When the morning finally came, Edmund found himself on the edge of a whirlwind as Gallus and Gruff were busy getting ready to head down to the train station. The princesses would be arriving with a train full of supplies, and it was going to be their job to help distribute it, at least that’s what he thought they were going to do. He only had a few moments to speak with the teal griffon before they were out the door and in the air.
He was able to scrounge up a little bit of food for breakfast, and finally take a much-needed bath in the cramped water closet that was built onto the back of the house. He was surprised that there was running water (even if it was ice cold). Not even every noble in Canterlot had running water in their homes yet, so he had never expected it in a run-down city like Griffonstone. He made a note to ask Gallus about it when they returned.
Unfortunately, after the bath, there was nothing else to keep him occupied. He finally decided to go back into the center of town, though this time he left his vest and bags behind, taking only a small bag of bits hidden in the thick feathers of his crest.
He took to the air, circling over the house until he was sure he could find it again, then headed towards the town square, joining the growing crowd of griffons. This time he was able to settle down into the middle of the crowd, ignored by everygriff else. He wanted to try and get closer to Gilda’s bakery, but he couldn’t push his way through the wall of fur and feathers.
It was just after noon when the first ponies appeared; a group of royal guards, looking almost identical in their golden armor. He had seen them nearly every day of his life in Canterlot, but they looked out of place here, marching in time as they moved into the square, wagons being pulled behind them.
The griffons allowed them to pass through the crowd unmolested. They didn’t head towards Gilda’s bakery and instead went to one of the empty sides of the square where most of the buildings had crumbled to ruin. He wasn’t sure what they were doing there, but they quickly started unloading their wagons.
The princesses themselves followed a few minutes later, all four of them walking together as a group, the crowd splitting around them like water. Celestia and Luna chatted with each other as they walked, followed by Twilight Sparkle and Cadence. The youngest of the quartet kept looking around in the crowd, then back at the princesses, but didn’t say anything.
The griffons all stayed hushed as they walked through the square, then vanished into the bakery. As soon as the door was closed, the crowd erupted in hushed conversation, a low murmur filling the square.
Edmund just watched as all of this unfolded and eventually turned his attention to the dozen or so royal guards who were still diligently working on the edge of the square. They were assembling a pure white tent, and when the fabric was lifted into the air, it revealed Celestia’s cutie mark right above the entrance flap. It took a moment for him to realize that there were three more tents waiting to be unloaded, their colors matching the other princesses.
He couldn’t help but muse at how strange it was thinking of the princesses having to ‘rough it’ while on such an important visit. Then again, it hardly seemed like there was any place for them to stay if they weren’t going to make use of the old palace.
Edmund was still pondering that when a fight broke out only a couple dozen wings away. A pair of scruffy looking toms were yelling at the top of their lungs, only to have the smaller griffon leap onto the larger as they started to claw and screech. Quickly, the other griffs in the crowd backed away from the flailing limbs as feathers and fur flew into the air.
He wasn’t sure what to make of this. No fight like this would ever break out in Canterlot, not even among the griffons living there, and if it did, the guards would be there in a few moments to put a stop to it before anyone was hurt. He shot a glance at the royal guards, but they were making a point of ignoring the fight. They clearly had orders not to interfere in anything that might happen in the town.
There was a sound of a door crashing open in the distance, and moments later a hen dive-bombed down right into the middle of the fight. She landed with a claw on the neck of both males, pinning them to the ground. “What the buck do you think you are doing?!” she bellowed into their faces.
Edmund took a step back in shock, surprised at how forceful this griffoness was. She glared down at the pair, anger glowing behind her golden eyes. It took a few moments for him to notice the crown resting on top of her head, sitting slightly askew.
Slowly, he and all the griffons in the square started to bow to Princess Gilda.
After a few moments, she let go of the two griffs, backing away from them as her tail moved in a blur behind her. “Well?” she demanded. A second later she saw the reaction of the griffons around her. “Get up, all of you. This isn’t the time for this crap!”
Edmund rose back to his paws and glanced back at the bakery for a moment. The front door was now open and he could see both Princess Celestia and Luna standing just in front of it.
