Contrary to her expectations, the flood of griffons she anticipated was not so.
There were plenty of griffons seeking her audience, yes, but unlike the unruly mobs of nobles and commoners that fought (sometimes literally) their way into Celestia's day court chamber, the opening of the great doors had revealed an orderly sequence of griffons, sometimes accompanied by young and sometimes not.
Even more surprising, if only because she had not known what to expect, was that the actual offerings were proceeding into mid-day without issue. She had not known to what level she would need to be involved in each offering, but she had quickly discovered that it was actually quite minimal.
For each, the process was nearly identical: after the previous would leave, the next would enter the hall, make a deep bow, give a name for herself and her young (if applicable), a short introduction to the name of those desired released, and when that was complete: an offering.
As said, all offerings to this point had been coinage, and to her subtle relief, not much escalation was occurring in the values, though she knew not if this was because the ranks had yet to increase past the common wing-soldier, unless the ranks were subtly transitioning before her without notice.
Regardless, other than a few words here and there to recognize offerings or subtly reassure the more skittish, Twilight had found she needed to do very little.
Levitating the small pouch of gold to the not-so elegant pile building in the corner, she took the second before the next supplicant arrived to survey her advisers.
"How many do you think we've gotten through so far?" She asked idly.
"Our pace has been surprising, I must say, but still, with how many there are to deal with I fear that we may still-" his words were cut off as a squawk echoed into the hall, followed by an impact and the sounds of a struggle.
Looking to the door, the three beheld a ball of griffons flying through the passage. A few more followed in as the ball hit the ground, the core of which shook off the others clinging to her.
The protests of those shaken off apparently attempting to calm or dissuade the central figure.
"Think of what you-"
"You dishonor-"
Jerking her beak to the speaker who had clung to her wing "Dishonor?" She roared a derisive laugh "A pony would never understand honor!"
And then, like that, the assembly went dead silent as the griffoness's words reverberated throughout the hall.
Time stopped.
Twilight processed the words, the meaning sinking in as the meaning began to sink in. If it were possible, time seemed to move even slower as Twilight's mind tried to process what to do. She could feel the pressure of the room, building up as if to an explosion.
In the molasses that was time, Twilight could see the others processing the declaration just as she had, some beginning to turn up towards her in fear, others transitioning from looks of shock to those of anger, and a few, notably those who had taken physical action to stop the intruder, began to raise clawed talons and paws.
Time folded again as processing took over for perception.
What could she do? What would Celestia do if a pony burst into her court? The scenario broke down as she substituted aggressive griffons for fearful ponies. Ok, what would a Griffon do?
There was no choice.
All at once the pressure released as Twilight came out of her teleport.
A crack resounded as the griffoness's beak slammed into the ground, propelled by the sudden hoof atop her head. The other griffons reeled, backing off whether in shock or deference, but keeping at the ready.
"You dare to mock me!" Twilight shouted to the griffon whose head was pressed beneath her fore-hoof. Twilight confirmed the audience in the hall draw back, though as she would later note, rather than adding to their shock or fear her angered words seemed to calm the crowd.
"You will leave this place and never return. My honor remains unscarred, but should I see so much as a feather from you in my presence again, you will not be so lucky!"
A final press with her hoof brought a whimper from the griffoness, who refused to raise her eyes as she turned and ran.
"Court is dismissed!" Twilight announced as she turned and began walking back up to her throne.
"But-"
"Dismissed!" She shouted, not bothering to look back to whoever had objected.
Griffons fled by claw and wing from the room, orderly, but with appropriate haste.
By the time she was back upon the throne the room was clear.
She looked down to her advisers, who looked back. Outwardly both had stony neutral expressions, but Twilight could see the faintest smirk on the face of the former empress.
Which made her own scowl melt, and slowly morph into as look of horror.
"What did I just do!"
"Empress-"
"I panicked! All I could think about was what you said about how seriously everyone takes honor, and I saw everyone's claws out and I thought they were going to- and that book said a show of- I couldn't- and the I just-" Twilight pleaded as she began to hyperventilate.
"You acted exactly as you should have." The former emperor declared, marching up to the panicking pony, and laying a fore-claw on her shoulder in a calming manner "She insulted you to your face, had you not acted the others would have to preserve order. She likely would not have made it off of the palace grounds had you not done as you did."
