Piece of Parchment

by Metemponychosis

Love Kills

Twilight made her way to the hospital airship accompanied by Spike, her brother and Cadance. It was an easy enough ride on a flying chariot pulled by a single friendly royal guard. Once there, they started on their way to the ward where the griffons were housed.

But along the way they found something different. It was one of the rooms in the hospital’s ward and the diamond dogs, those that crewed Mister Flying Snake’s (whatever his real name was) airship.

There was some chanting, soft and respectful and that set off all sorts of alarms inside Twilight’s head. She stopped in front of the others and gasped. Looked at his brother and sister-in-law. They didn’t say anything, initially, but Cadance whispered loud enough that they heard her. “Goodness… Did one of the diamond dogs… Pass away?”

Shining and Spike grimaced, and the pony’s ears flopped a little. “I thought that the griffons were careful in the fight. Then again, accidents happen.”

“It was, kind of, our fault!” Cadance whined in a low voice. “Should we do something? Say something?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight whined too. “I know nothing of diamond dog funeral traditions! They’ll probably be angry with us!”

Spike chose to say nothing, and before they gathered their wits a diamond dog approached them. It was the one that wore a pearl necklace that Twilight supposed was the matriarch of their pack. She knew enough of their social organization to guess, though she wasn’t very knowledgeable in their traditions. But rather than being angry or sorrowful, the diamond dog rose her big paw and spoke cheerfully.

“Greetings ponies! And dragon!” She even had a pleasant grin. “Beautiful day Princess Celestia give us!”

But she also noticed their distress and frowned a little. “Ponies need something?”

Twilight didn’t even know how to address their matriarch. “Hum… Did something bad happen to one of yours? In the fight with the griffons?”

The diamond dog took a moment to understand, but then she laughed. “Silly ponies! It is Sun Day! Dogs honor ancestors. Doctors give us room for ceremony!”

“Oh!” Cadance perked up. “It’s a ceremony to remember the members of the pack that have passed away?”

“Yes!” The diamond dog matriarch pointed up with a finger, glad to explain. “The pack is as it is today because of those that came before us! So, we remember their deeds. Even if a dog did something bad, they are family, and something was learned from whatever they did.”

“That is a wonderful tradition!” Cadance chimed and grinned, then looked at Twilight and Shining Armor. “Come on. We should avoid disturbing them.”

“Ponies can watch if you want.” The matriarch offered, but Twilight smiled and shook her head.

“We better not. We are in a bit of a hurry, and I wouldn’t want to disturb you further when we have to leave.”

“Well, ponies are welcome any time.” She ended the conversation bowing respectfully to the princesses and entered the room.

“Hum… Ponies never had these sorts of traditions.” Spike mused rubbing his chin.

“Well, ponies do hold funerals to say goodbye to their friends and family members that passed away.” Cadance said. “Not to mention, we do remember them too, but we do it more within the family. On the personal level.”

She frowned a little. “Huh… To diamond dogs, the pack is the family, I suppose.”

“Somecreatures, such as the buffalo also have robust religious traditions, Spike. They gather on a special place and… I don’t really know, but they go there to contemplate their lives and the meaning of it all. I think that they believe in some sort of superior being.” Twilight explained. But she didn’t really know much more. “The griffons seemed to have too, in the past. And some of them in the present. Grigory and his friends, for example.”

“Ponies used to.” Shining reminded her as they walked, back on their way.

“Is there something inherently bad about it?” Twilight looked at Cadance. “I mean, even if Princess Celestia does believe that she is the goddess Sol-Estia reborn, she has stopped her cult. I don’t think that she mentioned that she needed to because of whatever made her decide to change our records of the past.”

“I had the impression that it might have had something to do with the Cult of The Harpy, Twily.” Shining walked next to them and Twilight silently agreed. The whole thing seemed to have been taxing to her. “But also, because it seemed that the whole worship was important until the ponies became independent from the goddesses. Then they were better off without them. I suppose that the Harpy never wanted to let go of the griffons, even if they were independent from the get-go.”

Twilight nodded and looked at Cadance, but she had an inscrutable expression and said nothing. She decided it was best to leave her to her thoughts.

As soon as they arrived at the place, they found themselves on a lounge area where the royal guards had stationed themselves, two by each door and a group of them by a table in the center playing cards. Except for one door where four griffons stood guard.

“What the hay…” Twilight frowned at the scene ahead of her.

“Guys, what is going on?” Shining approached the guards by the table followed by his sister and his wife and his little brother. The gold-clad ponies stood on their approach and one of them spoke, dark gray and blue and saluting with a hoof.

“Griffons are up to something, Captain.” He said plainly but the guard next to him, white and blue squinted his eyes at Shining Armor.

“Lieutenant! The Captain is probably in on it!”

“Well… For the record…” Shining Armor pointed at his sister and wife. “It’s all because of these two. I wanted to go home and forget the whole thing.”

The two mares in question were not amused while Spike covered his mouth and snickered, but what Shining Armor told them assuaged his fellow ponies in arms. The higher ranked one nodded and sighed. “Cats are up to something, Captain. They set up their own guard in the door and will create all sorts of trouble if we try to get in. Even the docs are having issues with them if they don’t have a real good reason to see the griffons.”

“Well, of course they are up to something.” Another of the guards, one pegasus that held on to his cards in his wings rolled his eyes. “We would too if we were in their situation.”

The other hummed with a serious expression and nodded again. Twilight gave them her best convincing smile though. “Come on, guys. What are they going to do?”

“Yeah!” Cadance added. “They’re just trying to protect their own. You would do that too.”

“Actually, we’d be trying to escape.” The lieutenant frowned at her. “It is in the Code of Conduct.”

“The what now?” Twilight frowned and Shining turned to her and Cadance.

“It’s a document that provides the royal guards and levied soldiers their directives in the service of the Crown. For example, when captured, a soldier is supposed to never stop resisting the enemy, never accept privileges, keep his fellow soldiers in close fellowship and do everything in their power to protect each other, their mission and other soldiers that may not have been captured… That sort of thing. Every single nation of the world with a standing army has a similar code.”

“That is kinda cool!” Spike cheered.

“Princess Celestia never mentioned that to us in our classes.” Cadance complained, whinier than she wanted, Twilight imagined, but it still like she was complaining just because.

“I suppose that is not something that a princess ought to worry about?” Twilight offered with a shrug. “Anyways… Do you think that we can go through? I need to talk to Grigory.”

The guard squinted at her and pulled his ears back. “Why?”

She grimaced and pulled a step back, raising a hoof. “Hum… Friendship issues. You know… Princess stuff!”

The guard didn’t seem very convinced, but fortunately Cadance was there, and she cleared her throat, frowning with her muzzle raised and spoke in a stern voice. “Don’t you see these griffons really need Twilight’s help?”

The four by their door exchanged a few glances but said nothing. Cadance went on. “Not to mention that I have some Love business to deal with them too. So, the situation notwithstanding, I would appreciate if you would not create additional problems. These griffons are enough of a headache.”

The guard let his jaw hang for a second. “Oh… Uh… Yes. I am sorry, ma’am. We won’t give you any trouble!”

And then he stepped back and bowed to Cadance, who walked past the table and the guards letting her wings up with an indignant huff.

Twilight, Spike and Shining kept their straight faces and followed Cadance to the four griffons by the door until she stopped before the tough, not-really impressed griffons and Cadance gave them a desperate frown and smile. Big ‘wild-looking’ northerner griffons, covered in whites and shades of gray and blue. Bigger than griffons already were.

“I don’t know. I don’t like these ponies’ attitudes.” The one closest elbowed the next, who coughed a laugh.

“Well, who are we to stop your highness in her love business, right?” The third stared with a bit of a malicious and mocking grin on his beak and the one next to him chuckled. The first griffon then opened the door for them.

“Thank you!” Twilight whispered with a sheepish smile, walking past the griffon guards and Shining followed her with Cadance and Spike.

Past the door, after it closed, Shining almost started laughing. Spike offered Cadance a closed fist. “That was pretty good, Cadance!”

“Almost had me convinced!” Twilight giggled next to him and Cadance giggled back to her while she hoof-bumped Spike’s fist.

After they short celebration, they found themselves in a small anteroom with a window and some seating. A griffon with a claw-cut scar in his neck disrupting his cyan plumage stared at them. Not very friendly. “What do you want here?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “We need to talk to Grigory. It’s important and he will want to talk to us.”

“Alright.” The griffon didn’t create any issues and pointed at the correct direction. “Go down the corridor and don’t bother the other ones with your pony stuff.”

The ponies nodded while Shining Armor squinted at the griffon, who squinted back at him, and Twilight was glad they walked out quickly out of there.

“Uh…” Spike started. “Does it bother anypony else that these griffons speak our language, but we don’t speak theirs?”

Twilight nodded. “Sunburst said that they are very protective of their language. It seems that it is still the same language they spoke in the time of Emperor Grigor. And it is kind of expected… Our language became the universal language.”

“Does that sound bad?” She finished with a question.

“Well, I don’t think that Princess Celestia forced that on the other races, or something.” Cadance wondered. “I guess it was just easier.”

The conversation was interrupted when they entered the corridor and they heard Fluttershy’s voice coming from the next door to the right.

“And please try not to move that wing unnecessarily.” She whisper-talked in her typical shy manner.

Full of curiosity, the three ponies and dragon looked inside the room to see the yellow pegasus talking to one of the griffon soldiers, a dark gray and light gray bulky fellow. The burly front-line soldier kind with his green eyes on the small pegasus talking sternly to him, who was almost twice her size.

He moved his right shoulder a few times with his wing bandaged shut on itself. “I will. Thank you, Lady Fluttershy.”

On the other side of the room was Grigory’s friend, the small framed, light gray and white she supposed was a doctor. Twilight wasn’t sure, but he stared into the mouth of one of their griffon soldiers with a very ‘doctor-like’ sternness.

“Yes… Honey and lemon. Gargle with hot mead three times a day.” The griffon doctor said. “Drink something cold if the soreness bothers you. Talk to the griffons by supplies. They’ll get what you need from the ponies.”

“Hum…” Twilight entered the room and the others followed. “Aren’t the hospital staff helping you guys?”

“Yes, they are.” Grigory’s friend said. “But we don’t trust them.”

Cadance made a confused frown and pointed at Fluttershy.

“Well, she’s different.” The griffon doctor shrugged. “She’s… Safe?”

“Oh, well… I’m glad it’s working out.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “We’re looking for Grigory.”

“I’m his friend and his doctor, not his secretary.” The griffon beckoned with his fingers for another patient. “But I suppose you can find him in the back.”

“Well, thank you.” He could have been less of a jerk, but she thanked him anyway. “Can I ask you a question?”

“No. I am working.” He looked at the griffon that approached him, rather than the ponies. “Ask Grigory. He’s the future prince, it’s his job to talk to you.”

Oh well. Meanwhile, Cadance went to Fluttershy as she examined a griffon’s paw. “Do you need anything, Fluttershy?”

“No. Thank you, Princess. I will just stay here and help the griffons for now.” She shook her head while focusing on something between the griffon’s fingers.

“Well, I guess we are kinda in the way here.” Twilight chuckled a little.

“Yes, you are.” Garvie agreed and that was enough for the three of them to leave.

Back in the corridor, with a few griffons loitering around, Shining Armor laughed a little. “Well, at least they like Fluttershy.”

“True!” Spike chuckled too.

“Well, let’s find Grigory already.” Twilight took the lead and the others followed.

They went along the corridor, all the way past some infirmary rooms where griffons rested or busied themselves with whatever and reached another lobby where they found Grigory sat on a corner, on a sitting pillow, with Gallensa looking bored next to him, drinking something out of a mug. To Twilight, it smelled like some sort of herbal tea. There were also two griffon guards by them and a third griffon that seemed to wait while he looked at some papers.

She couldn’t fathom how they managed to find bureaucracy in that place and in their situation, but if they had set up some sort of supplies department there must be some papers that needed sanctioning.

“Hi, Grigory!” Twilight waved a hoof, walking in and he kept looking at a parchment he had in his paws.

