"Why do I even need to learn all of this stuff, mother!?" Cried a young voice, before she was silenced by a thwack, the sound of a ruler striking her on the knuckle.

"Hush,Galatea." Her mother corrected harshly. "You know what is expected of a future Emperor."

Galatea growled. She hated these meetings with her mother. They boiled down to nothing more than hours upon hours of her drilling the same points into her head over and over, and they were all on subjects she despised. Politics, military tactics, statesmanship. Why would she need to know any of that when she could simply hire generals and advisors and diplomats to do it for her.

She was the future Duchess of Talonswick, and a potential elect for the future Emperor of the Gryphons! It was her duty to be pampered by the peasantry.

Her mother sighed. "What am I ever going to do with you my little snow-hawk." She sat down and reached out, grabbing her daughter’s hand and slowly rubbing the place she had previously struck. "I keep telling you Galatea. You know how important this election is for the survival of our house. Only you can run, and you just can't seem to listen."

Galatea turned her head away from her mother and huffed, staring out the rooms only window to the outside world, a pure white, silver eyed gryphon staring back at her, contrasting with her mother's blue and yellow colors, a trait passed down from the founder of their house.

"Then to win this election, shouldn't we be practicing Gryphon politics?" She said with a frown as she turned to her mother. "You have been drilling me on global politics for weeks now. How can that possibly help me?"

Her mother stood up and shook her head. "Tell me, my snow-hawk. What happens if we loose and Arch-Duke Garek wins?"

Galatea sighed. She had heard this same speech a thousand times by now. "He will exile our house." She replied.

"And what happens to exiled houses?" Her mother asked again.

Galatea said nothing, pursing her beak and looking downcast, hands trembling. She felt her mother cup her chin, and bring the two eye to eye. "If you achieve a good relationship with the other nations of this world, they will not let that happen to us. Do you understand Galatea?"

"Y-yes mother." Galatea responded, lowering her head.

"Good. Let us begin again from the top." She said standing back up.

"The Changeling Factions." She started.

Her daughter sniffled, taking a deep breath and recomposing herself before straightening her back; releasing a trembling exhale. "They don't like each other, and they're kin... which means they probably despise us."

"Equestria." Her mother continued in alphabetic order.

"You skipped the Dragons..." Galatea said sheepishly.

Her mother scoffed. "They've been extinct for a thousand years. Now stop it with your childish fantasies. Equestria," she reaffirmed.

Galatea sighed. "Princess Twilight Sparkle and her niece have openly spoken out against Garek's policies of aggressive Gryphon expansion. They would gladly support our house if we open up to them"

"Good," Her mother said. "Greater Hippogryphia."

Galatea sighed. This was going to go on for a while.

Galatea groaned as she laid back in her salon chair. She sighed as she held her hand out, allowing it to be slowly polished by her subject.

"Difficult day my lady?" The peasant asked.

"You can say that again." Galatea said as she stared down at the servant giving her a rather nice paw massage.

"It seems that no matter what I do my mother is never satisfied." She stated, bringing her free claw to her nose bridge.

"Come now my lady, you over-exaggerate." The peasant polishing her claw said with a smile.

Galatea turned to the servant with a frown. She was about to interject, before she was interrupted by the door to the salon slamming open. "Lady Galatea," came a deep masculine voice, causing her and the servants to turn to the door.

Standing in the door frame were two gryphons in plate armor. Resting on their chests were the insignia of Galatea's house, House Gallus, a blue and yellow claw, grasping a lion pendant.

"You need to follow us on orders of your mother. We suspect an assassination plot is being carried out against you." One of the Knights said marching up to her.

"What? Are you sure?" Galatea asked as she got up out of her chair, fear covering her face.

"Yes." Said the Knight. "Numerous potential elects for the Throne, as well as the elector counts supporting them have turned up dead this morning. Judging by the location of the assassinations, you are their next target." The Knight suddenly grabbed her, much harder than he should have. "Come, quickly."

Galatea grunted as she was harshly pulled from her chair. The knights were rather rough as they dragged he towards the door and out into the hall. The three of them slowly started heading towards the castle's main gate.

"Galatea!" She heard coming from behind her. The gryphon quickly spun around and saw her mother, flanked by another guard.

"Mother?" She asked, before he heard something that made her blood run cold. The metal claw in her hand had become chitinous and rather full of holes. Everything went in slow motion as she slowly turned to the 'gryphon' she had just been following.

In its place stood a creature that looked vaguely equine. It had two large compact eyes that were locked on her. It was a changeling, and not one of the civilized ones who had followed Thorax’s teachings.

She whimpered as he eyes darted to the other, who simply smiled at her. "Sorry for lying." The changeling turned gryphon said, before unsheathing a sword, and bringing it towards Galatea's neck. She screamed in horror, closing her eyes and looking away. There was a loud clang, but the feeling of the blade going through her neck never came.

She opened her eyes to see a gryphon, a real one this time, holding the sword of the Changeling back with his own. The Changeling's eyes widened, before the gryphon delivered a punch to their face which sent them to the floor.

The valiant knight pushed Galatea towards her mother. "Go now!" The knight said, before blocking a blade swing from the second changeling.

Galatea didn't hesitate in running towards her mother. Her mother grabbed her with open arms and held her close. She heard a gasp emanate from her mother's throat, before she quickly spun around, putting herself between Galatea and the changeling assassins.

A loud crack echoed throughout the halls.

Galatea separated from her mother when she felt something wet splatter across her chest. Her pristine white feathers and fur were coated in red blood. The gryphon brought her claws to her chest in a panic, searching for the wound which had caused this, but there was no bullet hole in her chest.

She slowly looked up to instead see the hole in her mother instead. Her mother looked down at her, tears choking her face. "Mother!" Galatea cried, wrapping her arms around her as she collapsed. Galatea held onto to her sire, blood further matting her chest.

She looked ahead and witnessed the assassin who had previously dragged her from her room slowly lower a flintlock pistol, a smile on his face. The gryphon knight, who was grappling with the second changeling, looked back to her with a growl. "Damn it!" He shouted, before he kicked the changeling away and rushed towards Galatea.

The second Changeling wasted no time in pulling out a second pistol and aiming it squarely at Galatea's head, he fired it, but the knight blocked it with his armor.

Galatea felt herself get separated from her mother, whose body had started to cool, and picked up by the knight, who started to fly towards the nearest window.

"No! NO!" Galatea screamed in agony as she reached towards her mother. "MOTHER!!!" She screamed, before the knight smashed down the window, and dragged her through the air, the castle quickly shrinking in the distance behind them.

Author's Note

I want to give a HUGE thanks to Jackelope for giving me the encouragement and help with making this fic. If it weren't for him, it would likely never be made in the first place.

Edited 8/22/2019