Political Postulation
Chapter 14
Political Postulation
Edited by: Neko-, Shalrath, and Courage Fire
The chariot bounced erratically, its wheels spinning freely in the jetstream of open air. A team of griffins pulled their burden and plowed forward, indifferent to the turbulence at this altitude, but it left Ambassador Maurice Laud feeling queasy.
His lack of control over the flight did no favors for his stomach, but the abrupt diplomatic situation he had been dragged into had given even less care for his concerns. It didn’t help that he got airsick relatively easily, while it wasn’t wholly unheard of for griffins and other flying creatures his stomach always seemed more sensitive than others. He winced as the flying chariot jostled him, going a bit green in the beak.
He gagged and tried to tune out the sensations of flight. To that end, he turned to his secretary for what he knew was going to be an unpleasant conversation.
“So, *ulp* Miss Beakley.”
A marvelous specimen of a griffin turned and leered at him over the rims of her half-moon reading glasses. She was young and a recent hire, but she was fiercely talented and quite fierce in general. Looking at her now, however, it would have been hard to believe, as the ride was not doing her any favors either. It seemed that misery loves company after all.
“How has this… unexpected adventure affected our scheduling for the foreseeable future?”
The sour look on her face curdled further into a venomous glare before snapping into a very fake facsimile of innocent idle thought.
“Well, since you asked...” She said in that magical tone that sounded both like peppy girl talk but retained a dangerous undertone, like the rumblings of an avalanche, all at the same time. She pulled out a scroll from her bag, unfurled it with a bit of excessive flourish, and cleared her throat.
“We’ve had to move our regular meeting with the prime minister back by two weeks. Our trip to the outer isles of Selt is completely on hold. We are going to miss the little party put on by Duke Bartholemew Widdlewiskers. The play that was to be put on by the-” she continued to list over several more items, all the while her fake happy attitude became a lot less chipper and gained a certain amount of edge. That amount was a lot. Before she finally turned back to the ambassador.
“Now,” Her eyes flaring dangerously, “Was there anything else I should be rescheduling, again, or does that answer your question?”
Laud paused for a moment to think. He was contemplating how to properly answer and finally formulated his response.
“You forgot about Grover’s day.”
Her expression swung from exasperated, to stunned, to inarticulate rage, then to realization before circling back to finally land on defeated frustration.
“...Ah pluck, you’re right.” She pulled out a quill and started scratching away with a sigh. “I can’t believe we have to just upend everything just because some pony is freaking about some big bugaboo or whatever.”
“While I hope that is not the case.” Laud said diplomatically, “I can’t deny the possibility. However, I doubt that is the situation we are currently facing.”
“Oh really, what makes you say that?” Beakley replied disinterestedly not even attempting to sound enthusiastic in the slightest.
“Because of how the writ of summons was worded: ‘Discussions of a paramount nature’ is… an odd turn of phrase.”
A smidgen of genuine interest flickered briefly in the eyes of his assistant. “Odd how?”
“She didn’t include the why.”
“The what?”
“No, the why.”
“That’s what I- aargh” The surly secretary grunted in both frustration and at the rather hard jostling from a bit of turbulence. “Hilarious Maurice, so why in the flying feathery pluck does that matter?”
“Language Beatrice.” The ambassador admonished, only to get a steely glare in return. He sighed and began his explanation.
“Because the letter is intentionally vague while stating its importance. That’s not her usual code of conduct, she may insert personal questions and statements into her correspondence, but the letters always arrive at their point and purpose.”
Beatrice Beakly nodded along until her patience wore out ”So what does it all MEAN?”
Ambassador Maurice Laud of Highreach smiled and shook his head “Not a clue in the slightest. We’ll find out more when we get there.”
A rather large bump pushed the ambassador over the edge and his face went a particularly angry shade of chartreuse. He pulled out one of the complimentary paper bags from its holder and made some not so dignified noises that miss Beakley tried to ignore. She failed, it was too much for her now and she grabbed a bag of her own and joined her boss as the pair lost their lunch.
“Uuuuugh. Are we there yet?” groaned Beatrice the not-so-happy bird.
The griffin guard that was pulling the chariot turned his head, “We will arrive in about two hours, once we get over this mountain range it will be smoother flying and a straight shot to Canterlot.”
Both occupants made very unhappy, undiplomatic noises accompanied by some rude gestures courtesy of Beatrice. Protocol dictated they couldn't fly under their own power until they had made it to the castle proper, and neither birdcat was happy about it.
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The chariot finally, FINALLY touched down on the ground. The occupants wasted no time, leaping from the vehicle as if it was on fire and onto the blessed earth, with Miss Beakley hopping up and gliding in a low circle around the accursed contraption to settle her stomach.
Laud meanwhile tipped the guard and then went about making himself presentable. Producing a small mirror from his luggage and settling his ruffled feathers. Once Beatrice completed her circuit he offered her the mirror. She went about putting herself to rights as she started grumbling.
“Why exactly do we need to fly in these stupid things?”
Laud answered her question with another, “Could you carry all your luggage and fly all the way here from Highreach WITHOUT getting lost? I know I couldn’t.”
