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Rainbow Unicorn: Griffon Grief

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Chapter 8: A Griffon in Canterlot

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Canterlot was incredibly easy to find. After all, it was a big city set on a mountain. She could easily see it from Ponyville. The entire thing loomed over the town. It would easily give an edge in a ground assault: the approaching opposition would be seen before they were properly within attack range. Although that seemed to be the only noticeable defensive advantage Canterlot had. There were no defensive bulwarks with crenelations or arrow loops, no guarded gates, and no bastions. There was a balustrade, but it seemed more to let ponies look out from the mountainside without risk of falling off than to defend Canterlot from enemy assault

The castle itself was also easy to find, seeing as it was the tallest building in the entire city. It had the same problem as the rest of Canterlot as well: it looked nice, but it did not have any good defenses. It was all tall, and narrow, and pretty, with almost nothing that looks like it could stand up to more than one or two good, solid hits from a siege weapon. A skilled team with catapults and ballistas could take the entire thing down with almost no trouble at all. Although doing so would mean not just dealing with the guards, but a supposedly immortal being with the power of the sun at her control. Then there was the newly returned Princess Luna, of which little was known at this time, or a supposed third princess that had appeared years ago and was who knew where. Thinking about it that way made the city defenses rather moot. Any plans would have to focus on disabling the princesses before they were able to do anything, then attack the castle.

As Gilda flew toward the castle, several pegasi and griffons in armor flew up to approach her. In the lead was a female griffon that was close to the same age as Gilda. The most noticeable difference was that the other griffon had a light green tint to her feathers as opposed to Gilda's white, and a dark, solid green instead of purple.

"There you are," the green marked griffon -- Greta -- said. "The Duke was beginning to worry, your ladyship."

"Grandpa had nothing to worry about," Gilda huffed out, shaking her head. "I'm here and I'm fine."

She caught Greta glancing at the swollen eye and dried blood, but said nothing.

"Not going to screw over the entire kingdom just because I have to be at a boring delegation with a bunch of old ponies and stuffy old griffons."

"Of course, your ladyship," Greta said with a nod of her head.

Gilda continued to hover there, looking at the other griffon in front of her. Greta was a perfect example of what she had been complaining about to Twilight Comet. She was always polite, barely seemed to acknowledge when Gilda tried baiting her, and did a great job obeying orders. Right now held perfect examples of such. Greta could clearly see that something had happened to Gilda, but did not dare to ask her about it. There was also no way for Greta to know if what Gilda claimed was true or not. In the past, Gilda had complained quite loudly how much she hated having to attend to all the business needed for taking care of the kingdom, especially dealing with a bunch of stuffy, boring, old griffons that seem to still think they were in the glory days, and blamed all the problems on the new generation. At no time had she actually had the opportunity to escape from the whole matter, even if it wound up only for half a day. As far as Gilda was concerned, Greta would not have been expecting Gilda to ditch the guards and run away in the first place, which means there would be no way of knowing if and when she would come back.

Some times, Gilda just hated Greta. She would have the urge to just antagonize the guard griffon, to just push her until Greta finally lost it and attacked her the way that Applejack did. Other times, Gilda wished they could just be more casual with each other. That she could somehow find a way to get Greta to pull the stick out of her butt and relax, maybe becoming something like friends that could just hang out and have some fun.

Admittedly, there were also times where Gilda wished that Greta would just take her to bed and have her way with her, forcing Gilda to experience and enjoy her more submissive side.

"Come on," Gilda said as she moved past Greta and the others. "Let's go let Gramps know I'm here before he gives himself a stroke or something." She then continued toward the castle, with the guard griffons falling into position around her. She was not certain, but it seemed to her like they were actually a little closer to her than usual. Perhaps they were worried about her taking off again.

How would they react if she actually did something like that?

Standing on a balcony were two figures: Princess Celestia and Duke Gruff. The two of them watched as Gilda landed before stepping toward her.

"Hello, Lady Gilda," Celestia said. "How wonderful to meet yo--"

"By Boreas!" Gruff cried out, stepping toward his granddaughter. "What in the name of Grover happened to you?" Reaching up, he grabbed a hold of Gilda's jaw, pulling her face closer to his. His one good eye looked at her closer than she would have liked, looking at the injuries she had gotten.