Finally, the smaller of the two griffons spoke. “He’s a thief!” he snapped,
The second griffon looked offended by the accusation. “I am not.”
“You stole the berries from my bushes. You’ve been stealing them for months,” the first griffon snapped back, the fur on his short tail starting to bristle.
Gilda rolled her eyes, and stepped between them before they could attack each other again. “Berries? You two are fighting over berries?”
“They’re mine,” the smaller griffon said.
With a sigh, the princess ran her talons over her face and beak, then shot a glance back at the pony princesses like she was hoping that they would help. After a few moments she steeled herself, rising to her full height as she looked at the two griffs. “Show me,” she ordered.
The two griffons looked at each other, then back at her before nodding, the larger of the two leading the way through the square, Gilda following just behind them. It seemed that the rest of the griffons in the square were trying to follow right after them, Edmund included. He wanted to see what the princess was going to do; he just had to stay within a few wings of her.
Edmund couldn’t help but notice that the accused thief had dark red stains on his beak and talons.
Without a word, the procession left the square and made its way into the city, the narrowing streets making it harder for most of the griffons to follow along, many of them taking to the air instead. The street wound and twisted around the old buildings, until finally the feuding griffons turned down a small side road that was lined with tiny houses. They were all built out of stone, but some were in better shape than others.
The two griffons stopped in the middle of the street, in front of a pair of houses. There was a line of berry bushes growing against an old fence that separated the two properties, a stone house on each side of the fence. The one on the side with the berries was looking more the worse for wear; the rotted wooden roof stood in stark contrast to the well-tended thatch roof of the other house.
“There, these are my berries, and he’s stealing them,” the smaller griffon said, motioning towards the bushes.
Gilda’s head twisted as she turned one eye to look intently at the bushes, then back at the two toms. “Why are you taking the berries?” she finally asked the thief.
“Because I always have. This whole fence used to be covered in them, but this cold egg cut them all away.”
The first griffon snorted and reached out to grab the bush, pulling a limb of it towards the three of them. “I cut them away because they were too thick. They were half dead, and there was hardly any fruit. This year they’ve produced twice as much as before, half of which he stole!”
“I did not—” the larger griffon started to say, only to be silenced by a glare from the princess.
Gilda looked between the two toms, then let out a sigh. “Fine,” she stated, reaching up to adjust her crown, making sure it was sitting properly in place.
Edmund couldn’t help but smile, he knew what was going to happen next. She would make the thief apologize for what he had done, find a way for them to share the berries, then they would hug and be friends again. That was how this sort of thing was always resolved back home.
The princess walked between the two of them, her tail lashing in her wake as she turned to face the larger griffon. “They are his berries, on his land. Just because they used to grow over the fence doesn’t mean you’re entitled to any of them now. You stole his food, there is no question about that, and he’s justified in wanting to take a piece of your hide for it.”
The thief blanched a bit, wilting under the glare.
“We don’t have any guards around, so I’m going to have to come up with some way to punish you,” she said, jabbing a talon in his direction.
Letting out a small yelp, the thief dropped flat to the ground, his wings shuddering over his back as he covered the top of his head with his talons. Edmund found himself taking a step back; he had no idea what was going to happen now.
Gilda looked away from the thief, turning her attention back to the houses, the one with the thatched roof. “Is that your home?” she asked.
“Yes,” the thief said, still holding himself against the ground.
She nodded, turning back to face him. “Did you repair the roof yourself, or did you get some other griff to do it for you?”
“I did it,” he replied.
The princess smiled a bit, though it wasn’t the sort of smile any griff wanted to see. “Then in order to repay for what you have done, you are going to repair your neighbor’s roof with the same care that you did for your own home. As for your punishment, I think some community service is in order. So, once you are finished here, you will have to do ten more roofs, and you are not allowed to ask for bits or anything in trade. You will show me each one, and if I’m satisfied with all of them, then you will have finished your punishment.”
The griffon lifted his head from the ground as she spoke. “Yes, princess Gilda.”
