"Wait... you did what?" Gilda asked incredulously.

"I told Celestia I plan to fight her." Was my simple answer.

"Why would you do that?" Gilda questioned, not angrily. At this point she likely knows I always have my reasons.

"There's some complex politics behind it but one of the main reasons is discovery. Basically, in order to move forward, from this point I need to know where I stand. My magic is less controllable, but significantly more powerful. I need to figure out just where I fit in the picture. That and there's some other things that have been bothering me...." Such as my lack of divine protection. How much of my 'skill' was really just Hades holding my hand? "In any case, having a one on one against her is the easiest way to answer a multitude of questions."

"That still doesn't really explain why you'd warn her though."

"Well, when I show up at her doorstep, insult her and challenge her, I don't want it to be a surprise. I want her to be expecting it for two reasons. First, it may not feel like it but I am the leader of a growing nation. I'd rather any hostilities between us be a duel we both agreed to, rather than being misconstrued as an act of war, which would be bad for the New Dominion. Second, it'll give her time to prepare for it."

"Okay. that makes sense."

The next day Fancypants had a letter delivered to us at the hotel. I stopped by a clothing parlor and had my measurements taken, a dozen or so seamstress ponies pinned strips of cloth to me from a pattern to determine the fit and set about working. I had a surprise in that Princess Celestia herself was waiting for me outside once I was finished. She didn't bring a chariot, instead opting to fly there herself.

"Griffin, a word if I may?"

"The doors have ears princess."

"I was thinking the same thing. We'll talk as we fly."

We both took off and found an empty portion of the sky.

"Well? Nobody can hear us up here. I assume this is about yesterday's visit?"

"Griffin, you can't just come into someone's home and threaten them. I assume you have a good explanation for this?"

"It was more of a warning than a threat, but I suppose when I get emotional I tend to not come across clearly."

"From what you said, I assume you plan to challenge me to a duel."

"That is correct." I replied in answers short and to the point.

"Why?"

"That's complicated."

"We have time." The look in her eye said she wasn't willing to let the issue die.

"Very well. Equestria is a land that embodies peace, love, and harmony above all else. Tell me princess, do you know the origin of rage?"

The blank look on her face told me everything I needed to know.

"I suppose you wouldn't. To most ponies, hate and anger are foreign concepts, but you can't know one without knowing the other. Let me explain. The world is a harsh, cruel place, for the most part. People hunger, they grow old, they die, they feel pain, they carry heavy burdens. In such a world, one would pay any price, perform any feat or do any deed for even the slightest bit of comfort. Now, someone comes along and, of their own free will, without expecting anything in return, offers you kindness. In such a dreary world, someone comes out of the blue and lessens your load. How blessed would you feel, and how divine would they appear to be?"

"Griffin, what you're describing to me sounds a lot like love, or extreme gratitude, at the very least." Celestia replied.

"You're not wrong. Now, this person who has brought you such comfort, imagine someone else comes along and hurts them. This being who is so wonderful as to offer a miserable wretch like me kindness, is being brought pain and suffering. Can you even imagine the sheer, unbridled WRATH that would stem from that?" She nodded.

"I told you earlier hate and anger are foreign concepts to most ponies. Pride and contempt are not. Neither is greed. Gilda sent you the slave trade manifests did she not? There were COVERED in hoof prints. Any den advanced enough to have paper and records had recorded ponies selling each other. I own a business, you own a competing business. You're doing better than I am, so I'm going to have you kidnapped and thrown into the mines. Your business disappears. I profit. Or maybe I simply just don't like you. Or maybe I don't even know you, but I'm not making enough this month to maintain my luxurious life of comfort, free of the woe and burden others suffer with. I'm better than they are, I shouldn't have to put up with this. They're just riffraff. If sending the 'undesirables' to slavery makes my life a little easier then I'm all for it. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"That's all been taken care of. Those responsible have been arrested and..."

"And big deal, you've gotten rid of a few. The ones responsible were arrested, but when the common folk found out exactly WHO'D been stealing away their families, they rioted. When I was trapped in Ancientwell, a pony was pulling the strings. He planned to kill me and my entire family because he lost his estate. Do you understand the magnitude of what I'm telling you? His manor was burned to the ground. You can't tell me the guard did that. It was the ones who found out about what he did. He fled Equestria. Gilda sending in those manifests cost him his easy life, cost him his 'comfort' and in retaliation he planned to murder several hundred people, just because it'd cause me pain."

Her breath caught in her throat.

"The fact is that this perfect world you've tried to build has a poison rotting away at it's very heart. In time more will rise up to take the place of those you've gotten rid of. It never should have gotten this bad to begin with. The only reason you even found them is because MY loved ones risked their necks to get that information for you, something that wasn't their problem, wasn't their responsibility. What about in twenty or thirty years from now when a new batch of bad apples start selling people they don't care about?"

I paused for a moment to let it sink in.