"Nothing," Gilda answered as she pulled out of his grip.

"Nothing?" he squawked out, and if he had still had any feathers on his neck and head, they would have puffed out. "Half your face looks like it's been bashed against a rock, and you're telling me it's 'nothing?'"

"It's fine, Grampa," Gilda insisted. "Look, you want me to take over as Duchess of The Griffon Kingdom, and leader of our clan, right? Well that means you're going to have to let me deal with things on my own. So, believe me when I say it's all been dealt with."

Turning his head, Gruff looked at her with his good eye, narrowing it as he stared at her. Gilda rolled her eyes as he did, her tail and wings giving a flicker of annoyance. She knew what he was doing, she had seen him do it before and even been on the receiving end of it multiple times as she grew up. Just had to put up with it for a little and it would be fine.

"We do have a full service medical bay," Princess Celestia offered, stepping beside. "If you would like, Duke Gruff, we can give your granddaughter a check-up to make sure there are no other injuries, as well as give some treatment to reduce the swelling, and sterilize any open wounds before bandaging them."

Duke Gruff let his gaze shift from Gilda to the princess. He then rolled his eye and let out a sigh.

"Oh, very well." He turned his attention back to Gilda.

"Don't let something like this happen again. If you get in a fight, it better be for a good reason, and you either win without getting hurt, or make damn sure everygriffon knows how badly your opponent suffered."

"Right," Gilda answered, mostly out of habit. It was just another part of the whole thing that she was tired of: the idea of having to be tough and fierce to get others to do what she wanted. Any who challenged her had to be dealt with ruthlessly, with very little mercy. They needed to have an example made out them. To her, it was just another reason to be isolated from others and not have friends.

"If you will follow me," Princess Celestia said, "I shall show you where the medical ward is."

Giving a nod, Gilda moved toward the ruler of Equestria and started to walk with her into the castle. They were joined by two pegasi guards, and two griffon guards, including Greta. Gruff watched them go, but did not follow. Most likely, he would either go to the quarters assigned to him and rest, or go and annoy some of the other delegates that had come with him. For the most part, it left Gilda alone with the princess, save for the guards which were walking behind them at "a respectable distance" (gag).

Gilda felt like she should say something. After all, this was the princess of Equestria. Well... the primary ruler of it anyways.

"Did you enjoy your visit to Ponyville?" Princess Celestia asked, her voice just above a whisper.

The question caused Gilda to tense slightly, one of her fore legs slipping beneath her. Fortunately she was able to recover almost instantly, the slight misstep (hopefully) unnoticeable by the following guards.

"How do you know about that?" Gilda asked, turning to look at the princess from the corner of her eye. Did she have spies or something everywhere? Was the "letter" merely a way to reveal the truth and force Gilda to return to Canterlot?

"Spike and Rainbow sent me a letter saying you were on your way and summarizing some of what happened."

"And it somehow got here before me?" Shifting, Gilda narrowed her eyes. "How is that possible?"

"It's a bit of complicated spell work," Celestia answered. "I can explain in detail if you like another time, but the basics is that I am capable of sending a scroll directly to Spike wherever he may be, and he is capable of doing the same with me."

Considering what Gilda knew about pony-related magic -- which was admittedly rather little -- it did seem like it was a possibility. Although... did the complexity actually matter? The very use of magic without any sort of material assistance was an advantage they had over the griffons. Plus, being able to send messages to each other from great distances faster than a messenger could travel would give them a massive advantage. If not in combat, then most certainly in spying and reporting events in distant corners of their kingdom, or entirely other ones, like the griffon's. It would also make catching a spy extremely difficult, as any missives would already have been sent. That would give Equestria a big advantage in knowing the social and political moods elsewhere.

"As difficult as it may be to believe," Princess Celestia said, cutting off Gilda's thoughts, "I can sympathize with your desire to escape the responsibilities of royalty and live a normal life, even if only for just a few hours."

"Seriously?" Gilda asked. "You? Aren't you, like, love and adored by all the little ponies around you or something?"

The question got a small chuckle from the princess before answering.

