---

Gwendolyn walked quickly down the stairs to her hidden room of magical artifacts, a feeling of foreboding rising up inside her. She'd left the house of the Chancellor about an hour after she’d arrived and headed back to the Keep. She was not a particularly physically strong griffon by any means. Her gifts were in her sphinx blood and the gift of magic that griffons hardly ever had during history. She and the other members of the council, upon hearing about the collapse of the branch onto the Ponytown District, had been trying their best to direct relief efforts towards the section. The two younger members of the Council, Ginna and Gael, had gone out to personally assist in relief efforts when they both learned of the Chancellor’s own decision to help. The others, being old, couldn’t help physically, but they had been trying to find others around the city who could help.

Gwendolyn’s normal golden plumage was frazzled and her wings were in desperate need of a preening. She could feel the itch of some of her feathers that needed to fall out, but she’d been too busy for the past six hours to even tend to her most basic needs. She’d been listening to reports that had come back from the griffons they’d sent out to help.

It was not pretty, because the first casualty counts had come in only a few hours after she’d returned to the Keep. And with the casualty count came the death counts, which hadn’t come in until thirty minutes ago. So far, at least ten creatures had been killed in the district. Seven ponies, including two foals, and three dragons. The list of injured had just reached over seventy, with nearly half of those in critical condition. And the nor’wester was making things worse, since both numbers were presumably only going to get worse as the storm persisted. In all her life she’d never seen a storm this bad, meaning that it would most likely continue for days.

But that wasn’t the reason for her present unease. Something had happened, something that had made her light brown fur stand on end and had sent an all-too familiar shiver to go down her back. Some powerful magic had been cast, but the type of magic was dark and foreboding. Something that terrified her to her core.

She reached her mage’s room in record time, closing and locking the door behind her despite her hurry. She placed her lantern down next to the Eye of Orisis and placed her claw on the orb. The opaque sphere began to darken and the interior began to swirl with its internal magic. The orb brightened and a scene appeared above her claw. She saw nothing but blowing snow all around her. She zoomed down closer to the ground. Finally, she caught a glimpse of a familiar bipedal form near a damaged house. He was surrounded by a variety of creatures. She knew the one known as Gracie as being a part of Gregory’s inner circle of friends despite him being nearly thirty and her eighteen. There was a griffon guard holding a pair of knives in her claws. Nearby was a pony she knew as Rarity, the ponies Element of Generosity. She only knew her name because of how she’d seen said pony literally kicking the human known as Jason Wright out of her store in the past.

The events she was seeing had happened seven or so minutes ago. They were in a hole and looking out west in the direction of a few other houses. There was tension in their faces. Despite the sound of blowing snow, Gwendolyn heard Gracie as she spoke. “I don’t sense anything. Do humans have some kind of sixth sense I don’t know about?”

Gregory removed the cap on his head. “When your distant ancestors were chased by creatures that could tear you apart with ease, you tend to be able to detect these things. Now hush, I’m trying to listen.”

Gwendolyn’s nervousness only increased as time passed. She saw the frown on Gregory’s face deepen with each passing minute. Finally, the griffoness guard spoke up and started to say something when a sudden blast of red magic struck the guard, sending her sprawling. Gregory turned in alarm and shouted out the guard’s name, which Gwendolyn learned in that moment was Ginger.

As Gregory rushed towards Ginger, another blast of orange magic came and nearly struck the young Gracie. While Gracie continued to dodge magical attacks from two different assailants, Gregory was attempting to pull Ginger back to the hole. The pony Rarity had retreated to the hole.

“Look out, Gracie!” Gregory shouted as a third blast of magic, this one dark green, flew towards Gracie.

Then Gwendolyn’s eyes widened as she saw Gracie hold out her claw which began to glow a moderate cyan. She created a magical shield. Before Gwendolyn could comprehend this impossibility, a yellow-green fire spread around Gracie in a circle. It shot up to reveal an insectoid equine with dark crimson insect wings, black chitin and cyan eyes. In a different but still a young female voice, the strange creature, which Gwendolyn recognized as a changeling, shouted, “You need to get out of here, now! Take Ginger and the pony and get out, now! I’m right behind you!”

Gregory didn’t hesitate despite the look of recognition in his eyes. He turned back to Rarity and shouted at her that they needed to go. However, the warning came too late as the shield that the changeling had raised to protect the Chancellor was shattered. The young changeling was thrown aside, landing into a snowdrift where more snow collapsed on top of her.

Another blast of magic sent Gregory, who was still carrying Ginger, sprawling. He lost his grip on the guard who fell forward limply, landing in the snow. He stood and reached down to the weapon that the Dragon Lord had given him when a sharp male voice called out from the direction of the red magic, “Stop where you are, human! Put your claws above your head, now!”

Gwendolyn moved the scene to focus on the source of the first voice. She saw a unicorn stallion standing in the snow a few feet away from the Chancellor. He was bundled up to protect him from the snow, but his features were unmistakable. He was a crimson furred pony with a black mane and tail and red eyes which seemed to glisten with hatred. Hatred directed at Gregory. However, there was something around his neck that gave her pause. She froze the image on the screen and scrutinized the red teardrop gem wrapped around his neck. It was fairly simple, but there was something familiar about it.

Releasing the Eye, ending the vision for the moment, she grabbed her lantern and rushed over to her bookshelf. She cleared her desk and began opening book after book, flipping quickly through volume after volume as she searched for an image she had seen years ago during her first time perusing these volumes.

Finally, she found it. The more she read, the more her heartrate increased. Created by the sphinx at the height of the Old Kingdom of Egrypt, the Hades Teardrops were once known as the Hat-ib Iret, or the Eyes of Sadness. They were created as a means of transporting those judged to be the most evil of citizens to Duat, known in modern day as Tartarus. Egryptian sphinx mages were the only ones capable of wielding these gems. Each gem bearer would live in separate cities to prevent them from banishing citizens without cause. Only the Pharaoh could elevate the punishment of criminals to banishment. In all of Egryptian history, the gems had only ever been used a total number of six times.