"But all she did was- I mean- I attacked her!"
"No, you subdued her, and had you not, she likely would not have been able to walk out under her own power, if at all. Do not discredit my eyesight for my age, I saw what you did there. The one who spoke of honor would have taken her claws through the belligerent's neck had you not intervened as you did. A chipped beak is a favorable trade for an un-severed throat."
Seeing how little his words seemed to affect her, his mate sighed, also climbing the dias, "Empress, if I may presume to diagnose the issue here?"
Looking to the griffoness, Twilight's grimace tightened, and she nodded.
"You think too much. You over analyze your actions and regret them. Even when what you did was best, you try to find faults, even if none existed, and obsess over them. In the moment you have control, focus, and confidence in your actions, but given to reflection, you crumple in the face of impossible idealism. There was no way in which that griffoness would leave here without some recompense, there was no perfect solution, and there is nothing that can be done to change what has already occurred, even if there had been a better path to take."
Though she did not visibly react, Twilight stayed silent for a time. Her conflicted expression changed a few times as she fought herself internally, though she eventually just dissolved into resigned weariness.
"So what happens now?" She asked, "I canceled court and we only got to a fraction of those who were supposed to come."
The former emperor shook his head, "It matters little, the rest will simply do as they would have, and simply seek you out whenever possible, or whenever another of these courts can be scheduled."
"But you said that they have to leave tomorrow because the City's normal population will return! Will they be able to attend another court? How will they seek me out? How will they keep in order, how will they know when to come! I messed it all up!" Twilight whined, starting to sob.
To Twilight's surprise, the former empress backed up, placing a claw on each of her front shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes.
"Did you have any better ideas at the time?" She asked firmly.
"I- Ah-" Twilight sputtered, "No! I didn't! I panicked! All I could think of was a book I read earlier and how everyone looked ready to pounce! I just had to intervene somehow! I had to do something!"
"She challenged you and your response swiftly put her in her place, a fair tactic. But why did you decide to act as you did?"
"Because that was all I could think of that would be fast enough! If I had just stunned her- well, I was worried about what the others would do."
The griffoness smiled, "There you go, you made the best decision you could and acted. There is no use fretting about that. Retrospect serves to aid us in the future, regret serves no purpose. I know you cannot simply dismiss your worries, but rather than regret in yourself, focus on how what you now know will improve you in the future. The next time you begin to worry about something like what you did while saving that upset hen, instead you should focus yourself, on what you will do next time, accepting you cannot change the past."
Twilight nodded at the sage advice, processing it and taking it to heart, before her head froze mid-nod and eyes widened. Jerking to the griffoness, she looked aghast, "'What I'll do next time!' What do you mean next time?"
The griffoness's own confused expression did not comfort the exasperated alicorn.
"Well, I mean next time some griffon needs to know their place of course. Surely some will approach you similarly until your validity as Empress is universally and undeniably accepted. Today has gone a good ways to that, word will spread of much today."
Still stuck on the previous point, Twilight still sputtered, "But I- I can't! I won't! I refuse to lay a hoof on anyone other than to protect!" she began confidently, though it did not last long "But you're right, I will have to do something in the future..." she straightened up, "I will respond, but not with violence. I'll do it peacefully."
"Not to doubt you, your majesty, but how do you seek to respond to threats and challenges without violence?" The griffoness asked, more curious than challenging.
"I'll figure out a way... somehow..." she suddenly looked up at the main throne room doors with a spark in her eye, "somehow... hmmm..."
The griffoness could see the intensity in the alicorn's eyes as she thought, lost to the world, "Well, with your leave then, I'll go prepare a meal."
A fair bit of time later Twilight awoke from her planning by the sound of her stomach rumbling.
"Hmmm... Guess I really do need Spike to tell me to eat."
Though Rainbow's chides were confirmed, she would never admit it. Rather, she decided that as soon as Spike was back with her she would suitably thank the drake for his vigilance in normally not allowing her to eat less than a single ration pack for fear of nerves and then proceed to engage in diplomacy, binge study all night, and hold court the next day culminating in a hoof-fight, all without eating.