“Good morn, Princesses. Captain Armor. And… What was your name?” At least he seemed interested in them, as he them lowered the parchment to look at them. Particularly at Spike.

“I’m Spike!” He declared with a huge grin and his thumb towards his chest.

“Well, good morn to you too, Spike.” He left the parchment in his makeshift desk in front of him. “I don’t think we should be meeting. Still, here you are. Can I help?”

He was in a good mood, Twilight mused. Better take advantage with a huge friendly smile. “I wanted to talk to you! That is all. Can you talk about the spell you tried to cast? You know, during the fight?”

“No.” He said plainly, but still in a good mood.

“Oh… What about that enchanted sword?” She insisted.

“It’s a normal griffon sky sword, it was forged by Master Gilbert. He is a particularly gifted blacksmith and runecarver from Griffindell. My mother had it forged and enchanted for me a couple of years ago.” He explained patiently as a pair of griffons brought a few sitting pillows for them.

Cadance rose a hoof, despite sitting on her pillow. “Lady Gwendolen, right? The one that said Grinolf wasn’t fit to have a family?”

“Breeding and having a family are different things.” Gallensa told her, talking over Grigory and holding her mug with both paws before her beak.

“Yes…” Cadance’s eyes rolled up, then she frowned at the griffoness. “But you know what I mean.”

“I am confident that if he is given back to us, I can fix the problem. My mother will listen to me.” Grigory sounded a bit too confident for Twilight’s tastes, but she didn’t question him about that because she wanted to talk about other things.

But Cadance kind of took the conversation by assault, talking to Gallensa. “Hey, aren’t you the one that used Sunburst to get some crystals?”

“Who?” She asked with a confused frown, laying her mug on the table.

“Unicorn stallion.” Cadance explained with a bit of an angry frown. “Orange coat with a brownish mane. Glasses. A beard. Blue cape with stars… You used him to get some crystals…”

“Oh… Yes… I remember. What of it?” The yellow griffoness didn’t seem too pleased.

“That is not nice?” Cadance frowned further at her. “Using his feelings to get something out of your relationship… Isn’t… You know… Nice!”

“I am not nice.” The griffon lady said it so nonchalantly that Twilight struggled to keep from laughing, even if she understood where Cadance was coming from. It became more and more clear to Twilight that there was a significant cultural barrier between ponies and those griffons.

She supposed it was her job to figure out a way of hurdling that, herself being who she was. After all, if Cadance was ‘Love’, she was ‘Friendship’. Not that she’d need an official title from the start. The point was that the more she learned about them, the easier that would be.

Most ponies would never say ‘I’m not nice’ the way Gallensa did. However, they were not ponies, and it was not great, but Twilight understood that antagonizing those griffons and saying their culture was ‘wrong’ wasn’t the way forward building bridges.

She had done her thinking about how to approach those griffons, and she had concluded that it was actually more important than their investigation for the time being as she wouldn’t have access to them afterwards. She didn’t know what would be coming out of that whole affair she had gotten herself involved with.

Twilight was sure that Cadance had taken offense at Gallensa using Sunburst. She didn’t like it either, and understood Cadance, but she thought it was pointless to insist in that, and also harmful to their long-term relationship. Gallensa would, after all, change her mind if they managed to convince her that being nice was better. It came down to strategy and seeking better results at the long term, not reacting impulsively.

Fortunately, Grigory seemed more amused than offended and Cadance decided not to insist further, despite fuming at the griffon.

“Rather than trying to get Gallensa to repent for her sins agains Love, you should be worrying about how you mean to deal with the situation, Princess.” Grigory told Cadance. “I want to know of any progress you make, since he will be returned to us if that fails.”

“Well, I am sorry, but I don’t think that he will be returning to Snow Mountains.” She told him with a raised and offended muzzle. “I should tell you that I have already contacted my loyal assistant in the Crystal Empire and there is already an army of experienced crystal ponies looking through our records even if I must stay here!”

“So, you mean to tell us how we should love now?” Gallensa teased Cadance so openly Twilight figured Cadance would tease her back. “Just because you equines think it is acceptable, we don’t appreciate you grassbreaths trying to shove your ideals onto us.”

“What happened with Grinolf has nothing to do with Love!” Cadance complained pulling her ears back and stomping the floor with a hoof. Twilight thought that she meant to go on, but Gallensa interrupted her.

“Yes, it doesn’t. His problem is that he is a horny loser that can’t get laid.” The griffon lady scowled. “He should accept that not everything is available for everyone and mind his own place!”

“Why do you hate him so much?” Cadance frowned at her and hoofed at the floor again. “Just because he has one single solitary facial feature that his mother told you makes him impure?”

“First of all, watch your big clumsy equine tongue when you talk about Lady Gwendolen.” Galensa scowled deeper at her. “And second, the problem with the ugly duckling is that he refuses to accept that he is of an inferior class. I don’t even think that this makes him less worthy, but some things are beyond his reach. Period! His resistance to that is an affront to our customs and if that becomes the norm, his ilk will harm our race even further than their simple existence already does! And I don’t care if this is too harsh for your pony sensibilities. You don’t have to live at the doors of the Frozen North while The Mare wants to smother your way of living.”

Twilight knew Cadance. And that stare she directed at Gallensa, with that low throaty growl, and the way she inhaled deeply then exhaled with ostensive fury made her think that she had quite a few things to tell her, but chose not to, for some reason.

Still, that gave Twilight an opportunity to take the conversation back to what she wanted.

“Hum… I’m sorry if this sounds offensive, Grigory, but I’m surprised that you can enchant swords. You mentioned the runes?” She asked and Spike immediately produced his notepad and a pencil.

“Yes. Runes.” He nodded. “The same magic that built Griffindell’s walls. Mostly lost today. Because, you know… Your adored princess destroyed everything she could about the Empire. If you asked me, I would say that she destroyed everything because she was afraid of the Harpy. She admitted to it herself.”

“I can’t say that I agree…” Twilight shrugged. “It may be true, but Discord told us otherwise. I believe that destroying the past leads to dangerous precedents and that ideas must be discussed rather than forgotten. Conversations must be held, not silenced. So, I agree that she shouldn’t have done that, but I don’t think that she did because she was afraid.”

“Some ideas are dangerous, princess.” Grigory warned her.

“Absolutely. Some ideas must never come to fruition, and their proponents must be stopped. But silencing discussion only makes them harder to combat once they inevitably resurge and you are not prepared to counter them. Fear of ideas is paralyzing.” Twilight sighed and her head hung as much as her ears. “Ironically, it was Princess Celestia that taught me that.”

“Hypocritical much?” Gallensa was back to her bored expression, holding the steaming mug to her beak.

“I don’t think it was hypocrisy.” Shining shook his head. “The way Princess Celestia spoke about that made me think that whatever it was that made her fear the Black Sun would be triggered could be caused simply by creatures knowing of it. I have no idea how that works, but there you have it.”

Twilight nodded. That was some good insight. And it also made the whole thing a bit scarier.

“To be honest, Prince Armor, princesses… I don’t care.” Grigor shrugged. “I don’t believe in Celestia that something like that is possible. I believe that the Windigos were supposed to trigger the Black Sun and that the Mad God tried to do the same and those did not involve the knowledge of events, as you said yourself… All I truly want is that the two of you get to the Stormy Eyrie, that you get what you need and that you expose Celestia’s lies about the Empire and the Cult of the Harpy.”

He let go of the parchment he held and crossed his fingers, holding his paws together. “I don’t even care if you weaponized the Windigos. It makes no difference, and we will deal with them when the time comes. Especially after we have the Throne of the Griffon King secured. Especially if Celestia pays for what she has done.”

“You have plans for… Doing something with the Windigos?” Twilight’s ears perked up.

“We do.” He confirmed what she had heard right but clarified no further.

“You know…” Shining hesitated. “That actually sounds fair.“

“Well, I don’t want to punish Princess Celestia.” Twilight looked at him. “I want to understand why she did it so that we can correct whatever the issue was and avoid another problem. Although, to be honest, I believe that the griffon situation warrants some adjustments.”

Grigory stared at her for a second. “Do you have ulterior motives for saying that, Twilight?”

Good! He called her by her name just like that! “No! I am legitimately interested in the issues your kind faces. I mean… I don’t think that I would like to meet with Emperor Grigor, but I want to know more about the griffons that live in the northern lands of Griffonia. Griffons seem convinced that The Lion is worth a chance. Why don’t you tell us what is in the Stormy Eyrie that made you decide to take me and Cadance there?”

“The Crown of the Conqueror.” Grigory said plainly. “It is locked in a magical container and only the blood of an alicorn can open it.”

“Oh!” Both princesses gasped and Spike took note. Shining just stood there, listening.

“Princess Celestia couldn’t destroy it, so she contained it, along with the Harpy’s Commandment, his sword.” Grigory explained joining his paws together. “The crown was meant to symbolize Her favor, and sword Her power, both of which a griffon must have to rule all the griffons. We are willing to exchange all the information that you might find in there in exchange for returning both to us.”

“How come the griffons have cool stuff like that and we never knew?” Spike frowned and rose his eyes from the notepad. “Is it all because The Princess and Grover erased that from history? Why didn’t the griffons do something about that?”

“They did. The griffons that live in Snow Mountains Hold, Spike.” Grigory added. “The truth is that many griffons were glad to see the Emperor gone. They had, after all, sided with Grover and his rebellion. You certainly don’t know this, but the Harpy’s priestesses were hunted by the populace, tortured in the worst ways possible and burned alive.”

“That is horrible!” Both Twilight and Cadance whined.

The former went on. “Why? Wasn’t it enough that Grigor’s empire had been defeated?”

“You ponies don’t understand hatred.” Grigory smirked. “Dealing with a threat is enough for you. But the Harpy etched into our souls Her Commandment from the day the first griffons were born, and She commands us to take everything, and give nothing.”

“I guess Grover didn’t get the memo…” Cadance smirked right back at him.

“That is the thing about griffons, Princess.” He didn’t let that affect him. “We thrive in independence, and it was given to us by Her design. The Harpy never hated Grover for rebelling against The Emperor. In fact, She expected that at some point someone would… She hated him for allying with Celestia.”

“Why did the Harpy hate ponies so much?” Twilight frowned. “You and the Princess mentioned something about us being supposed to be subservient?”

“As mentioned in The Cry of the Harpy…” Grigor explained. “And as Celestia confirmed, ponies were supposed to care for nature and nothing more. Griffons were supposed to be the dominant species. You can see she feared us, as much as she feared The Harpy, and that is why Celestia encouraged griffons to mate with ponies and thus tainted our blood with your magic.”

She cocked her eyebrow. “I thought that you agreed that Grinolf was alright, and that this mentality created a bad situation all around.”

“No, Twilight.” He shook his head. “I wanted to take Grinolf back into our fold and to offer some leeway to griffons that find themselves in his situation. Not that I condoned what Celestia had done. Nor that griffons and ponies shouldn’t be segregated, much less that I liked hippogriffs or that I didn’t want to see Princess Celestia stripped of her position and punished for her actions.”

“That way we will end in another war.” Twilight sighed her frustration out. “Even if you succeed in removing Princess Celestia, maybe end the entire Alicorn Primacy, the rest of the world would never condone your hatred of the hippogriffs. The only way moving forward is giving each other space and tolerating our differences so that we can work them out. Because Princess Celestia is not going to step down and that would be extremely dangerous. I don’t know if the Confederation would survive to begin with.”

“Maybe that would be for the best.” Grigory concluded.

“You can’t fight the whole world, Grigory.” Shining Armor frowned at him and drew the griffon’s attention. “Even if you convinced the whole world that Celestia has done something wrong, they wouldn’t strip her of her position. And even if they did, you would still be left with Luna, Cadance and Twilight. Not to mention the entire government machine that grew around her.”

“If the world decided that Celestia is not worthy of her position for her lies, then I don’t think that would be the case, Captain.” Grigory insisted. “I don’t believe that they would trust the other alicorns anymore and that the unified nations would break apart. And that is not necessarily a bad thing.”

