"So, after considering the options we have in taking on the challenges ahead of us, I have chosen what I believe to be the best course of action."

The seated dark blue alicorn across the long stone table raised an eyebrow and cocked her head,"What pray tell might this course entail sister?"

"Well," Celestia shifted in her seat, placing her elbow on the arm of the wooden chair and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. She looked down at the beautifully hand drawn map before her, the black lines that traced the coastlines drawing her attention,"We need to prepare for war." Her tone was somber and her demeanor grim.

Luna leaned forward and crossed her legs, then gave a quick nod,"Good, I agree with the course you have chosen to follow," She rested her elbows on her thighs and interlocked her fingers,"So how do you think we should begin these preparations?"

Celestia's eyes traced the illustrated waves on the map, she couldn't help but note how talented a mapmaker the pony that drew them was,"We need to start recruiting more soldiers, which means we need more training camps, barracks, gear, rations and everything else that comes with raising an army."

Luna nodded and narrowed her eyes,"All those preparations are necessary yes, but I believe we should do it all quietly, if we start recruiting and training en masse then it could start the coming war much earlier."

Celestia looked up from the map and raised her brow,"How so?"

"Well if our enemies notice that we are recruiting and training soldiers, plus manufacturing weapons and armor, then they would likely start the war early so as to stop us before we are truly ready for a war on this scale."

Celestia narrowed her eyes,"On this scale... have your spies discovered our enemies numbers yet?"

Luna nodded,"Yes, as of now the griffons have a military might of three hundred thousand, most of which are veterans of the yak wars."

"And the zebras?"

"Well," Luna looked away in uncertainty,"We cannot be sure, but we estimate they have at least one hundred and sixty seven thousand, they have begun conscription and if my sources are reliable then they have large population of which to conscript into fighting for them." She sighed,"The only disadvantage they have is that none of them has any fighting experience."

Celestia looked back down at the map with a frown,"That means together now they number around four hundred and sixty seven thousand," She sighed,"And if we barely number one hundred and twenty thousand with both of our forces combined, then we could not survive the war at our current standing, even if Cadence sent some of her soldiers to help." She swallowed thickly,"So yes, you're right, it will be a slower process to prepare if we do this all quietly, but the risk of the war starting sooner will be much lower, we should definitely proceed with this military buildup quietly."

Luna smiled at her sister's understanding,"Alright then, my ponies will handle the recruitment of soldiers." She lowered her arms back down below the table,"My ponies can do it very quietly."

Celestia nodded,"Good, now, my ponies will handle locating and purchasing the property on which we will build the training camps and weapon forges."

Luna pulled her head back and raised an eyebrow,"Why? My spies can do that as well you know."

Celestia gave a small smirk,"Me being princess of the sun and therefore the pony that knows where the sunlight hits the ground for the majority of the day, means that I know where the most promising agricultural land is." She brought up her hand and placed it on the map,"Since I know that, I can publicly claim that we bought the land for simple farming purposes."

"Lie?" Luna smiled slightly,"You would lie about that? I have never known you to purposely lie."

Celestia's eyes narrowed somewhat and her face became determined,"To ensure the survival of my little ponies and their way of life? Yes I would lie, I would lie a thousand times to save them."

"That... is good to hear, if not slightly ominous." She took a breath,"I am proud of you sister, I know it is not easy for you to lie about anything."

"Hmm," Celestia looked back down and noticed how nice the little buildings drawn in populated areas were, this map was something she had never really payed much attention to before,"Luna I wish for you to handle the hiring of blacksmiths so we can work the forges that are to be built. I also desire you to contract all the the farms you can get ahold of to make rations for us, can you do all that quietly?"

"We can do it all quietly with ease sister, I shall have the necessary ponypower ready within the year." She nodded,"Though I must ask if you want us to contract construction ponies too, after all we will need somepony to build everything we are discussing."

Celestia shook her head,"We can use the royal guard and night guard engineering corp for that part, it will save us money and provide some experience for the corp." Celestia explained.

Luna's eyes widened in surprise at her logical thinking,"That... that's a very good solution, you surprise me with that idea sister, I didn't even think about that!"

Celestia smirked as her eyes scanned the upper part of the map,"I'm glad that even after a thousand years I can still surprise you sometimes."

Luna smiled,"Yes you can... so when do you estimate the land for all this training and manufacturing will be ready?"