However, when the Old Kingdom fell due to decades of famine and strife among the nation, the gems were somehow lost. Many theories abound, but the most prevalent one was that the Pharaoh at the time, Gebnef, had the gem bearers removed from Egrypt and sent overseas to a jungle land known as the Tenochtitlan Basin. Most believed this theory as the gems had never been found in their Egryptian resting place. There had been many detailed drawings of the gems, however, which included the image she was looking at.

Bringing the book back to the Eye of Osiris, she placed her claw back on the gem. The scene slowly reformed and she looked back and forth between the drawing and the gem around the pony’s neck. There wasn’t much doubt that this was the same gem.

Swallowing her nervousness, she took a few breaths to calm herself before resuming the scene. She watched as Gregory raised his hand slowly. “What do you want from me?”

Gwendolyn looked at the other two ponies who were approaching. Both had identical gemstones around their neck. The yellow unicorn had a similar look in her eyes as the stallion, but the dark blue pony looked almost resigned. Each of the Teardrops were glowing an ominous red. The stallion pointed a hoof at Gregory. “We’ve been investigating you on orders from our client and we’ve come to the conclusion that you are a threat.”

Gwendolyn saw a brief glimpse of fear pass over Gregory’s eyes. Still, he kept calm as he asked, “A threat? What kind of threat? Tell me what I’ve done, please.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the stallion replied as he gave a nod to the others, who began to move into a triangle pattern around him. Gwendolyn felt sick as she watched the events that had only recently transpired. “What matters is you’re a threat to Equestria.”

“I’ve never even been to Equestria,” Gregory replied. Gwendolyn’s fear began slowly turning to anger as Gregory’s calm voice continued. “I have no intentions of harming your nation. I’m too busy rebuilding my own.”

“And then when you do, no doubt you plan on invading with your fellow human, that so-called Emperor Jason Wright of the changelings?” the stallion said in a hate filled voice. He pointed towards the changeling. “You’ve already gotten into contact with him already.”

“I didn’t even know she was a changeling until just now,” Gregory denied. “I’ve never spoken to or even met Jason Wright.”

“But you’ve heard of him, haven’t you?” the yellow mare asked.

“Guys, I think we should stop,” the blue mare said hesitantly. “We don’t know for sure that he’s a threat-”

“Just shut up,” the yellow mare said angrily, “the human is a threat! They all are!”

Gwendolyn couldn’t watch more of this, but she knew better than to move forward without looking at all of the details. She watched as the ponies cast some sort of spell on the gems which created a barrier in the shape of a tetrahedron. He began to float and she could see the fear in his eyes. He once looked at the pony Rarity, who opened one eye briefly before closing it. Her anger only increased at that, but she forced herself to calm down. Acting out of anger would not be the logical thing for her to do.

Just then, a shadow began passing over the scene and a roar could be heard above the sound of snow and magic being cast. She readjusted the view only to see the Chancellor’s drake flying towards the scene with a small dragon sitting in the saddle. A dragon she recognized as Spike, a The dragon was warmly dressed, but there was anger in his eyes as the ponies panicked. The crimson stallion told his two companions to cast the spell, the dragon on the drake’s back demanded that the three get away from Gregory with quite a mouth for a dragon his age.

Gwendolyn had to slow down the events so she could understand just what it was she was seeing. The drake’s purple eyes were glowing as she collided with the shield around the floating Gregory. Rarity, who had dropped all pretense of unconsciousness, was leaping towards the drake. The dark blue unicorn was trying her best to intercept Rarity. The moment that the drake struck the shield, it shattered, slowly at first, but then more quickly as a whirlpool of bright red energy formed beneath Gregory’s feet. Gregory, Rarity, the drake, Spike, and the dark blue pony were all simultaneously sucked into the vortex of light, which brightened considerably. A bright blast of magic sent the two remaining ponies sprawling across the road.

Time sped up as she watched the two ponies, both sprawled on the ground in undignified heaps. Minutes seemed to pass before the two began to stir, only to be caught in a golden glow. The glow of the magic that belonged to Princess Celestia. She watched as the Princess, who had a look of horror plastered on her face, cast some kind of spell on the two ponies. Gwendolyn felt a stab of fear as the pony Princess’ magenta eyes swiftly change color to a bright red. Her irises morphed and became slitted like those of dragons. When she spoke, the voice sent shivers down Gwendolyn’s spine. “Dusky Heart, what have you done?!”

Despite this transformation, the stallion, Dusky Heart, sneered at Celestia. “What have I done? Simply what needed to be done, Princess. I disposed of that human! You know where I sent him! I sent him to the one place where he can’t deceive the griffons, dragons and ponies here!”

Princess Celestia’s flowing mane erupted into flames and as the Princess barred her teeth in fury, Gwendolyn saw that her normal flat teeth were sharp. Her horn brightened and the two ponies in her grasp quickly went limp. Then, looking completely exhausted, her brief changes were undone and she collapsed, letting the two ponies fall to the ground. A look of utter despair passed over her face as she looked around. Lifting her horn, it glowed and the magic surrounded the two remaining Hades Teardrops. She floated them over to her and placed them around her neck. Then, she seemed to notice the fallen griffon guard and the changeling. Gwendolyn saw her react with alarm to both of them. Lifting them out of the snow, she pulled them close and cast another spell on them.

The changeling youngling was the first to wake up. When she saw the Princess, her eyes widened and she squirmed in the Princess’ magic. “Let me go, you pony monster! Let me out of here!”

“Please be still, miss,” Celestia replied diplomatically. “Your wing is injured.”

Gwendolyn turned the scene around and saw that the changeling’s left wing had a tear in it. The changeling glared at Celestia, but did stop squirming as she was put down.

The griffoness guard was the next to wake up. She looked around, spotted the young changeling, and her eyes widened in alarm. “Grover’s Plumage! A changeling?!”

“Yeah, what about it?” the changeling snapped back.

“There are more important things at stake than you know,” Celestia replied gravely. Turning to the griffon guard, she said, “Can you get a message to the Griffonian Imperial Council? I must inform them of something.”