Miss Beakley’s low rumbling of ‘maybe I could’ didn’t hold the ambassador’s attention as a well-dressed unicorn approached the landing pad.
“Good to see you again, ambassador Laud. It has been far too long.” The pony intoned as he took a short bow.
Maurice smiled as he replied, “And it is good to see you as well, Silver Sheen. You look well.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ve already arranged for a bath and a meal.” Silver Sheen gave Maurice a look over and though he hid his reaction well, the ambassador knew that he’d looked like he had been run over by the chariot, rather than having ridden in it.
“The trip seems to have been particularly unkind this time around.” The servants' eyes wandered a bit, looking for something to change the topic, and brightened when they landed on the secretary fixing her feathers. “Ah now, who might this be? I do not believe I have had the pleasure of making your acquaintance, young miss. I am Silver Sheen, one of the many butlers of Canterlot castle and you are?”
The young miss in question looked slightly uncomfortable at the sudden unexpected attention. She overcorrected by suddenly sitting up straight and puffing out her chest.
“I, um. My name is Beatrice Beakley, I am Mister Laud’s secretary. Uh, sir.” She thrust out her claw out ramrod straight.
Silver backed off a step until he realized what she wanted, and with a chuckle stepped forward and accepted her very stiff clawshake. “Well met miss Beatrice, I’m sure it will be a pleasure to work with you. From what I’ve seen, Mister Laud has a rather keen eye for talent.”
Mister Laud himself chuckled as he leaned into the conversation. “I have no idea where you got that impression, but you might actually be right this time around.” he gestured to his aid. “Miss Beakley here may be a recent hire, but she is the best secretary I’ve ever had by a mountain mile.” Maurice scratched his head and made a well-practiced effort to appear nonchalant.
“Although we haven’t had the opportunity to go over the finer points of etiquette and all the considerations that come with being part of a diplomatic entourage.” He carefully slipped the butler a small, but still substantial amount of coinage.
“It would really put me at ease if you and yours could… Run interference if anything comes up.”
Silver held the coins in his hoof, before replying. “I know I keep telling you this, but you don’t need to pay me to do my job. My duty is to see to any request you might possibly have. Mind you, I still appreciate the gesture.”
Maurice smiled, “Old customs, you know how things work in the griffin lands. If I break this habit here then I run the risk of forgetting it somewhere it matters. It would put my mind at ease if you accepted this gift.”
The butler smiled and swiftly stowed the coins in one of the pockets of his coat.
“Ha, twist my tail why don’t you. I’ll pass the word along to the other staff later. In the meantime, let me show you to the baths.”
He led the two to a partitioned room filled with steam. The bathing accommodations were amazing as always. The main portion of the bath had been adjusted to be only ankle deep. This agreed with the dual avian and feline nature of griffins as the ambassador gave himself a much-needed birdbath. Judging from the delighted noises Beatrice was making on the other side of the partition she was just as thrilled as her boss.
Eventually, a servant came with a fluffy robe and offered to escort the ambassador to his room. The ambassador smiled at his secretary, who was visibly in a better mood, as they walked down the hall.
“Enjoy the bath?”
“I used to think the only way I was ever going to have a bath that big was to go jump in a river.” She snuggled into her luxuriously fluffy robe. “I could get used to this.”
Maurice let out a laugh at that.
“Careful, if you let yourself get spoiled now you’ll never be satisfied with anything you or I could reasonably afford. Try to think of this as a perk of the job.”
As his secretary let out a wistful sigh they arrived at their accommodations. The two rooms were side by side in a section of the castle meant to house foreign dignitaries. Beatrice went into her room while he entered his. This suite was familiar to him, having spent many nights here before on various occasions that demanded his presence within the castle. His luggage had been moved into the suite while he had been enjoying the bath and he started to whistle a jaunty tune as he moved some of his nicer coats from traveling cases to hanging closets.
Suddenly he heard someone fiddling with the handle of the side door of the room. Having an inkling of an idea of what might be happening, he went over to the door and unlocked it. The door suddenly swung open to show a rather surprised Beatrice.
She immediately looked confused, though her expression rapidly fermented into incredulity.
“Why are we in joined rooms?” It was less a question and more an accusation.
“So we can talk as often as we need to, without advertising the fact we are meeting,” Maurice answered matter of factly. Though this did little to lessen her glare.
“I’m not sure I feel comfortable sleeping in a room anygriffin can just waltz into.”
The ambassador's seemingly permanent smile fell away into a more neutral expressionless mask. “First off, those doors lock from both sides miss Beakley, but more importantly I don’t like what you're trying to imply. I am married, you know.”
Beatrice didn’t back down, “That doesn't stop some griffins from trying to have a little something on the side.” Her eyes never left his level gaze.
Maurice let out a sigh before straightening himself and took a seat in front of the suspicious birdcat.
“Alright listen, I didn’t exactly plan on bringing a secretary I’ve had for only a week to a foreign country. I had intended to train you in proper etiquette for at LEAST three months and then introduce you at one of the functions in the fall or winter since they tend to be more subdued affairs attended by smaller crowds.”
He ran his claws back over the crest of his head.