“What if that brings the Black Sun?” Cadance growled at him. “Ending everything wouldn’t give you what you want. Even if your soul is going to live past the Black Sun when Creation starts all over, you won’t be yourself.”

“As I said… Ponies don’t understand hatred.” He said it as plainly and seriously as possible. “We are prepared to endure consequences for the sake of fulfilling our revenge, if that is what it takes.”

She disagreed. Ponies did understand hatred. They just believed in a different path. But anyways… She should talk to Princess Luna. The Crown belonged with the griffons one way or another.

***

Princess Skystar sat in the middle of the lounge. It was a large circular room that served as entrance to the bedroom wings of the palace. Sitting on her haunches and nervously rubbing her paws together.

“Hmmm…” She whined to herself, and her frown deepened some.

Finally, Silverstream came out of her room. Her pink hippogriff cousin waved happily at her, but the princess grimaced and beckoned her to come. Quick!

“Hum… Are you okay, Sky?” She approached with a concerned frown, but the princess held her beak and shushed her, finally waving for her to wait.

Then Silverstream simply sat next to the princess and waited, slightly confused, as Skystar stared intently at the corridor where were their bedrooms.

“Hum, what’s going on?” Silverstream tried in a low, secretive voice.

“Ssssh! We’re waiting for Gallus.” Skystar stared wide-eyed at her.

“But… Why? Why are we whispering?” The pink one kept her confused frown.

Skystar looked one way and the other before she whispered again. “Princess Celestia is here!”

“Okay…” Silverstream kept quiet for a few seconds… “What does it matter?”

Skystar waved her paw at her. “I’ll tell you once Gallus gets here!”

Silverstream sighed but resigned to waiting since her princess cousin was going to be like that.

And they waited for a good ten minutes, as palace servants walked past them, also wondering what was going on, but none of them asked. Silverstream supposed they actually had work to do and Skystar was happy none of them would be squawking to Princess Celestia!

Finally, Gallus came out of his room with a long yawn and the first thing he saw was the two girls in the lounge beyond the hall with Skystar hurriedly beckoning him to them. Maybe his brain wasn’t functioning at full capacity yet, but he saw no problem in approaching them, as quickly as Skystar’s frantic signaling urged him to.

“What happened?” He asked, all worry.

She shushed him with a finger before her beak and waved at both to follow her into the sitting room past one of the doors she closed immediately after they were inside. One of the palace’s many rounded rooms that felt like a cave with the whole maritime theme, with blue walls and cyan sitting furniture and small tables that held delicate drinking utensils and the rounded ceiling.

Ultimately the Princess spoke in the most secretive of voices. “Princess Celestia is here!”

“So?” He shrugged.

“The Prince-Consort is here with her! He said that Grigory is in trouble!” She told him with huge eyes.

“Oh, boy…” Gallus sighed. “We don’t have to get involved, Sky… This is trouble we don’t need.”

“But we have to talk to her! About… You know!”

“No!” He spoke a little louder than he should, then lowered his head and grimaced. “It’s gonna get us killed and your mother is likely to never let us speak to each other again!”

Skystar stomped the floor insistently. “He’s your family! Even if his mother hates hippogriffs… That is kinda her culture!”

“Hum…” Silverstream rose a finger. “Sky, I’m pretty sure that hating an entire people isn’t really a cultural trait.”

“Ugh, come on!” Gallus held his face in despair. “Can’t we just enjoy our vacation?!”

“Well… I don’t really agree with Sky that we have to do something…” Silverstream’s eyes shifted around nervously. “But she’s right that he is your family…”

“We can’t do anything. If we even mention what happened, we’ll be getting into so much trouble nothing we say will matter. Queen Novo is gonna murder me!”

“But you know that Griffonia is gonna be in trouble soon! We can help!” She insisted again.

“But we can’t! Just because Lord Gilad is my brother…” He covered his eyes with his paws. “And I don’t even want to think what she would have done to you two if she could have gotten away with it! We shouldn’t even be talking about this! Come on!”

“Sky…” Silverstream held the princess’ shoulder and pulled softly to grab her attention. “What exactly do you expect? There isn’t really a lot that we can do from here.”

“This is crazy!” Gallus put up his paws. “Queen Novo is going to eat my liver! And if she doesn’t, then some northerner griffon spy is gonna do me in!”

“I think you’re being just a little bit overdramatic, Gallus…” Silverstream showed her fingers.

“I’m not! We were in danger!” He insisted, sitting and nervously shaking his fists. “We’ll be in danger right now if you insist in this crazy talk!”

“None of that matters!” Skystar waved her paw at Gallus. “Princess Celestia needs to know. It could change the whole situation.”

“Alright. Alright.” Silverstream waved at her to wait. “What exactly do you want to do?”

“Let’s talk to Princess Celestia before she leaves.” Skystar offered.

“Can we talk to both the princess and your mother at the same time?” Gallus frowned at his own annoyance. “I guess your mother won’t murder me right away with the Princess there and I might get some time to hide before some hunter manages to infiltrate Mount Aris. If Queen Novo doesn’t kick me out, that is.”

“We’ll talk to them during breakfast!” Skystar concluded with a much too happy grin for Gallus’ tastes.

***

Chrysalis stared down the muzzle of one of her fearsome changeling super-soldiers with a scowl, holding his head up with her telekinetic magic. “How in the ever-loving world did you manage to do this?”

Next to her Luna watched, with no small amount of amusement and astonishment Luna watched as she examined the big changeling with a piece of dry macaroni lodged inside his muzzle, that was also bent the wrong way.

“It was a fight with one of those bloody griffons!” He whined with his ears down. “I was helping prepare the salad, and the wanker called you a bawd and a cheap courtesan!”

“Are you aware that those are the same things?” Luna asked from behind Chrysalis.

“That only makes it sound even worse!” He defended himself after Chrysalis let go of his jaw. Then he sneezed mayonnaise all over the floor of the sitting room. “What was I supposed to do? Just let the flipping birdbrain insult my mother?!”

If anything, Luna thought that it was rather cute how angry he was. She wondered which archetype he carried. Chrysalis just nickered-buzzed at him, a bit angry, a bit worried.

“If Chocolate Velvet were here, I would ask him to take a look at your muzzle. Shimi is at the hospital airship helping them, maybe I should take you there.” Chrysalis frowned. “I’m sure the pony doctors would have no problem helping with this thing.”

Luna nodded. “It would be better, Chrysalis. Any of the doctors there can assist indeed.”

With that decided, Chrysalis nodded at the door to her changeling and led the way with Luna walking next to her when Twilight Sparkle swung the door open and pointed a hoof at Luna. “We need to talk!”

She was a little surprised to see the changeling with the bloody nose behind them. “Hum… Don’t changelings have green blood?”

“That is mayonnaise.” Luna said, while Chrysalis and the Changeling walked outside. “Walk with us. He was injured in a fight with a griffon over Chrysalis honor and we’ll take him to the hospital airship.”

“I just came from there…” Twilight sighed.

“If you want to talk, you’ll have to walk along.” Luna wasn’t moved. “What is it about?”

Twilight sighed with her ears down but resigned to walking with them along the entry hall of the Break of Dawn’s aftercastle. Her ears perked up back again with her curiosity. “Grigory said that you are holding an artifact that belongs to the griffons!”

“Do you believe everything those griffons tell you?” The larger princess rolled her eyes.

“Well… It is a crown… Emperor Grigor’s crown, locked inside a chest, or something, that can only be opened with alicorn blood.” She explained.

Chrysalis chuckled. “Always some stupid nonsense… Blood…”

“Such a thing would not be impossible.” Luna looked at Twilight by her side, letting Chrysalis walk forward with her changeling. “But he lied to you. Grigor’s crown, the Crown of the Conqueror, or the Harpy’s Favor, was destroyed. Melted along with his sword, which he never used in Celestia’s campaign. He wielded an axe of northerner design.”

“Why?” She became even more curious, but Luna simply shrugged.

“We destroyed hundreds of magical swords which belonged to the Swordmaidens along with his crown and his own sword, Twilight. I remember that they were carried back to the forges of Goldsworth, one of the forge-towns that supplied the Battlehorns because they had arcane smiths and forges with sufficient knowledge and power. Celestia supervised everything. They were broken, melted and buried as respectfully as though they were enemy soldiers. Celestia took every precaution not to provoke the griffons further. I can guarantee you there isn’t a locked chest anywhere that can only be opened with alicorn blood.”

Luna frowned. “This is strange. The griffons never asked for anything. Not even the northerners, and Grover’s soldiers even confiscated several swords that the population had taken from dead swordmaidens. All of them met the same fate.”

They sat near the small landing area the chariot that made trips between the airships would soon be returning to and Twilight took the time to stare at Luna with a frown. “Grigory also mentioned that the Harpy’s priestesses were tortured and killed. Did that have anything to do with that?”

“I don’t know anything about that, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna frowned a little as though she was offended. “To my knowledge, the soldiers from all the other nations completely disengaged from the griffons. Everycreature had a world to rebuild.”

“It was the griffons themselves, Twilight.” Chrysalis said as she hoofed at her big changeling soldier’s ridge behind his neck. “My mother’s spies reported that some of the commoners did to them things that not even I would have done. They were a scapegoat: as soon as the war ended, griffons turned inward and started pointing talons at those that helped the Emperor. Slave drivers, tax collectors, public servants in general. And those, in turn, saved their coats by helping the dirty peasants find the Swordmaidens.”

They boarded the chariot and Chrysalis went on. Twilight noticed something was missing as Chrysalis spoke. “I wouldn’t speak to you of the things our spies reported back about what they did to young and pretty griffon ladies and even the older hardened warriors that the Swordmaidens were. They had a tendency of becoming quite powerful and under the Emperor they often performed ritual sacrifices and were generally a terror to deal with in the battlefield. They were worshiped as manifestations of the Harpy herself and they were not very kind to griffons that disagreed with their religion or their emperor. When they were caught helpless… Those that suffered under them had a lot of grievances to settle.”

“But… Didn’t King Grover do anything about that?”

“What was he going to do?” Chrysalis sat on the chariot’s floor as it departed. “He could barely keep his kingdom from splitting apart and he needed a distraction from all the mess he still had to fix. Not to mention there wasn’t a lot he could actually do. His own soldiers hated them.”

“Why didn’t Princess Celestia do anything?” She looked back at Luna as though she ought to have an answer.

“Celestia actually helped.” Luna stared down at her. “She… Didn’t take kindly to the sorts of things that happened. She knew of the things that surrounded war. I will never forget the stare in Star Swirl’s face when he reported back to Celestia with his accounts of one such event he had witnessed, she ordered the Battlehorns to seek evidence and apprehend all that were involved with any incident they could get to… She also reported it all to Empress Geneviere in Griffindell, who would send her sister Swordmaidens to find and take the stranded ones to her. I believe they saved quite a few and brought many to justice.”

Luna frowned. “Though the notion of justice of that time was quite different. Grover helped too, of course, but he had his paws full just trying to keep the kingdom from breaking apart.”

“Empress Geneviere? Was she Grigor’s wife?” Twilight supposed so, as it was quite obvious, but she asked anyways.

“She was his ‘mate’.” Luna nodded.

“Hum…” Chrysalis hummed and drew their attention. “I wanted Celestia to invade Griffindell and murder all the griffons because… Well… The present situation. But I suppose that without her insight, we would already be at war. I imagine that she also must have felt quite conscious about all the bloody justice.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight rose an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you read the book I gave Cadance?” Chrysalis sighed. “It’s a book. I thought you ate books for breakfast.”

“I don’t know of any books!” Twilight gasped.

“The Four Princess of Shatterhoof Valley.” Luna explained. “It is a story that covers the events of the reconquest of Shatterhoof Valley. After the fall of the Republic, a local lord made himself king and… It is an example of the things Celestia… Things that we did to the Unicorn Kings. It was not pretty as the modern tale.”

