards. Or both. Or even further, it is possible that it was intended to be this way. I did everything in my power to change that, but I failed. I meant it to be a perfect world, but alas, my intentions didn’t matter to the greater plan.”

“What are you talking about, Princess?” Sunburst paid attention, even if the princess seemed to be rambling. She moved on, however.

“It was selfishness that brought the Windigos to our world. It grew into discontentment and distrust that broke the trust among the Three Tribes and that made them stop working in harmony. Then the griffons didn’t trust the ponies anymore because they had brought the everlasting winter to their lands. Then the yak didn’t trust this ‘weird pony magic’. The dragons stopped trusting the ponies and so did the Kirin and the hippogriff. And so on until Discord came too. We don’t seem to ever learn that lesson.”

“But worse, nopony… Nobody wanted to go back to the way things were. Because that trust was irreparably broken. And that gave space for the likes of Emperor Grigor, who insisted that the griffons ought to retain their own kingdom and that was fine, but he also believed that it was their mandate to subjugate all the races of the world, and as such, they thought that they didn’t need to heed the laws of other nations. Do you know why they thought like that?”

Gerdie shook her head slowly.

“Because the Harpy told him. The more even-headed griffons were horrified with the ideas that seemed to grow out of Grigor’s relationship with the Harpy.” She pointed at the stone tablet and her voice rose just a tiny bit. “I thought that I ordered the entire temple destroyed, but it seems that some griffon wanted to have more than he needed! I hope they got a good money from this piece, or at least that they were happy with themselves.”

Sunburst and Goodread kept their mouths shut because the Princess seemed to be upset, and that was an understatement. But Luna seemed worried and Gerdie got a little more than angry.

“How can you say this?! They loved the Harpy. Didn’t you think that the griffons would want to have their own version of what the ponies have in you? Even if she was mean and gave the Emperor bad ideas. What if this was a memento? Something to remember her by? It is not possible that all of them agreed with these ideas but doesn’t mean that they didn’t like her either. At least I can say that she let the griffons rule themselves!”

Luna grimaced at her seat and frantically gestured at Miss Gerdie to shut her beak. Fortunately, the Celestia’s near infinite patience was still going strong.

“You are very naïve, Miss gerdie. You were born in a world that permitted that you would believe such things about a creature such as Grigor. And I suppose you could compare me with the Harpy… Even if for reasons you don’t know. But I have never commanded my ponies to hunt and take away the freedom of other creatures, treat them like animals while laughing and saying that their blood was too sweet.” Gerdie gasped and Celestia went on. “Or did you think that your Grigor and his friends saw difference between buffalos, deer, caribou or ponies and yaks? They were all hooved beasts to them. Inferior beasts made to be subjugated and torn apart for food. When anyone questioned their behavior, they were called inferior and weak, ostracized from society. Why else did you think that your ancestors wanted to forget everything about him and the Harpy?”

“But.” Gerdie restrained herself. “They built a giant temple to her…”

“It was a giant waste of a building made of black stone and iron, with songs engraved on the walls about all the greatness of your race, all around the shrine with the stone table in front of white and black curtains where a priestess of the harpy would carve out the heart of the sacrifice and leave it there for her in a golden plate. Hardly anything worthy of being remembered by a civilized society.” She returned to her throne. “But if you must hear it, when I went there and opened the curtains, there was nothing inside. It was an empty room with nothing more than dust. She was nothing more than disgusting ideas and an excuse to accept them. And if I had found something inside, at the time, I wouldn’t have hesitated a heartbeat before destroying her.”

“King Grover knew that his time was limited, and he made me promise I would never let the griffons fall that far again. And it took me centuries before I managed to rebuild Equestria because of that very same way of thinking. It hurt me and my sister in ways you cannot understand. The same evil, from the same root. Selfishness.”

Celestia’s voice shifted a little. “I don’t claim to be perfect, Miss Gerdie, but I know what is best for your kind and it lies as far away from the Harpy as possible. I have nightmares enough thinking that the Lion is dabbling into that already, perhaps not understanding all that she represented and I have, more than once, woke up, shaking in sweat at the thought that we might have another war where griffons turned to violent and insensitive monsters that would delight in reaping the lives of those who were once their friends to cut them in pieces and serve them in their feasts.”

“And that is all you need to know about the Harpy and Grigor. Because the Harpy does not exist and Grigor has been dead for millennia.” Celestia scowled a little. “Now, I want you to tell me why is it that the Lion has sent you to draw Twilight and Cadance to Haybale and gave you these things to show them. Is it because he seeks legitimacy to his rule in the myth of the Harpy? How much does he know of the Harpy? What exactly does he intend with Twilight and Cadance?”

“Princess, he didn’t send me.” She retreated a step, confused at the accusation.

Sunburst raised a concerned hoof. “We found Miss Gerdie reading about King Sombra in the Crystal Empire. The palace’s library.”

Celestia frowned. “It is too much coincidence that a griffon airship under his son’s command hijacked a teleporter in Baltimare and then set course to Haybale instead of chasing an airship tasked with apprehending the princesses that he wants to reach. Why did you go to the Crystal Empire at the precise time to find Twilight’s friends that knew she looked for information about Emperor Grigor, something you shouldn’t even know about to begin with?”

“I know about Emperor Grigor because my family is from Snow Mountains… I was going to be a Loremaster! But we moved out when my father got a job at Thunderpeak, as curator of the Grand Museum of Griffon History. He suggested to me that I went to the Crystal Empire. He knew I was looking for information regarding the Emperor and mentioned the letter the princesses found.”