“I can, but what’s going on?” the griffoness asked as she was released from Celestia’s magical grip.

“The ponies deceived you!” the changeling said, pointing an accusatory hoof at Celestia. “While she has preached peace and friendship to the Empire, she has sent three spies to abduct the Chancellor! And they succeeded!”

“This attack on the Chancellor was done without official clearance from the Kingdom of Equestria,” Celestia replied as the griffon turned her eyes to face the alicorn with an accusatory glance. “However, I am willing to take full responsibility for this action. But first things first.” She raised her horn and lifted the Hades Teardrop gems off from around her neck and floated them over to the guard. “These gemstones are harmless in your claws, but treat them carefully. In the wrong hooves they are dangerous. There is a third one that I can’t detect with my magic. The pony responsible must be found immediately. In the meantime, I must request an emergency audience with the Imperial Council. Me and Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Gwendolyn removed her claw from the Eye and the vision blinked out, leaving the only source of light in the room coming from the lantern. She knew that the two older griffons wouldn’t believe the words of the Equestrian Princess. As much as she disliked the Kingdom of Equestria for their increasingly blatant and systematic xenophobia and speciesism, she knew that Gregory wouldn’t want war. He had a strange fascination with Equestria even after all he’d learned.

She looked down at the Eye, debating her next actions regarding the incoming meeting between Equestria’s Princess and the Council. Slowly, she reached her claw out to the Eye. There was more she needed to look at…

---

---

As Twilight cast the shield spell in front of her, she looked at the unicorn mare next to her who was doing the same thing. The purple alicorn was thoroughly impressed by Starlight Glimmer’s talent for magic. Had this been Equestria, she might have surpassed even her, but even here she was keeping up as she was flown above the snow by Gilda. Flying behind them, Gabriella and Gallus weren’t smiling.

The message that the griffons and unicorn had been simple: “Your presence is required at the Keep immediately.” A message that was similar to the one Princess Celestia had told her: “Come to the Griffonstone Keep at once.” Twilight had told Rainbow Dash, the only one of the Elements that she had seen, to pass on the message to the others when she saw them. When Dash had asked what had happened, Twilight had no answer for her.

Twilight flew a bit closer to the group she had run into earlier. “May I help?” she asked. Starlight gave her a small glare, one that Twilight had seen on the faces of many of the Ponyvillians back home. However, a few moments later she looked like she relented and nodded. Twilight raised her horn and spread her shield to better protect the griffons and unicorn. The little bit of snow and wind that was getting through ceased immediately, leaving them in a bubble of calm surrounded by hurricane force winds and flying snow.

“Thank you,” Starlight said.

Twilight looked over at the unicorn. This was the first time she had heard Starlight even speaking to her directly. All she knew about this unicorn was that she had once been a leader of a cult village, one what had cast her out and beaten her severely, although the latter was done by only a small group. What she could infer from the stories she’d been told, however, was that she was an incredibly gifted unicorn, even in a land which had less magic than Equestria. Twilight had no doubt that were Starlight in Equestria she might have even matched the alicorn in terms of magic. “You’re welcome,” was all she said, looking ahead towards the direction of the Keep.

“Turn left at the upcoming intersection,” Twilight heard one of the griffons say tersely.

Turning, she saw that it was Gabriella who had spoken. There was a worried expression on her face mixed with one of anger. And she was looking directly at Twilight. Twilight’s instinct was to run. Prey in the presence of an angry predator would either run or freeze. Thanks to her actions against Jason, she knew what kind she was. The kind who flees. However, reason and logic intervened and she forced herself to calm down. Twilight nodded. “Left at the next intersection, got it,” she replied.

As they took said left and headed up a rather steep road, an uncomfortable silence fell. Now, Twilight might have been an introvert who loved silence to recharge, but that was when she was alone. Silence in a group was incredibly uncomfortable for her and was even more draining than simply talking. But what could she say? She might have once been the Princess of Friendship, but she had long ago lost the right to call herself that.

But then she thought back to her lunch with Gregory the other day. She thought about the brief but memorable conversation with him, how the two had exchanged stories and interests about themselves with each other and how he had given her some very good advice at the end.

As they flew up the hill slowly, she decided to try and initiate a conversation. Turning to Starlight, she said, “So, I understand that you’re the librarian at the Griffonstone Public Library?”

Starlight looked startled by the inquiry, but without looking away from the road, slowly nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“I used to be a librarian myself back in Po-back in my hometown,” Twilight replied. “I saw the library here. It looks practically identical to my old one, before it was destroyed.”

Starlight turned and raised an eyebrow at her. “Destroyed?”

“Yes,” Twilight replied sadly. “Tirek did that when he tried to drain all the magic from Equestria.”

Starlight’s face darkened. “I remember that bastard,” she snarled. “I almost died because of him.”

Twilight felt her blood run cold, and not because of the air. “I…I’m sorry about that,” she said.

“I almost died because of other ponies,” Starlight continued with venom in her tone, “and I don’t mean the ones who beat me to within an inch of my life back in my old village.” She glared at Twilight. “I mean that I almost died because of the instinct we ponies have of ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ We, as a species, are too afraid and mistrustful of every other creature out there, even ones that are like us. Zebras, for instance.” She took a deep breath and continued, somewhat softer now, “I freely admit that I’m not innocent of this prejudice either. I was afraid of griffons when I fled here. I hid from them because I was so scared they would hurt me in some way, but now that I think about it, I couldn’t really think about anything so specific. My fear was more instinctual. A baser instinct that once served our species when we were caveponies. But now?” Here she turned sternly to Twilight. “Now? It has finally come to rear its ugly head and has destroyed an entire town and showed the world just how xenophobic we really are.”

“Starlight, you’re not xenophobic anymore,” Gabriella said from behind.

Starlight sighed, then turned to Gabriella. “Even I’m still working on it. It helps that I have such amazing friends as you all and Gregory.”

“Ugh, don’t get sappy on us now,” Gilda groaned as she gently pecked at Starlight’s head.