She rose from the throne, pacing her way to the side door, to begin the not-so-ideal task of finding the kitchens in this labyrinth of architecture.
When she reached the side door though, the faintest smell of something caught her nose from the right.
Close to ten minutes of wandering later and as it turned out, that something was a fine soup of some indeterminate kind. She wasn't sure what was in it, but its strong smell had managed to guide her almost without error to the kitchens. Or rather kitchen, as the humble arrangement was more adequately called.
Along the way she had wondered if the kitchens would be as massive an arrangement as back in Canterlot, and to her surprise it was, but more so because of her parent's kitchen at the Sparkle household rather than Canterlot Castle's grand arrangement.
"I expected, I don't know, more?" Twilight half-joked as she walked through the door, drawing the attention of the griffoness away from the pot she was stirring.
"Oh, your majesty, I was just about to go get you. The soup is simmering nicely." She nodded to the pot before her, "I'm interested to see if you'll like it."
"I cannot say I can place the smell, though at this point, I could eat anything. What is it?"
"Oh, I'll keep that a secret until you try it. It will let you keep an open mind."
Twilight looked skeptically between the griffoness and the pot, "That makes me-" she froze, ears turning, "did you hear that?" She asked, suddenly alarmed.
The griffoness looked similarly surprised, but exclusively at Twilight's sudden question.
"What did you hear?"
"I thought I heard... knocking?" Twilight looked around but shook her head, "I guess it was nothing, never mind."
The griffoness was just as happy to dismiss the sudden interruption, grabbing bowls from the cabinet behind her and ladling up some soup, revealing the milky-off-white broth with chunks of some kind within.
She placed the bowls on a cart and nodded to the door, "If you would precede me your majesty."
Twilight went to the gestured door, opening it with magic and entering an large, ornate room with finely crafted wood-paneling around, gleaming marble floors, and a few paintings of various elder-looking griffons, all surrounding a massive wooden table. Looks appeared deceiving though, Twilight noted, for while it was enormously built, it looked like it was only meant for a maximum of ten, if the six chairs currently around it and the four in the corners were any indication.
Meanwhile, the griffoness made her way passed the still magically held door into the room.
"Have a seat your majesty," the griffoness requested, pulling out a chair and gesturing to it.
She did so, finding the chair and table built to griffon proportions to be a little large for her still growing alicorn form.
A bowl was placed in front of her and spoon laid beside it.
"Dig in your majesty."
The smell was growing on her and she was severely tempted to do so, but she resisted, looking to the griffoness, and to the second bowl on the cart, "Are you not going to join me?"
"Oh no your majesty, I ate earlier and have been sampling the soup along the way. Besides," she added, gesturing to the bowl, "I think you'll be wanting this soon enough."
Twilight thought about contesting, but the enticing smell before her and the hunger she was intensely aware she was feeling conspired against that thought.
Giving in, she looked down at the soup, magically grasping the spoon.
"Here it goes..."
She said rising up the deeply-dished spoon of broth and chunks to her mouth.
There was barely any hesitation as she partook, returning the spoon to the bowl as she considered the flavor.
It was... good?
She couldn't place the flavor, or even the consistency, but it was good, she decided.
"It's good," she said, looking over to the griffoness to further her comment, but stopped upon seeing the oddly ecstatic smile on her beak.
"You enjoy it?" she asked in a tone that sounded a little too excited for a simple complement on the quality of her cooking.
"Um, yes?" Twilight responded "Could you please tell me about it? Like what's in it?"
"Of course! It's a common dish here in the Empire, though for you I had to substitute carrots where potatoes are typically used. It's most common near the eastern coast, though we've been having trouble with the main ingredient lately due to the recent increase in Minotaur-" she could not finish her thought though, as a massive, and familiar, Crash! resounded through the complex.
"That was the-!" Twilight began to shout before she noticed the tip of griffon tail darting out the door was her only audience, "main doors again." She finished flatly.
She was up immediately, quickly leaving the griffoness in her dust through teleports.
Arriving at the chamber side door, she encountered the former emperor, also apparently intent to find out the source of the commotion.
He kicked the door open and they ran through together.
Her first glance was towards the once-destroyed doors, though re-destroyed was more apt now.
Her eyes raced across the shattered remains, this time the doors not so much obliterated as simply tossed aside.
