"AAAARRGHH!!!"

A Griffon diplomat in a fancy tuxedo slammed his fist into the conference desk after hearing equestrian diplomats’ answers to Griffon's demands. The room was filled with both equestrian diplomats, griffonian diplomats as well as minotaurian diplomats serving as a third neutral party, all of them with serious and solemn faces. The griffon who stood up from his paws in a small display of rage was an important diplomat of grand repute who had been tasked with negotiating reparations over a large skirmish with the equestrians.

The minotaur diplomats were located at the end of the hall in a semi-circular podium facing the oval-shaped conference table where on one side there were griffonian diplomats and on the other equestrian. The role of the minotaurs was to simply be mediators. The conference room was large and very old with a large circular dome in the center adorned with a grand painting depicting the goddess Faust in an open green field wearing a transparent tunic revealing the markings in her slim hourglass body figure which looked like cracks coursing through her body, she was also holding a scroll in her left hand along with holding a balance in her right hand. the whole building had a roman like architecture holding relics from by gone times some even before the existence of both celestia and luna. To say this large building was of enormous historical importance would be an understatement as it was said to have been built by the goddess Faust herself.

"This...IS UNACCEPTABLE!"

"Order! We will have order!" a minotaur from the area in the center banged the mallet on the podium.

All the diplomats’ banter and insults slowly died down to listen to the minotaur who raised from his seat to address the assembly.

"Equestrians, Griffonians and Minotaurians alike I announce the commencement of a 1 hour recess, it is my belief that with a full stomach we may be able to reach a solution to this crisis"

The diplomats of both Equestria and the Griffonian Empire stared each other down as they retired toward their designated eating spaces, as the conference hall emptied and the sound of hoofsteps died out the griffon that had the outburst of rage got up from his seat and walked closer to the minotaur overseer and signaled the minotaur to get closer. The minotaur nodded and lowered his head to the griffin’s beak and heard him say: "The sunflowers bloom in winter."

"but there is no sun to follow." The Minotaur said in a low and deep gravelly voice. His other companions looked to both the sides of the conference room to make sure they were alone with the griffon before speaking.

"Your reputation precedes you griffon, yet I still question your methods." said the towering minotaur.

"Please, call me by my name, Gunther." Gunther bowed his head to the minotaur and continued "Do not fret, that was nothing but a display of intimidation."

"One that may cost you gravely ambassador, remember, if you do not make the equestrians soften their stance in regards to the economic sanctions you will receive no help from Minotauria economic or otherwise."

"I can assure you that we will be benefiting from a mutual military alliance quite soon" he states matter of factly.

"What makes you so sure we would agree?" the minotaur scoffs.

Gunther looks to his eyes with a serious expression "The equestrians have been gaining too much power over the last decade with the addition of various territories, a new anointed princess and most important of all a thriving economy. I believe that Minotauria's main concern is the economic one isn't it Iron Hoof?

Iron Hoof harrumphed and looking annoyed clarified "That is Mr. Iron to you griffon don't you forget that and, yes, it is the economic aspect which we fear." after a small pause he continued "What has the Zebrican Government decided?" asked the minotaur in a soft voice.

"They have assured us they will join as long as the economic sanctions aren't too harsh and we promised the King a bride for his son as well as some land rich in vegetation once the conflict is over."

"A... bride?" Mr.Iron looked at the griffon with wide eyes along with a questioning gaze.

"Luna of course. The king was quite clear after all, he worries he won't be able to see his grandchildren before his deathbed." Gunther states with a deadpan expression while wiping away dust from the aged podium from his suit.

"humph...they were never the smartest bunch it's quite honestly astounding their nation has been able to survive this long."

"ha-ha, I agree with your statement, however they will serve their purpose in due time." as he smirks he looks at his watch "well what do you know, I’m a bit behind schedule! I only have at least 30 minutes before the recess is over." as the griffon turns around and to leave without looking back he asks "If we land an adequate deal with the equestrians will you agree in joining the alliance you and your country?"

"We have received the go ahead a week in advance ambassador Gunther but our terms still stand you MUST minimize economic sanctions before Minotauria can agree."

Gunther, bows his head to the minotaur and excuses himself out of the conference room.