One of her talons flashed out to press against his now exposed neck. “If you don’t, I will find you and pluck every single one of your primaries.”
The thief whimpered at that, his tail pressing tightly to his flank.
Gilda pulled her talons away. “And what is your name?”
“Graham.”
“Well then, Graham, I will be expecting you at my bakery as soon as you’re done with your neighbor’s roof,” she said, then hunched down, his wings starting to fan out, but she paused to look back at the smaller griffon. “And who are you?”
“Grissom, ma’am,” he replied.
Gilda nodded, glanced back at the berry bushes, then down the length of the narrow street. “You know, there are a lot of bushes around here that need to be trimmed. A smart griffon could make some decent bits doing that, or maybe even trade for more repair work.”
That took the tom back a bit, like he had never considered the as a possibility before. “Huh,” he finally said.
“Do it,” Gilda snapped, then launched herself into the air, her wings sweeping down and lifting her above the crowd.
Edmund followed her up into the sky as she banked back towards the square. “So, that’s Princess Gilda,” he mused to himself, not quite sure what to make of her. One thing was clear, she left quite an impression.
Greycrest was woken by the sound of somepony knocking on his door. He lifted his head from his desk, sleep still heavy in his eyes as he glanced out the window. The sun was high over Canterlot, at least noon, though it was hard to tell from his office.
Pushing away from his desk, he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes and walked towards the front door. He reached it just as his butler was closing it.
“Who was that?” he asked, trying to cover a yawn with his talons.
The zebra turned back to look at Greycrest. “A page from the Royal Court, he brought a message for you,” he stated, holding a scroll balanced on the edge of his hoof.
“Thank you,” he said, taking the scroll and breaking the seal with the tip of his talon. He had spent the whole of the day before and most of the night writing an injunction against the damnable treaty, not even sleeping until it was safely sent off to the Royal Court sometime in the middle of the night. To receive a response so soon meant that the High Magistrates were treating this issue with the appropriate level of urgency, but told him nothing about what they may have said. As the treaty would go into effect at noon the next day, there was no time to waste.
He started reading the scroll, his heart soaring when he saw that they had accepted his injunction, and would be reviewing it in an emergency session of the Royal Count. That only lasted a moment before it dropped back to the floor, the soonest possible they could have such a session was in three days. An injunction against The Crown would require all six of the High Magistrates to rule upon it, and two of them were currently on an official visit to Yakyakistan. It would take at least a day to get a message that far north, and another for them to return to the Crystal Empire.
By the time they could even consider the injunction, it would be days too late.
“How, how could that stupid mare have arranged it so the courts would be so useless?!” he yelled out, crushing the scroll in his talons. He was aware of the visit to Yakyakistan, it had been arranged months before. While the princess was many things, she wasn’t half as clever as many ponies thought. He doubted she had arranged for the visit in order to support her treaty, it was more likely she had held it back until it would be safe to announce it.
Celestia wasn’t as cunning as a griffon; he would find a way to end this travesty one way or another.
Greycrest turned back towards his office, but hardly got two steps before someone else was knocking on his door. It wasn’t the heavy sound of a hoof, so it probably wasn’t a pony.
Since he was right there, he turned to the door, grabbed tightly onto the ring so he could twist it and yanked the door open. He snapped his beak, ready to tell whomever it was to go away unless they could help him. What he had expected was one of the other griffon nobles, but he was surprised to find three of them on his doorstep, as well as five ponies.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
The lead griffon, a young tom by the name of George, spoke up. “I saw the injunction you had delivered to the Royal Court. It was very persuasive, but without all of the Magistrates—”
“Yes, it’s useless, I know,” he snapped back.
“Not so much as you might think,” Jet Set said, the stallion stepping forward to the front of the group. “Celestia has quite overstepped her bounds by attempting to annex the Griffon Kingdom, steps must be taken in response.”
“I will not be allowed to claw her eyes out, even if they would heal,” Greycrest said with a snort.
Jet Set shook his head. “May we come in? There is much that we have to discuss.”