“Wow… Umm. I don’t know what to say.” Twilight rubbed her forelegs together. “I mean… Uh…”

“Understand something, Twilight…” Luna sighed, but Chrysalis silenced her with a hoof to her mouth.

“Don’t start it again! War is awful, Twilight Sparkle. Plain and simple. Luna would equate the swordmaiden’s tormentors to Celestia and herself, but they are both being drama queens when they do that. Just read the damn book and reach your own conclusions. Bottom line: Celestia learned. Luna learned. They grew from those experiences and those griffons that did those things I can’t talk openly under penalty of offending your pony sensibilities, were petty assholes that learned nothing and wanted to get rich on selling their swords! Good riddance, and I hope they suffered. A lot.”

Luna playfully batted her hoof away. “When did you become such a staunch defender of the Royal House?”

“Probably after I got into the House of Majesty in the Hall of Friendship.” Chrysalis gave her snarky grin. “I suppose I endeared myself to you two after the griffons started making this mess and we spent a few hours in the Bordello of Candy.”

“You know… I once wasted a whole hour of my life arguing that royalty didn’t actually do that sort of thing.” Twilight deadpanned at them.

“You don’t.” Luna grinned all mischief at her. “I lived too long and took too much horseapples to let the Society for the Good Manners of Royalty bother me.”

***

Morning in Mount Aris, as Novo’s palace was referred to along with the mountain, was very much similar to mornings in Canterlot Palace. Without all the noise from the civil departments coming to life for the day or the hubbub of the halls that connected to the Hall of Friendship.

Sitting at the table with Chocolate Velvet and Queen Novo Celestia suddenly started questioning the wisdom of having allowed her home to become one with the government machine because she wanted to be close to her ponies.

Next to her, Chocolate Velvet cheerfully explained to the queen all about his issues with the chivalric society while she giggled and shook her head at his words. She wished she could partake in their lighthearted conversation, but she kept remembering her dreams. Even with Luna’s assistance, old memories perturbed her greatly and those about The Harpy were the worse. Sometimes she wished she hadn’t been saddled with such memories.

Not that she regretted her part in events lost so long ago in the past they were only meaningful to her, but she hated that she had been forced into remembering The Harpy and all the pain that Grigor caused.

Enough problems in the modern world, even if it was already so much better off than it was in that time. The irony that such statement could perfectly fit several periods just made her even more frustrated along with the fact that she lived through those.

With a soft sigh, she relegated those thoughts to the backside of her mind and took a sip of the watermelon juice one of the nice hippogriff servants just brought her. Delicious and refreshing, as it was a bit hot that morning. There were also several slices of melons, actual watermelons, kiwis, grapes, some cookies and kelp dishes.

Celestia had to admit she thought it was quite cute the way Novo’s beak cut up the pieces of the melon slice she was eating.

Soon after she was back in the mood for a pleasant breakfast Princess Skystar and her two guests, Silverstream and Gallus arrived to share with them. Something about the younglings seemed to disturb them, but Celestia supposed they would speak out if they felt the need. Mother and daughter greeted each other happily and Novo also shared greetings with Silverstream and Gallus, as did Celestia and Chocolate Velvet.

“I’m surprised. You usually like to hold your own little court, Skystar.” The queen giggled, all good mood and fluttering feathers. “Why, I am pleased you and your friends decided to join us for breakfast. To what do we owe this joy?”

“Hum…” The princess’ big plume over her head seemed to droop in front of her face that had a weird grin. “I need to tell you something… Hum… Just, please… Promise you won’t be angry?”

Novo’s mood turned around a one-hundred and eighty faster than Luna could and that amused Celestia while the big hippogriff screeched at the younglings. “I knew it! Gallus! I’ll murder you!”

He screamed and used his plate for cover. “Wait! It’s not my fault! I mean… It is, but not like that!”

“Novo...” Celestia touched her friend’s paw with a hoof. “Let them talk.”

She didn’t say any more, but she fumed furiously and stared daggers at Gallus, which also amused Celestia that she would blame him over the others when Skystar was to blame as much as Gallus if the issue at hoof was what worried her friend.

Deep inside Celestia hoped to Harmony the issue was an accidental foal… But her instincts, honed from millennia of dealing with world-ending drama, told her she was willfully naïve.

When the initial scare of Novo’s reaction washed away, and Skystar and her cousin stopped hiding behind the table, the young princess spoke as insecurely as a young hippogriff could speak. “Remember some two years ago when Princess Twilight assigned us a project for our spring vacations?”

Novo blinked, a bit surprised. “Why yes. I remember it was a delightful idea. The Griffon Heritage research project. She asked all hippogriff students in her school to research and then present, upon return to classes, about the interaction of griffons and hippogriffs to tighten bonds between both races among the students.”

Then she frowned. “I remember you three got a D+ on a very superficial work because you spent your vacations fooling around with your cousin and your coltfriend despite me paying lodging and expenses for the entire period in Griffonstone.”

The princess joined her fingers together, apologetically, and quite literally dying inside while Silverstream and Gallus both braced for impact at her sides. “Yes… Hum... About that… We didn’t go to Griffonstone.”

Somehow her mother’s silence seemed to scare the three youths far more than any threats she might have made.

“So… Hum…” Silverstream took the word since Skystar was just too scared. “Meant to go to Griffonstone, but Gallus had this idea… That we should go to the ‘oldest griffon city in the world’… And since he is Lord Gilad’s brother, it should have been okay.”

Novo’s fist slammed at the table and caused silverware and juices, creams and jams to fly everywhere. “You took my daughter and my niece to the place where they hate hippogriffs the most?!”

Despite the terrified trio of friends, Novo growled and allowed them the time to speak, which they didn’t, because they were terrified.

“That was rather daring, you three.” Celestia frowned herself. “I can understand expecting Lord Gilad to keep you safe and sharing of their own history, and that it would provide some novel material to discuss in class. But it was dangerous, even if in the past the northerners weren’t as outspoken with their bigotry relating to hippogriffs. I believe we can assume that things didn’t go quite as you planned.”

“Well...” Gallus fidgeted in his seat. “Gilad wasn’t home… He had left with his soldiers to hunt down some monster that showed up and Lady Gwendolen took charge of the city. It was… Uh… Kinda insane.”

“Stop beating around the bush and tell us what happened!” Novo yelled at him.

But the young griffon startled, and it was Silverstream that took the word again. Poor Skystar just made herself as small as she could in her seat. “Just before we arrived Gallus noticed something was strange because the walls were decorated with Lady Gwendolen’s flags and he said that was bad.”

“I told them to hide under the blankets over the supplies in the carts, but… Lady Gehenna… She’s kinda like Gwendolen’s right paw griffoness… She decided to inspect the whole caravan and she found Skystar and Silverstream. I told her they were with me, and she took us to Lady Gwendolen.”

Gallus stopped for a while but went on soon enough. “I don’t know what happened, but she was different. She would usually pester me about being Gilad’s brother and my importance to our race, also try and hook me up with some Griffindellian noble girl… But she was usually pleasant and even nice and welcoming. That day she was… I guess the word is ‘unhinged’. She was angry about something, and we were there… At her mercy.”

“Lady Gwendolen organized a fighting tournament.” Silverstream explained.

“And she meant to give the three of us to whoever won. And I don’t think she meant it in that funny way creatures do in those parties in the Bordello of Candy.” Skystar added.

“I wish I could be angry about the fact that you know about those, Skystar…” Novo growled, but restrained herself.

“Well…” The young princess continued. “There was that scary, big griffon lady that really started to beat the other griffons over us… Until Grigory fought her and he… Well, he saved us. I don’t like to think about what that big griffon lady would have done to us.”

“What big griffon lady?” Celestia interjected.

“Lady Gwineth…” Gallus explained. “I mean... She’s huge and… Just mean and unpleasant, but everyone sucks up to her because she’s beautiful and Lady Gwendolen enables her way too much.”

“Well, the point is that Lady Gwendolen was having too much fun with whatever went on between her and Grigory, and she humored him, as she said, and he kept us safe.” Silverstream shrugged. “We spent the night there and nothing happened.”

“it’s the hospitality law…” Gallus deadpanned. “Once you accept them, you can’t kick another griffon out of your house in the same day they arrived and you have to treat them with dignity, feed them and provide reasonable comfort and protection.”

Silverstream spoke again. “Next morning, Grigory gave us a lot of food and good water and sent us out with the caravan going out to Thunderpeak.”

Gallus shook his head. “Lady Gwendolen accompanied us to the outer gates. She never did that before, as she usually stays within the mansion grounds. She grabbed me and took me aside. She put me against a wall and said that if I ever returned, she’d feed my… Hum… Bits… To the pigs and dress me as a maid to clean the latrines in her mansion until the day I died. Or something like that. I was a bit scared, you know?”

“Well, that’s concerning…” Chocolate said plainly.

“The point of it all is that Grigory helped us!” Skystar added, paying no mind to concealing her flustered manners. “He is not bad!”

“He wasn’t being nice to us, Sky…” Gallus sighed nervously. “He was fighting his mother, and I don’t know what the heck went on that day. But he was not doing that to help us! Grigory isn’t nice the way you think and I’m, sure that today he hates hippogriffs more than he did two years ago!”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of that at the time?” Novo frowned, more out of concern than anger, though.

“Before we left, she kind of threatened us…” Silverstream rubbed her paws nervously. “Said there wasn’t a place in the world we could hide from her if we ever mentioned what happened there. Honestly… The only reason we did now is because Sky is worried about Grigory after the whole battle she read about in your intelligence reports!”

The queen shook her head with her eyes closed and rubbed her beak.

“This is unacceptable. I’ll take care of this. You keep them safe in here, Novo.” Celestia said. She hoped her voice didn’t come out too gravely. “I will ask that Golden Rule personally investigate the situation while I go to Griffonstone. I don’t like this. At all. Really do keep them safe.”

Novo agreed. “I’ll keep them inside and redouble the palace’s guard.”

Celestia nodded and finished her watermelon juice. “Come on, Chocolate Velvet. I will teleport us to Griffonstone. With your excuses.”

She finished bowing to Novo and the youngsters as she rose from her sitting pillow and the brown alicorn stallion followed her out the door. The three young still sat before Queen novo.

Silverstream kept staring down. Skystar looked at her mother and nervously strummed her fingers at the edge of the table and Gallus looked everywhere but the queen and constantly fidgeted with the forwardmost feather in his crest.

“So… Are we grounded?” Skystar finally summoned up the courage to speak.

Novo sighed and touched her forehead. “I’ll have to keep you three inside. For your safety, until this mess is sorted out. I can’t say I am fully without fault in all this, anyways… No, you’re not grounded, though. We’ll see what we can do to make it as nice as it can be.”

“So, you’re not gonna murder me, nor ship me away?” Gallus asked with a sacred grin.

“I’m gonna feed you whole to the sharks.” She spoke way too seriously.

“That is not funny!” He cried.

***

Once they arrived at their destination (Twilight for the second time), one of the doctors in the otherwise empty emergency sector of the hospital airship called Chrysalis’ soldier to see his muzzle.

“Well, this is curious…” She was a brown unicorn with blonde mane and tail wearing a white coat above her own coat and with one of those lamp thingies on her forehead.

The big changeling laid on a short examining table and the doctor looked into his nose with her hooves on the table. “Well, it is nothing more than a piece of pasta stuck inside his nose, and that wouldn’t exactly be a problem if his septum wasn’t fractured. It is an incomplete fracture and I’ll simply replace it and then we will clean this mess. Some pain medication and a bit of ice will be enough. Also, I would avoid fighting griffons. Do you have any medical issues? Allergies? Pre-existent diseases?”

“Hum…” The changeling hummed to himself and stared at Chrysalis.

“What archetype did the Eggmaidens say you carry?” She asked the big changeling and the doctor seemed curious but didn’t inquire about that.

“I have Bossy’s.” He said and the unicorn doctor rather stared at Chrysalis for an explanation.

“He shouldn’t have any other issues. He’s just annoying and likes to order others around.” She explained.