As Gunther opens the door to a dining room filled with his compatriots drinking, eating and going through paperwork. He makes his way to the center of the room and upon getting there he attempts to get the attention of his peers by producing an eagle-like screech from his beak. Clearing his throat, he accommodated his tie and proceeded to say:

"My fellow comrades, the conflict we desire is still far away but today...TODAY WE TAKE.THE.FIRST.STEP!"

"Hear, hear!" his comrades chanted.

"If we make the equestrians soften their economic sanctions; which they will" the diplomats chuckle "we will be able to solidify a military alliance with Minotauria and Zebrica. With the Alliance we will be able to cut the equestrians to size and control equestria from the shadows."

"B-but the princesses!" someone mentioned among the small assembly of griffins.

"Worry not. They will serve us! Once everything is settled, they will be thrown into a cage to be tortured, ridiculed and to forever raise and lower the celestial bodies, after all, just because they are immortal does not meant they are exempt from pain and suffering just like the rest of us mortals!"

His comrades began to chant and cheer:

"Hear, hear!"

"Down with those royals"

"Forever our slaves!"

"Long live the king and its empire!"

"Revenge, revenge, revenge for the 153!"

"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"chanted Gunther raising his fist to his chest the rest of the griffons quieted down, followed his gesture and chanted along with Gunther.

"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"

"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"

"We will not forgive; we will not forget! Eternal peace for the fallen of Broadnest!"

Meanwhile in the equestrian dining room...

Among the ambassadors there was a latent worrisome aura to the room as ambassadors debated and went through their papers also among them a pony by the name of Solar Flare, a pony with red fur and a grey mane and beard he was a pony of old age who had overstayed his time as an ambassador was trying to convince the others that economic sanctions should be intensified despite the fears of further military action by the griffonians.

Equestria feared that another skirmish close to their borders could escalate to a formal war. They were confident they could win the war however they would not have the moral high ground in that situation thus they would look like the aggressors and that international image would cause their trade to suffer and the image of the princesses tarnished domestically and abroad.

This situation was the direct result of miscommunication between Equestrian infantry and Griffonian civilians. An Equestrian major and his company of 100 soldiers were lost during a patrol in the border after their compasses started to malfunction and ended up following a river in hopes it would take them back to civilization. Sometime later they ended up in a griffonian border village called Broadnest, this is where the story diverges, they were confronted by the locals who tried to expel the soldiers towards the woods after an equestrian tried to get intimate with a female griffon without her consent, the locals were furious and some of them gathered together to try and expulse the company from their village, griffonian reports show that equestrian forces lined up, took positions and charged at the crowd with swords and spears at hand slaughtering all 53 of the villagers who were present at the time and then proceeded to burn down and sack the small village rounding up the villagers and causing 100 more casualties.

Equestrias military, however, reported that after entering the village a soldier was trying to meet up with his griffon marefriend who he was dating for some time already so he could chat with her, make up for lost time and in the meantime wait for the signal to leave so he and his company could be escorted and sent back to the equestrian side of the border, the villagers unfortunately, misinterpreted their relationship and acted in a hostile manner which put the company in harm's way.

Solar Flare could simply rub his forehead from just remembering the two reports; no matter how someone looked at it, it looks as if equestria deliberately attacked the locals. There was simply no way to clear this up as the bodies of the couple in question were later found lying on the floor, dead.

"Gentlecolts, please, allow me to clarify first that I am of the same mindset that we should not escalate this any further." pausing for a second he then continues "HOWEVER we should put in place these temporary economic sanctions so that they may not think of us as 'willing to bend the knee'."

The other looked at him with a distasteful look and some with outright anger for suggesting such a thing. A pony by the name of Black Cloak in the back got up from his chair and walked towards Solar Flare, shoving him out of place and turning back to the crowd.

"It seems Solar Flare has a severe case of senilelism, who would be so kind as to escort him to the gentlecolts room so he may spout his bullshit there?" the rest chuckled for a brief moment except for Solar Flare who looked at him with anger "all of you as well as I know that angering the griffons will only escalate the situation!" everyone nodded in agreement and mumbled among themselves "So I'm going to propose to you my fellow ambassadors this: First, we help with reconstruction efforts of Broadnest, second, we offer a state apology to the Griffonian empire and finally hand over the major who was in charge to the griffonians so he may be judged in the courts there." an eerie silence emanated from the gathering of ponies they really didn't like that last proposition. Noticing this Black Cloak quickly tried to fix his slip up "W-well the last proposition we can review in just a bit and change it out with something a bit more adequate."