“However, the abruptness of this summon ruined all that. So now here we are. I was going to teach you this later, but I suppose now is as good as time as any.”
Beatrice furrowed her brow.
“Teach me what?” Caution still present in her voice.
After a moment’s consideration, Maurice replied “Something of a crash course in self-discipline and the basics of diplomacy.”
He settled in for what was likely to be a lengthy chat. “Miss Beakley, who are oaths important to?”
She scrunched her face up “I, what?”
“Who are oaths important to?”
After a bit of puzzled contemplation, she spoke.
“Judges? Knights and Kings maybe? I don’t see where you are going with this.”
Maurice shook his head, “You’ll understand in a moment, and to be more accurate, others generally care about oaths that affect themselves. For example; if one griffin swears an oath to serve another griffin, you don’t particularly care about it do you?”
Beatrice slowly shook her head no.
“However if some griffin came up to you and swore to serve you until the end of their days that would be something you would care about, wouldn’t it?”
She slowly nodded, “Okay, but how does this keep you out of my bed exactly? Don’t tell me you're going to solemnly swear to-” she stopped as her employer shook his head.
“I’m getting to that, patience. Now, which oath would carry more weight, a vow to serve someone till the end of your life, or a promise to not tickle someone?”
The pause that came after this question was both long and awkward.
“I’m going to guess the vow of eternal servitude?” she said lamely.
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why is that one more important?”
Beatrice seemed puzzled but replied, “Because swearing to serve a griffin for a lifetime is going to affect both parties for a very long time?” She said with a bit more confidence.
Maurice tapped the side of his beak with a claw.
“Very good, now can you give me an example where the opposite would be true? Where somegiffin would value an oath of ‘no tickling’ over an oath of eternal servitude.”
As Beatrice sunk into thought again, she was visibly more relaxed though still confused.
“I think a young chick would prefer someone not tickling them, and I can’t wait for when this will start making sense.”
The ambassador finally relented. “Because different individuals value different things, certain oaths hold more weight than others. Marriage vows, even for those unhappily married, are supposed to be cherished by those who make them, and who should care about upholding those vows the most. Even more so in my case.”
“Why is that?” Beatrice queried, relieved that this griffin was finally getting to the point.
“Because my ability to keep oaths is one of the reasons I can maintain my station. I have access to some of the most sensitive secrets out there, and not just in griffin lands, but Equestria and beyond, and I need to be worthy of the trust required to keep them.” He answered. “How could I be trusted to keep my oaths to my country when I can’t even keep my word to my own wife? While some may look past that kind of indiscretion, if such a thing were to come to light, it would be a political weakness that could be easily exploited. The likely result would be my removal from my position as ambassador in service to removing that weakness.”
Beatrice looked both relieved and troubled at her boss's words.
“All of this is to say, I am not going to do anything untoward to you. If you can’t bring yourself to believe it’s because of my own moral fiber, then at least believe it is out of my own self-interest. Why in Equestria would you think I would do such a thing?”
She was quiet for a moment before finally answering in a small, uncharacteristically soft voice.
“Why would you hire me then? I’m just some hen from Griffinstone, I don’t have the pedigree or bearing that I’m sure some other birds you might’ve hired have. I knew that some important tercels liked to mess around with their secretaries and I thought I could keep clear of something like that.”
She sagged into the floor.
“But after everything you said, I feel… a lot better, but I don’t have anything else to offer. Not really.”
Maurice watched her for a moment before gesturing to a side table.
“Could you grab that newspaper for me real quick?”
Miss Beakley blinked in surprise before going over to the table and retrieving the paper.
“What do you need this for?”
He smiled as she handed it over to him.
“This.”
Swift as the wind he rolled the paper up and whacked her over the head with it eliciting a surprised squawk as he pointed the newspaper at her like a saber.
“Now you listen to me, I don’t do charity cases. I hired you because when you came to me looking for a job, I gave you a task and you immediately set to it. I hired you because your organizational work is some of the best I have ever seen. Do you think I would just let any random bird who walks in my door manage my schedule after only a WEEK?! You are not just some hen from Griffinstone, you are Beatrice plucking Beakley, aid to the ambassador of Highreach,” he slapped the newspaper down for emphasis, “and don’t you plucking forget it!”
She stood there shell-shocked for a moment before raising a single claw.
“Language, Mister Laud.”
They both stood there for a moment before bursting out into laughter. It took them a while but they soon started to regain their composure.
“Ah, aha haha. Haaaa. Okay, you got me there.” Maurice conceded. “Now let's talk about how to properly accept a bribe.”
Beatrice, who had been in the process of recovering nearly choked at his words.
“What are you- What about all that stuff about oaths and keeping your word and stuff?!” She only paused when she saw his mischievous smile. “Alright, what are we actually going to talk about?”
His smile widened as he rolled his eyes. “Oh go ahead and ruin my fun. In essence, we’re going to do a little exercise involving hypothetical bribes, because while keeping your word is good. It is hard to do if you don’t understand the consequences of not staying on the straight and narrow. To start, let’s do a little math.”
The groans from the peanut gallery were not lost on him, but Maurice powered on.