“I feel like we should pay him a visit, sister.” Luna Said seriously. “I don’t think that he could have heard about it by licit means in such short time. Chrysalis told nopony and after this I am more than inclined to believe that the letter that Cadance found came from him.”

“Princess. Please. My father is just an old curator for the museum!” Gerdie was on the verge of tears with the idea that she may have put her father in danger. “He is very old!”

“Miss Gerdie, I guarantee that we will not harm your father in any way.” Celestia spoke softly again. “But we must question him. Kindly cooperate with the Royal Guard, along with your companions and do not try to leave Canterlot. Corporal Spear will accommodate you on a hotel.”

“Yes, princess. Absolutely.” She joined her paws together and nodded with the two ponies.

Then Celestia turned to Luna. “Did you ever manage to look into Chrysalis’s children?”

“The Praetorians?” Luna’s ears perked up. “Well, no. They’re too scared of me yet.”

“I see. Since you are here, please go to the museum at Thunderpeak and talk to the curator. See if our suspicions are founded. I should go to the Bordello since I don’t want to leave Chrysalis unsupervised for too long. I doubt she’s given up in getting in our way as Discord’s asked her, and as much as she can say that she is not interested, I know that is not true and she will try to gain any advantages she can with this situation. It is also about time I met ‘her children’.”

“Don’t worry Miss Gerdie! I’ll make sure that your father is not hurt in any way!” Luna proclaimed triumphantly and then frowned a little. “While investigating the museum… But the point is that he will not be harmed!”

Celestia giggled. “Get moving Luna. We don’t want to lose the opportunity.”

***

Seven big and bored changelings laid about in one of the many and luxurious rooms in the Bordello of Candy. They were on the bed. On the couch. One of them was strewn head down and legs up on the reading chair. One laid on a rustic looking wool rug, like a giant dog on his side and another laid belly up on the desk.

Suddenly the one on the table raised his head. “Oy. I think they forgot about us!”

Noling answered, and noling seemed to care, so he simply let his head hang from the side of the table again. Then he wiggled his legs about. “I know! Let’s play a game! I spy, with my little eye…”

He quickly scanned the room and found a pretty ball made with red satin and gold on the mantlepiece. “Something that begins with a B!”

“It’s a bloody idiot that needs to shut the hell up!” The big female growled from the bed.

He grumbled and let his head hang again. “Why are you always so mean?”

“Because I have to live with you morons! Mother is probably furious because you fuckwads ruined our defense in the siege!”

“It was all because Luna’s thestrals didn’t take the fight seriously!” Another complained. “We could’ve won if they had taken it seriously!”

After that there was some silence again. Until another spoke, the one laying on his side. “My hoof is tingling again.”

“Yeah, thanks for the update, mate. Warn us again when it falls off already.”

A little bit more of silence until the one upside down on the chair covered her face with her hooves and whined. “She’s probably gonna recycle us!”

Then someone fiddled with the lock on the door. “AAH! It’s the Reclaimer!”

Myrmirex, the Queen’s secretary opened the door and stared inside. “I wish… Bossy, the Queen wants these morons ready for combat. Your weapons are in the armory and your lieutenants are already gathering the others. Cadance’s ponies will help. Get everyling assembled in the yard and we will teleport in one hour.”

The big female on the bed turned on her belly and saluted with a hoof (while laying on her belly in the bed). “Understood! Right then! Get moving!”

They obeyed without a peep and she followed them out the door.

On the other side of the mirror Chrysalis sat next to Celestia and she realized that she had somehow failed to come up with a flattering way of presenting her ‘children’ to Celestia so that she wouldn’t be too angry and in the end she might as well have not even bothered. The truth is that there was never a way of doing that without it looking bad.

She had told Celestia all that she could about them, how they came to be and all the bad things that she shouldn’t have done. It was a bit painful to go through it all again after she had done so with Luna, but she supposed that she owed that to them. At the moment, she looked at Celestia and she simply stared at them through the mirror in silence and it was creeping the hell out of Chrysalis. She felt like a foal whose mother had just found out she had done something terribly dumb and wrong, and her mind was quickly browsing through all the punishments she would inflict upon herself if she was in Celestia’s place.

Celestia, meanwhile, had two things in her mind. First, the fact that Cadance had put a room with a two way mirror in her Bordello of Candy that was frequently visited by some of the richest members of nobility of the world and that it was meant to be used by said members of nobility. Willingly. And she had thought that she, wrapping up her tail and wearing a sexy saddle and jewelry was too lascivious. Apparently, that was too normal those days.

Regardless…

“What is this ‘Reclaimer’, Chrysalis?” Celestia asked turning to her.

“Beats me!” The Queen shook her head. “She’s had this fixed idea that I’m going to recycle them for some time now. Whatever that means. And she’s come up with this ‘Reclaimer’ Cerberus knows from where! Luna thinks it’s some object she’s associated with their cycle of dying and taking over another body that’s taken a monstrous proportion inside her head.”

“Luna has taught me that this is the sort of thing that happens when ponies have nightmares that go unattended. Maybe she can help with this when we finally have some time.”

“Before that you shouldn’t take them with us.” Celestia added. “But I suppose that if you left them behind that would only distress them further. They also didn’t realize that the fight was a mock battle?”

“No, they did. What they didn’t realize was that they were supposed to lose.” She sighed. “If I tell them the simplest of commands, they turn it into some epic quest for my honor. Most of the time they are quite competent too.”

“Have you told them that?” Celestia asked.

“What?”

“That you think that are dedicated and that they are competent at their job.”

