Culture Shock

When it comes to castles, there is a fairly easy-to-understand scale on which a pony can rank them. There is a simple castle, which can be roughly a mile long, with simple walls, ramparts, defensive walls and a gate. Then there can be a palace, which is at least two miles long, is embedded in the ground by about ninety stories and has numerous secret rooms. And finally, there is the last on the scale, the grand palace. And the Empress of Griffonia had a grand palace, to be sure. Massive walls spiraled hundred of feet into the air and the courtyard alone was the size of a stadium. The gates that controlled the entryway were composed of six overlapping steel bars, which were plated in diamonds during the forging process. There were seven of those, each one made of thicker, more high-grade steel and sunk deeper into the solid wall.

The moat that surrounded the castle was more like a small river filled with nasties of all sorts. The height of the walls, the sheer scale and strength of the gates and the layers upon layers of secondary barriers that overlapped into a maze made the palace impregnable. Nopony could navigate these walls unless they had a guide, otherwise they would be hopelessly lost. Any invading army could easily be separated by gates into thirty feet by thirty feet mini-yards, and then have tar or arrows sent down from the guards on the wall. Each yard acted as an airlock, nothing got in or out without a series of strict identity tests.

The whole thing made the castle a fortress to be feared, and as Twilight took it all in she suddenly felt very small. Her insignificance here was measured up to that of a rat compared to this structure. The griffons there didn't seem to mind the seven-hundred foot wall trapping them in. But being a pony, the mare had in instinctive fear of being caged. She turned to the Empress,  who was just now stepping out of her carriage and putting her lacy black hat on her pristine, elegant head. She smiled at Twilight's reaction.

"Daunting, isn't it? Don't panic, my dear, the moment you get inside that claustrophobic sensation will disappear."

Gilda emerged from the carriage second to last, only followed by the young page that she'd met upon her arrival in Griffonia. The young griffon hopped onto the front of the carriage and took the reigns, guiding the horses away. Gilda was bug-eyed at the palace, hating more than anything to feel like trapped, away from the sky. She was a creature of the air, a creature of freedom. She hated the feeling that she was being watched, and particularly loathed the thought of being trapped. She walked over to Twilight and punched her in the shoulder, annoyed.

"Sister, please have better manners." The Empress scolded, putting her wing between the two. "You're in my home now and I expect you to at least act like a civilized griffon. Now, if you'll come with me we will discuss your living arrangements. As you can tell this place is mostly empty, so you could really have any room you want. Would you like one next to mine sister?"

The word sister seemed to grate a little on her beak, like it physically hurt her to address her as such. Gilda turned away and sniffed, not falling for her younger sibling's innocent act. She was trying to be nice to her, even though she'd been gone for years, and that didn't fly with the world-wise griffon. Her sister should be angry at her, furious. And she had been for a few hours there, but now she was trying her hardest to be nice to her. It chafed.

"No? Okay then... I'll let you pick your own. Twilight, if you'd please follow me."

The Empress walked off in the opposite direction, leaving only the occasional staring passerby to monitor Gilda. She walked towards the first lock of the walkway. There was a massive central walkway with checkpoints at hundred-foot intervals, each one blocked again by gates. When the Empress walked past they raised, and she nodded to each of the guards as she passed them. The Empress struck Twilight as rather... nice.  She walked with the air of a kind leader, but Gilda seemed strongly averted to her. Why?

Twilight couldn't help but give the Empress another once-over, this time making marks that she had a few spots where her feathers stuck up in strange tufts. She could only think of the scars she had on her underbelly and wings, seeing as how the feathers did the same. The mare kept her tact and didn't ask about it, deciding that it wasn't worth confronting her host. The Empress was well kept, she was so clean her snow white feathers gleamed, and her eyes looked at everything and past it with intelligence and knowledge.

Twilight saw no reason to distrust her, so she followed her through more checkpoints. At last they arrived at the inner palace, and she had to stop again to marvel at the scale and beauty of the architecture. It was Old Equestrian architecture, Gothic. It was made from bricks of pure silver, coated in a resin polish that preserved their gleaming beauty. Thousands of feet high, with polished golden roofing on the tops of the towers, the facade of the building looked like it belonged in a fairytale. Twilight imagined how many metric tons of silver it had taken. A hundred? Two hundred? A thousand tons?

"Impressive, isn't it?" The Empress sighed. "I inherited it. It took over two-hundred years to construct, and I personally oversaw the building of the Eastern Wing. It's where the guards bunk, and I personally think that it's among the most comfortable places in the castle."