"I can have the land needed for our enterprise ready in about two years, maybe less."

"Goo-" The muffled sound of far off holiday music started up and interrupted her. Looking to the wooden door she frowned,"It seems the Hearths Warming eve celebration is beginning."

"Yes, it is," Celestia slid her hands back along the table, gripping the edges of it she pushed herself back and stood up with a grunt,"We can discuss this matter further at a later date, we have a play to attend."

Pushing herself up Luna nodded,"Yes we do." She sighed and let out a deep breath,"I shall go to my room and prepare myself for the night, I'll join you again later."

Celestia nodded and watched her sister walk over to the reinforced wooden door, as she gripped the cold cast iron handle Celestia raised her brow suddenly in remembrance,"Luna I forgot to tell you, my friend Samuel is coming along with the elements of harmony tonight," She saw her sister pause her movement and listen,"I would like it if you could at least try to be civilized with him, it's only for tonight."

Luna sighed and looked down,"Well you don't have to ask, I'm going to have to treat him kindly, after all a public incident that involves me insulting the creature that the majority of our citizens see as a hero would make me look terrible."

Celestia scrunched up at her anwser,"I am sorry Luna, I know you dislike him but I really like him, he's a very good stallion when you get to know him."

"I know you think so sister." Luna said before swiftly moving through the door, which slammed behind her leaving the princess of the sun alone in the dark room.

Looking down Celestia sighed, once again her eyes were drawn to the expertly done map,"I will have to hire the pony that made this, they are very good..."

~

Sam could hear the crunch of snow under his feet with each step he took, the harsh cold air around him found a way through every opening in his coat and bit into his skin. He made sure while he walked to keep up with Twilight, after all he didn't want to lose her in the thick falling snow.

They were on their way to the Canterlot theater, since it was Hearths Warming Eve the Hearths Warming play was to take place tonight. The princesses were going to meet him there along with the rest of his friends, his friends were also going to participate in the play.

Twilight that was to take part in the play too, she just wanted to show him the way to the theater so he wouldn't get lost. Between the thick snow, the patches of celebrating crowds and the fact that it was night time, it was very difficult to find his way around and he was grateful for Twilight's help.

As they walked he couldn't help but think about a question that had been plaguing his mind for the past couple months, he thought over it for a moment before deciding to simply ask Twilight,"Twilight, how has Rainbow been since the diamond dog incident? I haven't really gotten to talk with her about it."

"She's... doing pretty good considering what she went through." Twilight looked over at him,"Its only every once in awhile that she wakes up at night in screaming fits and that's about it, she hasn't even had one panic or anxiety attack."

Sam grimaced and looked down at his snow covered shoes,"That's still bad though."

"Oh it's always a terrible thing when she has a fit, but, the frequency of her fits have slowed down significantly. She also has no problem with going into public places or participating in other social activities, which is odd, ponies that go through what she went through generally have a lot of problems with being in public and yet Rainbow seems to have no problem with it at all."

"Really? Do you know why?" He asked with a raised brow.

Twilight gave a slight smile,"I have a theory that the reason she's doing so well is because she watched you single handedly wipe out all of the creatures that raped her."

Sam looked forward and shrugged,"That... might have something to do with it, but I'd argue she's doing well because Rainbow's got a really strong will."

"Oh I'm certain thats part of it, but seeing justice done always helps."

"I definitely agree with that... I'm glad she's doing good."

"As am I Samuel." She responded with a reassuring smile.

As they continued down the snow ridden sidewalk Sam looked to his left side away from Twilight and couldn't help but notice the soft glow of the Christmas or as the ponies called it, Hearths Warming, decorations that were quite literally everywhere. The soft reds, greens and blues were quite beautiful and in the falling snow they almost looked like twinkling stars.

"The decorations are really nice, is the whole city covered in lights like this?"

Twilight smiled,"Yes it is, this is a holiday that ponies just love. You should see manehatten this time of year, it's beautiful."

"I'll have to check it out next year."

"If you don't mind the rest of the girls and I could come along with you, in fact Applejack has an aunt that lives down there." Twilight shrugged,"Maybe she'd let us stay?"

"I hope, that would certainly cut the hotel expenses down." He nodded.

