The herd of upper-class ponies surrounding Celestia and Cadance buzzed with a low hum of anticipation and gossip, and the sight of such a gathering also began to draw in those who lived and worked lower down the mountain. As a result, despite the impromptu nature of the upcoming "presentation", the audience began to grow as curious ponies trickled in. Cadance glanced around and brought a hoof up to her mouth to whisper, "Do you think Luna should be here to see this?"

Celestia stopped breathing for several seconds as she weighed her options. On the one hoof, her sister was still in a rather delicate stage of her recovery. Seeing one of her oldest and dearest friends in this situation could go badly if the tide started to turn out of the Snowheart clan's favor.

On the other hoof, Luna loved Gertrude and her family just as much as Celestia did, and she would probably resent being left out.

Celestia let out a soft sigh, and was about to ask one of her guards to fly back to the castle and inform her sister when she caught sight of a trio of mares out of the corner of her eye. Identical in every respect except for their tribe, a blue earth pony, pegasus and unicorn sat huddled together, looking this way and that. The instant that the pegasus happened to see Celestia looking their way, though, the other two immediately turned to look as well, and all three waved in unison with shy smiles on their faces.

Celestia raised her hoof slightly to give a little wave back. As she couldn't do any more than that without drawing attention, let alone ask how Luna happened to be there, she whispered back to Cadance, "Something tells me that my sister is already aware," before wondering, but was it Gertrude or the Emperor who informed her? There was no way to find out at the moment, however, so she turned the fullness of her attention back down to the five griffons facing each other.

With a jolly grin, Grigori looked to the others and asked, "So, who goes first? Shall we flip a bit?"

To that, Gunther stepped forward and replied, "Whoever chooses to go against me for the first round can decide which of us will start."

General Airstrike took the initiative and stepped forward to meet the albino warrior eye-to-eye. "I'll take you on, little boy. You go ahead and show us what you've got. It's the least I can do to give you a fighting chance."

Gunther smirked back without blinking. "Very generous of you, General, though in my experience, the one who goes second is at an advantage. Still, I have every intention of defeating you, no matter the handicap."

"You can intend whatever you want. Just don't expect it," Airstrike replied. To the other two on his side, he said, "Step back, I've got this."

"Give us a good show, Gustav," Grigori said, giving Airstrike a hearty pat on the back before he, the senator, and Gertrude all backed away from the two contestants.

At the same time, despite muttering to herself while doing so, Gilda hobbled up to the edge of the crowd while Rainbow Dash propped her up. "I told you, I just tripped a little."

"Relax, G, we're here. You won't be catching your feet on any more of this cobblestone street," Rainbow replied as she led her friend to a shady spot where they would have a decent view without drawing attention to themselves. Once she helped Gilda sit down (much to the relief of the griffon's aching body), the pegasus pulled out a bottle that she had tucked under her wing.

"What's that?"

"An ointment my teacher taught me to make. Perfect for pulled muscles, and any kind of ache."

Gilda started to reply, "Nah, you've done enough. I don't need--ow!" Her protests were cut off by a light blue hoof cuffing her lightly in the back of her head.

"Just let me put it on, already. Trust me, this stuff's a life-saver. I can't even tell you how many times I pulled something, running away from some huge monster that wanted to eat my face. Just imagine you're a Stormrider getting taken care of after a really hard race."

"Fiiiiine," Gilda replied as she looked past the herd of ponies, and Rainbow Dash applied some of the smelly ointment to her hooves in order to massage it into Gilda's fur and feathers. "So... what's going on? They going to fight or something?"

"Or something," Rainbow replied. "Remember when you were really into rapier poetry?"

Gilda's body tensed up at that. "Was that Uncle Greg's idea?"

Rainbow shrugged while she continued to apply the ointment and replied, "I dunno, Gertrude was the one who brought it up, but maybe she got the idea from him?"

Gilda let out a groan and brought a claw up to cover her face. "Gah, flaming hailstorms. Of course those idiots got the idea from him. First chance I get, I'm punching him in his stupid face."

Once they were given a bit of space, the two competitors turned to face the audience. Gunther then gave a brief bow before proclaiming, "Griffons, fillies, and gentlecolts, I am Knight-Commander Gunther Snowheart, representing the Snowheart clan in the first round of this duel!"

"And I am General Gustav Airstrike, representing the Griffon Empire! Ready whenever you are, boy."

Gunther nodded to the general, then gestured for his knights to resume the rhythmic thumping of their spears against the ground. Some of the knights, though, instead transformed their spears into flute-like instruments or cup-shaped cylinders which produced a tone when they ran their claws around the rim.

By altering the shape of the cylinders with their magic, they altered the pitch as they needed to in order to create an ethereal sort of music that had not been heard in Equestria for over twelve centuries.

All this to provide a background for Gunther, whose body moved ever so slightly with the beat until he was confident that he could follow it.