“Well… Okay.” The pony frowned but decided that whatever that was about it wasn’t worth the trouble. “A nurse will soon be here to medicate him, and I will return to deal with the… Pasta issue.”

The doctor left the room and Chrysalis talked to Luna. “I’ll stay here with him, but you don’t have to.”

“I’m not here because of him…” Luna deadpanned at her, and Chrysalis rolled her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything to the griffon…”

“Good, then.” Luna nodded. “Until later.”

She turned to leave, and Twilight followed. “Princes Luna! I don’t understand… Why would Grigor just lie about the crown?”

She grumbled. “Fells like I can’t trust anypony!”

“I can tell you that Grigory has no concern for your welfare.” Luna spoke as she walked the corridor, going past the rooms where doctors would be seeing to patients. “If anything, I can guarantee you that Celestia and I never did anything with the intention of harming you, your friends, Cadance, or anycreature in our fair nation. Griffons included.”

“I mean…” She quickly retracted. “We have hurt many a creature, but… You understand.”

Twilight frowned, walking alongside. “Do you think that the crown would make that much of a difference?”

“No.” Luna replied without missing a beat. “And that is one of the reasons I believe he lied to you. If the crown was sequestered inside such a device The Lion would have been the first to request that it is returned, even before he accepted the nomination to the Throne of The Griffon King.”

Twilight had to agree. That was reasonable. She also grunted internally. She meant to help those dumb griffons, but they kept playing dumb games with her. Though…

“Why was it that he wanted to take me and Cadance to the Stormy Eyrie then?” She mused.

“That is a good question…” Luna frowned and seemed to consider the question but didn’t speak any further.

“Maybe they have stashed important documents there?” Twilight shrugged. “Or something? Is it true that it is the birthplace of the griffons?”

“I do not know.” Luna shook her head. “To be fair, I am not sure why is it that griffons even exist. It seemed to me that all creatures exist because of us, ponies, taming the world. Maybe they were magically created, much like the other races.”

“Like yaks? And dragons? Buffalos?” Twilight frowned. “Did they just pop out of thin air?”

“Yes. It sounds silly, since ponies were carefully created…” Luna looked down at Twilight, explaining calmly. “But you have to remember that harmony exists as a flow of magical energy. It reflects what happens in the world and speaks back to it.”

Then Luna giggled a little. “Although they certainly didn’t pop into existence! Earth ponies ‘germinated from the life magic that Sol-Estia spread and climbed out of the mud. I suppose that other creatures came to life in a similar way.”

Luna stopped, with a hoof to her lips. “Pegasi fell from the clouds. And unicorns came from the shards of crystals that sprung from the ground. Quite dramatically.”

“Magic was drastically different in those primeval times, Twilight.” Luna rose a hoof professorially. “It is silly to imagine today, but beings came to be from pure magic. But it was only after Luccenotturna arrived they became sentient. It was as though the process of her magical creation enabled intelligence to exist.”

She frowned. “But the information for her creation already existed in Magic, born out Creation itself as she existed to respond to a failure: ponies needed intelligence to thrive. And once they were ready and succeeded in their mission, other creatures were brought into existence, a reflection of the magic they she’d into the world, which was a reflection of the magic of Creation which acted through the Goddesses. Ponies served as the mold for life.”

“If you think about it, the mechanism was the same. If ponies were originally created because griffons needed a world to exist on, but roles were reversed.” Luna frowned a little more and scratched her head with a hoof. “Did that make any sense? Didn’t we already talk about this?”

Twilight giggled. “A little. And we did… But I never imagined that ponies literally crawled out of the mud.”

Luna had stopped, though. When Twilight noticed, she stood by a door and looked inside. A yellow pony doctor talked to a cyan male pegasus with darker mane and with a pegasus mare covered in light green coat and a darker mane. The male pegasus sat on an examination table and the doctor shone a flashlight at his eye, and then the other.

The pegasus mare stood nearby, worried while she talked. “And then he said that he saw an old griffon lady.”

“Hum… But you couldn’t remember? You were confused?” The doctor sat in front of him, with a hoof on her chin. “That is an awfully curious.”

Twilight looked at Luna, who walked inside, and she followed. “Excuse me, I am sorry, but we overheard your conversation. There was a griffon in a cloak?”

They turned to her, and then Twilight. The medical pony seemed very insecure about the whole situation and kept staring at her patient and at the princesses. The first to talk was the blue male. “It’s okay, doctor. I don’t mind…”

The doctor earth pony mare looked at a clipboard. “Greetings, Princess. They are the contractors that brought supplies to the fleet. Master Heavy Haul and his friend and employee Miss Spring Breeze. While they were unloading supplies to the Break of Dawn, Master Haul seems to have experienced some curious absence symptoms.”

Luna thought for a few seconds and Twilight waited until the older princess spoke again. “Tell me exactly what you saw, Master Heavy Haul, and what happened before and after.”

He gave his mare friend a concerned look but turned back to the Princess. “We were unloading cargo. The way we always do. I sat near the ramp with my clipboard checking crate tags and the others carried them off to the airship’s crew. Then I saw an old griffon lady… I can’t really remember what she looked like, but she definitively wore a cloak. And she spoke to me. Said something about her not being important.”

“That sounds suspicious…” Twilight frowned and then rose an eyebrow. “To say the least.”

“This may sound strange…” Luna kept looking at the pony. “But would you mind if I peeked into your memories?”

The ponies did indeed find that strange, all three of them exchanging glances in between themselves, but the stallion finally acquiesced, even if he seemed not entirely comfortable. “Sure, Princess… I guess I want to know what happened… I’m a little scared to be honest.”

“Whatever happened, we will help you deal with it, Master Haul.” Luna assured him with a raised hoof and a worried expression.

Luna’s concern worried Twilight. She could be dramatic, and unnecessarily ominous, but she worried about something and in the present state of affairs almost everything worried Twilight too. He supposedly saw a griffon and that meant that there might be a griffon infiltrated in the fleet. The problem with that was that she didn’t know if that griffon worked for Grigory and meant to help him get the so-called Stormdrive device for their escape, or if it was another griffon that wasn’t related.

With all accounted for, she was thrice worried. Once because something was wrong, and Luna was worried. Twice because there was a griffon sneaking around in the fleet. And thrice because it might not be a griffon helping them escape. She sighed… If things kept going the way they were, she’d start distrusting griffons as much as Princess Celestia seemed to.

She sighed again… Deeper.

Meanwhile Luna directed the pony to lie down in the examining table and the doctor mare got him a folded sheet for pillow. Twilight stood around to see if she could help with anything, but it didn’t seem so. She simply sat near his mare friend. Smiled and rubbed a friendly hoof on her shoulder, then waited to see Luna do her thing.

“I need a place to lie down…” The blue alicorn said, looking around. “I must sleep for this to work.”

Twilight’s eyebrow rose. “Can you just sleep whenever you want?”

Luna blinked, staring dumbly at her. “I suppose… I had never thought of it like that. It’s a requirement so that my magic will properly connect.”

“Oh!” Her ears perked up. “Can I help? Can I see the Palace of the Self?”

“No.” Luna said plainly, and with all finality, much to Twilight’s annoyance while the doctor mare readied another improvised pillow for Luna and a spread sheet on the floor.

“Sorry, Princess. I suppose it’s the best I can do.” She said apologetically, despite her curious stare. “Is there anything else you require?”

“Nothing. Thank you. All I require now is some peace. It is a complicated spell.” Luna explained as she kneeled on her legs and then laid on her side with the head on the folded sheets.

“Hum… I’ll stay here with you, if that is okay. Just to make sure nobody runs into… This…” Twilight stared unsure of what to think. It was a bit awkward. “Hum… Couldn’t you go to your room and find him? Or something?”

“We are in a bit of a hurry, Twilight.” Luna explained, laid on her side. “I’m worried there might be a griffon infiltrated in the fleet. I’ve seen this before, but I don’t want to say any more before I am sure of what is going on.”

“Okay…” Twilight sighed, a little helplessly.

“If you wish to assist, you could inform the crew that we have good reasons to believe a griffon may have infiltrated the ship while I confirm what happened.” Luna smiled softly.

A second or two later Luna was already asleep, and her horn shone softly.

Twilight bit her lip… She had a decision to make. Assuming there was a griffon infiltrated in the fleet, they might be important for Grigory’s plan to get her and her friends back on their way. Or it could be there for any sort of other shady griffon reasons that Grigory didn’t disclose to her and everypony was in danger.

Ooooh... What to do? What to do?

Ultimately, she decided she ought to trust Grigory if she was already going to trust him with strapping some weird bit of griffon magical device to her airship anyways. After all, the chances of a random griffon infiltrating the fleet for any other reason would be minimal. It felt awful betraying Princess Luna’s trust, but… In a way, she had started it.

***

Luna woke in the balcony at the top of the stairs before the beautiful and crystal-like double doors with the winged crate cutie mark. Looking one side and the other, everything seemed to be in order with the large, cavernous area flooded in light-blue magic below. Nothing looked out of place, everything flowed smoothly and there were no weird sounds or smells. Perfect.

Turning her attention back to the door, her magic interacted with it without any hitches, and it unlocked, opening by itself to reveal the crystal corridor on the other side.

She kept a respectful walk despite a quickened pace and trespassed the corridor in no time to stop before the scale with the six gems that represented the Elements of Harmony. Circled around it, paying attention, feeling around for weird magic or anything, but nothing seemed out of order and the Elements seemed balanced within the limits of the normalcy, as the thousands of years had taught her.

The stairway downward to the Hall of Memories seemed perfectly fine too, and she would check his memories in a bit. Before, she had to make sure that everything was okay with the Throne of the Mind.

Therefore, she turned her attention to one of the four doors, the one marked with the Moon, and went inside when her magic opened it effortlessly. Once again, a cursory inspection confirmed that everything was as it should be inside her special room. Therefore, she made her way past the sitting room that really served no purpose other than decoration and took her seat. The magical images formed themselves before her as they should and presented before her eyes all the information she would need to get started on the task of figuring out what happened.

The brain area activation readings showed that the pony was asleep, as he should be, that he was dreaming, also as he should, that the subconscious processes reduced and input that resulted from homeostatic processes and senses were blocked from his conscious mind, once again, as they should. Finally, output to skeletal muscles was blocked, as it should be during his sleeping time. Everything seemed to be perfectly fine.

Her attention turned to the vital signs monitoring and his breathing rate diminished, his core temperature slowly diminished while peripheral temperature rose, heart rate diminished. Everything seemed to be perfectly fine.

Another image showed a shiny image of a pegasus enveloped in a diagram of lines that flickered in all directions, all green and within the normal thaumatic energy levels, with no damage to the individual parts of his soul.

Her horn shone and another image manifested. It showed a wide green pasture where the pony galloped and took short flights with a group of several ponies. An airship landed in the grass.

Yet another magical image manifested and showed the magical notation relating to the magical processes currently processed by his mind. He experienced simulated sensory data repeated from his memory. His Self seemed to process and react accordingly, and proper sensory memory was pulled by the DreamServoEngine from his memories and formed a closed feedback loop. It worked smoothly and didn’t unduly tax individual parts of his brain, as evidenced by the levels of glucose and oxygen consumption as well as blood flow. Brain cells activated in a clear pattern of networked synapses and then shut off as they should. The process, of course, was too fast for any normal creature to witness, but in that place, time had little meaning and, as Chocolate Velvet once said, Luna ran a more powerful hardware.

She rose an eyebrow at the recollection but shrugged and continued her task.

Anyways, since everything seemed to be working perfectly and his brain had no issues sustaining those tasks, it was clear that the problem was of the psychic order, but if his mind had been damaged by nightmares, his malfunctioning mind would unduly tax his brain. What she saw made the likelihood that someone had indeed messed with that pony’s mind increase exponentially.

And she frowned at that. Despite some creatures, for some reasons thinking that Celestia was the one that got angry at ponies being mistreated, Luna didn’t hate it any less. Someone messed with the mind of one of her little ponies and she took it personally.

Metaphorically cracking her magical knuckles, she turned her attention to another of the magical images, the entirely black one with one blinking dot. With her magic she willed the un-pony-like characters into the screen and mentally ordered the command be executed.

