The Princess's Title

Goose Chase

The young Griffon king paced in place. Dressed in easily some of the fanciest clothing I’ve ever seen on a Griffonian griffon, and not one of the upper class griffons in Equestria, was King Garma Griffi. He couldn’t see me of course, there was a good chance that not a single griffon on the Island knew I was there. They were waiting for the Princesses, Malus, and I to show up at our proposed ‘meeting time.’ Malus and I were already here of course, but there were quite a few of us here right now. If any of the Griffonian soldiers knew that though, they certainly made a good show of feigning ignorance.

“Casval!” Garma shouted.

“Yes, sire,” A helmeted griffon replied with almost a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Well, someone certainly wears the pants in that relationship.

“Any word form the Equestrians yet?”

He shook his head and sighed a, “No sire.”

Garma punched a wall. “Damn it! Even after burning this island to the ground, do they still not even see us as a threat?”

The answer to that would be no, my dear griffon king. A surprise? Certainly. But you’ve no idea whose soup you just pissed in.

“Sire, I do not believe that the Equestrians are so cold that they would ignore the loss of a few thousand ponies. Even if they were, Celestia’s Island-”

“Alabaster Island,” King Garma shot.

If it weren’t for the helmet in the way, you could quite possibly feel General Casval rolling his eyes right now. “Alabaster Island is a tactical vantage point for their missile defense systems, and a refueling station for their warships and aircraft. They wouldn’t just sit idly by in the even such a valuable location was taken from them.”

Garma puffed air out his beak and then smoothed his violet head feathers down. “Of course. That’s why we attacked here in the first place. She cannot ignore us if we have something important to her. I will not suffer such indignity at the hooves of ponies.”

Casval stepped forward. “Sire, if I may…”

He threw a claw out in irritation. “Yes Casval, speak your mind.”

“When you brought this idea to me, I advised against it. When we prepared to assault the island, I advised against it. Now that the deed has been done, what exactly do you hope to accomplish here? Not a creature in the world has opposed the Equestrian Princess for nearly three centuries now, and that was before the technological boom of the last fifty years. Though we now at least have comparable fighting power, do you still believe it was wise to challenge her?”

“What else was I to do, Casval? We’re being bled dry, she stole Alabaster from my grandfather, and if I were a betting man, she probably has a few of my siblings in her pocket! These cutthroat marketing practices she’s pretending are fair are eating away at our resources like a wildfire in a forest, and at this rate, it’ll only be two decades before we are completely reliant on them.

“Worse still, she refuses to even barter with me! She’ll starve us until she owns us, and once that happens, we’re just the next Principality in the Empire’s belt. Does Griffonia not deserve to be free? Are we not a nation unto ourselves? What she’s been doing is taking us for a ride, and I want justice, Casval. If it takes a show of force just to get her to look at me, then I’m willing to do anything.”

Well, while that’s not entirely untrue, my Princess would never allow anyone to starve. Of course, Griffonia has rejected offers to join the empire for decades now. Had Degwin Griffi simply accepted a deal, there would’ve been no need for it to come to this. I suppose the miracle of Equestrian medicine was too good a vice for you to give up, wasn’t it Garma?

Another griffon soldier opened the door to the conference room within the Griffi hotel. “Sire!” she shouted, then kneeled. “Princess Applejack’s personal helicopter has been spotted a few hundred klicks west of the island. They should land in about ten minutes.” Garma took a deep breath and nodded.

“Good. Let’s go welcome them to Griffonia shall we? Make sure the magic suppressors are on full blast and not a single dead spot is anywhere on the island. Though there is little known about how the Equestrians do battle, what we do know is that when Princess Applejack gets involved, things come to a stop very quickly. They’d be fools if they shared their hand with the rest of us, so we must be prepared for anything! I will not let Griffonia become the next Diamondia… Or I suppose… They’re the Principality of Diamondia these days…”

Garma took his leave, and so did the female soldier. “Casval? Are you coming?”

“Ah, yes, I’ll catch up with you. I was cleaning my gun earlier and left some of my equipment on the desk. Though they are our enemies right now, they are royalty. Our guests deserve… the best hospitality we can offer them.”

Garma nodded. “Of course. Very well then. Come, Carmine. Let’s be off.”

“Sire!”

Door closed behind her, Casval turned and moved to sit on top of the desk. He removed his helmet, revealing a golden eagle headed griffon with piercing blue eyes. “Well, did you hear what you needed to, Mister Chase?”

I signaled for Charity Belle to disable the invisibility spell. “We did. My Princess is quite pleased, actually. I suppose it’s just unfortunate for your superior that his stolen suppressor tech doesn’t work the way he thinks it does.”

“Good. I’m going to enjoy watching that bastard die. I only wish I could’ve been there to see Degwin kill himself. I assume that since I’ve held up on my end, you’ll hold up yours, correct?”

I nodded and Charity answered. “While we plan on taking custody of Icelina and her children, you are free to do what you will with the rest of the Griffis. The Empire won’t pursue you, and you’re still free to take up a position of high office if you so desire within the principality once the council of nobles crumbles. We would prefer to have the real royal griffon line on the throne of Griffonia, but Equestria has no qualms about who acts as our figurehead.”