“I know, I know. Just humor me. How much money would it take for you to tell someone a secret that, if it got out you had leaked the information, would get you fired? Don’t say the number, just try to figure it out in your head.”
Beatrice thought for a moment before nodding her head. “Okay, got it. What now?”
“Now for the math, your pay is a thousand bits a week right? How do you feel about that amount?”
“It’s the highest paying job I’ve ever had, and yeah a thousand a week.”
He nodded at her words.
“Right, so let’s put things into perspective, there are fifty-two weeks in the year, let’s subtract 2 weeks for unpaid holidays. We won’t go over paid leave since that won’t affect the numbers. So an entire year's worth of pay for you is going to be around fifty thousand bits.” He smiled as he saw the light click on behind his secretary's eyes, she hadn’t realized just how much money she would be making yet. “We’ll ignore raises to keep things simple, otherwise if you keep working for me until retirement that would be around thirty to forty years worth of pay. Meaning, if you retire early, you would have one million five hundred thousand bits earned over tenure with me.”
Her eyes at this point were practically glowing bit coins, and he could have sworn that if he had been listening he could have heard the sound of a register *ka-ching*.
“So,” he brought her back to reality with a light clap, “If someone offered to bribe you, they would have to offer that much at the absolute minimum for you to break even with what you would get from me, though that’s only in monetary value, but we’ll touch on intangibles in a moment. So how does that number compare to the bribe you would have taken before we did all the math?”
Miss Beakley shook her head, “I hadn’t…. it wasn’t anywhere that… what do you mean ‘intangibles’?”
The shock was wearing off, but it was clear that her initial notion of a substantial bribe was nothing compared to the long-haul results of her work.
“In a moment, because the more reasonable bribes would be two or three times what you get for your entire service. So if you get caught and believe you me, you will be, there are a lot of griffins whose entire job is just to find and catch somefeather who’s selling sensitive information or doing things they shouldn’t. Anyway, best to assume that any crime you commit will be uncovered eventually. So in order to relocate somewhere without extradition, and buy your anonymity and live the rest of your life in comfort, you will need somewhere in the ballpark of four million bits for that to be a worthwhile trade.”
“Wait, that’s the kind of money being thrown around out there?!”
Maurice laughed, “No not even close. You’ll be lucky to get a tenth of that. However, now when some scrupless ne'er-do-well approaches you with an offer, it won’t sound nearly as tempting will it?”
She violently shook her head, “Pluck no, not even getting a THIRD of what I could have otherwise? No thank you.”
The ambassador smiled and nodded along, “Exactly. Knowing your worth lets you fight off these temptations. It also helps to understand the ‘intangible’ benefits and drawbacks. Like if you didn’t take the bribe you would be a well-connected, well-respected member of society, and gain all the benefits that come with that.“
“However, if you took the bribe, once discovered, you would be a fugitive on the run. At best would have to be on the lamb for the rest of your life. There would be certain places you couldn’t go, individuals you would have to avoid, both arbiters of law and scoundrels. After all, you couldn’t go to a guard if you got robbed now could you.” He adopted a falsetto imitation of his secretary. “Please help me, some foul beast stole all my bribe money.”
He dropped the facade with a wry smile. “Not a lot of options for recourse there.”
She snorted at his antics. “I think I get it. It’s hard to stick to your morals just for the sake of being moral. It’s more practical to be moral for the sake of being practical.”
Maurice smiled and nodded at her. “Good answer, now we’ll go over the protocol for when we meet the princesses. Oh, before that.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “Don’t let on that you’ve only been my secretary for a week. You’re a ‘new hire’, no one needs to know anything more than that.”
She nodded seriously. “Got it. Though if it’s that big of an issue why am I even here?”
She got a long-suffering sigh that prefaced her answer.
“Because important people need an entourage to help them look important. If I came here alone it would reflect badly on the parties we’re here to represent. It’s silly, but that’s also politics. Now let’s start with approaching the princess in the throne room. Posture will be important, now let me show you what you need to do.”
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Meanwhile, elsewhere…
Troy was quite happy. Looking back his trip to the school had been an odd one. He had been unsure what the tiny baby ponies had wanted in the beginning. And it took him a while to figure out they had wanted him to get into a little red wagon. He had to curl his body into something akin to the fetal position to get in. He had only gotten more concerned when they threw a blanket over him. He had no idea how to respond to the situation he found himself in. So with no immediate threat and not a lot of options, he just rolled with it.
On reflection, he had been absurdly lucky. He had been outright told not to go into town, and while it might not have been his intention, he had made the trip with surprisingly little in the way of trouble. Heck, he might have cleared up one of the few major blunders he had made. So all in all, things were looking to be on the up and up.
Troy’s gaze idly wandered. He hadn’t seen much in the way of ponies on his way back to the forest, and the one or two he did see didn’t seem too freaked out. Maybe going into the town wouldn’t be a problem from now on?
He saw a group of 3 ponies walking and talking, when one of them turned and noticed him he waved. Judging by the result, this was not the correct response.