Of course, then her eyes reached the centerpiece of the room.
Large and grey, she would have thought it a boulder that had rolled through the doors had it not been visibly moving, a head turning down towards them.
It was huge, maybe not the largest she had seen, but a truly massive beast nonetheless. It towered above them with not so much "seeping wisps" as "billowing clouds" of smoke pouring from the edges of its mouth.
Before them was a truly impressive sight, as in the chamber was a full-grown and visibly upset dragon.
Twilight dropped into a bracing stance, preparing a shield to cast over herself and the former Emperor.
He, on the other hand, took a different approach.
"How dare you violate the imperial palace!" He shouted, marching right past her towards the draconic intruder.
A small part of her felt validated at his use of her earlier approach, but the larger part wanted to grab the apparently suicidal griffon and run.
The dragon, turned threateningly, but rather than attack, to Twilight's surprise, he spoke.
"I meant no disrespect, Emperor." He said dismissively, "Though I must say, it is quite nice to have confirmation that the rumors of your death, at the very least, have been exaggerated. Now if only you could put the rumors of aggression and war to rest and I will leave you to your peace. I would hate to have to report to the elders that the Griffons have once again..."
The dragon's booming words died as he broke his staring contest with the Emperor for a moment to glance at Twilight.
"Oh?" He then looked back to the Emperor, this time noticing his shackled claw and considering it for a second.
"Ah!" He laughed, "Ha ha! Alicorns put you in your place already did they?"
He did not respond, merely keeping the gaze of the much-larger being.
"Still as feisty as ever though I see." He then turned his focus entirely to the alicorn, "Goodness, where are my manners? My name is Centraga. I nest in the northern Egglayer Mountains, and am among the senior dragons who reside within the empire." He looked around, "It seems everything is under control here, so I'll just chalk this up to another regime change. No need to convene the elders over this, right?" He asked Twilight knowingly, "Well, I may as well introduce myself to the new Emperor. Have you selected the new Emperor yet?"
The former Emperor re-injected himself into the exchange, walking between the two, though not doing much with the height that the dragon had on him. "You address her now." He said.
Slightly annoyed, the dragon glanced at him, "I see no-" he jerked, freezing as his eyes re-locked on Twilight, and then to the crown still atop her head.
"Is this true? You, a pony, have taken the throne of the griffons for yourself?"
"Yg-" her throat clenched at her first words since the dragon's arrival. She wanted to explain the situation in detail, how she was forced, or that it was a misunderstanding, but under the dragon's sudden intense scrutiny all she could answer was a shaky "Yes".
The dragon stared at her, stone-faced. Seconds passed as Twilight considered trying to explain herself, or better yet, running away, but she did neither.
Eventually the dragon turned towards the open gateway, "The council must hear of this." He said as he stepped away, unfurling his huge wings and taking off as soon as he was past the doors.
Back inside, Twilight took one last wide-eyed look at the former emperor before promptly losing consciousness.
OH this is GOOD! Dragons taking note of gryphon aggression towards Equestria and wanting to have "words" with them and getting thrown for such a tumble. MOAR! I'd say the last of this chapter earned the Comedy tag
Comedy... Yeah. This is hysterical.
Yes! Another update! Although this could be both bad, yet interesting. If the dragons and Celestia had a non-expansionist treaty in place. Which would've been a good thing to tell Twilight. Or possibly have had a deeper look into what would happen after Twilight defeated the Griffs.
Still awesome chapter. I can't wait to see Celestia and / or Luna come see Twilight.
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Good, good, Twilight. Celestia taught you well
Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their chicks!
Next chapter, the Council´s answer to all griffin:
Ohohohoho. Twily, What a glorious gryphon you'll be!
I think you might have already had your first taste of meat due to an overzealous cook as well.
Oh boy, I hope what was in that broth didn't have any of fluttershy's animals friends (or their cousins) in it or else twilight may be about to have a worse day.
Wait, this didn't already have the Comedy tag? I could have sworn it did.
On an unrelated note; Hey! This is being updated again! What? One blue moon update doesn't really count as 'being updated'.
I think a Comedy tag could work!!
Though I am VERY curious to see how Dragons will become a new part of this story! Just when you think you have a handle on what is going on next, you throw in a surprise for us readers!