Instead of reacting in fear like Twilight thought Starlight would do, the unicorn just laughed and poked at Gilda’s neck with her still glowing horn. “I need to maintain the shield, Gilda. Behave.”

Twilight smiled at this interspecies comradery. It was something that she hadn’t even really seen in Equestria, and she was jealous of Griffonia. In three months, they had gone from a backwater nation that had apparently been dying to a proud and regrowing Empire. One without an Emperor or Empress, sure, but one nonetheless. And it was all thanks to the simple yet meaningful actions of the second human to have arrived on Equus.

“We’re here,” Gallus, the male griffon, said as he pointed ahead.

Turning, Twilight saw the dark and imposing but still mostly hidden form of the massive silver towers that was the Griffonstone Keep. The rest of the walk was in silence. Soon, they reached the gates, where two warmly dressed guards stood, tall and alert. Upon seeing the newcomers, one of them stepped forward. “Halt! Who goes there?”

“We were summoned by the Imperial Council,” Gabriella said, grabbing the message they had received and giving it to the guard.

Said guard took it, examined it carefully in the light of a nearby lamp. He nodded and hoofed it back to Gabriella. “Enter,” he said as he opened a smaller door that was built into the massive double doors of the keep for such situations as this.

Twilight dropped the magical shield as did Starlight. She was the last one inside the Keep before the doors shut. Instantly, she was greeted with the pleasant sensation of warmth from two massive nearby fireplaces on either side of the room itself. Twilight found herself standing in a massive foyer made of the same silvery stone that the Keep itself was made of. There were two stairs heading up towards a large set of iron double doors which were opened and which led to a large staircase. The room also had a few other smaller doors which were closed, but which presumably either led to side stairs or other rooms.

“This way,” Starlight said as she walked towards one of the two staircases which led to the spiral one. Twilight followed behind them, but didn’t neglect the opportunity to drink in all the details of the room itself. It looked like it had been recently refurbished, especially the mural that was spread across the wall. Starting on one side, it seemed to depict Griffonian history, but nearly three quarters of the way around the circular and domed roof, it stopped, showing a scene where a very well painted version of Gregory was placing a golden object on a large wooden stump, which was surrounded by smiling griffons.

The flight up the massive stairs was long. The stairs would head up, then reach a landing where a door would be, then head up to another landing. Twilight counted six levels before they reached an even larger set of doors. Starlight opened the doors and Twilight saw that they were in a large hallway leading to yet another set of doors, only these were golden with gems inlaid in the patterns on the door. There were lanterns hanging on either side of the corridor and a pair of griffon guards standing on either side of the doors.

Once more, they were challenged, but when the guards were given the letter of summons, they relaxed and opened the door, leading into the Imperial Council chambers. Which Twilight soon realized was in actuality the old throne room for the past Griffonian Emperor.

When she entered, she immediately sensed a palpable tension in the air. There were two older and two younger griffons sitting at the massive tree stump which served as a table for the Council. Princess Celestia was already there, her face grim. Twilight noticed at a glance that there were two deep red teardrop gemstones sitting on the table next to what had to be the Idol of Boreas and two other items, a sash and a crown. And lying on a bench nearby, under guard, lay two unconscious unicorns.

The older looking griffon looked over and his expression hardened a bit. “Good, you’re here. Have a seat,” he said tersely, indicating some of the chairs surrounding the council table. “We’re waiting for one more member of the Council to return and then we can get started.”

“Where’s Gregory?” Gabby asked, looking towards an empty larger seat near the head of the table, or what Twilight guessed was the head.

“Before we get to that, introductions are in order,” the second oldest griffon said. He stood and gestured to himself. “I am Geoffrey, Griffon Ambassador to other nations. This is Grandpa Gruff, one of the city’s oldest and most respected elders. These two are Ginna and Gael, two of our newest members. There is another member of the council, but she isn’t here at the moment. She should be back shortly, though. I take it everyone here knows our guests from Equestria, Princesses Celestia Solaris and Twilight Sparkle. And of course, we all know the Chancellor’s closest friends and henfriend.”

“Yes, yes, we all know each other,” Gilda said impatiently, “but what are we doing here? And where’s the Chancellor?”

“That’s what you were called here for,” Ginna said. She turned and pointed to the two restrained unicorns. “Have any of you seen those two ponies before?”

Twilight turned and looked at the unicorns more closely. Both were unicorns, but she didn’t recognize either of them. Apparently, none of the other newcomers did either. “Who are they?” Starlight asked.

When the council turned to Princess Celestia, she took a deep breath. “Their names are Dusky Heart and Jade Seed. They were once members of a secret organization called the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria, or S.M.I.L.E. It was an organization dedicated to the protection of Equestria from monsters. The organization was shut down ten years ago due to a mixture of budgetary restraints and the loss of a Bug Bear which had escaped from Tartarus. Those two, along with a third pony named Lady Serenity, who is still unaccounted for, were a part of S.M.I.L.E. for the last three years of its life, but before that they were a part of another organization called Section 31. Their job was to guard dangerous artifacts that could threaten Equestria. Section 31 was dismantled at the same time S.M.I.L.E. was and all dangerous artifacts were stored in a secure and hidden vault.” She turned to the two gemstones. “These necklaces here were a part of the artifacts that Section 31 guarded. There should be three of them, but one of them is missing still.”

“Princess, what are they?” Twilight asked, her natural curiosity getting the better of her.

“They’re known as Hades Teardrops,” Celestia replied somberly. “They were discovered in the Tenochtitlan Basin ages ago by pony archaeologists. According to the records of the lost civilization there, when used all at once, they are capable of sending anypony to Tartarus. And it seems these two, along with the third, have used it to send Chancellor Gregory there.”

There was silence for a bit. Then, Twilight heard someone breath in deeply and shakily. She turned and saw hatred in the form of a gray furred and blue eyes griffoness staring daggers at Celestia. “You…banished…my Gregory…to TARTARUS!?”