The first one started screaming, then the other two looked, and then THEY started screaming. One clutched her face with her hooves and screamed some sort of chant that he couldn’t understand. In an isolated part of his mind, Troy was rather impressed with the sense of balance demonstrated. A quadruped clutching its face and staying upright probably wasn’t an easy feat. Then, as if by some unknown cue, all three dropped to the ground in a dead faint.
Troy for his part, had not moved an inch after he had recoiled in shock from the initial scream. Now that the show was over he slowly looked around. No one seemed to be coming or looked to be around. Then he remembered that some of these things could fly and looked up and about.
And saw he was being watched.
...At least he thought he was, it was hard to tell since the pegasus in question was rather walleyed. He gave a hesitant wave which the pony returned enthusiastically. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor he turned and started power walking towards the forest. Not fast enough to implicate guilt, but he was suddenly very aware that this may have been a bad idea. He was starting to wish he had waited for the foals after they had gotten swarmed by their classmates. Maybe sneaking off hadn’t been the best idea?
Hopefully, this little snafu would be the dry subpar cherry on the top of his stellar today Sunday. He couldn’t imagine that entering a forest that had routinely tried to kill him could be any worse than any future consequence for today's actions. And why was he smelling ozone?
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Meanwhile back at the library…
“Yes!” Twilight shouted in joy as her horn blazed with a lavender glow.
Ecstasy flowed through her as line after line fountained forth from her quill. She thrust forward, grabbing a new piece of paper. She was practically holding on for dear life as a slew of questions exited her rapidly moving writing implement. The knowledge she could have, the heights she would achieve, the answers that would finally be hers.
“YES!”
Spike walked around the corner wearing a rather dapper sun hat and had a shopping bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hey Twi, I’m going to go grocery shopping and get a bite to eat, want me to bring you back a hayburger?”
“YES!”
Spike nodded and left without a word. Outside he saw a blushing blue earth pony holding a library book. He approached Spike as soon as he saw him exit the library and after a few stops and starts, he finally managed to ask, “I was wondering if I could get an extension on this book, but I can come back, if um... if you guys are busy.”
A resoundingly inappropriate and slightly muffled “YES!” reverberated from the library.
The pony jumped a little at the sudden sound. Spike for his part just shrugged. He had no context to how these shouts sounded to others, outside of ‘Twilight being weird’.
“Well, she’s the boss,” he said nonchalantly and pulled a quill from his bag and wrote an extension date into the book, then made a note for himself to update the library's records.
Returning the book to the surprised and deeply blushing pony, Spike started down the road. There were groceries to buy, and some ruby-encrusted cupcakes were calling his name. After all, it was best not to shop for food on an empty stomach.
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Back at Castle Canterlot
“You may both rise. It is good to see you again Ambassador Laud.”
The griffin lifted himself from his bow and took a moment to watch miss Beakley do the same. Although unrefined, her movements were satisfactory. When she realized he was watching him, Laud gave her an approving nod before turning back to their hosts.
“You as well, your highness. Though if I might be so impertinent as to ask, why have you summoned me on such short notice?”
He let the question hang, Celestia for her part looked impassive, yet troubled.
“A reasonable request, one I would fulfill if it were not for our given circumstances.”
Laud worked to keep his rising nerves from raising his hackles or puffing out his feathers. Here it came, time to get some answers.
“What are these circumstances you speak of? If we are in danger or if there is a credible threat to either Equestria or the Griffin States then I have a right to know.” He stated firmly.
The way the princess shook her head sent rippling eddies through her flowing mane.
“I can assure you there is no threat presently. The simplest answer I can give is that an event has taken place. One that requires the immediate attention of all nations, so in the interest of fairness I have called for representatives from all corners of our world to inform them as soon as possible without risking one party being informed before another.”
The ambassador paused at this news. “Even the dragons?”
Celestia nodded this time. “Even the dragons. Though they replied in the usual fashion.”
“Ah. I see.”
He smoothed the creases of his suit while he thought. Nodded to himself, then bowed.
“I understand, in that case, I will be in your care until then. Do we have an estimate as to how long it will take for the delegates to be assembled and the meeting arranged?”
“Most sent word ahead, those who did not have either already arrived or have indicated they have chosen to not be present. The last should arrive in two days, the meeting will be held the day after that.”
Laud rose from his bow. “Thank you, it sounds like we will have more to discuss soon. Until then, or until my presence is required, I will take my leave.”
“Thank you for your understanding ambassador Laud. I understand it may be frustrating to be called so suddenly, only to be told to wait. Please know that no slight is meant and it is only the result of us trying to handle a delicate situation. I would love to catch up when there is a spare moment, unfortunately, my court is going to be quite busy preparing for the rest of the delegates. Please rest and enjoy your stay for the time being.”
With his dismissal, Laud bowed again, and after a bit of prompting so did his secretary. With that, both turned and left the throne room.
It took only a minute for the secretary bird to slump and let out a sigh so large one could reasonably wonder if she was deflating.
“That was so much more nerve-wracking than I thought it would be. Nogriffin told me she’d be so, so… BIG!”
Laud chuckled, “I forget most griffins think she’s the size of a regular pony.”
“You could have warned me you know!” She complained as the pair walked towards their accommodations.
“Honestly it didn’t cross my mind that you would need a warning.” he shrugged.