"And what of the ones who are still trapped? The ones who died? The families who've been ripped apart by someone else's greed, or even just lack of caring for their fellows? It's NOT taken care of. All this could have been prevented if the ponies had taken a little initiative to protect themselves. The guard can't be everywhere. Do you know why they don't protect themselves? It's because of you."

She hovered in the air silently.

"When I first came to this world, the first ponies I met were wandering right through the danger zone, drunk off their asses. 'We don't need to worry about anything. If something happens to us, the princess will save us.' The words right from their mouths. But you weren't there to save them. I was. So let me ask you something Princesssss..." I said with a hiss "Are you god?"

"What?" Celestia was taken aback by this.

"Are. You. God?"

"Define 'God'."

"A being of immeasurable power, all seeing, all knowing, immortal."

"No." Was her reply.

"No?"

"I am a pony who became bound to the sun, and gained power and immortality. But I'm not all seeing, all knowing, or infallible. Chrysalis was able to deceive me, I'm sure you remember."

"She's on the same level as you though, but that's besides the point. You're not 'God'. Everypony thinks you are. When they see something awe inspiring, they say 'Oh my Celestia'. Or shocking, 'Sweet Celestia'. Each and every stallion, mare and foal in Equestria thinks you're a god, and you've let them believe this. You control the SUN. I know precisely why you haven't told them you're not a god. Because if you did, then their illusion of safety and security would shatter. We all know how ponies act when they panic. They run around screaming and stampeding. All of Equestria would be in complete and utter pandemonium. You could cause more chaos than Discord ever did just by addressing the nation and saying three words. I'm not god. 'You're not safe' would work equally well. So, you opt to let them believe the lie, to live in complacency."

"Your point, Griffin?" Celestia was getting impatient.

"My point is that if you're going to let everyone believe you can protect them, then you better damn well be able to protect them. Me, my friends and family, all these people who've shown me kindness, we've all suffered immensely because the peace you've enjoyed for so long has made you weak and you can't protect anyone anymore. Igor Redwing and the Old Dominion? You defeated him and proved yourself to be STRONG. That's what's let you have this peace in the first place. Let's see if you can do it again. Either step up, or step down."

"You're telling me to relinquish the throne of Equestria?"

"Those are the terms of the duel. If you lose, you are 'Princess' Celestia no longer. You can still manage the nation, passing laws and whatnot, considering that's all you'd be good for, but the ruling and protection of the nation would be left to those capable of doing so."

"And who might that be? You?" She growled in anger.

"Don't be stupid. I already have the New Dominion, if I were to take the throne of Equestria, it would be a conflict of interest, and an act of war. Besides, I think you're forgetting about someone. That's unwise, since the last time you forgot about her, you neglected her for so long she fell into the depths of despair and tried to bring eternal night just for some attention."

"So... you're telling me you'd leave the defense of Equestria to my sister?"

"I am. Unlike you, she hasn't forgotten her burdens. She hasn't forgotten what PAIN feels like. She's been recovering her lost powers quickly. The damage done by a thousand years of solitude has almost been undone, and if I remember correctly, you only defeated her because you had the elements. In terms of strength and skill, I'd say she's many times your better. The difference between you, much like your ass which you've been doing nothing but sitting on the past thousand years, has only gotten larger."

"Why are you telling me all this now?"

"Because, Celestia, despite what you may think I'm not completely wicked. I'm giving you a chance to prepare yourself before I officially challenge you. Prove me wrong. We still haven't discussed the other terms of the duel. What if you win? I'll give you some time to think about what you want. In any case, if you win, you'll have proven yourself stronger than me. Given my reputation, you'll have bought your people another age of peace. I wasn't lying when I said I hope you beat me. I really, truly do, to the point that I'm going to be PROPERLY pissed off if you don't. That's why neither of us can hold back, and why this cannot be settled with discussion and negotiation. Until then, don't talk to me, because there's nothing more to say." I flew back home to await the next call from Fancypants.

Author's Notes:

I'll be honest here, I originally intended this bit to happen right before, or right after the duel. Then I decided 'Griffin just chewed her out in her own home, that gives her a perfect excuse to find him and go 'WTF was that supposed to mean?' Now when the fight comes around, they can just get to it without a whole bunch of exposition. It means I wrote a chapter and got it out so you people can feed your addiction, and it also means I got a load of stuff out of the way so the next few chapters can come out on a reasonable schedule. (Speaking of schedule, I'm currently working six days a week because shit went down at work. I'm writing this on my one day off. That's right, you're so important to me I took my one night off this week to give you what you want)

Speaking of addiction, I just thought up a one shot where everyone in Ponyville chases Spike the entire day. Because heroin reference! Purple dragon!

The inspiration for THIS chapter came from probably 4 or 5 months ago, (before the Canadian hibernation) I was playing a bit of Darksouls when I came across 'Snuggly the Crow' It's all poetic and stuff.

You! You! Give me... warm. Give me.... soft.

Such valuable things, things of such worth and usefulness. Priceless artifacts painstakingly gathered, given away for mere bits of comfort.

A burlap sack is worth more than even the rarest of stones if you're cold, and is a trade made gladly. The dead have no use for comfort.