Chrysalis simply blinked as though Celestia had told her an impossibility and the princess stared blankly at her for a few seconds. “Have you ever told them that you at least appreciate their efforts and that you won’t recycle them? Whatever they mean by the word, it won’t happen. Have you told them that?”

Chrysalis’ eyes shifted to the side. She babbled something incomprehensible. “It is possible that I could, maybe, have been more explicit in that.”

Celestia beamed, despite her cynical way. “I can guarantee you that the others are afraid too, even if they don’t say it. And if you expressed more openly to them that you love them, that you don’t plan on ‘recycling’ them. That would make them calmer and more confident. More stable. And that would make Luna’s job easier.”

“It can’t be that simple!” Chrysalis’s wings flared open and buzzed.

“But it is!” The alicorn grinned again, more playful. “You don’t have to believe me! You can try it yourself! In a lot of ways, they are like foals, Chrysalis. And foals respond wonderfully to positive feedback!”

“Can you… Can you help me?” Her ears folded down and her crown flattened a bit. It was one of the cutest things Celestia had ever seen associated with the changeling queen. “I’m not very good in that sort of thing.”

“It would be my pleasure!” Celestia put a hoof on her chest and proclaimed all cheerfulness. “But it has to be something genuine and reasonable.”

Then she put her hoof on Chrysalis’ chest. “That comes from here.”

“You’re losing me, Celestia.”

“I’ll tell you what to tell them when it is time.” She matched Chrysalis blank expression. “Let’s get ready to teleport. Luna will be joining us soon.”

***

Chocolate Velvet felt a strange and rather comical combination of humiliation and anger. They put an inhibitor ring on his horn and then actually tied him with ropes and carried him like he was a box or something. Seriously, the things he did for his princesses. Even the ones that weren’t ‘his’.

Then he was sure the airship was hiding inside a cloud with a high degree of certainty because they flew through one and soon after they threw him on a hard, metallic floor full of ‘metallic sounds’ and smells everywhere. To be honest, if he didn’t know what he was doing he would be very scared. Instead, he is giddy at the thought of how much these griffons are screwing up. He’d gladly take a few bumps to the head and be dropped a couple of times for that.

Since he was blindfolded, he didn’t get to see much of the griffon airship and all he could really gather was that it was big, noisy, radiated weird magic, smelled of wet cat and metal, and finally was full of jerks. The big griffon that was in command walked him somewhere and shoved him inside a cubicle he assumed was a jail cell, by the sound it made when he locked it.

The griffon said nothing, so he simply stood there, waiting. Until he was fed up and pulled out the blindfold to see that he was indeed in a small cell with a mattress for bed and a bucket. On the other side were the bars with a door. A simple lock and beyond it was what seemed to him as a medical room. It had a single bed, cabinets and tables with all sorts of ‘medical stuff’. Or a torture room. That wouldn’t surprise him. It had no windows, and a single door on each side of the room. All metallic, with exposed girders except for a few panels that likely protected wiring and pipes. So different from the typical pony designs. Or they didn’t have the time to finish the whole thing, which was also possible. It had the same kind of magical lights the ponies used, and he didn’t like the way the whole structure vibrated. With the weird magical radiation, it made him think that the magical engines didn’t quite work right.

In a way, the whole thing made him think of a submarine.

He stood there for hours until another griffon came in on of the doors. “Greetings your highness!”

A light gray and white griffon of slim build and icy blue eyes. Someone locked the door from the outside with a wheel and he stopped before the bars with a superior smile. “Pleased to meet you. My name is Garvie and I am Master Grigory’s friend and personal physician. I am here to ensure that you are not too injured if you don’t mind.”

“Hi, Garvie. I’m Chocolate Velvet and I am here to tell your friend all the ways he fucked up.” He replied with a huge smile. “Could you call him, please?”

The griffon laughed a bit. “I’m afraid it won’t be possible. Grigory is not available at the moment. But do you need anything?”

“Yes. A ratatouille with extra garlic and a bottle of Solar Sangreal. A white chocolate petit gateau with lemon filling for dessert, please. Ah… Garlic bread for appetizer if it is not too much to ask.”

“I’ll ask someone to bring you a bunch of hay if they’re not too busy.” He said plainly. “And you don’t look too hurt. So, I guess I’ll see you later.”

The griffon left and Chocolate Velvet was alone in the room. It was stupid, but he still had fun pissing off the griffon. That done, he decided to relax, but instead of laying in the mattress, he sat in the deep wall and rested his back on it and let his mind relax.

No dreams, no Luna visiting. Nothing but oblivion.

He woke up when the door grated. He put his front hooves on the floor and stared while two griffons entered. A yellow female, curiously wearing some sort of lab coat and a purple and mustard male he recognized as probably being Grigory. After them came the big griffon that commanded those soldiers back in Haybale, and also Garvie.

“Garv, where is my ratatouille? I’m giving you guys a really bad review.”

They stopped in front of his cell and the doctor griffon spoke. “He has a bit of a sense of humor. I am just not sure if it is good or bad.”

“Greetings Prince Chocolate Velvet. My friend disappointed me by bringing you instead of the princesses I asked him to bring.” Grigory said. “Kindly explain that to me.”

“Nice meeting you Grigory.” Chocolate told him as casual as was possible. “Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you, but Princess Celestia would really appreciate it if you didn’t bother Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Cadance.”

“I wasn’t aware that the princesses owed such deference to Celestia as to the point that they could not talk to me without her permission.”

“Well, you kind of worried the Princess when you hijacked a teleporter facility and teleported a warship through it…” He said casually. “I mean, does your dad know you took his airship out?”