“Fine.” She relented, “Still, couldn’t she at least have told us why we had to rush here instead of just schedule a meeting.”
Laud never broke his stride as he leaned in to whisper. “Wait until we get back to our rooms.” Before picking up the pace.
Confused Beatrice sped up to follow her employer until they were safely ensconced in their attached rooms. Only then did the ambassador explain himself.
“She told us more than I think you realize, there is a lot a leader can’t say simply because they are a leader. So a lot of what they say is only as important as the way they say it.”
“For example, the princess stated that she wanted to speak of this matter with representatives of every stripe and state in attendance. Then more or less flat out told us the matter is important enough that it demands global attention, sensitive enough that the information can’t simply be disseminated by the usual channels and to top it off, this news is also delicate enough that the princess wants all the representatives to be informed at the same time.”
He paused, “Do you understand so far?”
She cupped her chin as she thought back to the conversation between the ambassador and the princess.
“Okay, I think so, buuuut,” She drew out the word as she thought, “that implies this thing is big enough to ruffle a lot of feathers if one group gets the scoop before anygriffin else.”
Laud nodded with a smile, “It helps explain the suddenness of the summons, they probably felt that there would be political fallout if they dragged their hooves.”
His face turned serious.
“But there’s still more you’re missing, perhaps the most important part.”
Beatrice noticed the rather sudden change in demeanor and tried not to show how much it worried her. She almost succeeded.
“What did I miss?”
“Do you remember when I asked about any threat to either the griffins or ponies? What was her response?”
“Didn’t she say there wasn’t any danger?”
The slow, serious shake of his head and his sudden intensity were starting to freak her out a little.
“What did she say,” The ambassador asked quietly. “What were her exact words?”
Maybe it was her nerves or the growing implications that slowed her down, but it took a moment for her to recall what the princess had said, and once she did her eyes went wide as her feathers started to stand on end. Laud took that moment to confirm her suspicions as he quoted the diarch.
‘I can assure you there is no threat presently.’
“With ‘presently’ being the keyword. Implying that while there is no threat now, that may be subject to change.”
Beatrice sat down hard, almost feeling like she was being crushed by the weight of the implications alone of what was happening. And then the rest of what Celestia had said hit her and she started to tremble as she put her sudden understanding into words.
“Something happened that revealed something that can affect the entire world, and it might be dangerous enough that everyg- everyone needs to be warned, even the dragons.”
She started to pace back and forth. “This is bad, really, really bad.” She only stopped when a claw gently took hold of her shoulder.
Laud’s face was still serious, but some of that gentle charm had seeped back out again. “Beatrice, take a breath and calm yourself. If things were really that bad we would have received an emergency summons or perhaps a letter explaining the situation without a care to the political ramifications. The fact that the ponies, despite their proclivity to do so, aren’t panicking means a lot. Whatever the situation on the horizon, it can be for good, ill, or both, but until we know more we have nothing to act upon. So we wait until we do.”
Miss Beakley for her part did an admirable job of regaining her composure, though it took a moment. After she had calmed down a look of curiousness came over her. “Now that I think about it, Celestia said the dragons replied in ‘the usual way’. What does that mean?”
An actual smile broke out onto the ambassador’s face again.
“They usually respond to any correspondence sent their way by returning the letter to its sender reconstituted into a pile of ash. I’m just happy they don’t do that to the messengers anymore.“
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He is in magical pony land. And he forgot to say it was fiction.
There can only be disaster.
awesome chapter, i like that ambasator already ^^
Oh boy a global meeting because of a misunderstanding! That is bad, that is really, really, REALLY bad. Finding out it was a false alarm could anger a lot of important ambassadors, this need to be calm down before things get out of hand and Twilight get the scolding of her life, for jumping the mother of all the guns.
10740386
Yeah, at first I was thinking that maybe Celestia is over reacting. I was thinking that maybe she should have just sent a memo to every nation saying Hey! An alien visited us! It's neat! but she's like OMG get everyone together we need to discuss things. Then I remembered, yeah its cuz the human told a big intense story and didn't say it was a whimsical, fictional fairy tale and assumed that everyone would assume it to be fiction. Tia is under the incorrect impression that the human might now be the harbinger of doom. So much face palming incoming.....
What? A new chapter? But it hasn't been 10 years yet!
10740487
I'm just as surprised as you are. NOBODY GET USED TO THIS! THIS IS NOT A PRECEDENT! THIS IS NOT A SIGN OF MONTHLY UPDATES, BECAUSE THE MOMENT I SAY THAT'S HAPPENING I'LL GET STRUCK BY LIGHTING OR SOMETHING. AND IT IS DEFINATELY NOT!
It's alive?!
If only they neuw Lotr is fiction but if it was real the ponys wold be fuckt by sauron and badly to
I love how the "also liked" bar is full of other ancient HiE relics.
10740522
Oh lord almighty, please strike him with lightning so we may have monthly updates.
Political maneuvers aside, I am curious at what Twilight got excited about?
10740588
If I get struck with lightning, I die instantly and you get no updates ever again.
10740563
I've noticed that. It's like a time capsule.