Everything turned dark and the magical images blinked off. The light pulses that ran under the crystal floor ceased and it occurred to her that maybe she should have informed the doctor mare that strange things might happen during the process, but they should be too subtle for them to notice on the outside and the less ponies knew, the better.

Only after a second or two the illumination and the magical images returned. All of them dark, except for the main one that showed a cute representation of Luna opening her wings in a simple four frames animation before it returned to showing the magical notation of Master Heavy Haul’s mind at work. However, rather than returning to full functionality, only basic processes executed and the barest possible version of his mind manifested. Just enough for her to study the issue and minimal information such as the words ‘PonyOS Luna 4.6d’ and ‘Recovery Mode’.

Then the other images came to life again, showing the working parameters of Heavy Haul’s body and mind inside red frames on the edges.

With that, Luna magically transmitted another command, and the screen showed her a simple table with a record of all the times the processes of his mind were unexpectedly interrupted.

The vast majority read:

Warning: Akh Class Violation – Dream loop disruption – Nightmare reported

All of those followed by a report of herself accessing the system, until the last, not highlighted and representing herself presently interfering with his mind, but the ones right before read:

Warning: Khet Class Violation – Subliminal input error

Warning: Akh Class Violation – Thought process disruption

Warning: Shut Class Violation – Mistagged memory

Warning: Shut Class Violation – Corrupted memory

They repeated themselves multiple times, and that told Luna quite a few things. Something exploited that pony’s sensory system and caused his mind to mishandle his mental processes. That caused memories to be ran through his mind with an improper tagging and that resulted in the memories being corrupted when his mind tried to file them away in his episodic memory… The part of his memory that recorded events.

That was probably what caused him confusion.

She ground her teeth almost painfully and neighed to herself.

Well, she had an idea of what had happened… Now, to figure out what exactly happened.

The first thing to do was find the corrupted memories and she supposed that it was something that happened within a few hours. She commanded the system to access the memory index and bingo. A series of recollections with improper processing. She flagged them for examination in the Hall of Memories later and examined their structure.

They were tagged as irrelevant and the neural pathways would disconnect within hours, and that was okay. She had time.

Her attention turned to the main magical image that showed the slow scrolling lines of magical notation that outlined for her the specific magical flow of his mind, and she willed into it a command that showed her an exact record of his mind in the last hours.

Pony minds weren’t really that complex and most of them were exactly the same, after all every single pony functioned the same way and the details that changed were due to their life experiences and all the things that formed their individual selves. But even then, it still was an immense and complex magic that made the mind and since no permanent damage had been made, it would be difficult to identify the exact processes that suffered disruption. But if she had that, she could reconstruct his memories and see what actually happened.

Fortunately, Luna was a professional. A very skilled and very experienced professional. She smiled… It should take time, but with the records, she would be able to spot the exact effects of the psychic attack in his mind by comparing it with his current processes that are, supposedly, functioning normally.

***

Cadance walked around the deck of the Break of Dawn, watching Flurry Heart as she galloped around the place determined to see every little detail and took the time to childishly examine every single royal guard posted in there and every single pegasus crewpony that passed by.

While she was amused by the baby’s cheerful exploration, she also worried.

She didn’t want to seem too nosy, but she anguished inside not knowing if the little nudge she had given Candy Crush had worked! Ever since she talked to the pegasus mare, she hadn’t seen either her or his suitor, Flight Worthy.

Wandering close to the stairway that led to the underdeck, both she and the pair of royal guards stationed there watched as the baby rushed past them. One smiled and the other pretended to not having seen her.

“Hello.” She said friendly.

“Greetings, princess.” The second nodded a little bow to her.

“May we help you, Princess?” The first said with a smile at Flurry Heart flying up the steps to the doors of the aftercastle.

Cadance paid attention to the baby but talked to them. “I’m looking for somepony. One of the ponyvilian local militias. Flight Worthy or Candy Crush… Their resident pegasi.”

“Hum…” The smiley one hummed with an armored hoof on his chin. “I don’t think I’ve seen either. Yeah… I know them… But I haven’t seen them.”

The other nodded too. “They have been distributed around the armada, Princess. Master Flying Snake is teaching them some discipline, so he arranged for them to help with the patrol shifts.”

“Oh. I see.” She nodded in understanding. “I imagine I would have to go around the fleet and hope one of them is in a ship I can visit…”

“Actually…” The cheerier one smiled again. “They all have rooms in this ship.”

“Oh!” Cadance piped. “I guess all I have to do is wait here, then. Until their shifts are over!”

Good thing Flurry Heart had so much fun running around the deck.

***

It took Luna a good long time, but she managed to find the exact processes that mistagged the memories and understood how it went wrong.

Examining the log for his flow of consciousness she noticed that the auditory input caused the subconscious processing of the sounds to return an error to the flow of consciousness that caused it to improperly tag those memories by exploiting the emotional return that the mental images pulled from his memory.

It was a similar exploit to the one Discord had used to create the Lost Herd and caused them to ‘infect’ other creatures, but where his subliminal message exploited fear and selfishness, this one exploited the pony’s sense of duty to create an infinite feedback loop of that both directed his mind to resume the task of watching the crates going by and inquiring about the griffon’s origin and that caused the flow of consciousness to crash and resume several times during the time his brain was attacked.

The break of the flow confused him, put further stress on his mind and flooded the information-hungry processes that formed the consciousness with contradictory emotional feedback. The result, mistagged and corrupted memories improperly registered as irrelevant and soon to be destroyed with the dismantling of the neural pathways that sustained them.

Curious.

With the logged states of the flow of his consciousness, the processing errors she identified, and the corrupted memories, she should be able to restore those and figure out exactly what happened in a flash.

***

Grinolf sat in the middle of his cell. He was tired… Practicing the dreamless slumber that he was taught eventually, but inexorably, would tire the individual. He let out a sad sigh and he was about ready to let go. To further distress him, the more he thought about the ponies’ offer, the more it seemed to be for the best. Maybe it was the isolation too, he had time to think, and he didn’t like the conclusions he reached.

It might seem defeatist, but an imperfect requited love was better than love that just was not to be. If there even was ‘a thing’ such as ‘perfect love’, not to mention that love was likely not to get involved in anything he might ever do in the Snow Mountains. He spent his whole life thinking that ‘other’ griffons were impure, and in the end that ideal of purity not only did nothing for him, but it damaged him, and he was beginning to see that for the fact it was.

Perhaps the worst offense was all the time he had lost on his beliefs. He was not getting any younger, but then again, it wasn’t his fault. And Princess Cadance saw that. Maybe she really was special, that way ponies and the southerner griffons spoke of the princesses.

He wondered what kind of southerner griffon the Princess would find for him. A young and frivolous cute thing like the majority of the grifonesses in the Court, or a hardworking and no-nonsense strongwilled one, as the commoner grifonesses that worked the many stores in the griffon cities of the North. Yes, the ones that even not being part of the Court or not even coming close from being one of the purer bloodlines still didn’t want anything to do with him.

He didn’t know what he would prefer. He had never thought about it, and through almost all of his adult life the only thing he ever thought about was that damn Court of The Harpy. He never stopped and thought about what was it that he wanted, other than that he wanted in on it.

In the end, the only conclusion he could reach was that he was defeated in a fight he just wasn’t supposed to win. He tried his best and he failed; and the worst was that he saw it coming. But he was too enthralled by his goal to see that it was impossible, and all he managed to do was getting himself given to the enemy in an act of desperation to avoid a worse fate. Finally, his destiny was in the hooves of the alicorns. The ones he was taught to hate the most.

Princess Cadance, though, turned out to be his salvation and not the stupid Harpy he kept hearing about all his life. Whatever the pink alicorn came up with was bound to be better than something he couldn’t have. He sighed and supposed that accepting his fate was the first step… He would have to remember that, whoever his chosen mate would be. Most likely wouldn’t be a northerner and he would have to learn a new set of customs...

He allowed himself a small smile. The Princess would find a compatible griffoness, however that works and however she would know, but he supposed that the Princess of Love would know. He imagined her caring and lovingly helping him transition into her culture. He would make a point of trying his best. It would be the least he could do, after all, and that would be more than he could expect from anyone in his own culture.

Without any warning, voices on the other side brought him back from his thoughts. Pony voices on the other side of the door to the brig. “Whoa!! Fire in the gun deck! Fire in the gun deck! What the hay! Get everypony!”

That was concerning and the possibility of an explosion distracted him. He didn’t know if ponies kept powder and ammunition at the ready in the gun decks, but a fire accident in that place could rip half the airship asunder. It was one of those things that ruined the whole day… He didn’t even mind when he heard the stomping hooves as the guards that guarded the brig from the other side of the door left in a hurry. He didn’t plan on trying to escape. He only hoped the ponies dealt with the threat.

Yeah… With the way they dealt with the battle, he was sure that the airship was filled with professionals, and so he was probably safe and there was nothing to worry about.

Then he noticed someone fiddled with the lock in the door. Insistent clicking and rasping indicated someone tried to pick the lock.

What was that? All he could do was stare at the door and hold his breath in anticipation.

Suddenly it opened and a creature in a cloak came inside. It closed the door and approached from the other side of the bars. He couldn't believe his eyes!

“You!” He cursed under his breath at the old griffon lady watching him from the other side.

The Loremaster that first welcomed him into Griffindell and that had given him the brooch that identified him and his friend as prospective members of the Court, years ago! The same Lady Gwendolen had dragged him to so that she could tell him how much of a filthy weak-blooded reject he was.

“Grinolf!” She smiled, relieved and seemed to be genuinely happy. Her paws grasped the bars, but then her face shifted to surprised pain as she noticed just how angry he was to see her.

“What are you doing here?” He glowered at her. “Did she send you to make fun and further humiliate me!? Isn’t enough that I have relinquished whatever shred of honor I had accrued for myself just to survive Grigory’s stupidity?!”

“No!” She barely kept from crying and futilely tried to reach him through the bars. “She sent me to free you! To take you back home!”

“I am not wanted back home.” He frowned at her and looked at her paw reaching for him but did not approach her nor did he care for her evident distress.

“Yes, you are!” She smiled frantically. “You made it!”

“What?” He couldn’t lie, that surprised him.

“Master Grigory recognized your struggle. He understood why was it that you turned your back on us and he spoke to Lady Gwendolen!” She smiled further, desperately. “He convinced her that your mettle proved your blood is strong! She will admit you into the Court of the Harpy! You made it! You actually made it!”

***

Luna walked down the stairs to Heavy Haul’s hall of memories and found the relevant memories of the event that caused such havoc on his mind. Fortunately, locating such memories should be trivial for her, and that indeed proved to be no challenge at all.

She worried, though. When one came up with a spell that damaged a part of the mind, the one responsible did so with a final goal in mind and instinctually, rather crudely exerted an effect over the inner workings of the mind. But what she had found showed an unexpected level of understanding and sophistication. Something that targeted the processes of the mind to create an effect, rather than the other way around.

She might be imagining things. She might be merely impressed with her recent trip to Thunderpeak and the things she encountered, but what she saw on Master Heavy Haul’s mind recalled the events with Ponyville’s local militia and the way that someone might have exploited their situation.

That was the sort of insight that only four creatures in existence should even have access too. The first was herself, the second her sister. And since she hadn’t done anything and Celestia wouldn’t either, it led her to the third possibility and that was unlikely as that would have been Discord.

That left only one possibility and that should as impossible as it was worrying. It made the fur on her back stand.

Fortunately, the whole experience had been collated into a single ‘frame’, or a single important memory. That was how the hall was supposed to work anyways and whoever did that to him should have expected that even if his individual memories of the meeting would be forgotten, the experience as a whole was quite traumatic for him and would certainly be remembered.

It also helped that he had friends… Their interference may have botched the whole thing and it might have been the case that if nopony had worried about it, the event would have ended up forgotten and mistaken for a simple lapse.

That brought a small smile to her lips. Friends… Always underestimated and always helping, even when they didn’t know.