She wasn’t the only one who had looks of utter rage on their faces. Starlight, Gilda and Gallus all looked like they were about to launch themselves at Celestia. Twilight wasn’t sure what to think. She knew that Princess Celestia wouldn’t do anything like this. But then, who would do that? Who would risk all-out war with an increasingly more powerful Griffonia to get rid of Gregory?

No, that was the wrong question, Twilight realized. Who would want to get rid of a human? She could think of a good number of ponies who would love to see a human gone due to the actions of another, and it terrified her. Most of the answers she came up with were rich nobles. She began to panic. “We didn’t do it!” she exclaimed, “Somepony else must have done it without the crown’s permission! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would never allow that!”

“Your recent actions with closing the borders tell us otherwise,” Gael said with a frown.

“I regret those actions,” Princess Celestia said somberly. “I should never have done it.”

“And yet you freely admit to us that your ponies have taken a direct action against us,” Geoffrey said somberly. “Do you realize what this could mean for our two nations?”

Celestia slowly nodded. “War.”

Twilight’s blood froze at the word. Three letters. Noun. A state of conflict between two or more sovereign nations. And thanks to the actions of somepony back home, Equestria was close to becoming involved in a war. Potentially on two fronts, from the griffons and changelings. And perhaps even the dragons since it appeared that the current Dragon Lord was on very good terms with Chancellor Gregory. She could feel her mane start to frizzle from the stress.

Geoffrey continued with a nod. “Yes, Princess. War. Your nation has attacked our own, unprovoked. Regardless of your own word that it wasn’t an official action, your word is all we have. Still, I know you well enough that war isn’t something that either of our nations really want. There are no innocents in war.”

Twilight’s heart began beating a mile a second. She’d read Bygone Griffons of Greatness back to front at least three times, and their army was described as being one of the best armies in history. Even if that era of griffons was over and Griffonia was less powerful, with the return of the Idol of Boreas, their pride had returned. And with how many saw the Chancellor, there would more than likely be no shortage of soldiers who would work hard for Equestria’s destruction.

As her mind went over the worst case scenarios, Grandpa Gruff leaned forward towards Princess Celestia. “Well, Princess? Can you prove that you didn’t send these assassins after our Chancellor?”

“They aren’t assassins,” the solar Princess said hastily.

“They might as well be,” Gruff snarled. “We all know that life down there is way too harsh for anycreature! He’ll be dead in days thanks to you and those Teardrops!”

Twilight was on the verge of a breakdown. She was starting to hyperventilate, but suddenly a side door opened. “The Hades Teardrops are what Equestrian historians know them as,” a female voice said from the door. Twilight turned to see one of the most beautiful looking griffon females she’d ever seen flying into the room. She was carrying a bundle in her arms which she placed in front of her seat as she sat. “They’re actually ancient Egryptian artifacts known as the Hat-ib Iret, or the Eyes of Sadness. They were created by the sphinxes who lived among the Egryptian griffons as a means of punishing the worst of the worst criminals. When used all at once, the three gems could send a condemned criminal to Tartarus.” She looked around the room. “I can guarantee that Princess Celestia here and the official government of Equestia both are not responsible for the banishment of Gregory and the others caught up in the banishment.”

Gabriella whirled on the griffoness. “You’d better have a fucking good explanation, Gwendolyn!” she snarled.

Twilight saw a brief look of indecision pass over the griffoness’ face. Her eyes briefly glanced towards the bundle in front of her. Then, seeming to make a decision, she looked up at everyone. “I am about to show everyone here something that cannot leave this room. In fact, guards? Take those two ponies away and put them in the dungeons immediately. Treat them well, but keep them under heavy guard and with a magical dampening ring around their horns.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guards replied as they lifted the unconscious ponies and began carrying them away.

Once they were gone, Twilight watched as Gwendolyn began to unravel the bundle. Soon, she revealed an opaque silvery sphere about the size of a buckball. She placed her claw on it, and the sphere darkened. Twilight could sense a strange but powerful magic emanating from the orb itself the moment Gwendolyn touched it. But more importantly, she felt a bit of magic emanating from the griffoness herself at the moment of contact. Then, it projected a three-dimensional scene in the air, frozen. Twilight saw Gregory surrounded by three unicorns, two of which she recognized as the ones who had just been taken away. “What you are all seeing is events that have already passed. This happened nearly a half hour ago. Now please be quiet while I play things back. When it’s finished, I’ll explain everything.”

The scene began. Twilight watched tensely as a clearly terrified Gregory tried to calm the three ponies down while they had him trapped in a tetrahedron shaped shield. She gasped when she saw Spike dive towards the unicorns while flying on the back of the drake, and felt her heartbeat stop when Gregory disappeared along with Spike, the drake, Rarity and the pony named Lady Serenity. Then she felt true fear when she saw her mentor interrogating the one known Dusky Heart while slowly transforming into what she could only assume was her own Nightmare form. After the Princess returned to normal and talked with the guard and the young changeling, the scene ended. She turned to one of the other doors. “Bring her in!” she called out.

The door opened, and the same changeling was led in, flanked on either side by two different griffon guards. Twilight noticed that this changeling didn’t have anything on her horn. This particular changeling locked eyes with Twilight the moment she stepped inside, a look of mistrust in her eyes as she was brought to the table where she took a seat. Gwendolyn looked over at her and continued. “This changeling has been living among us for a long time,” she explained. “She took on the appearance of a young griffoness named Gracie. For the past three months, she has been a silent protector of our Chancellor.”

“So, she has been a spy,” Gilda said with a look of mistrust in her eyes.

The changeling finally spoke. “Yes, I was a spy,” she replied in a very young sounding voice, “but only because our Emperor ordered it. He was worried that other nations might try and attack us, so he sent spies out to keep an eye out just in case. I came here. When Gregory came, I was told to protect him and keep an eye out for…ponies.”

Grandpa Gruff looked more confused than anything. “Ponies? Why would you need to protect him from them?”

“That would be because of how the ponies treated the first human who arrived in Equestria,” Gwendolyn replied. “Everyone here knows the name Emperor Jason Wright, correct?”

