=BiE 77= >Year 268 in Equestria. >You stomped your way through the embassy. >Why did she have you do this? >There had to be somep0ny better qualified for this. >Dammit Celestia, I'm a logician, not a diplomat. Are we really a logician? >It sounds better then "Royal problem solver". >"They in?" You asked the receptionist. >"Third door on the left, sir." She said. >Brilliant. >You walked down to the number room you were instructed. >You opened the door and spotted three Griffins sitting at the table inside. >"Gentlemen, how do?" >The lead Griffin grunts. "We have been waiting here for over an hour." >Idiot meeting planners. >"Yes, bit of a clerical mix-up. At least you had a good view." >You motion to the large window overlooking the valley underneath Canterlot. >If you squinted, you could see P0nyville in the distance, expanding after all these years. >You throw your file onto the table and flip it open. >"Now let's see what we're here for, huh?" >The Griffins glare at you as you peer over the file. The idea that a diplomat wouldn't come to a meeting fully prepared with the information about what he's there for was inconceivable to them. >Well screw the lot of them, you weren't planning on behind here. >"Increased troop deployment along the border? That won't do at all." >The Griffins feathers shift as you pull out a seat. >"Alright gents, let's chat." >Cut to FOUR DAMN HOURS LATER. >These Griffins were being right assholes about all this. >You asked nicely, they shot you down. >You offered to ease trade tariffs, they refused. >You told them you killed Discord and they laughed in your face. >The chair you were leaning in was balancing quite well as you leaned back on it in silent contemplation. >These Griffins were stone cold serious. Each of them was wearing solid armor across their chest, as well as a plumed helmet and a single gauntlet on their right talon. >Wait, single gauntlet? >"What's with the gloves?" >The Griffins snort. "You're asking about our apparel now?" >You nod. Not in the mood for questions. >They all three hold up their talons. "We are each a member of the Wind Raiders. The founder of our organization lost his talon in a raid by an anonymous chariot many years ago, and spoke of a creature he had never seen before doing it. Now, all Wind Raiders wear a gauntlet over their talon as testament to his sacrifice." >Griffin lost a talon. >Chariot attack. >Mystery attacker. >Well, this isn't weird at all... >One of the Griffins snorts. "This ape wastes our time. Better to simply leave then to spend the entire day asked about what we wear by Celestia's lapdog." >'Lapdog'? >Okay, that was it. >You lean forward and let the chair slam against the floor. >"Alright birdies, let's talk." >The lead Griffin speaks up. "I think we're don h-" >"When I said "let's talk" I meant "I'm talking". Besides, you're gonna want to hear this." >The Griffins sit back down, placated a bit. >"You Griffins are the masters of the sky, right? Surely you've had to deal with dragons every now and then." >The lead Griffin nods. "Of course." >"And surely you've heard of the oldest and angriest of them all, Grougaloragran, right?" >The Griffins exchange glances before they nod. >You reach into your file and pull a map of the Griffin kingdoms out. >"Well, here's the deal. We stole his egg. And we hid it in one of your cities." >The Griffins eyes go wide as you point to the map. >"Now, we have it hidden from his senses by a spell, but that spell can be turned off at pretty much any time." >You meet the Griffins eyes as you drop your voice down. >"If you walk out of here without promising to remove your troops from the border, or breathe a word of this to the High Jarl; that spells goes down, Grougaloragran senses his egg, and he burns half your kingdom to the ground to get it back." >You swear you could see sweat dripping through their feathers. "You have no honor." They said. >"I also don't have something a big pissed off dragon wants hidden underneath a couple hundred thousand of my citizens lives." >You rise from your seat and head for the door, leaving the Griffins to contemplate your words. >"Get your troops away from my border, or I just might lower the spell anyway." >You slammed the door behind you and walked down the corridor. >Ha. Idiots. >Griffins were too honorable and Klingon-esque to consider the fact that the diplomat they were speaking to might in fact be lying through his teeth about a threat too big to ignore, even if they had never heard of the dragon before. >They'd fly home and get the troops away from the border before spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to find an egg that didn't