"But... it's so... beautiful... I didn't think building anything like that was possible..." Twilight stuttered. "Doesn't the silver oxidize from the elements? Or the gold?"

"As a mining country most of our resources and technology is curbed towards the preservation of our precious metals, so we developed a sort of resin like substance that prevents the wear and tear of the metal beneath. After all, wouldn't want to besmirch all the work of our ancestors."

"But wouldn't a resin be flammable?"

"We even covered that." The royal smiled. "When it burns in releases a copious amount of carbon dioxide. This blocks off any sort of fire on the walls. Keeps any fire from spreading as well. Our chemical engineers spent over two years developing it."

Twilight was in awe of the country. It's engineering and architecture was a marvel, and she didn't understand why Celestia hadn't wanted her to come here. It's palace was even more magnificent than the one in Canterlot. The two griffons she'd met so far had been exceedingly kind to her. But for some reason the ponies outside of Griffonia held this place among the worst on earth. She didn't understand. As much as she wanted to stop and ask more questions, the Empress was walking again and she was admittedly faster than her. Her legs were longer and she was taller, and for every step she took Twilight had to take two.

Hustling to keep up, Twilight noticed that there wasn't anypony or griffon around. The square was empty.

"Um... Miss I-"

"It's lunch time." She chuckled.

Twilight nodded and focused on what was in front of her. They were fast approaching a fifty foot tall steel portcullis, and with a graceful wave of her claw the Empress demanded it be opened. It opened just enough for them to get through. Twilight's eyes had to adjust once the were inside the castle, and for the first few moments she couldn't see a thing. Then she started to make out suits of armor and a pitch black floor.

The floor, Twilight observed, was black obsidian polished smooth over years of tireless washing and waxing. The walls were marble with silver designs cut into them in leafing patterns, making it looks as if the shadows of trees were showing through the fog of a moonless night. The Empress saw Twilight struggling to see and clapped her front talons together. And something happened that made the most logical mare in the world's jaw nearly dislocate with the force of the drop.

The candles lit in a burst of green flames all on their own. It was magic, Twilight was sure of it. She felt that rush of energy near her like she always felt when there was something magical going on. But it had come from the Empress. Griffons couldn't perform magic. It was a law of the world, nay, the universe. But she'd just done it like it had take her no more effort than lifting a toothpick.

The Empress turned to Twilight and smiled. "Much better." She chirped. "May I show you to your room?"

The mare sat there and gawked for a few seconds, like a fish deprived of water. Then, without really thinking, she asked. "How... how did you even... that isn't..."

"Oh Twilight dear." The griffon winked mischievously. "Every pony has their secrets, why can't I have a few?"

Twilight stood there for a few more seconds before they walked on again, but now she was looking for more evidence that the Empress wasn't really a griffon. She had to be something else. There wasn't any way it was possible. She cast spells when she wasn't looking to see if she had any illusions cast around her. There wasn't any. She even cast an X-Ray spell to look at her essential anatomy. There was nothing different from a normal griffon besides an abnormal amount of muscle in her back legs.

Eventually they reached a staircase that spiraled up out of sight. While they climbed Twilight kept trying to think of a way she could have possibly performed magic. But no matter how much she thought, no matter how much she chased the idea in circles in her mind it just ended up as an impossibility. And yet, the griffon had done it with no effort. It gave the mare a headache.

After a few minutes they reached the top of the stairs. The style in this part of the castle was different. It had golds and deep reds all over, the walls and floor were all gold and the tapestry fell into a bold sanguine and rose hue. Unlike the rest of the castle, this wing had windows. of course they were over seven inches thick, but it was still a window. Looking out one could see that this tower was so high off the ground that all that was visible was an endless sea of fluffy white clouds.

"This will be your room." The Empress said, gesturing towards to door across from a far larger, gold encrusted threshold. "You'll be right across the hall from me. Now, It's been a long day. I hope that you'll excuse me for my brevity, but I need to bathe and get ready for my evening. Au revoiur."

"Um, okay." Twilight replied, still a little puzzled by the griffon's magic trick. "I'll just get settled in. Say, er, where is my bags?"

"Already in there." The Empress went into her room and shut the door.

Twilight was about to go in when her host poked her head out again. "Oh, and Twilight, don't be afraid to call me if you get lonely." The Empress blew the mare a kiss, winking.

Twilight blinked once, twice, then finally a third time. She turned and went inside, not sure how to interpret what had just happened. She could have sworn the Empress of Griffonia had just flirted with her though.

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