10740542
and two whole chapters have come out recently. In the same year even, been a while since that happened.
...I'll have what she's having.
I think you mean disseminated.
10740563
May be some of them will be revived as well!
10740478
There is also the possibility that now that one human appeared that maybe others will as well.
10740596
A ultra rare tome of ancient methods of list making is my guess
10740588 10740616
Strike slightly with a small lightning?.. Perhaps we should call for a pegasus intervention rather than divine intervention. The plagues and floods guy struggles with precision strikes.
Another excellent chapter, thank you.
Is "tercel" the agreed upon name for a male griffin, because personally, I never liked it . I always thought it would be appropriate if a adult male were called a "Leo", and "Cub" for boy. It sounds better and it acknowledges the griffins feline half.
Thank you for continuing the story
It's great seeing old fics being updated, gives me an excuse to read them again!
Ooo... Tensions are building, things are being set up, new interesting characters are being introduced, this is getting me very invested.
I can't wait for the next chapter, I want to see what happens next.
Love the results of this.^^
I wonder what species will show up for this gathering? There's been so many in MLP, both TV and otherwise:
Deer; Zebra; Tirek's homeland with centaur, imps, and gargoyles; dragons; abyssinians(Capper's species); whatever Captain Caelano's species is called; Aquastria's meremares and sea ponies; the hippogriffs and their artificial sea pony forms; the kirin; diamond dogs; changelings; yaks; crystal empire; buffalo; thestrals; saddle arabians; abada and kelpies from Zecora's homeland; breezies; cows; donkeys; potentially more depending on how you have Discord's origins for this(I have an interesting idea for the dragonequi, but what you do there is up to you)
Either way, should be interesting.
I'm surprised they didn't just open up the news paper that Laud had been using to whack Beakley and read the story on page 1....
10741046
This link might explain it best. At least in show canon, griffons aren't solely a blend of lion and eagle, but are frequently blended of several different species of cats and birds depending on the episode and fimfic story. Many of us settled on tiercels and hens for male & female griffons in general terms, but each author is perfectly free to chose something else, including using the male & female terms for felines (toms & mollies), too.
Derogatory nicknames for griffons also vary. Personally, I like "catbird", since there is just such a real creature called that, but birdcat or some other terms are frequently used, too.
10740596
Now that a cypher was discovered between written languages, she could ask any question she wants? She's likely making a long, extensive list of questions covering anything and everything she could think of...
I have realized, to my disbelief, that I had neglected to give a like to this story.
That mistake was fixed rather quickly, as this chapter is probably one of the best ways-in my mind-to view the inner workings of politics.
I like the griffin ambassador, he plays 'the game' very well.
10740748
Something always slips through. Thanks for the catch.
10742074
Thank you, the intention was to show he was very competent and I think I succeeded. I also wanted Beatrice to be shown to be pretty sharp too, and went about it by her being quick on the uptake.
And then all the creatures find out that the apparent threat is.... a blundering naked ape. Who's kinda on the weak side.
"The buck, Celestia?" groaned Ember. "I could EAT THIS GUY in 10 seconds flat after having my way with him!"
Rainbow Dash peeks in, "I miiiiight pay to see that.."
"Go back to your kitchen sink, Dash!" Ember growled at the perpetually perverted pegasus. "Anyway, you've got a chaos godling roaming around free, and THIS monkey-boy is the BIG DEAL you got us all worked up over? You are Worst Princess!"
Unphased and grinning widely, Trollestia responded, "Or am I?"
"Worst! Definitely worst!" All agreed. Poor fools, they had no idea what DIABOLICAL SCHEMES the Trollicorn had planned next! IT WAS ALL PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO HER DESIGNS!!!
10742297
In that, you have indeed succeeded.
Just finished re-reading the whole thing! I'm delighted to see this story come back!
Things are getting interesting.
You know, I'm not sure which is worse; letting the tiny magical horsies believe that the fantasy setting of the Lord Of The Rings is the canon history for humanity or teaching them the actual history of humanity.
I'm not sure I'd want to be around for when he has to explain two world wars, multiple genocides, dozens of "holy" wars, terrorism, the impending global ecological collapse, several near misses with a nuclear apocalypse and pineapple on pizza to the pretty pony princesses.
Really enjoying the story though. Glad to see an update.
I actually prefer these HiE stories where there's an initial language barrier to overcome. Makes it a bit more immersive and believable.
Y'know, as believable as it can get in magical pastel hell anyway.
10742856
Indeed.
In fact, her own sister had absolutely NO idea that there was a secret moon hidden behind her sun... only, it's no moon!
10740619
Dare you to go for 7 in a year
IT LIVES!!!!!!!!!
10742856
trollesta brings up siegfried a guy with a sword killing a dragon twice teh size of her father
i have to say the ambassor for the griffons i get major silver quill vibes
"Fuck off"- Dragons.
Don't shoot the messenger. No, seriously, don't.
Ya it would make some waves that their is a race no one knows of that is probably dwelling somewhere deep under the ever free that neutralizes magic although it does cause pain when in contact with it.
Bet some of them would picture that somewhere deep deep down is a magical dead zone and probably a city of these things.