Twilight swallowed nervously as the Council members nodded their heads. But it was the reaction of the Chancellor’s friends that confused her. Starlight, Gabriella and Gilda specifically all looked at Twilight and Princess Celestia with a glance that told Twilight all she needed to know. They knew. Gregory had probably told them. “What about him?” Gruff asked.

“He’s a human like our Chancellor,” Gwendolyn said. “He arrived on Gaia five years ago in Equestria.”

“How’d he become the Changeling Emperor?” Geoffrey asked.

“That…is a long story, and one I can show you the beginning of,” Gwendolyn answered. “Let me show you what I have seen. First, let me show you why the Changeling Emperor hates ponies as much as he does.”

With that, she placed her claw on the sphere again. Another scene appeared above the table, showing a young and well dressed human male walking through a small town full of ponies. Twilight immediately recognized it as Ponyville and her ears drooped at the sight of her old hometown. She also recognized the human as Jason. She watched as Jason walked up to the front door of her old library. He had a hopeful smile on his face as he knocked. Finally, the door opened and Twilight saw her old self looking up at Jason. The past version of the human opened his mouth to speak, but the past Twilight held up her hoof. “I've already seen enough of humans,” she said with a frown before slamming the door in Jason’s face.

The scene then shifted. Jason was now walking up the well beaten pathway to Sweet Apple Acres. His hopeful expression was a bit less hopeful than before and more confused than anything. He passed through the gate and looked around. “Hello? Anyone here?” he called out.

From the barn, Applejack poked her head out. Her eyes widened when she saw Jason. Before the human could say anything, Applejack whinnied and charged at Jason. Jason’s expression became completely confused, but before he could react, Applejack had bucked at his chest, sending him flying. Everyone winced at the sound of broken bones. He slammed into the ground, coughing up blood as he looked at Applejack with an expression of hurt and confusion. “What…why?” he asked through painful gasps.

“Git off mah farm, yah freak of nature!” she shouted, “Git goin’, or ah’ll sic Winona on ya!”

“Please, I just want a job-” Jason started, but Applejack wasn’t hearing of it.

“Ah said git!” She walked towards Jason in a threatening manner.

With a terrified look on his face, Jason fled. Once more the scene shifted. He was cradling his broken rips, coughing up blood and trudging along. Any pony he tried to ask for help gave him a wide berth. Finally he reached a familiar looking treehouse. He walked up and knocked on the door. “Fluttershy, are you in there? I need help…please…”

“Oh my, you need help? I’m coming,” said the kindly sounding voice of the pegasus. Jason looked relieved to hear that, but the moment that the door opened and Fluttershy got a first look at the human, her eyes went wide and she completely passed out.

Upon seeing their caretaker’s reaction to Jason, the animals in the house behind her all turned and glared at Jason, who backed away slowly. “I didn’t mean to scare her that bad,” he said in a disarming voice, “I just wanted help. Please!”

A familiar small bunny launched himself at Jason, biting at his face with a ferocity Twilight hadn’t known was possible. Jason yelped and dislodged the bunny, running away and heading towards Ponyville. The scene shifted once more. Jason was now heading towards Rarity’s boutique, the ponies in town still giving him a wide berth. Slowly, painfully, he reached the door and walked inside. There wasn’t anypony there, so Jason called out in a hoarse voice as he clutched his chest, “Hello? Is anyone here?”

“Coming, darling!” Rarity’s voice called from a different room. She opened the door, eyes closed and a smile on her face as she said, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifi-” and that was when she stopped. She opened her eyes and took in Jason’s appearance. Her eyes continued to widen in alarm.

Jason, misinterpreting this as a good sign, spoke. “Can you please help me? I need a job.”

“Get out of my boutique,” Rarity growled, ears flattened and her previous friendly attitude gone.

Looking stunned by this, Jason raised his hands. “Please, all I want is a job! You can put me to work where nobody will see me, but I just need some bits to survive!”

“You think I would employ a filthy disgusting creature like you!?” Rarity shouted as she used her magic to pick up a nearby pair of scissors. She aimed them threateningly at Jason. “I said to get out! I will not have such a boorish, lanky creature in my shop and around my Sweetie Belle!”

“Please, Rarity, I just need some work!” Jason was on his knees pleading now.

“I said to get out!” she shouted, bringing the scissors closer to Jason.

Seeming to realize it was a futile effort, Jason quickly got to his feet and fled the boutique. The scene shifted once again, and this time a tired Jason was looking around Ponyville. Every so often he brought a hand to his lips and was calling out Pinkie’s name. There was a look of pain and despair in his voice. The scene rotated to show said pink pony. She was watching Jason with wide eyed fear. Her tail was twitching, something Twilight recognized as her Pinkie Sense.

Just then, a small cloud began passing over Jason. For a brief instant, Twilight almost called out to the Jason hovering above the table to duck since she saw a brief glimpse of a rainbow tail twitching. A bolt of lightning reached out and struck mere inches away from Jason, who screamed in terror as he was flung off of his feet, landing on his back a few feet away. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash grinning down at him. “Hah! Gotcha, you freak!”

Jason had a look on his face like he had been betrayed. “Why…?” he asked.

Rainbow’s grin darkened. “Next time, I won’t miss,” she said with glee.

Jason immediately turned and got on his feet as fast as he could. Another bolt of lightning hit the ground, followed by a laugh. A piece of garbage flew after the fleeing Jason as he ran into the Everfree Forest.

As the scene faded, Twilight felt sick to her stomach. All she wanted to do was hide. Gwendolyn released the orb and it returned to its neutral state. “Jason Wright, Emperor of the changelings, endured three years of that treatment from ponies. And worse. He tried to end his life after those three years, but the rope broke and he was found by the ruler of the changelings at the time, Queen Chrysalis. Long story short, he grew in the ranks and overthrew the Queen. She became the duchess instead and Jason became the Emperor. Two years after his suicide attempt, Jason invaded and conquered Canterlot and destroyed the small town you just saw. The town called Ponyville.”