"As disappointing as this may be to hear, no ruler is loved by all of their citizenry, regardless of how well they try to rule. Even here, there are some who wish me to abdicate the throne. Perhaps some day, when it seems I am no longer properly serving the ponies, and they are fully capable of defending themselves, I shall do so. Retire and live out the rest of my days in a nice quiet place, living more along the ponies as a citizen instead of looking over them." She looked up at the ceiling, smiling slightly.

A small sigh escaped her as she looked back down, returning her attention to Gilda.

"Unfortunately, the duration with which I have ruled and the uniqueness of my appearance has made it all but impossible for me to simply leave and walk unnoticed among the citizenry."

"So...what?" Gilda asked, shifting as she walked. "Do you just... get used to it? Put up with it?"

"In my case, I was able to find at least a few on occasion who are willing to be frank and candid with me. Perhaps not as much as they would be with a peer, true, but more so than most of the ponies around me." Princess Celestia then turned to look back. "Once or twice, it simply took me telling the pony that was simply what I wanted. Perhaps a method you could try yourself with a certain guard.

"Also, I am more than willing to offer my own assistance. Perhaps not as much of a mentor as your grandfather, but a sympathetic ear and alternative opinion, if you would like."

The conversation seemed to come at an end there. At least on Princess Celestia's end. Gilda probably could have kept the conversation going if she had actually been willing to make an effort. Instead she stayed quiet, taking in what the princess had said and considering it thoroughly. While it would not actually be the same thing as having a friend, being able to speak with the princess on more candid matters did sound appealing. As well as being able to get advice. Equestria had been around for something like a thousand years, with Celestia ruling, and most of it was prosperous. Definitely better than The Griffon Kingdom had been doing since the loss of The Idol.

Although, when it came to the advice about making a friend, Gilda could not help but be skeptical. At least in the terms of Greta. The other griffon just seemed too uptight and proper. Even if Gilda did as Celestia suggested and simply asked Greta to treat her like she would a normal griffon, she would probably just say that it is inappropriate for a member of the royal family to fraternize with a guard, regardless of proximity in age.

"She reminds me of a pony I once knew," Celestia said. "A pegasus stallion who was a member of the guard. He was assigned to guard the daughter of a baron."

"Let me guess," Gilda cut in. "They fell in love instantly, got married, and had a bunch of kids."

"A classic tale," Celestia replied with a chuckle, "but not accurate in this case. It is true that they did find each other attractive, and romantic feelings did develop between the two of them to at least some extent since they were constantly around each other. However, both of them were rather stubborn, and very focused on what was seen as 'proper' for their stations and and duties. As such, while they did have interest in each other, neither of them were willing to make the first move and express their feelings. Eventually, The Baron's daughter was engaged to a stallion of a higher noble family, and the guard was reassigned to a new position. She became a countess and mother with several children, and he became a guard in my very throne room, marrying a librarian, and starting a family of his own.

"One day, The Countess came to see me, and it so happen that the guard was on duty at the time. The two of them recognized each other, but neither of them said hello or acknowledged the other beyond any official capacity. Yet from my position, I could easily see the two glancing at each other, albeit never at the same time, and the longing in both to speak with the other. It was only after court had ended that I learned about what happened.

"The story does, in a way, have a happy ending. While the two of them never got together, either by fate or chance, their children did. The oldest daughter of the guard married the countess's second son, and had a family of their own. So while the guard and baron's daughter did not ever get together romantically, they did eventually become in-laws and grandparents, and so created the bloodline for your friend, Twilight Comet. Still, there will always be the night when that guard told me how much he wondered about what might had been if he had simply expressed his feelings to her all those years ago. True, perhaps it would not have worked out, but at least they would have known."

As the story ended, they arrived at the medical wing. Excusing herself, Princess Celestia left Gilda behind to speak with one of the nurses, arranging for the griffon's check up and care. As she did, Gilda was stuck considering what she had just been told.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thought as she turned around.

"Greta, would you mind keeping me company?"

Mentally, she kicked herself. That was what she said? It was still so stiff and formal.

Stepping forward, Greta gave a slight nod of her head and answered, "Of course, your ladyship."

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