“Let me test the magic disruptor on him, Grigory.” His yellow and white girl friend snarled, but he rose his paw and silenced her.

“My intention was inviting the Princesses to tour an important archaeological site that might be relevant to their research. But you have provided me with a better opportunity: I am willing to wager that Princess Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t hesitate before trading herself in for my present prisoner. This way it should be easier to ensure she reaches her intended destination.”

“Twilight isn’t stupid.”

“No! She is noble and selfless. And that is precisely why she should agree to the exchange.” The griffon explained calmly. “I am, of course, not going to bore you with the details of the reasons, but I can assure you that the Princess will not be harmed.”

“I’m gonna be a nice guy and tell you that you’re digging your own grave. I don’t care how much you think that things are going your way, there is going to be a lot of rain in your parade if you don’t wise up. And most important, this is going to splash on your father and on his future crown.”

“Did Celestia send you here just to tell me that?” The young griffon wasn’t amused.

“No.” Chocolate answered earnestly. “She sent me here to protect Twilight and Cadance from your dumbass mucking up the scene for everyone. That piece of advice was on me.”

“With all due respect, your highness. I don’t remember asking your advice. Soon we will be in position to intercept Twilight’s airship and I trust in my friends and in my soldiers. After we have succeeded, you will likely be in jail with your princesses, if not worse, when the Hall of Friendship hears of all she’s done. We should see you again when I have the princess.”

He turned with his friends and left. Chocolate was bored. At least he tried saving this griffon the shame. What an idiot.

***

Gabriel was an old griffon by most standards and it showed in his whitening gray head and darker coat, but his life of spartan restraint has earned him a healthy body and mind in his old years while most of his contemporary were feeble-minded and lame bodied. The way he saw it there wouldn’t be much his servitude would be good for if he was incapable of serving. And he did serve for a good long time watching over what remained of their history. The last in a long line of servants dedicated from keeping their past alive against the Matriarch.

He had hoped he could pass on the mantle to his daughter, and he had already began preparing her, but it seemed he had suddenly run out of time. He was prepared for such an event, but he had hoped for an actual ceremony with his brothers and sisters under Her eyes.

Well, life was hardly perfect.

From his office’s window in the second floor he could see the Princess of the Night entering the museum grounds with his two assistants, the young Mister Gund and Miss Geanna chasing her and whining at her like two infants instead of actually doing something effective. Incompetent morons. If only they had warned him instead of pleading with her, they could have bought him some usable time.

She walked the gray stone floor like she owned the place, with her wings in display, trailed by two of her guards while two stayed at the outer gate.

“We are closed to visitors!” The blue and white Gund complained from her left.

“Princess! This is private property!” Geanna mewled on by her right. “You can’t simply walk into it uninvited!”

“Funny thing about that!” Luna said without stopping and sounding all happy. “I used to think that too but turns out that I can! Not to mention that I had never been to a griffon museum!”

Taking on the short steps to the main entrance of the building, she disappeared under the balcony and Gabriel turned to his large desk. He opened the first drawer and retrieved his revolver from it. Of typical griffon make it was a spartan thing with barely an adornment and five high caliber rounds already in its cylinder.

Five high caliber, rune-engraved, magic disrupting bullets meant to kill a goddess.

He opened the cylinder and checked the gun was indeed loaded but he didn’t take long and hid it under his left wing, walking towards the door on the right wall of his office. He opened it and walked inside a dark room with several antique artifacts, mostly pieces of scrolls and paper documents about those artifacts. Important pieces of their past and his observations on them, one of the many places where his brethren hid what pieces of their past they managed to hide from the Matriarch. But the most important was the center piece of his collection: a giant statue made of black onyx sitting on the middle of the room and staring down at the entrance. A giant griffoness with her wings stretched upwards and laying on her stomach.

He hid behind one of the wood and glass stands with his back to it, weapon raised. He literally put a thousands of years old scroll with an important song from his ancestors in danger, but it would be worth it. Ending one of the princesses under the stare of old statue of the goddess was priceless compared to an old song that could be sung again. With his name to it and how he defeated the Princess of the Night.

With no windows and only one entrance, it would put her the perfect place and the darkness was better on his hunter’s eyes. He left the door open; she should be drawn to it. And he waited. The perfect ambush, as efficient as an apex predator.

Not long after, she put her head inside through the door, ears perked up and big curious eyes. “Hello?”

“Come on! I’m just here to talk! Do we really have to do this?” She walked in, looking annoyed. “You know I can sense you radiating magic from behind that stand, don’t you?”

He did his best but couldn’t keep from grumbling and cursing to himself before holding tighter the gun, turning the corner, pointing it at her and pulling the trigger. No hesitation, as sure an aim as ever.

She ‘eeped’ and her magical shield manifested itself upon impact. So much for ‘magical disruption to kill a goddess’. For feather’s sake. Still, she yelled at him. “What is wrong with you griffons and these things?! You could hurt somepony with that!”

Well, that is the point… He shot at her twice more before she could react again, but wherever those magical wards came from they resisted the magical disruption ammunition. He dashed behind another stand. Then he heard musket fire from outside. Apparently those two idiots grew a brain, called their support and his brethren didn’t take lightly to the princess and her goons waltzing into property belonging to one of them.

Her ears turned as she heard it too, and her stare hardened. “Fine. Have it your way. I promised your daughter I wouldn’t hurt you, but if one of my guards is injured, I will make you regret it sorely.”

He turned the corner on the other side to get a better shot, and aimed at her, but she wasn’t at the door anymore.