For the first time since meeting him, I think I saw Casval smile genuinely. “Well, while the offer is generous, I don’t think Astrya or I will be taking you up on it. She didn’t even want me taking revenge on my parents killers. But, as a show of good will, I suppose the children are too young to bear Degwin’s sins. A little disappointing that I can’t completely end the Griffi line, but they didn’t quite get the chance to end my father’s line either, now did they? We griffons are sloppy creatures… We can never seem to finish the job.”

I meet a lot of scum, working for my Princess as a member of the family, but no one I have ever come across has been as terrifying as Aznabal Griffonia. “Well, I can’t speak for your race since I am not one of you, but Equestria believes in merit. We don’t care about what you look like, just that you are able.”

He chuckled. “What a lovely philosophy. A shame that the soul is so easily corrupted. Ah, well. Creatures will try time and time again to reach that lofty utopia in the sky and never be able to grasp it. I look forward to the show. If we meet again after today, I hope you’ll talk of fluffy impossibilities with me again.”

“Is everythin’ in place?” My princess asked.

Malus nodded. “Yes ma’am. Give the order and every one of them catbirds gets a face full of lead.”

My lady grimaced. “Ah suppose that’s what we’re here ta do today, ain’t it? Very well. Ah’ll give the signal when Ah feel it’s most effective. What about the real royals?”

“Astrya wishes to stay uninvolved with politics, and Aznabal doesn’t want to take a position either. He still wishes to end the Griffis, but has agreed to leave the children alone,” I reported.

My princess sighed. “Foolish boy. Got too good a head on his shoulders ta be filled with this rage in his heart. Though, Ah suppose we’re not so different, after all. Ah say it’s my role ta play, but Ah have a personal desire ta remove Garma from this earth too. Is it right fer me ta be the one ta do this? Sometimes, Ah just don’t know. Even with sins as great as the Griffi family’s, they are lives lived by creatures that mean somethin’ ta somebody. No casualty goes unnoticed by somepony, so in what way can we find justice in our cold, cruel world?”

The helicopter was silent. Though this is not the first time we’ve started a mission like this, this is the first time she’s ever questioned it. At least, aloud, anyways. How heavy is the crown? I’ve never considered that. Does it bring her joy to wear it? Making final decisions like this can only weigh on her mind every day. Responsible for millions of ponies and other creatures, the lives of many on the wings of one. How do you carry it all for centuries?

“Well. I believe that if we don’t do it, it may not be done. Personal bias or not, this griffon has committed acts of violence against ponies and every other creature living on Celestia’s Island, and he had no reason to make them suffer for it!” Princess Flurry had risen to standing, but then took a deep breath and sat back down. “Regardless of how you feel, for the murder of over a thousand ponies, the punishment is death. There will be no justice if we let him get away with this.”

My princess was grim, but nodded. “Yes… for there ta be justice, Garma has ta pay for what he’s done. And because there is no one he has ta be accountable ta within his own country, that burden falls ta the ones with the power ta make him see the error of his ways.”

The helicopter began to descend, and our pilot announced that we would be landing shortly. Our welcoming party had already arrived, ‘Casval’ included. The blades slowed and the door slid open. Out first was Malus, then me, then Princess Flurry, and finally, Princess Applejack. With him dressed in the finest silks he could likely acquire, he certainly looked the part. My Princess, on the other hoof, has a particular style of dress she likes when going out to participate in jobs like this. A black suit, a red tie, a white blouse, a jeweled brooch with her cutiemark on it, and a black fedora with a royal circlet around it, the only thing aside from her being that signified whom she was.

There was silence, once the two locked eyes. Garma held a confidence about him. He was calm, sure, almost as if he knew he had the upper hoof here. My princess, however, did little more than frown and glare at him. Finally, Garma broke away.

“I welcome you to Griffonia, Princesses.” He said with a mocking bow. I know he isn’t a complete idiot, but to throw japes at the very pony who holds your life in her hoof is either very brave, or very foolish. Then again, he did attack out Island unwarranted, so who's to say that there really is any intelligence there in the first place?

“Oh, is that what this is? Last Ah remember, this island was sold ta me by yer own grandfather, a little less than twenty years ago.” She did smile while she spoke, she even had a very polite tone to herself. But, very clearly, she was not pleased with Garma. It takes a trained eye to see, but there were little sparks of green around the base of her horn. Garma clearly didn’t notice it.

“Why, yes, you did swindle a senile old man out of his territory with a gun pointed to his head. I remember that quite fondly. I simply thought it would be nice to return the favor, maybe now you’ll be willing to discuss this little… ‘dispute’ of ours, hmm?”

She let out a breath and nodded. “Yes, let’s ‘discuss,’ shall we? Ya seem so dead set on gettin’ my attention that Ah might as well. Course, ya could’ve arranged a meetin’ without the slaughter of a thousand ponies, griffons, and others.”

Garma laughed. “Yes, five months of trying to arrange a ‘meeting’ with you has certainly been a walk in the park! Next you’ll tell me that you’ve done nothing wrong, you didn’t steal the Island, and you haven’t been bleeding Griffonia dry. I don’t have time for this idle chatter, Princess, and it is dreadfully humid out here. Follow me and we can discuss this properly, if you would be so kind.”

My lady sighed and smiled. “Of course. Lead the way.”