exist. >You stepped out into the sun and thought about what to do next. >Might as well give Celestia a report on the meeting and then...you don't know, spit off the wall or something. >You walked down the street towards the castle. >The years had been...decent to you. >You hit a rough patch for a long while after Lotus died, you admit that. >Anon had eventually helped you drag yourself out of it and do something with your long life. >You walked down the road and saw a light show from the Arcanium that would put Pink Floyd to shame. Speaking of Anon... >Anon had taken to the Grand Magisters position like white on rice after Twilight had died. >Even now the city was running more efficiently as he reworked the leylines. >Thought's of Twilight brought you down the path to the rest of the old gang... >Pinkie had been the first to go after Rainbow, all those years of partying finally catching up to her. >She had made you all promise to wear party hats to her funeral. >Fluttershy went after her, passing away quietly in her sleep. >Rarity had lived with Blueblood for a while before she became a household phrase in the world of fashion. You think you were wearing one of her coats... >Applejack had opened up her own orchard out west. The last time you had seen it, it had gone on past the horizon. >Twilight had been the last to go; as the Grand Magister of Canterlot, with a special gravesite in the royal gardens. >You looked down a familiar path in the park. >Well...maybe not the last one. >You decided to cut through the park on your way to the castle. >You came here often. >Sequestered just off the main path was a statue that you had commissioned. >But it wasn't a statue. >It was an antenna. >And it was sending a message. >Derpy and Dinky hadn't been at Rainbow's funeral. >They hadn't been around for years. >A little after Dinky graduated from school, the entire family had just vanished. >Dinky, Derpy and Mr. Hooves. >It didn't take an idiot to figure out what had happened, you probably should have just been glad he held off as long as he did. >You were rather choleric for a few weeks until you came up with the idea for this antenna. >It was off the main path, sitting in the middle of a small clearing with a straight line of sight into the sky. >Anon had helped you rig it up to broadcast a message into space every ten minutes. >Every ten minutes for the last 200 years. >Anon was the only one who knew why you did it. He had assured you that a couple of mana batteries would keep a short message broadcasting for millennia. >"Take care of them." >That was all you had the message say. A simple request of the one who had taken over protecting them now. >You popped the cover off the antenna base and ensure that everything was in working order. >Satisfied, you rose to your feet and looked into the sky. >"They better still be there, Time Lord." >You turned back and headed for the path. >You'd come back next week to check on it again. >You walk through the castle to Celestia's room. >The door opened before you reached it and a mountain of a stallion stepped out. >He made Big Mac look like a colt. Fucking hell... >You recognized him as one of the guards who patrolled the North wall at dusk. >"Soldier." You said as you passed. >"Sir." >You stepped into Celestia's Bastion of Horror's to find her sitting at a beauty desk in the corner. >You peer back at the stallion as the door closes. >"So, can you just unhinge your jaw or something? Or is there magic at play here? >"I'm willing to bet that magic is the reason you aren't gagging on the smell of musk right now, if that's what you're asking." >Celestia turns her head to you. "How did it go?" >"Despite being seriously out of my element, I was able to lie to the diplomats. They'll probably be pulling their troops out within a week." >Celestia eyes you. "You heard them say that, did you?" >"I inferred from their faces." >Celestia grunts and turns back to her mirror. "I hope you're prepared to stake Canterlot's security on that Mous." >"Nothing a little assassination of a High Jarl can't fix. We can use that crossbow I stole once." >Celestia pulls the comb through her hair. "Let's exhaust diplomacy first." Right...only a matter of time before the High Jarl is the one you catch walking out of here. >"Well, I've got a lot of nothing to do. Don't hurt yourself, Sunshine." >"Send in the next one~!" Celestia calls behind you. Gross... >You meet a stallion headed for Celestia's room on your way out. >"Here to see the princess?" >He silently nodded. >"Something came up, she's busy for the rest of the day." >The stallion looked disappointed and trotted away. Ha. >You were such a dick.