Before long he could see the giant lit up sign above the theater, the line outside was huge and were it not for Twilight being part of the play and a princess, he would of had to wait in line to get in. Swiftly passing through the crowd Twilight led him through the double doors and into the theater.

They walked through the lobby and into the main show room, he stopped for a moment to observe the massive space in which he had walked into. He looked over the hundreds of seats all lined up in front of the stage, glancing over he saw that the maximum occupancy sign said that this place could seat ten thousand ponies.

Giving a whistle at the number of ponies it could contain he shook his head and turned around. Seeing that he had lagged behind he picked up the pace to catch up with Twilight. Coming in alongside her they walked alongside the back wall of the theater and before long they came across a door that led into the wall.

Opening the metal door she ushered him through, she stepped in after him and closed the door behind them, then once again took the lead. They went through a hallway that had multiple doors along it, presumably for the staff that worked there. At the end of the hallway was a set of stairs that went upwards, Twilight walked up first and he followed.

When they reached the top of the stairs he found himself before a set of curtains, Twilight pushed them open to reveal a small balcony that looked over the whole of the theater. Sitting before them were Celestia and Luna.

The wooden chairs they sat on faced the stage, the two monarchs turned to looked over their shoulders at him. Upon seeing Sam Celestia's face grew a happy smile and Luna gave a polite, if not strained, smile.

"Hello Sam, it's good to see you again," Celestia gestured to the chair next to hers,"Please, have a seat."

Nodding he walked forward and pulled the seat back, sitting down he scooted himself forward so that he was next to the white alicorn,"So, hows life been to you?"

She shrugged,"Challenging enough," She paused and looked back over her shoulder,"Twilight, you can sit if you'd like, we won't chase you away."

Twilight shook her head,"No I should get backstage, I'm not even dressed for my part yet."

Luna spoke up,"That is no trouble Twilight, just make sure you greet us after the play."

Celestia nodded,"Yes Luna is right, make sure to talk with us after the play, we can even go get some donuts after this."

"That sounds good," She nodded,"I think you'll enjoy this little Equestrian tradition Sam." She smiled at him before stepping back from the doorway and letting the curtain drop back down.

As Twilight disappeared Celestia turned her attention back to Sam and smiled,"I'm glad you were able to come Sam."

"And I'm glad you invited me," He smiled,"I've also got to thank you for letting me sit up here."

"Oh, that's no problem," She smiled,"You're my best friend and a hero to my little ponies, the least I could do is let you sit with Luna and I."

"Yeah, so when does everything start?"

"In half an hour the doors should open and ponies will start seating themselves, once that's done it should start."

"Alright, that sounds good."

She smiled and cocked her head,"So, Sam how has work on the farm been?"

"Oh it's been fine, there's just one annoying thing..."

~

Magnus looked down at the stone floor beneath him, the crackling of torch fire filled the stone corridor that surrounded him. He stood outside the wooden door to his father's room, his feathered cheeks were moist with tears. Crying was considered weak by most griffons, but it was acceptable if say a family member was to die and that was exactly what was happening.

Magnus loved his father, Carolus, more than anything else on the planet, after all his father had taught him everything he knew. When Magnus was young Carolus had taught him how to fight, not only with a sword but with his mind as well. His father had made a point to teach him how to write and read. At first he had hated the reading and writing, but as he grew he came to understand it's value, he even planned to institute schools that normal citizens could go to into griffon society once he was king.

His father also stressed the importance of keeping up with the activities of other countries, after all you could tell what a country's intentions were by they're actions and thus prepare yourself if an invasion was imminent. For example if he was to notice a country that was already at odds with the griffon kingdom preparing for war, then he could either take a preemptive strike against them or conduct negotiations.

One of the most important things Magnus had been taught was battle strategy, the way he had been taught was a long and arduous process. Carolus would throw random battle situations at him and force Magnus to come up with counter maneuver. Eventually, when Magnus grew older, the situations became actual mock battles between his father and himself, rather than simple figures on paper.

The most important thing Carolus had taught him though, was to never remove the Old Guard from the island of Griffonstone. The Old Guard was the nickname given to the oldest unit in the griffon military, they were the army that the first griffon king led into the island and since then they have remained on it.

During wartime and peacetime they stay on the island, their role is to protect their homeland no matter the cost. They are especially useful when the country is at war, for when in a war the rest of the griffon military is generally off fighting in foreign lands and that leaves only the Old Guard on the island.