For a moment he considered just sending them away, it was hardly a group that could sway the Parliament. They were all members of the nobility, but the group was too small to wield any real power. Still, even a few allies would be better than none at all. “Very well, come in,” he said, opening the door wide for the group.
He watched them file in, somewhat surprised at the ponies that were in the group. There was no sign of Blueblood; he would have assumed the stuck-up prince would have been in the front of the line to end the treaty, but that wasn’t the case. The other pony that he was surprised at being absent was Upper Crust.
“Where is your wife?” he asked Jet Set as he closed the door. He motioned for them to move into the large conservatory just off the hallway, the high glass walls allowing the sun to fill the room.
Jet Set just shook his head, “She felt that this was an unwise course of action.”
Greycrest nodded as he took a seat on a wicker bench. “Yes, well I’m sure she will change her mind in due time,” he turned his attention back to the full group. “So, how do you propose we deal with this?”
“We can't stop the treaty from coming into effect,” Gregory said, “but we can use it to our advantage once it becomes law.”
He narrowed his eyes as he fluffed out his wings. “How could we possibly use the treaty to our advantage?”
“The method by which this Gilda was appointed King’s Regent is suspect at best,” one of the other griffons said, one that Greycrest didn’t know off claw. “Celestia attempted to invoke the laws of the old kingdom, but in a very circuitous way. No member of the Council of Nobles participated in the vote, and there were no official records or counts. The validity of it is questionable at best.”
Greycrest nodded. “I made the very same objections.”
Jet Set smiled. “I’m sure you did, but I think you went about it the wrong way. The appointment of the King’s Regent was invalid, and I believe we can prove that. Because the vote was not valid, Gilda would not have the authority to sign the treaty. It will come too late to prevent the treaty from coming into effect, but it will remove her from the throne.”
He looked between the stallion and the other griffon. “And how will that aid us?”
“Section Seventeen of the treaty, it gives the crown to the highest-ranking authority of the previous government. If there is no King’s Regent, it would go to whomever the authority is,” the griffon explained, a smirk on his beak.
“And that would be?”
Jet Set smirked as well, leaning forward and pressing his hooves together. “Lord Greycrest, there is only one griffon that is still serving the government of the old Griffon Kingdom.”
He looked between them all, his mind jumping to the one impossible conclusion. “You don’t mean…”
Gregory made an exaggerated bow. “I think ‘King Greycrest’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”
At the time of commenting, the story "The 8th Rank" is 8th in trending stories
A Pretender rises! Seems he has a pretty solid de jure claim over the crown, but it's very likely he will be unable to overcome the popularity and de facto power of Gilda. I wonder if this will come down to Bigger Army Diplomacy?
9882107
Well, it's a good story.
9882170
It'll come down to Gilda being removed from the throne, and the population of Griffonstone immediately staging a coup to put her back on it. It never comes down to who has the biggest army; just who has the biggest numbers.
I don't think I've anticipated updates to a story this much for anything other than Changeling of the Guard before now, I'm so very excited to see more!
9882216
Mm. Nearly anyone can and will become a soldier on the spot, provided you've pissed them off enough. And Griffons in particular have made an art form of being pissed off.
They have no idea how hard that can backfire, do they?
Hmm, I think Gilda did a good job with adjudicating that dispute. It's not everyone who can keep (or at least seem to keep) a calm head when handing out punishments, even more so to think of how to give the two parties a chance to start BUSINESSES. Something tells me that if the punished Gryphon does a good enough job with his punishment he might just end up as the new city carpenter.
Also... it's looking like Edmund MAY be having a disagreement with his Grandfather soon. After all, he seems to approve of what he's seen so far. And oh lord, if that old codger Greycrest tries to enforce his "rule" then something tells me that he's gonna have a mob after his feathers.
I look forward to when Greycrest's plan crashes in spectacular fashion. Celestia may not have a giffion's natural cunning but she's played the game of politics for thousands of years. She's got more than enough experience and knows more political tricks than Greycrest can think of. I just wonder how long she'll let the rope get before she lets him hang himself.
Might look nice on paper but I have to wonder how well their machinations will do when confronting reality.