Twilight's reactions are funny at times.
Well, at least this is only Twilight's first offense. And, from the way the dragon is speaking, the griffons already had (and survived) their first offense, so I'm not entirely sure what the dragons will do, but it's unlikely to be immediately lethal, at least...
I wouldn't try adding a comedy tag. The story you have setup is not comedic in nature. Of course, that does not mean you can't have some comedic elements here and there, but if you tried to shift the narration to accommodate, it would impact the overall quality of the story that you have already setup.
That's my not so humble opinion.
well twilight may have her answer, the presence of a dragon bodyguard (I geuss 'champion' would be a better term, see ancient medieval rite to have someone fight for you) could logically keep any threats or challengers at bay.
Yay, another update!
Twilight may yet make a great fey monarch for the gryphons. Seek her friendship in humility, and be rewarded. Disrespect her, and be punished via feats of unknowable eldritch might. All shall lover her, and despair!
I, for one, welcome the new god-empress of gryphonkind!
My guess on the soup: It's clam chowder, isn't it? Ponies enjoying seafood doesn't strike me as all that odd, especially considering that unicorns have been seen to fish, and Fluttershy gleefully feeds fish to her other animal friends.
The comedy tag would make sense. Adding a romance tag would raise some eyebrows, but it could be done.
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Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Gonna be interesting to see how the Dragons' part in all this will play out. There's also still the matter of speaking with Celestia about all of this, and whether or not Twilight is now not only an enemy of the state, but a foreign power still at war with Equestria.
Can't exactly Elements of Harmony/Rainbow Power away an aggressor to the state when the key/linchpin to said power is the enemy of the state. That'll be a hard one to swallow...
...Just like that meat soup Twilight ate. I'm thinking it was cream of chicken.
So how come Celestia didn't realize how angry Twilight must be at her for forcing her into a position she did not even remotely want?
The prick tried to poison Twilight thankfully for a Alicorn even the most deadly poisons would probably just have a knock out effect and a bad hangover due to their amazing Vitality. What would be funny is if she decides to spare him through claiming she likes the soup so much she orders him to keep making it instead of death sentence which is the only way he is getting out of this. Twilight said she enjoyed it so this could be the logical work around and after the first dozen poisonings she should be pretty resistant or she may know an anti poison spell. Another advantage would be to quite unnerving and use a deadly poison as regular seasoning.
Edit: On the comedy tag if you take this turn it would be a must have as of now I feel it is borderline and could use the tag, but doesn't require it.
Did you mean to repeat that?
scenario
I look forward to seeing what place dragons have in this world.
6437526
Not odd at all. Especially since equines are not obligate herbivores. Which is to say that, while they are herbivores, they can (and sometimes do) eat meat without getting sick. Horses and ponies have been noted as (only occasionally mind you) stealing unattended hamburgers or hotdogs, or killing small animals and eating them. Meat is just not part of their regular diet, and they can live without it.
In show examples include:
Rarity eating caviar during her stay in Canterlot (the episode where she meets Fancy Pants & Fleur de Lis)
Applejack almost eating a ham sandwich (the episode that introduces Celestia's pet phoenix, Philomena)
Pinkie Pie stating that she likes hotdogs (the episode with the Running of the Leaves)
Just about every episode where they cook with eggs
All the milk and cheese the ponies consume in the show deserves mention too, but dairy a separate issue.
That being said, there is also a demonstrable preference towards a low meat, low starch diet, given the existence of hayburgers and hayfries. That, or the ponies in the show really really like hay.
Now, since the Griffon Empire likely already has at least some pony residence the same way that Equestria has some griffon citizens, I can see the cook being aware both of what ponies actually can eat, and what the most common dietary misconceptions by and about what ponies can eat and enjoy safely. Hence the blind taste test.
Definitely a comedy tag.
6437681
I've actually made use of ponies not being obligate herbivores in my own stories. It's useful when you want to imagine a society whose location precludes the cultivation of certain crops.
Someone's been reading their Stoic philosophers.
