“War?” I repeated dumbly as she nodded her head somberley to reaffirm her own words.

“Yes, the nation of Graymourne home of the Minotaur's has declared that Pony kind to be an unreliable ally in times of crisis and with no notice pushed out every creature that was Equestrian and shut themselves in.”

I attentively leaned forward in my seat as she explained the situation, “So naturally we are doing the same and when Princess Celestia sent ambassadors trying to explain the situation they declared her to be unfit for leadership.” She made a frowny face when she said that, like someone dissing on their idol.

...Oh wait, she is Celestia's student of course she’d take it personally.

“Didn’t she sign a peace treaty with them sometime in the past when all nations were at war?” I read somewhere about that when I found a random short book lying around the cottage I now own from the previous owner. From what I could understand was that during Celestia’s rule the Gryphons and Minotaurs along with Reindeers fought over land owned by the Diamond Dogs would later become Sugar Maple Grove. It’s said they banded together to overthrow the diamond dogs and when they were eventually defeated they turned their sights on Equestria for whatever reason which in my opinion wasn’t the brightest idea but to my astonishment they fought over a hundred years and neither side gave an inch until they agreed to a ceasefire. Still thinking about it makes me question what they had that made it so they could go up against a literal god.

I mean she raises and lowers the sun for God’s sake! What could possibly exist that could go up against something like that?

“Around 700 years ago such a pact was made.” She was pleasantly surprised by my knowledge, “For their end of the bargain they cease all activities on any and all projects on developing weapons of war.”

She made a very serious face when she said the next part, “When Celestia told me what they found when they infiltrated their weapons manufacturing division and discovered plans for their next confrontation.”

She visibly shivered at the memory, “She said it was meant to be the end of all wars.”

My blood ran cold at that and I instantly thought of two long and round metal shells that ended the war with Japan.

If something like that existed here at one point...

Twilight cut off my train of thought, “The Minotaurs are a proud race, so proud that they only follow those they deem strong and any sign of weakness is unacceptable in their culture. They only agreed to it when Princess Celestia herself joined the conflict and personally recovered and was pushed by the intruders back into their homelands.” Her voice became a tone of awe which I couldn’t deny was effecting me as well.

“A few months later, the Peace of Sugar Maple Grove was signed at the Hall of Unity with the other four races that participated during the war. The treaty held strong for a few centuries and it’s sad to say it no longer applies to our present day when the Gryphons lost their king and are currently to this day still in a state of financial crisis while the Reindeers have withdrawn from the modern day society by fortifying themselves in their forest.”

After giving the short version of the war my head reeled back to the present and the issues that were involved.

“I-I mean you can’t just hide something like this from people. They’re eventually going to find out, it doesn’t make sense with all the secrecy and the fact that there’s some nation out there wanting to tear this land apart.” Eye witnesses, testimonies, freelancing journalists, hell even tourists came to mind as I thought about how it could end up backfiring in their face.

“The logistics are being taken care of by her highness's administration who are working around the clock to keep the news from spreading and the guards stationed at Graymourne have already been oathbound to never relay sensitive information.”

To stop even the press from getting a whiff of something this proportionate is insane to think about almost on par with the mafia taking over the media. I know the Princes has been around since the creation of this country but it still boggles the mind to even comprehend how well connected she is.

Although now that I think about it, didn’t they have something similar to the Amendments around here?

“Is that even legal?”

“She is the Princess, I'm sure she knows what she’s doing.” Twilight wisely which to me sounded biased coming from her since you know: personal student and all.

“But we aren’t here to discuss history or politics.” She turned her attention back to me which got me to straighten my back instinctively.

“Curiously enough you appeared out of nowhere and started living outside of Ponyville with barely anypony having seen you and it’s stated in your record that you signed that said you had connections with their species.” She said as she 'poofed' a red folder into existence laying it in between us.

‘Fuck, I shouldn’t have done that.’ I was only trying to be thoroughly detailed and this is what I get.

Wait a minute.

“Are those my Registration Records?!” I yelled in surprise as she flipped open the folder.

“I am Princess Celestia’s student, I know the Mayor quite well so of course they let me see residents' public records.”

Ok, this is just... God, too much.

“So what, you think that I’m some sort of terrorist?”

She gave me another look that I made me want to hide.

“I am not implying anything but for our sake I will say that you are in a conundrum.” She put her hooves together as she gazed deeply into my eyes, “But this is suspicious.” She taped the folder, “With you being an unknown new species only adds more questions that will have to be answered on a later date but for now I can say that you're cleared but please have an open schedule for my next visit.” And don’t try anything her eyes seem to say.

She ‘poofed’ away my folder, “after I finish my report I’ll have to give my assessment over to the Royals Guards and await further judgement.” Her final declaration had snapped me out of my shock and I took the silence as an initiative to leave. As I took the first steps out I stopped, “One more question before I go?”

I took her silence for me to continue, “What would’ve happened if I didn’t come with you?”

“If you didn’t cooperate then I would’ve been forced to get that court order in less than a day and instead of me there would’ve been Royal Guards to detain you to Ponyville’s police station until further notice.”

Oh…Oh man, I hit my limit of dealing with shit for the year right then and there.

As I left the basement Twilight stayed where she was and listened as the sound of my footsteps faded away. When she no longer could hear me she talked out loud, “You can come out now.” An orange earth pony with a stetson hat stepped out from behind a table.

“Ah still don’t feel right by this sneaking like some cat waitin’ for the mouse.”

“We had to make sure he was telling the truth and you're the best pony I could think of when it comes to that.”

Applejack nodded her head in appreciation.

“So what do you find?”

“Well it sounded like he was telling the truth,” She scratched the back of her head, “But there wer’ some things he said that didn’t make a lick of sense.”

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows, “Like what?”

Applejack looked left to right, “Like how he said that he heard about the Minotaurs but hadn’t really given the full details on how he knew. It’s almost like he left out the small details on purpose.”

Twilight didn’t even catch that, for all she knew he could have done it at the very beginning and was just only feeding her half the story.

It could have been staged from the very beginning and it could have gone under her nose, luckily she had the insight to grab Applejack when she did.

Twilight carefully weighed her options and within less than a second she came to the only conclusion, “He will need to be further monitored.”

She would get to the bottom of this, one way or another she will get her answers.

Author's Note

Hey everyone how’s it going? Sorry about not getting this chapter out on Friday I just went to go see the New Mutants which it just.. Yeah. Then I was about to finish up the chapter when I heard the news about Chadwick and I just… My god I’m not going to lie, I cried so hard I fell asleep and I barely had the energy to go do something. I’m starting to come to terms with it but I never expected in a million years for something like that to happen. I really hope everyone’s doing ok and if you have free time please take a moment to pay respect for the man and everything he represented.

May he rest in peace, with love from a fan.