There are multiple instances throughout history were an enemy of the kingdom has tried to invade Griffonstone when the main griffon force is away. All of the invasions were stopped by the Old Guard, with each new invasion the armies had grown bigger, yet the Old Guard always won.

Eventually their enemies stopped trying and since then the Old Guard has only grown, in fact it's considered the largest and most formidable army in the griffon military. It numbered thirty thousand strong, all of which were veterans of the last yak war. They also had the most well made weapons and armor in the military, plus they were very well supplied with everything they needed.

Magnus' father made him memorize the history the entire history of the Old Guard and all of the reasons why they were so important. Needless to say they would never be removed from the island.

There was only one flaw he saw in his father, his tolerance towards the Equestrians. Since they had become involved with the griffons politics they had slowly tried to integrate their drastically different ideals of peace and friendship into griffon society. Almost like a slow cultural genocide.

After a while of not making any advances in their cultural war the ponies grew frustrated and in spite, tried to get the griffons to give back the land they had conquered from the dragons in ancient times as well as the land they conquered from the yaks. Even though both of the wars that led to their acquisition of that land hadn't even been started by the griffons!

His father had stood firm and never let himself be put into a position were he would have been forced to give it back and yet he remained on friendly terms with princess Celestia, but that wasn't what upset Magnus. It was the fact that no matter how much his people requested it, he never went to war with Equestria. They had the griffonpower and what with the recent unicorn noble families that came over, they had protection from magic.

About twenty different noble unicorn families from Equestria had come to Griffonstone, each one angered with the princesss. Some were upset with the fact that the princesses treated the ponies they considered to be "peasants" as well as she treated the nobles. Others simply wanted to overthrow them and fight over who got the throne.

All of them had been pushing for the war for a long time, assuring the griffons that they could a spell that would shield their soldiers from spells and such. Of course they couldn't protect the soldiers from magically thrown objects or say the area around them being magically altered, but they could keep harmful spells from killing the griffons.

Even with all the unicorn support, the support of his citizens and military and their numerical superiority his father still wouldn't declare war on Equestria. That was the only thing Magnus saw wrong though, other than that he was one of the greatest kings the country had ever had.

He was a tall griffon, skinny but strong and he stood at six four. He was seventy one years old as of now and had ruled them for about forty six years.

He had led them through the yak wars, back before the yaks gave into the ponies and changed their "ideals", that was thirty years ago now. The yaks had raided sea side villages a couple times, he managed to defeat them and then worked out a peace treaty.

As soon as he was back across the island they broke the treaty and raided again. This happened twelve times, there was twelve peace treaties, twelve chances that his father had given the foolish yaks before finally he had enough.

When they broke the twelfth treaty he went down to the coast like he did the past twelve times and once again successfully defended their country. What the yaks didn't expect was that instead of creating another treaty he launched a devastating counter offensive that cost the yaks all the islands they had in the Celestial sea.

He almost wiped out the entire yakkish navy before they surrendered the islands to him and once on those islands the only yaks he spared were the children. He killed all the adults, then sent the children back to their homelands. It sent a clear message to the yaks and they never again showed any aggression towards the Griffon Kingdom.

That was only one of his deeds, another example of his great leadership was when he built the first college in Griffonstone and spread the idea of education for everyone. Education was the only pony ideal that Magnus liked, after all education had proved to be a practical and useful thing that helped many of the griffon citizens.

That was only two of his deeds, he did much more than that though, like reworking the corrupt griffon church, getting the griffons recognized as more than barbarians in the eyes of many different countries and opening up trade routes that ran across the world. Needless to say his people loved him. He was a great king and he would be remembered for his great deeds.

Carolus at his old age, was sick with pleurisy and there was no known treatment for it, Magnus currently waited outside the room his father was in as a doctor looked over the dying king.

He stood there silently looking down at the stone floor and softly sobbing to himself, he had an odd mix of emotions. Anger that such a strong griffon could be destroyed by a simple sickness, depression at the thought of his father's impending fate and confusion as to why it was happening.

He wiped at his cheek and drew in a deep breath. The door to his father's room opened and he looked to see the doctor standing in the doorway, a pained expression on his face.