There was silence at the table again. Twilight looked around the room, only to see various looks of shock from the council members. However, when she looked at Gregory’s friends, they were looking disgusted. Starlight was the first to say anything. “When Gregory told us what you did, I guess a part of me wanted not to believe that all ponies were like the ones who beat me…but seeing that? No wonder Gracie hated ponies.” She turned to the changeling. “Was that why, Gracie?”

The changeling named Gracie slowly nodded. “Emperor Wright told us horror stories about the way the ponies treated him,” she said. “We might have invaded Equestria during the royal wedding, but we never intended that kind of harm towards anypony else. We were desperate. Our kind are dying from starvation. Equestria was like an oasis in the desert for us.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Geoffrey said sternly. Turning to Princess Celestia and Twilight, he gave them a glare. “Based off of this new evidence, I can now fully believe that officially, your government isn’t responsible. Still, the fact remains that ponies are responsible. If word of this gets out, the ponies who are living here will begin receiving harsh treatment.”

“Gregory wouldn’t want that,” Gabriella said, “and you know it.”

“She’s right,” Gwendolyn said. “He’s the one who advocated for equality among creatures. Well, him and Miss Glimmer here,” she amended, gesturing politely to Starlight.

Starlight nodded. “I’ve spoken to a lot of the ponies in town. They just want a quiet life away from monsters and enemy attacks. None of the ones I spoke to would want to stir the pot.”

“I was told that somepony here is a spy,” Princess Celestia said.

That brought the mood down. Ginna stood and slammed her fist on the table. “Is it not enough that you shut down your borders, but now you have to spy on us?!”

“Ginna, stop!” Gael said, putting a claw on Ginna’s shoulder.

“Did your source say anything about who the spy could be?” Geoffrey asked.

“No, only that they’re in Griffonstone,” Princess Celestia said with a sigh.

“It could be anypony,” Twilight said with a trembling voice.

“And if this gets out, griffons and dragons will definitely start to mistreat the ponies,” Gwendolyn said.

“We can’t hide the fact that the Chancellor is gone,” Geoffrey said, “but it might be a good idea to hide the fact that there’s a spy from Equestria in our midst. It would make the spy think his cover is still secure.” He turned to the changeling. “And what better way to catch a spy than with another spy?”

The changeling looked startled. “What? Are you serious?”

“It’s either that or we place you under arrest for attempted espionage,” Gwendolyn said. “Your intentions aside, you’re not a griffon named Gracie. You’re a changeling. You’ve broken a lot of laws here and we’re well within our rights to arrest you. But I also saw how Gregory looked at you. There was no hatred there. He looked worried even for you. He might have come from a vastly different place than here, but he was told about you changelings and your abilities. And I’ve seen how he interacts with you. He sees you as a friend.”

“She’s right,” Gabriella said. “Trust me, I know he wouldn’t want you in the dungeons if he could help it. He wants everycreature to live as equals, and I know that would include changelings.”

“Bleeding heart, if you ask me,” Gilda said, “but yeah. Gabby’s right.”

The changeling looked lost in thought. She looked around at the faces all turned her way. Suddenly looking a bit self-conscious, she transformed quickly into a bright yellow earth pony with large front buck teeth, blue eyes, a straight aquamarine mane and tail, bright blue freckles on her cheeks and a cutie mark that resembled a ladybug. Next, she transformed into a skinny beige dragoness with dark orange hair, gray horns, a bright cream colored underbelly and orange eyes. Finally, she changed back into the form everyone was familiar with: that of Gracie. “I might have been sent here to keep watch over Griffonstone, but I was given the duty of watching over Gregory. I failed in that, so I’ll start looking for this spy.”

“I need to contact my sister and have her double her search efforts for those who sent these former agents,” Princess Celestia said.

“We have their two minions here, though,” Gilda said, smacking a fist into her other claw and cracking her knuckles, her expression dark. “Why don’t we beat it out of them?”

“We don’t torture our prisoners,” Gwendolyn said. “But I might be able to get that information without having to ask.” She patted the crystal on the table.

Twilight looked at it, then back at the griffoness. “If that sphere can look into the past, can you find out where Chancellor Gregory is in Tartarus?”

Gwendolyn nodded. “I can certainly try.” Once more, she placed her claw on the crystal. The scene that appeared was one that made Twilight’s chest tighten. There were five figures standing in a barren landscape. Twilight recognized four of them and her heart stopped when it was confirmed that Spike and Rarity had been sent there as well. She had seen the scene earlier, but had hoped they weren’t there despite the evidence.

At the moment the scene formed, Gregory was on one knee, his hand on Spike’s shoulder. There was a look of understanding in his eyes and pity. The two were looking at each other. “That should never have happened to you.”

Spike nodded as a sad smile formed on his face. “A lot shouldn’t have happened to me.”

“If you want to talk about it, you can talk to me,” Gregory replied with a small smile.

Spike took a deep breath. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Gregory stood and looked thoughtful. “There’s got to be another way-wait, I have it!” He looked up at the sky, and Twilight’s eyes widened in alarm. It looked like he was looking directly at her. Gregory opened his mouth and shouted, “Gwendolyn! If you can hear this message, listen to me! Call a meeting of the Imperial Council as soon as you see this! Tell them that I am locked in Tartarus with the Element of Generosity Rarity, a unicorn named Lady Serenity, Spike the Dragon and Daenerys! Tell the council-”

Suddenly, the image went dark. It didn’t fade out like before. Instead it just went dark. Gwendolyn looked at the crystal, then back up at the display. She focused on it, but the image remained black. Finally, she removed her claw and the sphere returned to normal. She waited a bit then put her claw back on it. The same scene played back, but just before the message to the council could be relayed, the same thing happened. The message went dark. As Gwendolyn removed her claw once more and wrapped the sphere back up, Gabriella, who looked simultaneously relieved and worried, asked fearfully, “What does that mean?”

“I can’t see anything else other than what we just saw,” Gwendolyn said. She stood and grabbed the bundle. “I need to go and find out who did this to him.”