“Damn it all.” He muttered under his breath while his eyes scanned the dark environment. Every corner and nook clear to his dark-seeing eyes, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. He didn’t see her teleporting. He didn’t hear the characteristic sound of disturbed air that followed. Suddenly, he had not even noticed, but his breathing became faster and his foreleg trembled.

His eyes scanned the environment and found no clue to where she might be.

He turned again and she came out of nowhere wielding a polearm in her telekinetic magic and its butt end hit his revolver holding paw with the force of a sledgehammer. A sharp pain flared, and he lost his grip with a scream, and then collapsed to the floor. A dagger impaled his other paw into the wood floor and he screamed again. It was over so fast he barely realized it until he was completely powerless under her stare.

“Why did you have to be like that?” She whined with her ears pulled back looking so hurt one might think she was the one with the crushed and the impaled paws. “Why can’t you just be nice and live in peace in the nice world that you have all around you? Celestia is right! Creatures like you guys are the problem!”

He reached for the knife with his other paw, but he couldn’t get it to move through the pain and screamed again. More gunfire sounded outside, both the distinctive sounds of muskets and of their newer firearms. Some screaming and the princess stared disapprovingly at him.

Then she spoke with a few more shades of angry. “The audacity. We gave you a near perfect world to live in and you must act like this. You didn’t live in that time; you don’t know the pain that your ancestors caused. Well, you should know I have killed more honorable and skilled cubs in the time of Emperor Grigor. And your daughter is lucky she won’t be seeing to your funeral now that times have changed. Your kind shouldn’t push your luck, however. I have a shorter temper than my sister.”

“I will be right back.” She rose her eyes from him to the door as more gunfire sounded. “Take some time to think about what your choices. You’ll need some good explanations to give your daughter because you have implicated her on conspiracy and treason because of an antiquated ideology. You’ve ruined her career and ended your life a criminal and traitor.”

Her hooves clopped on the wood floor and he found himself looking up to the massive onyx statue of the griffoness staring down, condemning him. He grunted and tried moving again. His impaled paw hurt and so did the other, but none hurt him more than his shattered ego or the stone cold stare of the griffoness in the statue down at him.

***

Mass teleportations were fun. They remined Chrysalis, and everyone around her, of just how special she was as one of the very few creatures alive that could perform such a feat. Especially when Celestia was simply going along and let her do the whole thing.

Standing on the cloud, surrounded by her Praetorians and her black-carapace soldiers and staring the white alicorn, the queen tried to understand when did Celestia’s approval become so important to her.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Obviously, she failed.

“What?” Celestia grinned all mischievous at her. “Do you need me to say you did a good job?”

Fortunately, she managed not to exteriorize the knee-jerk insults she thought at Celestia. Instead she coughed and spoke in the most disinterested way she could manage. “I suppose this is the place?”

They stood on a fairly large cloud overlooking a cluster of smaller ones where a formation of airships with golden hulls kept in between them, not exactly as though they were hiding. They were being discreet, trying not to draw too much attention. For a bunch of airships with golden hulls. Chrysalis couldn’t be bothered to understand the individual classes of warships or even their application. She knew she should though, as one of the Majesties.

“Yes, this is the place. Come.” Celestia opened her wings and jumped off the cloud, beating them to fly and Chrysalis followed with her changelings coming close behind. Hopefully they wouldn’t spook any of the Royal Guards aboard those airships and get themselves shot or something.

She followed Celestia to the one airship that differed from the others. For starters it was all white with golden accents and ‘her sun’ on the main sails. At least this one, unlike Twilight’s had guns. Three underdecks lined with guns in addition to the guns in the main deck. She didn’t bother counting them. It was an oversized monstrosity with too much power and that one couldn’t keep their eyes from it, much like her owner.

Three large masts and long swept-back wings and a vertical tail, both upwards and downwards, but unlike Twilight’s airship this one’s magical engines were protected inside its armored hull, in the aft. It wasn’t alone either: at least six smaller flying warships and another large one that seemed unarmed. Also of note was a fast-looking golden airship that reminded Chrysalis of Twilight’s, but somewhat larger and armed.

She decided it was best to keep her questions, and insecurities for later, after her changelings integrated with Celestia’s royal Guards and the two rulers were in more discreet company. Thorax and Pharynx came along from the Crystal Empire, but for some weird reason she couldn’t fathom her husband had decided he would stay with Pharynx and with the soldiers.

It didn’t take long for her changelings to get sorted. The Break of Dawn’s Chief Steward quickly assigned them to positions and tutoring among the present ships, so fast Chrysalis was sure they had everything prepared beforehand. It must be so good to deal with professional soldiers.

Soon she found herself by the ship’s bow, next to Celestia and under a neatly placed canopy with large white cushions where they laid on their legs. Between them a small table with a golden plate holding some Saddle Arabian sweets. Small cubes made with starch and minty liquor and sprinkled with sugar. For drinking, water. Bit not simply ‘water’. It was cold water with lemon slices and some sugar inside a crystal jar enchanted to keep the drink cold.

The queen pulled her ears back at the sight of Celestia biting at one of the small cube sweets. And she had thought that she squandered the Swarm’s resources. Of course, Celestia actually had the resources to do that, but she would still judge.

“So, is this a warship or a flying palace?” Chrysalis examined one of the sweets while at the same time she watched Bossy, next to them, looking over the bow with a spyglass as though she knew what she was doing in the middle of all those clouds.

“It is a bit of both. It’s a diplomatic tool.”