The rest of the ambassadors nodded in agreement however they made it clear that any punishment made to an equestrian soldier should be handed out by equestria and by no other. Soon it was time to reconvene at the main hall and all of the ambassadors proceeded to retake their seats. When Iron Hoof stepped out of the minotaur dining hall and into the main hall both the equestrian and grifonian ambassadors rose from their seats quietly as per tradition.

Iron Hoof takes the center podium, taking the ceremonial mallet, he bangs it against the table once and directs himself to the hall of ambassadors.

"At ease gentlecolts" the diplomats then took their seats awaiting the final speech. Iron hoof took both hands and laid them above his chest where his heart would be and opened instead with a prayer "O Faust we of mortal descent ask of thee that the situation at hand be guided by your infinite wisdom to a peaceful conclusion and conflict be avoided if there should be conflict please guide the souls of all to nirvana and for our warriors ascension, please, forgive our transgressions and guide us to redemption." after a minute of silence he finally concluded "Make it so, dear Faust"

After Iron Hoof had concluded the prayer the rest repeated the last portion "Make it so, dear Faust"

Iron Hoof then took his seat. "The meeting is now in session, have the equestrians come to a solution?"

Black Cloak stood up facing the griffon diplomats he unrolls a scroll and holding up high he clears his throat to speak "We have come to draft a new set of propositions" the griffons lean slightly towards the pony in expectancy of the new propositions "First, Equestria will help with reconstruction efforts of Broadnest. Second, Equestria will offer a state apology to the Griffonian empire. Finally we will exchange a total of 10,000,000 bits which will be paid off monthly for a period of 5 years at a fixed interest rate of 2.5% in exchange for the company. We will handle the judgement of the major and his company and a suitable punishment will be handed down upon them."

The griffins were quite surprised to hear such advantageous terms; compared to the last ones these were a blessing. Gunther couldn't help but sneer internally, everything went better than expected and to make matters even sweeter the equestrians were practically handing over their countries money on a silver platter, money which will surely be used to finance the rapid industrialization planned by the military.

Gunther, as the head ambassador stood up from his seat to speak on behalf of the griffon ambassadors "We humbly accept these terms and take back our previous terms." Immediately everyone in the hall clapped as the crises had been averted.

Iron Hoof called for order, banging the mallet he receives the attention of everyone in the hall "Very well, a solution has been achieved so with the power that has been invested in me by your countries and Faust I hereby declare Solutio est effectum, pax et bellum, quae averso."

After formalising the pact the diplomats began making way to their respective countries all except for two. In the now dark hall a griffon stood face to face to a pony with black fur and long red mane that reached his neck.

It was Gunther and Dark Cloak who were holding the secret meeting "Dark Cloak, you did a swell job handling the situation on your part you can expect your payment to arrive shortly" said Gunther with cheer.

Dark Cloak Looked angry at the griffon, in his mind he was conjuring ways in which to kill him and hide the body but he needed to calm himself before things got out of hand so after taking a deep breath he addressed Gunther "Believe me Gunther I am absolutely Livid if I could I would strangle you right here." Dark Cloak made a motion with his hands to better emphasize what he would do the griffon.

Gunther simply scoffs with a smug smile he looks directly to his eyes and says "You know you can't do a damn thing to me, if you don't want that information leaking out to every equestrian newspaper, just imagine, from Appleloosa to New Manehattan the headline will be: Ambassador Black Cloak, Filly Fiddler caught red han-"

Black Cloak, in a surge of fury immediately raised his fist but stopped himself mid swing returning his hand to his side. "I swear, you will receive your due in time FUCKER." he remarks in a poisonous whisper.

Gunther simply smiles and gets close to Black Cloak and whispers to his ear "I own you for the time being, remember this when I ask for your services again, we are watching your every move and dont you dare talk about this to anypony."

Gunther then proceeds to exit the building leaving a scared yet furious pony behind. To Gunther all was going according to the plan.

Author's Note

Hi! Took me sometime to write this one. I've been having alot of college work being dropped on my shoulders so I think i'm gonna try updating this story a bit more often :v

Last chapter was sort of lack luster IMO (kinda felt depressing personally) so im thinking about rewriting it at some later date.

Just like on my previous AN this is my first fanfic so some criticism is welcomed and thank you very much for reading see you guys next chapter!