(also please don't correct the name of the race Troy's from like due to a translation error...well actually if you do write human down the meaning will likely have problems due to the meaning human might cause problems they could stick with the first meaning.
Not to mention even if they got some idea of how to translate it any veteran diplomat would likely know you can't translate a language in the span of a few days languages tend to be very complex. Even if he did a straight type of the language it's very likely half of what's said would likely come out not as the creature means. So aside from somethings it might be a good idea not to take every thing that it says through that thing it's using as what it really means.
Like how in some places a thumbs up is considered a rude gesture.
One good thing the diplomats might consider is that were ever the opening is that would lead to the new creatures territory is somewhere in the Ever free forest even though it's technically territory of equestria it's not really used. So it won't cause that much problems if a settlement show up at some time of these things. Although still it might cause some problems due to who ever boarders equestria and the ever free technically that's a buffer zone and with someone not occupying it Equestria's boarders might be changed which could cause some problems.
I can picture the panic that no one knows how many or how large the new races underground territories are. no one probably knows how large diamond dogs are either due to their territory isn't stopped by others really it just spreads underground.
I do hope we find out what was in those books Twilight found that might give clues. If anything it would be amusing to see what was applied.
Also I do have to ask if your talking about lord of the rings where were their multiple dark lords? If anything you have kings who were tricked into wearing them and cured into becoming undead servants to who ever wields the commanding ring (probably the best way Troy could translate it I can picture the ponies wondering where that ring could be and where the 7 lost kings could be. And if anything if this race once dwelled on the surface as a great group once but long ago fled under ground I can picture a lot of history of theirs could be missing so they could picture their might be gaps. After all a lot of information on Luna is missing and her sister's the ruler so it stands to reason Luna and Celestia might give some of this information they get probably the benefit of a dough due to this race if they were on the surface at one point it was likely much much longer than before the Royal sisters or even their parents were around.
Although that's one of many amusing speculations and rationalizations that could happen.
(Also the sudden thought of some of the actual villians in equestira if they heard the story that way would likely be looking for an artifact like that if anything a ring like that would be a collectors item for any evil despot or Villain)
10920432
the multiple dark lords were a reference to Melkor, more predominantly known as Morgoth, the first Dark Lord and the master of Sauron.
Edit: For clarification, Yes we are talking the DEEP lore here.
Ok I'm familiar with that but I think as your describing it were talking more of a technical lineage who inherited the Dark lord title and what he has not as scary but technically you can consider it a title. From an outside perspective but....well I read the sumerarian and a first have a first edition issue of all his unfinished works so ya I do know it but it's been a while since I read it. So I can understand what I can't remember that.
Also Troy is probably going to eventually catch on that he's in a first contact if anything he's going to have to describe at first with thins stories or legends before going in to any future stories if anything. That's a problem and he's most likely going to hit himself in the head once he fully realizes that he did something stupid and has no real way to actually fix it until he finds out what kind of damage it caused. He might realize that of course it's not a good idea of actually saying about something like a fictional battle of a horrible thing if anything it would be better to try to tell things like be vague about different things. THe mian thing he has going for him would likely be that way how he made himself to talk Pony sort of is likely highly innacurate and alot will be very gramerically and other things incorrect or hard to understand. At the very least Troy could account for things that could get him into trouble and blame it on not really understanding the pony language and trying to use a short cut to fix the thing instead of straight up learning how to write equestrian which would take time but it would be far more reliable. and might be a nicer way to ease him into talking to the Ponies so to speak.
Technically Troy fell into a pit I've seen lots of people fall into and make the same mistake thinking a quick fix with tech can solve your problems but often times it doesn't since Tory doesn't really know the language he can't really know if he's saying it the right way he might be able to communicate simple tings but nothing remotely a perfect conversation half of a sentence would likely be messed up like putting something into Google translate you will often have lots of odd words especially if you run it a few times.
It's likely that half of the story had a lot of words which made no real sense in why they were there or in places where the intended meaning changed to something else. If anything I can picture him trying it with Twilight and after she tries it a bit with her she wouldlikely catch on fairly quickly and start to laugh relizing he's trying to substitute spanning a language gap with something that can do single words correctly more or less but applying it to sentences it's extreamly easy to misunderstand and get confused what Troy's trying to say.
If anything I can picture Twilight having a moment of shine to this. Then she might realize, "Oh no my message!" Then quickly write a message to the princess explaining her mistake the story was translated by a device that could translate single words but anything more then what's spoken can get more and more hard to understand. What was sent might not even be what the creature was saying specifically.
That would probably make for an interesting thing to happen. and very Twilight.
10695985
I was just going over these and saw your username.
I've got to ask, are you THE admiral tigerclaw, author of Sleeping with the girls?
😂The Dark One (Wheel of Time)
Emperor Palpatine
Darth Vader
Lord Foul (Thomas Covenant)
Karl Marx
Maleficent
Lex Luthor
The Joker
Darkseid
Thanos
Dr Sivana
Lucifer
Simon Barsinister
and many more, all battled by the heroes of our world.
update when
I love the story so continue
Just re-read this story with the new chapters. O hope there is another sometime soon, this is starting to get really good.