Enough dallying, she focused on the framed pictured of the crates going by pulled by his crewmates.

Her mind would help Heavy Haul’s through the process and her experience, and ‘more powerful hardware’ should take care of fixing what was broken.

She focused on the image, and it pulled her into it. As far as her perceptions were concerned, she was there, when Master Heavy Haul worried about his crewmate, Chill Breeze with a lame leg, but still working. Yes, Worker Welfare would likely be a headache for him if something went wrong.

His thoughts intruded on her own, but experienced Luna found no difficulty in navigating the intrusive thoughts and maintained a clear mind.

Details about the environment, such as the soft breeze and the smells in the air faded away as his mind focused on the crates and on the numbers on the tags and on his records. Then he saw a griffon female, barely discernible facial traits under a black cloak. Luna allowed his recollection to proceed on.

His train of thoughts ground to a halt as he focused on the griffon female that had just passed him. He called for her and asked her to stop and to identify herself, but as she turned to address him, her face was a blur, and her voice a confusing chorus of dissonant voices. It threatened to exert the same effect on Luna’s mind, but she held strong. It passed unseen under his perception, but with access to the subconscious processes that followed, the griffon’s hidden command to obey was clear as her sister’s day.

As her magic commanded, the scene around her froze and she brought to her eyes the mental focus of her magical powers and her investigation of Master Haul’s mind in the form of a blue crystal slab that showed her information like the ones provided by the Throne of the Mind. Not as thorough, but more than sufficient for the moment.

It took little effort to identify the disruption of his mind’s processes as the recollection synched with the records of those. Her stomach sunk at how precise and harmonious the whole thing was and she found the precise moment his sophisticated, but vulnerable mind ‘mishandled’ the event and allowed the griffon to quite literally order him to forget he had seen her.

Had it not been for his friends… Had he been alone he wouldn’t even remember that he had felt something was wrong.

Next, she took advantage of his magical senses and what they could tell her of the environment, also hidden from the conscious mind, but available in the records.

And that chilled Luna’s bones.

It was not powerful magic, barely registrable, just enough that it did what it was supposed to, carried in that griffoness’ voice. But it was a magic that Luna had felt before, long ago.

The fully reconstructed recollection showed her all the pointless details of the environment, his confusing fear, his distraught, but it also showed the old griffon lady under the cloak, with her silvery gray fur, white plumage and gray, cold, determined eyes. A proud and elegant posture as a queen, but her voice carried the distant rolling thunder of a storm. The same that came from the mountains and heralded death in the form of a shrill cry and flashing talons.

Luna gasped and took a step back from the painting and the recollection vanished from her mind, leaving her alone in the crystal corridor. Thunder echoed in the back of her head, and she coughed when she noticed her breathing had quickened and her heart thumped violently. Tense muscles and quickened blood filled with adrenalin; it took her a while to regain control of her nerves and subdue the shivers.

But as soon as she did, she severed the magical connection with the pony’s mind.

***

Twilight sat near the pegasus’s friend, and both watched as the doctor mare kept carefully monitoring his vital signs for no other reason that there was no other thing for either of them to do while Luna remained asleep on the improvised bed in the floor.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but quite some time had, and she got more and more nervous by the second. Because she didn’t know what that supposed griffon was doing. Because she was afraid Princess Luna would discover something about Grigory’s plan prematurely. There was also the possibility that the griffon was up to no good and she should have left and alerted somepony. If that was the case, at any second something could blow up, or somepony might be in danger.

“Twilight!” Luna opened her eyes and she squeaked with a small jump, but Luna ignored that, hastily rising from the floor. “Come with me, quick!”

Twilight stood too and her wings flared so fast she almost smacked the pegasus in her face. “Yes!”

But before anything, Luna turned to the doctor. “He should wake soon. He will likely be confused, but it should pass soon. There is nothing wrong with him anymore, but his recollection of unloading the ship will be foggy, at best. Please assure him there is nothing wrong and that he is fit to return to his job as soon as he feels fine.”

“Yes, Princess.” The doctor mare nodded seriously, also noticing Luna’s grave haste.

Luna simply nodded to the two mares and walked out, expecting Twilight to follow, which she did. “Did you warn the crewponies there might be a griffon infiltrated in the fleet?”

“Ahh… Almost.” She blurted out, but Luna didn’t seem to care too much.

“It is a Loremaster of the Harpy.” She said grimly.

“A Loremaster?” Twilight frowned. “Aren’t Loremasters the teachers in Northern Griffonia?”

Luna stopped and stared at Twilight. “What?”

Twilight blinked at her. “Uh… That’s what they call their teachers… I mean… They don’t really have schools, but these Loremasters are their teachers that gather young griffons and teach them things and that accuse me of attacking their sovereignty with my Early Language Tutoring Act. I suspect that they aren’t being taught the Magic of Friendship…”

“They are being taught that you and I are food, not friends.” Luna deadpanned at her and got a gasp out of Twilight. “She has to be after Grinolf. Come along. Hurry!”

She hurried along the corridor again and Twilight followed, looking up at her. “Didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know, and if I did, I would assume that it was a coincidence, much as Celestia certainly did. Or that they had retained the title from their ancestors, given that they had retained much of their customs from even before the Holy Griffon Empire.” Luna growled and pulled back her ears. “It’s like they’re mocking us now.”

She stopped near a pair of pegasi crewponies patrolling the hall and Luna spoke with that authority she didn’t exert very often. “There is a dangerous griffon infiltrated in the fleet. Old, female, silvery gray coat, white plumage and gray eyes. Inform your superiors and have all airships informed of this. They must find that griffon and stop her. I want her alive, but do what you must.”

They didn’t even flinch and one of them nodded as the other spoke. “Yes, ma’am! Right away!”

They simply bolted down the corridor and Luna ushered Twilight closer with her wing under the eyes of the curious ponies looking out of the rooms. “Come along. I’ll teleport us to the Break of Dawn. Be prepared to fight.”

***

“What are you talking about?” Grinolf growled at her, still not convinced she wasn’t merely trying to jest him in some strange way. Her manic grinning only confused him more. “How could Master Grigory have talked to Lady Gwendolen when he is a prisoner in the hospital airship, and she is all the way to the north in Griffindell?”

“You have to trust me, Grinolf!” The older griffon again barely kept from crying. “The ponies are bound to notice something is wrong soon! Please, trust me! She’s sent me to take you home!”

“I trusted you once.” He kept his anger at bay, one thing he was taught was the trait of an adult, despite his confusion and resentment. “I don’t see why I should trust you, or Lady Gwendolen after all that you have done to me.”

She gasped silently and gave up on trying to reach him through the bars. Instead sat close to them, holding the bars with the steely color of her paws and closed her eyes.

“I’m not supposed to tell you any of this!” She cried. “I was born in Griffonstone, before Lord Gilad mated Lady Gwendolen. I was one of those griffons that heard The Harpy’s call to Snow Mountains and in my journey, I learned things. I took upon myself to preach to other griffons The Harpy’s Commandment and made a name for myself in the larger cities of the north. Once Gwendolen took residence in Griffindell, she came to me and she needed an experienced Loremaster she could teach personally all that she had for griffons to learn.”

Now, that was a surprise. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because…” She held the bars so tightly her paws shivered. “The Dawnbringer has diluted our noble bloodlines and we are in need of more pure griffons that can channel Her magic. When my training was complete and while I was young and fertile, she’s sent me away to find a suitable tom to sire a cub. In that period, I had two cubs and I left them in the guard of their sires, knowing that both would eventually find their way back to Griffindell, as all griffons are meant to peregrinate at least once in their life to the Holy City.”

That couldn’t be real!

“When I saw you in the valley, I knew it was you… I was so sure, that was why I gave you the brooch that allowed you entrance to Griffinsky and to be let into the induction ceremony to the Court… But I made a mistake.” She moaned softly more to herself. “I chose the wrong sire for you.”

Surreal…

“It is all my fault. But the Mother of Storms herself has decided that you are judged worthy.” She smiled softly and held the bars tightly again. “Please! Let me help you. There is not much life left in me and I want to share it with you. The three of us can share at least some time together and I can be proud of you, for making it. Against all odds…”

She gave him a hopeful stare. “Please…”

He frowned at her, and he too held the bars, angrily enough that it scared her away from them. “This is not a game!”

Huge eyes and alarmed stare, she shook her head. “This is a war! We are both warriors under The Harpy and our enemy is trying to undo our race. To turn us into subservient little birds that she can control and make safe for her little ponies!”

“Do you listen to yourself?” He did his best not to cry and draw attention from the guards… It was obvious she was behind the fire and that ruse was not likely to last for long. But the worst was that he realized how folly his dream of a peaceful life was. They would not leave him alone. And if she was even telling him the truth… He was a pawn in a game. “You and Lady Gwendolen cannot throw me in the mud and then expect me to come back as though I am a toy you can throw to the trash and clean back up when you want it back!”

She shook her head with her beak half-open. “I never threw you away! I did all I could so that you would have the best possible life as one of Her favorites! It was my life’s mission and you proved that you were worth it! I thought this was what you wanted!”

“It was… But you don’t understand what a literal hell my life has been! Constantly trying to convince myself that it was worth to keep living just because it would be cowardice to end it and in vain hope that one day I would be able to prove to myself that being born was worth it!”

“But you did!” She cried.

“I am not an idiot.” He frowned at her and distanced himself. “I will always be a pariah in her eyes. She will always stare down at me, and all her perfect little birds will always find the most perverse ways to remind me of how inferior I am, even if they say otherwise.”

“No!” She frowned. “Not when She’s told them that you made it! That is in the past, and you have conquered your past!”

“The ponies were ready to accept me, most of all, Princess Cadance. All when your beloved Gwendolen had no qualms whatsoever about destroying my life.” He remained stoic and at a distance. “There was nothing to conquer in my past because there I never did anything wrong. All there ever was, is the rejection, the shame I didn’t deserve and the abuse I suffered. Things that neither she or you could ever repair and the only thing I can do is move on.”

“No…” She all but whispered.

“Going back or staying would either way be another shame, but the ponies were, at least, prepared to accept me without some caveat.” He explained as calmly as he could. “Princess Cadance will find a mate for me, and I will live with the southerner griffons. I’ll distance myself as much as I can from the north. I’ll live a life of my own, with the time I haven’t already spent on her madness.”

“I understand what you have been though… But I didn’t have a choice!” She begged. “Please. Give us another chance! It will be different! I promise!”

“I don’t have any reason to believe it will.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand how Lady Gwendolen may have spoken to Grigory, but I don’t care. He and his mother are the reason I am here to begin with, and all you ever did for me was cast me into your disgusting game.”

“Grinolf… Please…” She whined.

Those were his last words and he silenced, despite her plea. And after a second of two, of expectant staring at him, she closed her pained eyes and frowned. Reached inside her cloak and pulled out a weapon. It was one he had never seen, only heard about. A pistol, black, with a thin barrel that extended forward and that had the front sight. The sort of weapon they only gave to the very upper tier and that most grunts didn’t even know existed.

She huffed nervously, but it was not the first time he had stared the barrel of a gun.

“I cannot let you do this. I cannot let you betray your kind!” She let anger into her voice, but her the gun shook in her paw.

“My kind betrayed me.” His voice was cooler than he expected himself. He supposed he didn’t really care.

She huffed again and held her foreleg straight. Pushed it forward. He saw the wetness in her eyes that ran down her cheeks. Her eyes softened and her anger turned to sorrow.

“Please… Grinolf.” She begged. “Don’t do this to me. I loved you and Gonrur and I did everything I could to make it easier for both of you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen and all I want is to be with you. I didn’t have a choice.”

“All you did was condemn me to this sick game.” He didn’t relent.

“I can’t go back without you, and I can’t leave you here!” She cried. “Don’t do this to me, Grinolf.”

“What did you think would happen? That you’d get here, tell me that Lady Gwendolen somehow talked to Grigory and that then she’d let ‘the ugly duckling’ mix with her precious little chosen ones, and that we’d be a happy little family?”