I'm a little skeptical that Twilight has yet to ask the former rulers what to expect in court. She seems surprised by everything: volume of supplicants, schedule, transition of power, expectations of the new Empress, etc. Wouldn't proper procedure and protocol be first on her mind? She's a list-making pony at heart, and at times like this falling back on the familiar Good Old Checklist would be a logical turn for her.
took a second
6437589
I'd bet it's not poison; it's probably a meat-based soup, which will likely give Twilight another fainting episode - or not, as 6437681 correctly notes.
Oh man, I can't believe this passed me by until now.
I actually like the awkwardness on Twilight and her former guards' part. They're all completely lost and there's really little room for logic when your whole world is shaking.
It's probably not gonna happen soon, but I'm looking forward to the inevitable Alicorn meeting. There's no way Celestia didn't know exactly what was going to happen when she sent Twilight. She's probably patting herself on the back and laughing her ass off at the same time. Unless her plan was to stop something bad happening in the bigger picture.
I think of the hilarity that could ensue if there were equestrian spies in the crowd looking at what to all intents and purposes looks like Twilight going mad with power, especially with the bit with her hoof pressing down on the Griffons head. Hehehe. This could get very entertaining indeed!
6437405 Except that Twilight isn't legally a Princess of Equestria anymore so that treaty wouldn't apply...
Celestia you magnificent bastard!
6437585 Probably because she does it on a regular basis, and it's always worked fine before.
I think the Captain of the Enterprise has a particularly apt quote just about now.
Oh Boy.
We had a few funny moments, mostly to twilight's reaction, but I am not sure the comedy tag is warranted yet.
Also, two chapters for me today!
Twi is only just beginning to understand how severely she's accidentally affected global politics.
So Twilight can do something other than stand there, completely gobsmacked, when someone is openly challenging her authority.
After she did nothing while her own soldiers mutinied and deserted, I was worried she was going to spend the whole fic being paralyzed by indecision.
Twilight Sparkle: Instant griffin, just add panic.
Three nights later, a great cacaphony rose up from the core of the draconic lands, as dozens of voices called out in unison:
"They made WHO the new Empress?!"
6438083
True, but she was until yesterday [for her]. Thus she is an alicorn, who was a princess of Equestria, technically the Princess of Friendship, has ties to Equestria [being a native], and was born under alicorn rule based society. The dragon's are going to see it as Alicorn Expansion, and if they [alicorns] made a move to rule the griffons, then what race is safe?
Technically current timeline Celestia and Luna aren't like that, but dragons or other races who weren't in the loop. They aren't going to see it that way. Still I do wonder how Tia is going to spin it? Since until Twilight entered the capital, she was doing so as a test from her mentor. And it was lack of cultural understanding on Twilight's part that led to the current predicament.
6438154 those weren't her own soldiers, those were equestria's soldiers, so once she was no longer a princess of equestria, they were no longer under her command.
P.S. this should definetaly have a comedy tag.
6438461 I'll believe that when Princess Celestia or Luna shows up and confirms it.
So far all we have is the word of some foot solider who thinks he's a legal scholar, but wasn't smart enough to voice that concern earlier.
Calling it right now, the soup was an egg of some kind. Maybe even a dragon egg.
6437860 Forgive me if I am wrong, but I'm pretty sure in previous chapters the old Emperor and Empress did tell her what to expect with her "court", only to find out this chapter that its not nearly as bad as the old rulers were trying to make her believe. I seem to recall Twilight flipping out a little bit when they told her what usually happened whenever a transition in power occurred. However, everything seems to be going quite a bit smoother than anyone was expecting.
Also, considering the fact that the Griffons have never had anything like a court before, it might make a little since that things are going smoother than expected. By the sounds of it, previous Griffon leaders just let the supplicants approach in a free-for-all, which would naturally cause issues with them getting their tributes to the new leader.
6438482 Ponies have eaten eggs in the show; not often but it's come up.
Which is actually viable, as eggs aren't quite the same thing as meat, though it might not be the best thing for an herbivore to eat. As well, as was stated much below, horses (and by extension, most herbivores) can eat meat; it's not very common or anything, and their digestive tracts are poorly suited to it, but they can. Just like how dogs and other carnivores can, and do, eat various grasses occasionally.
Segueing from that, I would suspect that Twilight's soup contained meat, and given the topic last mentioned...
The main ingredient is probably, in fact, Minotaur.
Many mini minotaur chunks. In tar-tar sauce.