Ohh interesting
Why do I feel that this scheming is not going to go nearly as smoothly as they think it will?
This will be interesting. But he cant be king from afar.
'Cold egg'. For some reason I love that insult.
9882347 They're nobility that can't think big a picture. Nor are they supposed to be able to, they're supposed to grovel and lick the boots/ whatever of the King and or Queen.
9882403As much as he'll ask for
Blagh! Insufferable nobles. I'm looking forward to when they all eventually get taken down a peg. Excellent chapter!
9882216
What you describe is literally "bigger army diplomacy".
9883054
The inclusion of "army" implies a formalized fighting force.
Also, what the heck am I doing, arguing about this with you? We agree with each other!
you realize at best the gryphons points to gildas appointment would be instantaneously thrown out as pointless arguments? to be a noble one must be landed, and none of the 'council of nobles' has land actually in griffonstone there is no way for them to get a political backing from a foreign power in this who actually matters and any attempts they make the people of gryphonstone well simply revolt against with the backing of several other nations. all this planning of theirs accomplishes is now jet set's guilty of literal high treason.
9882216
for them to even remove her requires legitimacy, which they lack in all terms.
9883481
That may not matter. If the law says the Council of Nobles must be present, and includes no provisions for if the Council cannot be present, then the Council of Nobles needs to be present. Laws like that cannot be selectively ignored, otherwise all the laws become meaningless.
Yosh!! Will devour this chapter like a gryph a fish!
9883658
except they can't be nobility without being landed, land claims they've since given up and have no legal recompense too.
I give it three chapters before this political scheme goes down in flames.
9883890
That is irrelevant; if the Council of Nobles is required to be present when appointing a King's Regent, and there is no written instructions for what to do if the Council cannot be present, then the Council must be present. If they cannot be present, or if there isn't one, then any appointment of a Regent would be illegal.
However, you are not wholly incorrect: Jet Set is an idiot. If Gilda's appointment as Regent is illegal, then she does not have the authority to sign the treaty. If the treaty comes into effect, and they can demonstrate that she did not have the authority to sign it, then the treaty is invalidated and unenforceable. They end up right back at the start.
I am very curious to see how this works out: Every decision made so far has very murky legal standing, at best.
9883658
9884201
Murky Legal standings is kind of understating it.
As for the Council of Nobles, the only thing that need to be on the council is to own land. That was the loophole Celestia was abusing. The griffons living in Griffonstone own the land (even if just by squatter rights) thus they are all on the Council of Nobles. There's no official body to be appointed to, there never needed to be as there were not many who owned land. And to rub salt in the wound, the nobles who did have land and titles lost them by not paying taxes.
And your right, if they prove Gilda couldn't be the regent the treaty as a whole would be declared invalid. He's just expecting that, once it becomes law, it will be much harder to get rid of without alot of court wrangling.
9884231
He must not have a lot of experience with contract lawyers.
9884201
there is also the fact jet set is acting knowingly against the wishes and actions of two different royals technically. this is high treason and that leads to a noose.
AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!! UPDATE!!!!!!! YAY YAY! YAY! YAY! HUGGLES THE FLOOF OUTTA YOU!!
I see a reverse coup in the making here...
Obviously these griffons "nobles" don't understand the concept of popular support.
9884300
Treason is criminal disloyalty to the state, not the sovereign. It has been made clear that Equestria exists separately from the Princesses.
Jet Set is also citing that Celestia has overstepped the bounds of her office; this may or may not be true, as it has been confirmed that at best these are murky waters, legally speaking. If it is true, then everything Celestia (and the other Princesses, by extension) has done is, itself, possibly treasonous.
Essentially, what we are waiting to see is not which of the two parties is correct, but which of the two parties blinks first.