“It is what you wanted!” She was so confused her frown showed it. So different from the overly sure and all-knowing Loremasters he was used to hearing all the time. He said nothing to her, though. And waited for her to pull the trigger already.

But she didn’t do it. Instead, her grasp on her weapon softened and she let her tears run free. She didn’t sob, though, or let it break her voice. “I suppose I was naïve. I was foolish to let my hopes get the best of me when she contacted me… I’m sorry, Grinolf. I truly am.”

She slowly raised the gun again, but the door behind her swung open and it was Princess Cadance, looking worried and ready to rush inside until she saw the griffon with the cloak outside of the cell and she squeaked as her wings flared in surprise. Immediately, her horn shone, and she pulled the weapon away from the griffoness and the bullet went into the wood planks in the ceiling.

“What? Who are you?” She came into the room, and tried to magically grab the gun again, but the griffoness held it close to her body and tumbled away, turning herself to face the princess and bringing her weapon at her.

Grinolf didn’t think she even understood what was happening before the first shot bounced in her magical barriers. She squeaked away in surprised, and two more shots bounced away, but the force behind the bullets pushed her and she ended sitting in the corner with a half-surprised, half-panicked confused expression.

The Loremaster stood on her hindlegs and scowled fiercely, training the weapon again at the princess. “Will you die already?!”

Instead of allowing herself to be shot again, the Princess fired off a single magical blast from her horn and it hit the griffoness in her chest with enough force that she flew on the wood wall behind with a cry and let the gun go. Cadance quickly scooped up from the floor with her magic and broke it in two.

“Are you hurt, Grinolf?” She gasped, turning to him.

“No! Be careful!” He cried back to her just in time for the old griffon to screech and jump at Cadance with a flap of her wings.

Cadance cried and Grinolf wasn’t sure what happened, but her magical shield collapsed with a flash when the griffon clawed at her but didn’t reach her skin. She used her weight though, grappling with the large pony and toppled Cadance on her side.

“I will murder you, grassbreath!” She clawed at Cadance’s neck and the princess screamed. In a blind panic, she kicked at the griffon and her hoof connected, but the old griffon lady either wasn’t all that hurt by that, or she endured the pain. Grinolf could see blood in the ground, but Cadance finally shoved the griffoness away with a spell that exploded magical energy from her horn.

“Stop!” Cadance cried, panicky and surprised. “Let’s talk!”

The other barely touched the floor and readied another attack so Cadance attacked first with some sort of spell that caused a flash at her opponent, but the griffon resisted whatever effect it was supposed to have. She stood on her hindlegs and clawed at Cadance, that barely got away with her talons puling at her mane. A second slash with her other paw left gashes under her eyes and Grinolf supposed he witnessed the fabled magical defenses of the combat trained spellcaster ponies. She should have lost an eye there.

Cadance kicked at her with more panicked screaming, too scared to fight effectively and Grinolf feared he would see his chance at a better life die before his eyes if a pegasus in royal guard armor hadn’t tackled the griffon and collapsed to the floor with her.

Cadance quickly stood and red blood seeped down her neck, more than Grinolf would be comfortable with, as she distanced herself against the wall and the griffoness grappled with the pegasus.

She rolled with the pegasus and threw him against the bars, following immediately after drawing a knife from under her cloak, and stuck it right above his armor’s gorjet. He cried and she turned at the other pegasus that came at her with a stun baton.

She clawed at his neck, but the protective spells in his armor protected him and he shoved his pink-tipped stun baton into her stomach with a clack and magical sparks. She stepped back against the bars.

“Stand down, ma’am!” He barked, ready to strike again as a third guard came into the room and his horn glowed with magical energy. Her legs gave in the middle of standing again. Grinolf supposed he had hit her with a stunning spell, or something of the sort.

She reached with a paw up, but Princess Cadance zapped her with a magical beam that scorched her fur and threw her down at the floor, unconscious. The princess then turned her attention to the guard on the floor and her magic enveloped him.

“He is gravely injured.” She spoke. “You carry healing potions, don’t you?”

The other guard let go of his baton and quickly reached into his colleague’s saddlebags to produce a small phial full of red liquid in it. He snapped the top off and poured the content on his colleague’s mouth before pulling the knife out.

He yelped and let the thing fall on the floor, but most importantly, the wound promptly let out blood only to stop the next second. It didn’t close, but it only oozed out blood after the potion had done its job.

Then Princess Twilight came into the room. “There is a griffon… Oh… Nevermind.”

Luna followed soon after and took stock of the situation before she spoke. Cadance did so first.

“Are you hurt, Grinolf?” The princess spoke to him again, despite the blood that wet her fur and her panting breath.

“No… You are bleeding.” He pointed and Twilight shrieked at the sight, which caused Cadance to look down at the base of her neck too, and she also shrieked at the sight. But Luna shoved a flask of their healing potion in her mouth.

“She could have killed you, Cadenza!” Luna raised her voice.

“I wasn’t expecting to fight a griffon today!” The other complained after spitting the empty flask.

“Care to explain?” The unicorn royal guard walked up to the bars and stared at Grinolf.

He simply shrugged. “I suppose the northerners thought to appeal to my filial instincts, or something.”

“Wait!” Twilight gasped. “She’s your…”

“I don’t have a mother, Princess.” He spoke calmly. “I had a father I left behind in Beachhome to join the military and it was the worst mistake in my life.”

Twilight whined to herself and let her ears flop, looking at the griffon in the floor, while the unicorn materialized cuffs around her forepaws and the pegasus that was standing tied her wings.

Grinolf spoke again. “I would keep her beak tied.”

Luna, that looked over the pegasus she stabbed with the knife turned to him. “Tell us what exactly happened?”

“I’ve said enough, Princess.” He stared stoically.

Cadance spoke though. “I heard somepony screaming there was a fire in the gun deck, so I went there to help. Once it was dealt with, I came here to see if he was okay, and that griffon lady attacked me… She held a weapon to her jaw… It just scared me, and I pulled it away. Then she attacked me.”

“I suppose you didn’t want to escape?” Luna turned to Grinolf, sitting in the middle of his cell.

“I have no love for you ponies. But I also have no love for the northerners. Not anymore. You should know, though, that she claimed Lady Gwendolen spoke to Grigory.” He sneered. “Do with that information whatever you will.”

Luna didn’t like that at all.

“What do we do with her, Princess?” The unicorn asked.

“Right now, we need to get your partner to a doctor.” She spoke as the pegasus in question raised groggily to his hooves. The cut in his neck looked nasty, but it barely bled anymore. “And also, Cadance… I need to figure out what to do with this griffon lady after that… In the meantime, have her transferred to the hospital and keep her under constant watch.”

She took one last look at the unconscious griffon. “And keep her beak tied shut.”

***

Discord walked around the mansion, convinced that meeting some more griffons would benefit his mission, and help him understand them. Gwendolen, after making sure Gilberta was entertained with the cubs and under watch by the adults, had gotten herself involved with something really boring relating to the mansion's maids and their training, the pantry… Something. And Gilad still hadn’t returned.

Funny that she wouldn’t delegate that job to the headmaid and then gotten personally involved with something more important, such as training her novice Loremasters, though. And curious.

Celestia often got herself interested with matters pertaining to her palace's servants, but she didn't micromanage that stuff, as she was usually involved in ruling the unified nation. He would think that someone on Gwendolen’s position would care little for things as long as they were done.

It made him recall the times of the republic when the family’s patriarch would mind the family’s business and his wives would concern themselves with the household. Maybe it was a false equivalency, or something. He really needed to find out more. Though he knew she had educated Grigory.

Walking into one of the many sitting rooms he happened upon a pair of the mansion’s maids, and they didn’t pay him any attention, entertained with their conversation.

“… but she ordered that he remained locked in his room. I hope I get to see him again! He’s so cute!” Blue griffon girl, with lighter colored plumage on her head tip-tapped all excited on the stone floor, talking to her yellow and green friend. Both wearing the mansion’s maid uniform.

“Aaaw… I wanted to see him too!” Lady Geena said he’s special!” The other, somehow, pouted with her beak.

“Who?” He asked, approaching them.

The fireplace burned and it was rather nice with some snow outside and the two turned to see him. Green one had pretty yellow feathers on her head and a short, curved beak she grinned at Discord with. “Master Geordi! He’s a soldier that was captured near Lady Geena’s home! Lady Geena brought him for Lady Gwendolen to see! But she’s the one that gets to take food to him!”

“A soldier? Huh…” He wondered… Was he one of those griffons that he saved from meeting an untimely demise thanks to their… He decided to call them unreasonable bosses. “Is he alright? I mean… Why did they bring him here? What about the others? What’s so special about him?”

“I don’t know…” Green one shrugged.

“Lady Gwendolen said he’s a pure blood descendant of the desert griffons!” The other explained excitedly. “Apparently, this is actually very rare!”

“Is that so?” He pulled at his beard. He was curious, but also figured that he should check up on the griffon guy, if for no other reason, because it sounded like he was a prisoner and that Discord had saved his life. “Can I talk to him?”

“Hum… That may be difficult…” Green one frowned. “Lady Gwendolen is a little protective of him right now. She’s had him locked in one of the rooms in her tower and only the headmaid and two of us can get in there other than Lady Gwendolen and Lady Gervina.”

“Gervina?” He asked.

“Yellow, beautiful one.” The yellow said. “Has a pretty drawing of flowers painted in her forelegs and her face. She’s always around. One of Lady Gwendolen’s Loremasters in training!”

“There are also Ladies Gwineth and Gehenna, but I heard Lady Gwendolen sent them away to do something.” The green one added.

“I see. Thanks. Where is the entrance to the tower, by the way?”

“It’s near the main hall!” The green one made some gestures with her paws to explain. “Go through the door in the back, in the end of the corridor, past the bend to the right. It is the first door. There’s always one of Lady Gwendolen’s students there.”

“Yeah…” The other frowned. “I don’t think they’ll let you in if Lady Gwendolen doesn’t say so.”

“Eh…” Discord grinned and winked. “We’ll see about that.”

Comments

[Kevin Lee]

That was the sort of insight that only four creatures in existence should even have access too. The first was herself, the second her sister. And since she hadn’t done anything and Celestia wouldn’t either, it led her to the third possibility and that was unlikely as that would have been Discord.
That left only one possibility and that should as impossible as it was worrying. It made the fur on her back stand.

Well, with the discovery that the loremasters are back, perhaps Luna needs to recalculate that count....

So, is Discord going to borrow a page from the Changelings to see his favorite blind engineer?

[Metemponychosis]

10896451

Well, with the discovery that the loremasters are back, perhaps Luna needs to recalculate that count....

At least most Loremasters aren't that good.

So, is Discord going to borrow a page from the Changelings to see his favorite blind engineer?

Damn... I totally didn't realize that when I named that dude.
Shame I gotta change his name.

[Kevin Lee]

Don't watch the video--it makes no sense. Just listen to the lyrics--they speak to this chapter

And things look like they are slowly getting deeper for Gilda--she has no idea of the tar pit that she's been swimming in....

[Metemponychosis]

10919487
Yes. They do. Good music too. Not the genre I'm used to listen to, but it certainly is good.
Thanks for sharing.

[Kevin Lee]

10919487
10919568
D'Oh!!
That post was supposed to go into Fólkvangr--A Glance Inside!

Sorry about that!

[Metemponychosis]

10919684
Hum. It works better, for sure. But I feel like this works here too, because of Gehenna and Grinolf.

[Kevin Lee]

10919695
Okay, thanks! I hadn't considered that.

[Jinnchin]

So not only do creatures in this setting have a built in mad scientist lab, they can also be set to run in Safe Mode. I'd be VERY interested to know how this came to be! Also Luna is Best I.T. pony!

Have to say I was pretty convinced Gehenna was just bullshitting Grinolf at first, but the fact that she couldn't pull the trigger seems to indicate otherwise. Get the distinct impression this kind of thing is a big part of why Grigor's empire ultimately failed!

[Metemponychosis]

11834229
It's the Westworld analogy.