Griffonstone: Where it came from and why.
From “A Brief History of Griffon Civilization”
Section 201, subsection A1, shelf 4.
Collection number:127,645,371
Copies:2
Condition: Pristine
“...and it was in that decision, to declare his son the next Emperor rather than passing the title to high general Alrek, that we find the roots of what would grow into an insurrection and conflict that would force hundreds of griffons from the Empire, never to return.
That is getting ahead of events though, as for the next decade, the Empire was ruled in relative peace. The child, Acredmore, was Emperor in name only, as High General Alrek would administer the Nation, as should have been his right.
Of course, Alrek could have seized control at any time. Not only was he one of the greatest warriors of his age, not only did he have the loyalty of the armies of the Empire and the loyalty of its citizens, but his rightful enemy was but a cub.
Alrek was a being of honor though, who greatly respected the Previous Emperor. It was out of respect for him, that he allowed his son to hold the title he did not deserve, knowing what the alternative meant for the beloved child of the Emperor he respected.
Little did he know the strife he would cause with this mercy. But ultimately, the decision to allow this folly was his to make, and the armies and citizenry uneasily accepted, trusting Alrek to do what was needed.
It was no surprise to many then, when the cub grew, and pondered his impotent position. He was Emperor, was he not? Why should he not be the true leader and not just the sham he was?
It was on the turning of his fifteenth year when these feelings reached their head, and by the turning of his sixteenth when he felt the time was right to assume his due power.
A coup, the likes of which had never been seen was sprung at a gathering of the generals, which happened to coincide with a day of celebration for the defeat of some minor brigands who had been harassing trade from the north.
The coup was as ruthless as it was misguided. Targets were seemingly chosen at random, outdoors it was chaos as griffons donning cloakes leapt into the parade and began slashing at minor officers and even foot soldiers, all while high-officers and close confidents of Alrek were evacuated. Reports from inside the palace paint an even stranger picture, as some staff witnessed similarly cloaked figures asking for directions from staff and even guards where certain figures would be. It is even said that one such figure was questioned by a guard why he wanted such information, and that the response was “So that I may kill him.”
The guard's response was swift decapitation.
Almost as soon as the chaos began to roar, Alrek was made aware of the situation, and commanded his personal battalion to restore order.
Within an hour over a hundred and twenty cloaked bodies had been piled into the street that had been a parade ground steeped in celebration only hours before. Interrogations of those captured alive began immediately and before nightfall the current Emperor was undeniably identified as the mastermind.
To this day no one truly understands what the intentions of the coup were. None of the council of generals were harmed, Alrek himself was even ignored by infiltrators, some of whom passed him in the halls of the palace before swiftly being tracked down and captured.
By the end of it, two hundred and twenty griffons would lose their lives during or immediately after these events; one hundred and twenty seven members of the coup, eighteen civilians from the crowd around the parade, forty two military-parade participants, enlisted and officers alike, three individuals sitting in the parade VIP box (all of whom were retired officers), nineteen castle staff, and one castle guard.
The Empire-spanning hunt for the child emperor forced him and his band of remaining conspirators to flee for their lives, eventually facing the decision of capture or leaving the empire all together.
Eventually, seeing no other option, he appealed to the Equestrians, claiming that Alrek had been the instigator of the coup and had seized power from him. He requested the aid of the Equestrians to forcibly re-instate him as Emperor, but the Equestrians denied him, but in misguided compassion they did allow him and those with him perch upon the Griffonstone mountain. Political asylum secured, it is said that the foolish child emperor sought to build up his forces and triumphantly return to seize his claim to the throne.
By the end of the next year, under his guidance, more than half of those who had defected with him had either died or been driven away. By the second season the child emperor had been found poisoned, and a former Imperial soldier named Grover had claimed Kingship on the basis of possessing the “treasured” Idol of Boreas which had been stolen from the imperial palace during the coup.
Years passed, and the group persisted, becoming a settlement, and that is how a mountaintop refugee camp within the borders of Equestria became known as a kingdom.
Author's Note
So there's that.
Crystal Empire: Recovering Nation
Agent Deep Mind’s preliminary psychological evaluation of the Crystal Empire:
Dear Princess Celestia,
As I write this I am in my extraction carriage leaving the Empire after completing my reconnaissance assignment.
This is my early report.
I was at first surprised by the exuberant nature of the Crystal ponies. I had honestly been dubious of my prescribed disguise, wondering why I was to disguise myself as a tourist, when from my understanding, the Empire was going to be a horrifying necropolis of slavery and corrupting dark magic.