9884932
but high treason is actions against a crown
and to be frank these bounds Celestia overstepped exist at Celestia's pleasure in the end. Equestria from what we've seen does not establish the crown as a mere head figure but the ruling entity. which means at some level Celestia can literally justify actions with 'because i said so' and not have to go further. it's also a note save for a successful rebellion against said crown, the princesses can't actually commit treason as ruling parties against there own country. your applying the rules of a democracy and a republic to a monarchy.
a lot of this seems more to be the idea that Celestia doesn't like going to such measures not that she could not and in the end Jet Set is moving against both the government and the crown so he is guilty either way.
the mere suggestion he's using of Celestia overstepping her bounds could be argued as inciting rebellion. remember that despite what he believes the nobility of Equestria wouldn't back him for this, they'd likely crucify him for it.
9885692
This entire argument hinges on the assumption that Equestria does not have some sort of document like the Magna Carta, which would expressly limit and restrict the sort of power a ruling authority has. We have not seen any direct evidence to prove or disprove the existence of such a document. However, because we have seen the Princesses approach the situation from the angle of, "We can't do this, but we can do this instead," this implies the existence of such a document. That fact that Jet Set suggests such a document exists, and Greycrest did not ask how such limits could exist, further supports the existence of such a document.
That means that the Princesses exist separately from Equestria, which must be considered its own entity, which means that treason must be enacted against Equestria and not against the Princesses, which further means that the Princesses can engage in treasonous behavior against Equestria.
9885744
There has been mention of the Third Great Charter in the past, this (along with the other two) act to both define the government, as well as limit it. The first charter created Equestria and the crown, the second the government, and the third set what the government couldn't do as well as the rights of the citizens (the first two happened with in 10 years of each other, the 3rd took a few more centuries).
Much of this hinges on this line from chapter one:
The first charter gives the crown the power to create and defend the borders of Equstria (it's worded a bit more complex then that, but still). It's a lot more complicated then that.
And I just want to say, I'm really enjoying reading your back and forth on this. It's kind of cool that my story could spark such a debate (and yes, I am listening to the arguments, so you might see them creep into the story too).
And just then, Alondro jumped through the window and stabbed Greycrest IN THE BUCKING FACE!!! (He likes stabbing pests in the face, BTW), "Looks like ya need a new plan now, lol!" And then he jumped out of the window again, plummeting to the ground with a splat. "I'm ok!" he called back up before reforming as all true Internet trolls are capable of doing thanks to their sinister powers.
9885744 This is why I plan to be a GOD and smite all those who displease me!
Screw politics. God-Emperor Alondro's will shall reign supreme!
9885744
celestia has literally handed the reigns of power over to a non-relative without any evidence of a formal declaration or approval, that alone burns the manga carta idea to ash. but if you want more evidence we could go over the numerous pardons a princess can hand out without even a formal notice or the fact that the title can be handed out purely at celestias own pleasure.
the only limits to celestias power speaks to the idea of there limits she set on her power herself, not on that a document has legitimate power over her. the government exists at the crowns pleasure the crown does not exist at the governments.
9885876
This is untrue. Even without the WOG that 9885810 just gave to us, it is demonstrably untrue. Everything that was done followed the letter of the laws laid out. If Celestia was able to act as you describe, there would be no treaty with Griffonstone, Gilda would not have been appointed King's Regent, there would have been no concerns of backlash from Parliament, none of the story would have happened. Celestia would have just rolled in and said, "This is Equestria now." Which she very clearly did not do.
As I have said earlier, however, and have said repeatedly, the legality of what Celestia has done is, at best, questionable. This is the entire underpinning of everything I have said, and is very clearly an important aspect of the story: Everything might well be proper — that is, it correctly follows established process — but that does not necessarily mean it is legal — performed by an entity with the appropriate authority to do so.
The mere existence of a Parliament — which was earlier established in-story — is evidence that Celestia has checks on her authority. It is very clear that Celestia, and indeed, all the Princesses, hold executive authority and enforce the law, but that Parliament holds legislative authority and decides what the law is.
Unless you're trying to suggest that Celestia only bothers with a Parliament and other Princesses because she enjoys playing pretend with executive restraint, or otherwise wants ponies to believe that they have any kind of freedom, and in fact holds full executive, legislative, and judicial power to decide what she wants to do that day.