“Like the airship the Lion’s kid brought through the teleporter?” Chrysalis paused for a second, realizing she didn’t fully understand Celestia’s strategy. “You put your precious toy in their way. It’s like you sacrificed him to get Twilight and Cadance safe. Doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you’d do.”

“I don’t know what they are thinking with that thing Chrysalis. All I know is that he doesn’t seem to know what he is doing with it. Furthermore, I have certainly not sacrificed Chocolate Velvet. I am confident in his ability to deal with the situation and I am sure he understands the importance of keeping Twilight and Cadance safe.”

“I don’t understand how you can be so sure that everything is going to be fine in this situation. What is keeping them from hurting Chocolate Velvet? Or killing all your ponies here?”

“There is a chance that they may hurt Chocolate Velvet, yes. But I doubt that they will. Grigory understands that there would be grave consequences for him and for his father if it came to that. That much I know he understands. But I have to admit that his strategy of moving that warship of theirs deep into our territory baffles me. A faster airship would’ve been much more useful.”

“I imagine he is betting on overpowering any resistance.” Chrysalis offered. “Or something.”

Celestia shook her head. “I Don’t doubt your ability to rule and lead the Changeling Swarm, but you’re lacking in military strategy, Chrysalis.”

“Well, I suppose you would know…” The queen rubbed her chin pensively.

“Look around. Look at the Break of Dawn. What do you see?”

“An alicorn jerk that can’t seem to keep a conversation without trying to teach something…”

Celestia giggled. “I suppose I do indulge a little. Anyways, what I mean is that a lone vessel, as powerful as it may be is still limited. Like the old saying: he’s big, but he ain’t two.”

“Did you say ‘ain’t’.”

The other rolled her eyes. “What I mean is that a large vessel may carry many, many guns and soldiers, but it is still only one. It can be outmaneuvered and are typically slower and that much harder to control. But, most importantly, it consumes resources. And that is why we have supply ships. Soldiers need food. Guns need ammunition and powder. And those are the most basic things. And this is a warship. It doesn’t have a lot of room for ‘stuff’. It needs an armory, accommodations, accommodating the magical systems, mana batteries, etcetera. The point is that the ship not only cannot last on its own for too long, but it also cannot keep on a fight for too long and will eventually need repairs. But you can imagine that it can’t hold the tools and spare parts it will need in a practical quantity. Bottom line, it is isolated. We will hunt the griffon’s airship and force them to surrender, if they manage to escape the initial confrontation.”

“Don’t you think that The Lion’s son would know that?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “As far as I know, he could have been teaching the kid these sorts of things since the day Gwendolen squeezed him out.”

“He is adopted.” Celestia explained. “It is one of the reasons I have come to accept that the Lion is fit to rule the griffons.”

“How come?”

“He adamantly defends their various cultural traits, but most griffons from Snow Mountains would never adopt and raise another’s cub.”

“Doesn’t that make him a hypocrite?”

“It depends. It makes him a sensible creature that understands the needs of the deprived comes before petty ideology.” Celestia shrugged. “You should rest a bit. It will take us a while before we are in position.”

She concluded by magically summoning a piece of parchment, ink and a feather and proceeded into writing a letter. Chrysalis quickly became bored but didn’t want to distract Bossy as she seemed to be convinced that starring around with that spyglass (wherever in Tartarus she had found that thing) was extremely important.

She took a moment to be thankful Celestia didn’t inconvenience herself with their names as did Luna. Then she discreetly stared at the white alicorn laying over her legs in the large pillow, concentrated in writing that letter, whoever it was for. She also became a little too conscious of how beautiful she was.

Such a far cry from the dirty and malnourished pegasus that barely scraped a living in the streets of Everfree. When did that happen and what was wrong with her? Celestia was becoming like a mother figure to her and the first thing in her head, after being anxious for whatever punishment she could dish out, is thinking that she is hot. Well, she is and that is just a fact. And so is Chrysalis. And also bored at that moment.

She smiled lecherously at Celestia. “Say… Ever since I captured you in Canterlot, at Cadance’s marriage, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do with you.”

“Excuse me?” The other gave her the typical amused smile. “I don’t know what aggravates me more. The revisionist history or the indecent proposal.”

Chrysalis proudly put her hoof on her chest. “I ruled Canterlot for five whole minutes and you can’t take that away from me! But that is not important. What is important is that we are past the point of crying ‘indecent proposal’.”

Celestia giggled. “I suppose you’re right. You have a very pungent personality that endears itself to me. I am not really in the mood though, Chrysalis. Sorry. I’m a bit concerned for Chocolate Velvet and the present situation does require some focus and preparation.”

The queen hummed and grinned in her condescending way. “I understand. There will be other opportunities and you’re not getting out of this that easily.”

Celestia giggled again and then Chrysalis quieted herself, laid on the pillow that was put there for her. Seconds later she was bored and ‘distracted’ again. Celestia still minded the letter.

“Excuse me.” Crucible Wings approached them from behind and Chrysalis stared at the guard with a few paper folders in his mouth. “I have the files you requested.”

He offered Celestia the folders in his mouth. “Chancelor Neighsay is going to relapse if he hears of this…”

Celestia opened the first folder and Chrysalis approached to look at it too while the Royal Guard waited stoically. The princess then hummed with a significant level of amusement.

The first paper in the file was a white paper with a photograph of the yellow griffoness called Galensa, with a short description of her and her history.

“Who’s that?” Chrysalis asked over her shoulder.

“Galensa. Griffoness from Snow Mountains that graduated as a thaumatoengineer in Bay County University and started a research for a powerful magical weapon. I stopped her.”