For twelve centuries now, our people have slumbered,

and the Empire has grown through those days un-numbered

I must pay my respects to the great griffons of modernity

And if I find one, I shall do so with utmost sincerity

One united nation instead of many clans at war.

Can anygriffon tell me where I have heard that one before?

We are Snowhearts, descended from griffonkind's worst

Yet all your greatness is built 'pon what we did first!

So instead of sagas and verses most epic,

I would say that you rate, at best, a limerick.

Zounds, you xenophobes whine vociferously

useless taunts slandering royal quality

presenting obsolete news, moldy lies.

Keeping justice in heart, Gertrude flies.

Empire defied, crushed by ability

The cheers of the Snowheart clan, who clapped their talons in support of Gunther, were accompanied by stomps of applause from the Canterlot audience. Even so, the jeers of the Imperial griffons did their best to drown the other two out.

In the back, Gilda groaned pinched the bridge of her beak as if she had a headache. "Ugh, what an idiot."

"Is there something I don't get? He just limericked his way backwards through the alphabet," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Yeah, in the first verse! You think anygriffon's gonna believe he just came up with that on the fly? He looks like an amateur, discharging his lightning early when he should be saving his best material for the second verse."

"Oh... well, I thought it was pretty awesome. I bet a lot of the ponies here will, too."

"Better hope so, if you want to root for 'em, because for griffons, it isn't about first blood. It's about scoring the kill."

With Gunther's verse done, the albino griffon bowed slightly and backed up a step to give General Airstrike the stage.

To the surprise of the ponies in the audience, the Imperial soldiers' jeers didn't transition into cheers for one of their own. Instead, they only lowered in intensity as Airstrike stepped forward, allowing the noise to roll off of him like rain off a duck. Holding himself with a stoic bearing, and with none of Gunther's musical backing, he only spared a few seconds to stare down his opponent before he began.

I've got to give you respect, you have true griffon pride.

You are a worthy adversary... no, I just lied.

That is fairly impressive; it must have taken you a while.

But back in the Empire, I'm the Lord of Free-style!

You think I've never been ambushed before? Think again!

I could stand alone against you and all of your men!

When you chose to battle me, that was your greatest blunder.

All you have is whitening. Now watch me bring the thunder!

I know that you've been sleeping, so your memory might be hazy.

The only reason that you're here is your grandmother went crazy!

You brag about your prowess, but it seems a little shady

When all your Knights were vanquished by a single old lady!

Gunther's eyes narrowed as the general's parting shot drew peals of derisive laughter from the Imperial side as Airstrike mockingly smirked and stepped back to grant him the stage again.

After taking a deep breath to center himself, Gunther stepped forward and nodded to the Knights, who once again resumed their accompaniment. After nearly half a minute of thinking to himself while glaring at Airstrike, he presented his rebuttal.

If 'tis the queen that you mean, then cease your prattle

And rejoice you face her not 'pon the field of battle.

You think to cow me by bringing up our darkest hour

Yet know naught of the pride that grants us our power!

And who taught us to master this magic that you find so hateful?

The one who ensured you're alive now to be so ungrateful!

Mark me, for when the dust has settled

Your steel will shatter before Snowheart mettle.

Where we hail from, the winds howl and moan

A cold so sharp it strips flesh from bone

But 'tis not our nature to cower in fear.

We took hold of the cold to forge our spears!

Hardened by Winter, shaped by a soul most generous

Like the spear in my talons, you shall never break us!

Again, Gunther conceded the floor to Airstrike, who stepped forward and waved his talons in front of his beak as if to wave away an unpleasant odor.

You sure try hard to act like you're a predator of great power

And it's obvious that you pre-date the invention of the shower.

Your gimmicks are weak! Your rhymes are antique!

I'll pit myself against your rhythm any day of the week!

You claim that you're a fighter in your feeble verbal spurts

But all I see's a little child hiding in your granny's skirts!

So what if she was queen? I have no time for such nonsense!

You're nothing but a pasty royal ass!

Toward the front of the Canterlot herd, a pale, well-dressed donkey exclaimed, "Excuse me?!"

No offense.

Your little icicles aren't enough to make me flee!

I've been dropping lightning from so far above you that you can't even see me!

Airstrike's the name, setting your ears on fire

For the pride and the glory of the Griffon Empire!

While he rhymed, General Airstrike reached into the inner pocket of his uniform to slip her thundersteel knuckles over his talons. When his verse came to an end, he punctuated it by punching the ground. An explosion of thunder and lightning rocked everypony and -griffon back on their haunches.

This explosion was soon followed by a second, which grew as the echoes of the first faded. This time, though, the source of the noise was applause.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay. Aside from going on vacation for a bit, writing rap battles is hard. I hope you enjoyed it, though, and there's more to come.