Rather than this bleak picture, when I arrived I was greeted with a populace in carefree celebration. I would later discover this to be partially due to the defeat of their long time captor Sombra, and moreso due to a collective amnesia which had helped to reduce the mental and emotional scarring wrought by his rule.
It is my professional assessment that this amnesia is too widespread and regular to be natural, and is instead likely due to a sudeeffect of the magic that had held the Empire for a thousand years. If this is the case, I would recommend testing to see if the amnesia will wear off with time. Should it be the case that the memories lost to the Crystal Ponies will return, it is my suggestion that steps be taken to prevent this.
Though the public consensus is to not speak of or try to remember any of their captivity under Sombra, I fear for the stability and productivity of the Empire should the citizenry become re-afflicted with the mental traumas no doubt inflicted during their enslavement.
On the surface they all appear happy, but upon keener inspection the signs of coping mechanisms can be seen. Though they were ostensibly celebrating, the majority of the drinking that was occurring in the many converted beer-halls had the signs of stress drinking.
Should it become necessary, and should any more subtle means be deemed non-viable, I feel strongly that the citizens would voluntarily subject themselves to memory suppressing magics rather than face their pasts.
Moving on to the other matter I was assigned to address. Though a more nuanced thing to assess, the aforementioned joviality and alcohol consumption proved a boon for my reconnaissance.
In a direct response to the question posed: No, the Crystal Ponies are not receptive to Princess Cadance’s rule.
At least not currently.
It is my assessment that the Crystal Ponies prefer the yet-unknown rule of Cadance infinitely more than the barely-forgotten rule of Sombra, but that there is still at least a serious resentment underneath.
No pony would outright say so, at least not without being so dosed in alcohol as to be out of coherent thought, but there were three major reasons for their resentment and fear.
The first reason, and the one that the ponies I interviewed most easily shared, was a general uneasiness of being ruled by someone they did not know. They can tell from her cutiemark and alicorn-hood that she is likely fit for the role, but knowing nothing about her has many concerned.
For this I would simply recommend a PR campaign, and a subtle influx of media that can promote her merits.
The next issue was harder to get out of them but it was clearly there nonetheless, and that was a resentment for having their last unwanted foreign ruler replaced by another mostly without their consent. Largely they feel a loss of self-determination because they didn’t bestow the crown to her, she just kind of “showed up and took it as if it was hers”.
I am confident that these feelings will mostly fade with time, and that no action on our part is particularly necessary, but if these feelings do not fade, they could lead to problems later on. I would recommend monitoring this.
The final issue was one which I only had one individual actually say, but that others seemed to feel similarly too. This was the fear that Cadance’s ties to Equestria, and particularly to you, princess, mean that the Empire is being annexed by Equestria.
The fear is that after thousands of years, surviving the Windagos, Discord, countless conflicts, and even Sombra, that the Empire is finally going to fall. Losing its independence as the cost of being saved.
For this I can only recommend publicly distancing Cadance from Equestria. Having her somehow show her commitment to the Empire first and foremost may foster positive popular opinion behind her which could place her firmly in the position of Empress that they actually do want her to fulfill.
Overall my assessment of the Crystal Empire places it on its way to recovery, but in my professional opinion it will take time and effort to foster the kind of environment we have in Equestria.
Author's Note
TL;DR: The Crystal Empire was not a part of the unification of tribes, existing as its own nation separate from Equestria. On the outside they were proudly independent, but beneath the surface somewhat resentful of the success that the Equestrian three-tribe union had, especially after they gained the leadership (protection) of the Alicorns who defeated Discord.
Eventually Sombra comes, claims kingship and enslaves the population for a not insignificant amount of time. Eventually the alicorns show up for a bit and fail to save them. One thousand years go by, and after a crazy few days it starts to sink in that while they were "saved" by the alicorns, the cost of that was having a new ruler installed that they honestly know nothing about. What's worse, as best as anyone knows, their nation just became a vassal state of Equestria, which doesn't sit well with a population who's identity is critically tied to their independence (being the ponies who made it 'alone' for thousands of years).
Celestia's solution to this: use old laws* to make it look like Cadance forsook her princess-hood to save the Empire. The Crystal Ponies see it as Cadance being punished for refusing to be a puppet, removing their fears of losing their independence, and also endearing her to them. This maneuver works out just fine, because preparations were in place, the pony nations are naturally close, and proper information control in Equestria makes no one question it.
DFTS impact:
The nuances of this are lost on poor Commander Friendly Fire, who only understands that what Twilight did looks a lot like what Cadance did, and thought the same rules applied.
*May go into detail about these later. Let's see how far down the rabbit hole you guys want to go.
