The griffins had never agreed with us, even on the simplest things. To us, Celestia and Luna were twin sisters and goddesses, rulers of all. To them, they were monarchs who preached religious lies to keep the population scared. I'm not sure what they thought of the ponies up until the thousand and thirtieth summer solstice. You'd have to ask a griffin to be sure, and I don't think anypony is going to be voluntarily talking to one of them for a good long time.
The griffin's country, Gryphus, wasn't doing too well around that year. Some 'professionals' were calling it a depression, some a recession. Personally, I just thought that it was a shitty economy. Whatever they called it, families were on the street, businesses and banks were shutting down and inflation was working backwards. Things weren't going well for them. So, when a griffin caught sight of the Summer Sun Celebration, understandably, nothing good happened. It was the spark that set off the powder keg of discrimination, anger and hatred that had been amassing for years.
Ever since the return of Princess Luna, the Summer Sun celebrations have been getting increasingly more grand. What had started as a simple festival and a crowd watching her raise the sun was growing exponentially each year. One year there was a festival, the next a fair, amusement park, Ferris wheel, roller coaster, parade, and so on and so forth. This particular year there was an obscenely grand fireworks display. Bursts of enchanted, coloured sparks lit the sky, forming everything from an image of Celestia Herself to a somehow animated depiction of Her raising the sun. The amount of work, bits and planning that went into it must have been even insane-that was evident to everyone in the audience, including that fateful griffin.
The next day we were all met with blazing headlines proclaiming 'GRIFFIN RALLIES IN THE STREETS!' and 'TENSION BETWEEN GRIFFINS AND PONIES RISING!' Apparently, that griffin had flown back to his kind and spread the word, telling how we wasted enough bits to feed their entire species for years on pretty lights in the sky. The starving, unemployed griffins clutched onto his every word, starting the anti-princess rallies. They thought that the bits had gone to giving undeserved worship to a false idol and hated our entire kind for it.
Now, mind you, I'm no extremist. I won't tell you that all griffins are evil, nor they all hate ponies. I'm sure at least some of them were neutral, or looked down upon those who rallied and rioted in the streets. There must have been, or when the attacks started Celestia would've fought back. Or at least I think so. Some ponies thought that she wouldn't harm a feather on a griffin's back if all of Equestria depended on it, but I believed in her. I like to think that she just didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.
Despite Celestia's kind thoughts and hopes that the attacks would stop by themselves, they kept escalating. What started as hate campaigns turned into hate crimes, turned into groups of griffins beating the living hell out of ponies in alleyways, turned into shootings and finally bombings. Eventually, it became regular routine-another death or two every week. Pressure was building up to make a move against them, but she still didn't want to act out. After about a month of this came the Antitians - a small but resiliant group of ponies ruling for the overthrowing of the princesses. Celestia in particular.
Nobody knows to this day who it was who fired that bullet. The Antitians insisted it was the griffins and the griffins kept saying that it was the Antitians. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point. On the day of the thousand and thirty-first Summer Sun Celebration, some pony or griffin took a shot at Celestia as she raised the sun. The first shot went wide, but as the second shot rang out, Princess Luna had just enough time to jump in front of her sister. The bullet tore through her heart, killing her near-instantly. There was nothing even Celestia's magic could do.
I guess that was it. With the pressure from the griffins, the Antitians and the death of her sister, Celestia cracked. She couldn't handle it any more. She let her positions crumble away, one by one. The command of taxes, health care, justice, unemployment and so on all fell down to lesser ponies. Except for one. Celestia kept control of Equestria's army. No matter what, she would not let there be a war. If nothing else, sticking to her morals through all that deserved respect.
But nopony really got the chance to tell her that. None but a few of her closest and most trusted friends, advisors and students can get within half a mile of her castle, even now. But she has every reason to hide herself away - I couldn't blame her. Just because Luna had died in the crossfire didn't mean that Celestia was no longer a target. In addition, she was still mourning the death of her sister. Luna had died the death of a hero, saving Celestia's life at the cost of her own. Celestia may have survived, but Luna's death hurt her far more than any bullet could.
Luna's death didn't just hurt Celestia, though. I wouldn't have been surprised if even the griffins mourned her death. Everyone had loved Luna. She had been the kind voice of the people, even more than Celestia was. She spoke for them, stood for them, ensured that part of the national fund was donated to the needy - a remarkable mare, even not as a princess. The day after her death was almost surreal. Something seemed missing to each and every pony, even those who had never met her. A blanket of depression seemed to hang over everypony. Even the Antitians calmed down. And, at the funeral, what seemed to be all of Equestria showed up. That day was truly sorrowful.
But life goes on, and the day after her funeral, a bombing at a sweet shop killed five innocent ponies. Three fillies among them. And still, Celestia refused to go to war. All of Equestria was sure she was either crazy or had a reason she wasn't telling us at this point. The griffins (may have) killed her sister and co-ruler, slaughtered dozens of innocents and even ended the life of fillies barely old enough to be walking, and she still refused to retaliate.
Even away from the battlefields and death, things weren't going too well. Celestia had still delegated almost all of her jobs. Health care, unemployment and other things serving the people directly fell into safe hooves. None of them could quite match Celestia's skill, but the offices didn't fail. That was more than could be said for taxation and the justice system. The mares in charge of both of those sold out. They let anyone who could pay slide. But, Celestia either didn't notice or didn't care - she has changed nothing about the government since that day. Which is unfortunate. Because now I'm going to have to do it myself.