“Should’ve killed her.”

“If I did, I would have robbed her of her chance of realizing how wrong she was and starting anew.”

“That’s horseapples.” Chrysalis said calmly. “She’s never going to be good.”

Since she missed Celestia’s accusing glare at her or the irony of what she had just said, the princess moved on to the next file, and that one she didn’t know.

“Gracielle.” She read aloud, looking at the photography of a beautiful white griffoness with a particularly short face adorned with caramel accents, wings and head-feathers complemented with golden eyes. It reminded Chrysalis of an owl. “Wonderbolt candidate, number one sharpshooter for the last twenty-eight classes, several prizes. Left for Snow Mountains two years ago, never joined the Wonderbolts.”

She looked at the next file, a short griffon with a cocky smile, brown fur and darker head with long feathers and gray eyes. “Gewehr. Blacksmith accredited by Manehattan Ironworks. Visited several forges and smithies studying modern firearm forging techniques all over Equestria. Returned to Snow Mountains two years ago. Credited by peers for the invention of the bolt mechanism.”

The next…

“Name: Gray…” What followed was a powerful looking with a dark gray, almost black body with a white head that not only wore one of Griffindell’s black cuirasses but carried a spear with some sort of blue adornment. Celestia’s amusement only grew. “Has been spotted contacting several known crime lords in several griffon cities, the Crystal Empire and even Canterlot. Disappeared two years ago.”

Finally, there was a light gray and white griffon of slim build and icy blue eyes. “Garvie… Graduated in Medicine in Canterlot University. Toured as Royal Guard physician and earned several prizes. Left the guard and professional practice two years ago.”

“This is new…” She chuckled. “Two of them were seem with Galensa and Grigory in the Baltimare teleporter. The other two were seen by witnesses after the airship teleported.”

“Congratulations, Celestia.” Chrysalis chuckled. “You are educating your own enemies! That is why that whole friendship crap never seemed right to me.”

“Your assessment is mean spirited and also plain incorrect, Chrysalis.” Celestia replied in the most petulant and unfazed way Chrysalis could have expected. “The problem isn’t that we are educating our friends, as you say. The problem is that we are dealing with a crafty and resourceful individual that seems capable of turning our greatest advantages against us. I have just finished a meeting that showed a very similar facet of our enemy.”

“Oh… I suppose they are not as clever as they think they are?”

“Well, they are quite clever. They have sown political disarray and found a way to split the Princesses right in the middle. They are drawing griffons to the Lion’s side and I wouldn’t be surprised they have plans to deal with Twilight and Cadance once they made contact. Maybe split us even further. They also managed to acquire highly-skilled and loyal agents. I’m impressed and it might be correct to say that we are already at war...”

“You’re liking this, aren’t you?” Chrysalis grinned at her.

Celestia smiled smugly and rubbed her chin with a hoof, looking at the files before her. “It has been quite so time since I have ever had to fight someone that managed to strike so deeply and so covertly to the point I didn’t even know that they had struck until it was too late. Unfortunately for them, Grigory’s impulsive maneuver has unveiled too much.”

“Wait a second. I beat you once!”

“Your mother asked me not to hurt you before she ran from Equestria Heartland. Letting you win at Canterlot and allowing Cadance’s love magic to defeat you was the way I found to let you approach us again and them be put in a situation that would force you to capitulate. You resisted longer than I anticipated, though.”

“What?! You mean you didn’t banish us?”

“You see, Chrysalis… The more you poke at the past, the more you find things you didn’t want to find. Why would I banish her from Equestria? She was Luna’s lover and also my friend.”

“Is there more about my past that you have withheld that I should know of?”

“No.” She said bluntly.

Chrysalis simply stared at her while her ears pulled back and growled. “What about the Lion’s little squirt?”

“We have very little on Grigory.” Celestia sighed. “He lived his whole life in Snow Mountains and all we know of him is that he was adopted from the streets of Griffonstone by The Lion and also that some foal protection agents found it weird that he never called Lady Gwendolen ‘mommy’ or the sorts of things foals… Cubs do. However, we know that Lady Gwendolen educated him herself and was very frustrated by that fact. Well, Lord Gilad too, but in the conversations they had with him growing up, he kept a respectful distance to Lord Gilad, even if he did recognize him as a paternal figure, albeit a distant one and a sort of goal to achieve. Lady Gwendolen, though was closer to him even though she was a harsh mistress.”

“Sounds like a happy little family of psychopaths to me…” Chrysalis concluded. “And with friends like these… With access to military vessels…”

Then she laughed sarcastically. “And I was worried with the Lion, not his son. What is the kid’s actual story then? Is he some sort of bastard son that Gwendolen felt the obligation to raise because she is such a good girl? So, any secrets about them too?”

“Hardly. As far as we know Lady Gwendolen may love the kid a little too much.”

“Oh?”

“There are a few obscure accounts of Gwendolen protecting him a little too much.”

“You are evading the question, Celestia.”

“It is something gruesome, Chrysalis. I don’t feel like describing it to you. It suffices to say that she may have done something horrible to cubs that hurt Grigory while he was younger. It’s very nebulous and I don’t know the details or even if the story is real. I shouldn’t have even mentioned it.”

“This is bothering me though. Why did the Lion adopt Grigory? As far as I know the griffons in that part think that it makes them less male, or something.”

Celestia shrugged. “Maybe he is not as bad as you think? I am strongly convinced that he is not that bad, just dabbling with dangerous things. And the fact that he adopted a street cub makes me think that he has a better heart than most will give him credit.”