"Prince... your father is... he won't make it through the night, in fact I'd be surprised if he made it through the next two hours." He swallowed thickly and looked down, he tried to speak again but choked up. Shaking his head to clear his mind the doctor looked back up with watery eyes,"He wants to talk to you, now if you'll excuse me I... need a moment."

Magnus watched the doctor sniffle and walk off silently, he turned to the open door and stepped forward. He paused a moment before walking in, he took a couple deep breaths and with his claw wiped the tears off his feathery cheeks. He made sure the tears had stopped falling and with one last breath walked into the room.

It was dimly lit, the only source of light was a torch at the end of the room. It smelled stale, like bread that not even a griffons beak could break. Before him, on the bed, lay his father.

He uneasily resting beneath a thick dark brown fur blanket, walking forward the prince sat down on the bed next to his father. The kings eyes opened and looked to his son, the dark grey feathers around his beak moved as the king smiled weakly,"Magnus, son, I'm glad you're here."

Magnus gave a weak smile back and nodded,"I'm glad to be here to father."

Carolus' head came up as he coughed violently, when he stopped his head lowered back to the pillow,"Son, you know that you will become the king in the next couple of hours, right?"

"Y-Yes," Magnus' eyes stung as he held back the tears,"I know that I will become king, I don't want to though."

The king gave a raspy laugh that ended with a cough,"Of course you want to be king, you just don't want to become the king through my death." He shook his head,"It doesn't matter what you want though, i will die and you will be king. That is what I must ask you to hold your anger towards the ponies back."

"W-What?"

"I-" He went into another coughing fit, Magnus reached out and took ahold of his fathers hand as the fit slowed down,"I know you hat them for what they tried to do, please, I beg of you not to start a war with them. Fighting with Equestria will only result in catastrophe."

"But- But, what they tried to do to you!" His voice rose and tears began to fall down his face again,"What they did to us!"

He gripped his sons hand tightly,"I know, trust me I know son, but they believe they are doing good and in their society they are." He took a deep and scraggly breath,"Just so long as you continue to remain civil with them and deny all of their advances them you will win. Trust me."

Magnus looked into his fathers eyes with his tear filled eyes,"B-But..."

"Son," Carolus let out a strained grunt and brought his other arm over, placing his hand on his sons shoulder he smiled,"I am glad that you are my successor, I couldn't be more proud of you. I love you Magnus, you are the best son a king could ask for." He smiled for a moment before losing his strength.

Magnus watched his father's arm slip off his shoulder and fall back to the bed. The king's eyes closed and his other hand lost its tight grip, were it not for his breathing Magnus would have thought him dead.

Magnus remained at his fathers side over the next couple of hours, he held onto his father's cold limp hand the whole time. Just as the torch in the corner burned out, the kings breathing hitched and became labored.

Magnus reached over and placed a hand on his father's shoulder. The king opened his eyes and gave one last smile, then with a hitched breath his chest stopped moving and his eyes glossed over.

He shook Carolus' shoulder and began to cry harder than before,"F-Father?"

Magnus sat there for a moment taking in what had just happened. It was another ten minutes before he was able to gather himself together, with one last sniffle and a pat on his father's shoulder he shakily stood up,"Goodbye dad."

"He's dead?" Magnus turned around and blinked a few times at the bright light his eye met. When his pupils adjusted he saw a guard in the doorway, he held a torch and his face was one of concern.

"I... yes he is."

The guard opened his mouth to speak then looked away,"He was a great king."

Magnus nodded somberly,"And a great father."

"So, you are the king now."

"I... yes, it would seem so."

The guard smiled weakly,"Congratulations your majesty, you need not worry about your father here, we will take care of his body and the funeral preparations."

He rubbed his eyes free of tears and smiled,"Thank you."

"It is my honor to help with the with the burial of him your majesty," He stepped into the room and his smile disappeared,"I wish to ask you one thing before you are officially coronated."

Magnus looked into the guards steely eyes and raised an eyebrow,"What is that?"

"Will you... go to war with Equestria?" The silver feathered guard's posture became rigid.

Magnus looked down and twisted his mouth,"Do you want me to?"

The guard nodded in confirmation,"Yes, I and the rest of the country wants you to sir."

Shaking his head at what might be a terrible decision he sighed,"Alright then, once I'm ready, I will."

Author's Notes:

So what's you're opinion of the griffons? They aren't necessarily bad.