“What do you think he was trying to tell us?” Gael asked.

“I don’t know,” Gwendolyn said, “but I know he wasn’t about to call for war. That’s the last thing on his or anyone’s mind. Please excuse me.”

As the griffoness left, the rest of the council looked at each other, then at the others. Finally Geoffrey cleared his throat. “Hmmph, this has been a most…unusual meeting.”

“Ginna, we should get back out and continue helping down at the Ponytown District,” Gael said, spreading his wings.

As the two younger griffons left, Celestia looked at the rest of the council. “The two of us were helping in the relief effort too. Can we go back?”

Grandpa Gruff frowned but nodded. “We could use all the help we can get.”

Twilight followed Princess Celestia out. Once the door was closed behind them, Twilight looked up at her old mentor. “Are…are we in trouble?”

“I don’t know, Twilight,” Princess Celestia replied with a bitter edge to her voice, “but I do know this. When I discover who’s responsible for this, heads will roll. Equestria needs to change, Twilight. We need to change.”

Twilight was nervous at the tone of her old mentor, but she realized that Princess Celestia was right. Equestria needed to change.

Especially if it was to move into the future as a nation that supposedly embodied the tenets of harmony.

---

---

Principal Celestia Solaris sat on her couch, flipping through the channels. The air conditioning was on full blast, and the sun was coming in through the sliding glass door that led out to the patio and her greenhouse. She was wearing a purple skirt, a dark orange t-shirt with a stylized sun on the chest, and had her hair tied up in a ponytail.

Principal Celestia was bored. There were only a couple of more days until the trip aboard the Luxe Deluxe. The summer vacation was the one time of year where she felt somewhat listless. She didn’t spend much time at work at all since there was nothing much to do, and despite being a principal, she had very few people who were close to her. Only her younger sister Luna, who had moved in with her when she transferred from Selene Academy to Canterlot High, was close with her in any way that mattered.

Celestia had tried to make friends with the teachers, but she could sense that they were always nervous around her. Even the school’s counselor Discord never interacted much with her. He was always too serious with his work and she’d never once seen the gray skinned man smile. Despite that, he was the best student counselor in the district.

She sighed and flipped to a different channel, then another, then another. Finally, she stopped on a show made for children. She smiled a bit at the title: My Lovely Pegasus. She’d heard about the show from overhearing some students talking about it, so she looked it up online. Apparently, it was a multi generational toy and cartoon show. Currently the show was in its fourth incarnation. Curious about it, she had watched a few of the earliest episodes and had found it unusually intriguing. The show was clearly made for kids, but it was made by adults and she’d caught a few subtle adult jokes in the show itself. However, since she knew that a genuine unicorn existed and was going to her school and had come from a world where pegasi actually existed, the show about a race of flying equines seemed to pale in comparison to reality.

Still, at the moment, she wasn’t in the mood to watch it, so she flipped the channel again. Game shows, Canterlot News, and movie stations passed her by as she continued to flip. She was growing increasingly frustrated as there was nothing on to watch. Nothing that caught her interest anyway. It all felt strangely repetitive to her, like she’d seen it all before.

As she was flipping through channels, the garage door opened and Luna, carrying three paper bags in her arms, walked in. “Cellie, a little help?” she asked.

Celestia quickly rushed over, grabbed what looked like the heaviest bag and carried it into house’s kitchen. She and Luna lived in the Maretime Manor community near Crystal Lake. “Is this all, or is there more in the car?” Celestia asked, looking into the bag.

“This is all.” Luna replied, putting the other two bags down on the counter and beginning to remove the items inside. “I bought everything we need for our trip, including some extra cat food for Philomena.”

The flame colored cat walked in at her name being called, meowing and sitting at her food bowl expectantly. Celestia sighed and looked at Luna. “Now look what you’ve done.”

Luna looked at the cat, then back up at Celestia. “Um…my bad.” She sighed. “I’ll get her some treats.”

As Luna grabbed a few treats to give to the cat, Celestia looked back at the contents of the bags. Luna had gotten everything, it seemed. Sunscreen and after-sun lotion for Luna (Celestia never burned), toiletries, a new beach tote, motion sickness medication for them both or for students just in case, and even a back up battery charger along with some cheap wall chargers for their phones and laptops were just some of the items Luna had bought. “Wow, Lulu, you really went overboard,” Celestia said with a chuckle.

Luna looked over at her sister with a frown. “You and I both know that’s how I do things,” she replied with a humph.

Celestia giggled. “I know, I know, but it was your turn for the shopping.”

“Yay, lucky me,” Luna said with a sigh. “Cellie, I’m tired. I’m gonna go write a bit in my journal then go take a nice long nap.”

“Sure thing, Lulu,” Celestia replied. She watched as her sister headed to her room and shut the door. It didn’t take long for Celestia to pack everything in the bags they were slowly preparing. To her embarrassment, she saw that Luna had packed the golden bikini she’d gotten for Celestia for the vacation she’d taken where she’d left Twilight in charge of her greenhouse. She’d never worn it on that vacation, but Luna had been so happy to have gotten it for Celestia that she knew eventually she’d have to wear it.

After she was finished, she walked to Luna’s room to check on her and ask what she wanted for dinner. Knocking, she called out, “Lulu, you still awake?”

“I am,” Luna called back.

Opening the door, Celestia poked her head in. Luna was sitting in the dark, the shades drawn, and a candle lit next to a very old looking journal. She was writing in it with what looked like a quill pen. “Just wondering what you’d like for dinner tonight.”

“Extra cheese pizza delivery,” was all Luna said, not stopping her writing.

“Alright, I’ll order some in a couple of hours,” Celestia said. “Enjoy your nap.”

“Mmhmm, will do,” Luna said, dipping her quill pen into the ink bottle next to the open journal.

As Celestia closed the door, the same question that she’d always asked herself whenever she saw Luna’s very old fashioned way of journaling crossed her mind once again: Why does she write like she’s stuck in the Middle Ages?

Next Chapter: 29: Journey To The Center Of Tartarus Pt. 2 Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 53 Minutes