The queen hummed. “Yes… I suppose we will see. I’m looking forward to meeting ‘The Cub’ now. Is that why you’ve brought me?”

“Partially.” Celestia admitted. “I also don’t want to leave you alone, unsupervised for too long. I also want to see what your Praetorians can do. Finally, I want them to feel appreciated and useful and this is a good opportunity for that.”

“Well then…” The queen grinned again. “We’ll have them give you a show.”

“You are actually proud of them, aren’t you?” Celestia smiled softly.

“Excuse-me, Princess.” Crucible called her again and drew Chrysalis’ attention too, but this time he walked in front of them accompanied by another pegasus in golden armor. Chrysalis assumed he was as crewmember of the airship.

“The Main Event is ready to part with the fleet, Princess.”

“Excellent!” Celestia grinned. “Wish them good luck on their mission.”

“Main Event?” Chrysalis grumbled. “What a stupid name for a warship.”

“Trust me, it’s very appropriate.”

***

A small breakfast was like the feast last night, if quicker and less pompous, without the music and Gwineth’s presentation. There was plentiful food and drinks, as much as a lot of griffons to cheer at the affair, but Lord Gilad didn’t indulge as much as he did during the night and Gwineth barely ate at all. It made Discord think that the travel ahead wouldn’t be an easy one, even on them who lived in that place.

They left Brokenhorn without much fanfare other than the presence of the city’s guards and the Jarl to send them off. And the ever-present overcast sky. The Lion wore his armor and carried a light pack and axe on his back while Gwineth wore a white and black cloak with an even lighter pack on her back along with her sword.

And as Discord expected, they walked for a fair bit before taking flight and he followed them.

They seemed to go further north and deeper into the mountains, and with a few minutes of silent flight, he drew closer to the big griffon and the younger female simply watched from behind but seemed to pay more attention to the scenery.

“Other than my thanks, I think that your display of magic was rather impressive. I had never seen that sort of magic.”

“Is that so?” The griffon answered, looking back at him. “I would have assumed that living in the same time as Emperor Grigor your lordship would have been witness to much more powerful griffon magic. I cannot imagine that I could hold a candle to the Emperor himself.”

“Well, I’ve never personally met him.” Discord shrugged. “He was past my time.”

“I see. Still I can assure you that my control of magic may be impressive, but I still have a lot to learn.”

Discord then decided to take a few chances. “I may be saying something stupid… But are you aware that no one is supposed to know about Emperor Grigor? That this griffon magic is supposed to be a secret and that griffons outside your territory just don’t know of those things, and wouldn’t believe it?”

He felt a bit dumb asking that, but he felt it was a better idea to start the conversation with a plain field.

Regardless, the Lion seemed to have understood his intention, and why it was a good idea to have that conversation away from the crowds. “I am aware, yes. In fact, that is what draws many griffons to my hold. We believe that Princess Celestia has associated with King Grover and both have erased his history from our records. We have direct descendants of his within our midst, including myself and we see this as a violation of the Alicorn Concordat.”

Whatever in Tartarus was the Alicorn Concordat, Discord mumbled.

“The Princess Meddling Accord!” Gwineth flew ‘backstroke’ past them.

“Ah. That.” Discord pulled at his beard. “I see. Hum… Celestia and Grover did that, alright. But Celestia’s motivation had little to do with the griffons. It was a problem with the ponies that caused her to do that deal with Grover… Though I think that she considered him quite right in his intentions to rid the griffons of that particular past.”

“I understand.” The Lion said calmly. “But I don’t care for what Grover may or may not have thought. The Princess must understand that we want our true past to be recognized as such as much as we want our customs to be accepted. If it cannot be so, then I am afraid there is no place for us in the Confederacy. We are not afraid of negotiation, however. I understand that I may be asking a lot, but she is also asking much from us.”

“Well, I believe that we still have a good common ground from which we can talk, equal to equal.” That was important in friendship, right? “Princess Celestia is very reasonable, and also are the councilors she finds in the other princesses.”

“Well, that is one of the reasons we still have not gone to war.” The big griffon smiled at him. Discord hoped that was his attempt at a joke.

***

Comments

[Silentwoodfire]

I can see where she went wrong, and its going to bite her in the ass HARD

[Kevin Lee]

Some suspicions:
Grigory and Gilad--something tells me that one of them is actually the unnamed cub of Graywald's.
And that Graywald was one of the descendants of Gregor or another long-lineage "pure blood" griffon, like Gabriel, who passed down their history through oral traditions.

Clearly, where Celestia messed up is the insistence of burying and revising the past rather than acknowledging it, warts and all. There's less mystique and romanticism of historical events if one just comes clean about it.

[Jinnchin]

Sorry Celestia but I don't think Gilad adopted Grigory for the reasons you think he did!

Still not 100% sure why the Harpy and Gilad are humoring Discord, but if I were to guess I'd say they are trying to get him out of the way while they move their pieces into position in Equestria and Southern Griffonia, it is literally in his nature to be a spanner in the works afterall!

Still can't shake the feeling poor Grigory is unwittingly being used as a distraction to draw Celestia away from where she really needs to be. Time will tell, and I'm interested to see how his story plays out.

Also, the fact the Gwendolin is miffed that Grigory never called her "mommy" is both fitting, and also strangely hilarious!

[Metemponychosis]

11829873

Also, the fact the Gwendolin is miffed that Grigory never called her "mommy" is both fitting, and also strangely hilarious!

You have no idea of all the twisted stuff I have in storage for Grigory's origin story.