9882170
9883054
9883483 Historically in Europe a lot of the time they would settle competing claims to the throne (and ending civil wars) by having members of the two families marry each other.
Given Celestia's cleverness, I wouldn't be surprised if she spots Edmund around town and finds good use of him.
I'd love to see him pull this off, realize that “Royalty" means having to deal with Princesses, the public, a cliff of paperwork, and the occational world-ending monster, on a daily basis, and just throw the crown back two days later.
True, if not in the direction he means.
Meanwhile, Gilda has found a force just as powerful as friendship and much more palatable to the griffon psyche: economics. Also public works projects via penal labor. I've heard worse urban renewal strategies.
Oh boy, loving the political battle here. Your really good
‘King Greycrest?’ He’d be a prince at best. Besides, he doesn’t own land in Griffonstone, so he’s not even on the council.
Hmmm Do I smell changeling interference
9886226
Perhaps but i don’t think it would be clever to marry Gilda to a bloke not particularly interested in her
On the other hoof, she could totally encourage them to see each other and help grow their friendship.....that would solve problems .
See this is an instance where I would want to use my preferred superpower, the power of dramatic irony. Just get visions of all these people plotting their evil plots so I could know exactly what who was doing and when.
9896361
If he is still technically part of the government it would count, but that could be revoked or contested in the courts, Celestia mentioned that hereditary inheritance of the title is questionable.
How can Greycrest serve a government that ceased to be before he was born when even his own father has no citizenship? Not by right of birth and certainly not by applying for and getting it.
Come to think of it aren't all the noble birds functionally stateless?
All this talk of politics and nobody mentions the simplest solution to the problem of lord Greycrest. Just give him the crown. Gilda didn’t need it for her goal of fixing Griffonstone. While the granted authority would certianly have been of great benefit to the process, it’s not like Gilda needed it before.
There are three possible scenarios that could follow.
The first: King Greycrest decides that he should put his new status to use, usher in a new golden era for Griffonkind, and prove himself a worthy king.
The second: King Greycrest takes his crown and goes back to Canterlot to live his life like he always has; in blatant disregard towards any responsibility his position held. Things go back to status quo, at least for as long as it would take to draft articles of secession.
The third: King Greycrest decides that he should put his new status to use. Unlike the first option, he makes a royal mess of things, and it becomes nescessary to insure his swift removal as head of state, or in extreme circumstances, the swift removal of his head from the state.
Now I’m not the author, and even if I was, I can’t say if that is what Gilda would do. It’s just my two bits on the matter.
9919296
Two of those three options sound like they'd create an awful mess for people, long before they were able to sort them out, and I think an awful mess is specifically what the Princess is trying to avoid here. She wants this Kingdom stable, to be an ally, and confidant of her nation, not a simple make work project, and thus, giving it to someone who has a likely chance of ignoring it, and thus demoralizing people involved, or worse, of bungling it very, very badly, is likely to be counterproductive in the highest degree.
As such, her best bet was to find a local, rather than someone who had abandoned the place decades ago, if he'd ever even been there. Not only is this a smart move as it engenders a form of superiority, regardless of what she's said, allowing her to guide the younger ruler, even without the authority to back it up directly, but she'll also be giving the position to someone who will care about the problems presented to her people.
9914227
That is the exact point that theses "nobles" don't seem to understand. Their positions are now non-existent as recognized by their own countries laws, which state that any noble that has not set claw in their land in X amount of years- the number of which passed long before the current generation was even born- is no longer a land owner. Since their nobility came from the act of owning land, this makes them no longer nobles. And since the Council they referred to requires members to be legitimate nobles, they are no longer members of the council.
Since all the Gryphon's in Griffonstone have the only claim to the land they own- this makes them all members of the council, as they are nobles by law of the land. As such, they had the authority to elect a recent of the throne. Since the new treaty would make the highest member of the current government of Griffonstone, a Princess, Regent Gilda becomes that Princess as she is the ONLY member of the Griffonstone Government.
Greycrest in short, hasn't a leg to stand on. Obscure as the rules may be, this was still a legal move, and he no longer has the power to object.