I'm still waiting for Twilight to realize she can declare the Griffin empire a princessipally of Equestria, appoint a regent to manage it under her direction, and go home.
6438705
Horses love meat. They'll kill and eat rodents and birds if they have a chance; they can't rip chunks off, so it has to already be bite-sized.
The inability to regurgitate makes them incredibly vulnerable to food poisoning, however, so it's not something to encourage. Ponies on the show have demonstrated THAT biological capability, so the only problem with eating meat is if they eat enough to cause constipation or similar problems.
6437860 As he notes the meat shouldn't have caused any major adverse effects at least so quickly I was more so expecting a fast acting poison which however treasonous and unlikely would make sense given the circumstances. That just seemed the likely path for meat though I can understand severe indigestion as what happened from personal when our pony stole a large quantity of burgers at a family cook out which led to him being miserable for a few days after and he ended up having allot of gas as well. So from personal experience if you wish to take it down the meat path it could be humorous all the same, but passing out I feel would be an over reaction on that part.
In another note Horses and Ponies as a whole do have a high resilience to poison especially in the case of venom in fact injecting horses with venom and then processing out their blood is how a majority of Anti-venom has been made throughout history. Therefore It isn't a far stretch to say the poison would do little than be a major inconvenience.
6437860 True, "the" would only be appropriate if she only had one second, and used it, whereas "a" is appropriate for using one of the many seconds available; however, the activity described likely took more time than that, so if "second" is meant non-literally as the brief period of time between applicants, and she used all or the great majority of it, then "the second" would be fine (insofar as using "second" at all is fine, instead of "moment" or something like "brief pause").
More importantly, I think the bigger problem here is the phrase immediately following that one: "to survey to her advisers". I don't even know what "survey to" was supposed to even mean. "to survey her advisors", as in look at them? Or perhaps to question them, as by conducting a survey? (The sample size would be pretty small in this case, though.)
6438705 It's described as a coastal dish, so it's probably some kind of seafood that the Minotaurs are competing with the griffons for more than they used to. Or possibly an import from them, and either they are keeping more for themselves or decreasing production for some reason.
As for the proposed Comedy tag, I'd simply advise you to think about how much you want the story (or readers) to focus on humor and make your decision based on that. After skimming the story to remind myself, I don't think it's necessary. As for other tags, is "Adventure" better than "Slice of Life"? That is, how much is Twilight going to be spending time figuring out how to run her new Empire versus going around getting into diplomatic scuffles with foreign powers? (Like Equestria, hurr hurr)
6438847 See, I did know that. But I'm trying to, you know. Downplay it.
Learning that a stallion that can, with little effort, literally kick a hole in your rib cage is also a flesh eating beast might be unsettling to some. So we couch it in less direct language than 'love meat.'
But you went and said it clearly. So never mind subtlety.
6438938 Eh. Nothing is really known about the Minotaur nation, so they could very well be an island nation primarily based off of fishing, which would preclude the coast being associated with Minotaur meat.
But we'll just say that it might be a lot of different things, and that it'll have to wait for next Chapter.
6439386 It could be a lot of things, yes, but I think that while eating the flesh of another sapient species may not technically be cannibalism, it's pretty low on the list of things to expect in that soup. As you say, though, we'll find out.
6439448 It's explicitly not cannibalism.
Most of the negative context from cannibalism is, ironically, from eating creatures of the same species, and the term means 'Eating the flesh of a creature that is the same species as the eater.' However, there's a whole slew of separate negative points that come from eating intelligent creatures that most people conveniently ignore when they deal with killing and eating animals that show intelligence... But that's besides the point.
It's definitely going to cause a freak-out from Twilight if it is the case. Meat's bad enough, but intelligent creatures too?
I can't wait to find out!
6439448 the soup probably had fish in it.
unless it was seapony my guess is fish.
but eating a saipiant species is not cannibalism, cannibalism is eating ones own species. So a pony eating a pony of any "tribe" (earth, pegasus, unicorn, etc)
About the comedy tag:
The story is most certainly funny, and has made me laugh at certain points. However, does it deserve a comedy tag? I feel that I laugh mostly when Twilight blunders or overreacts due to the circumstances the story gets her in, but those situations will start appearing less and less as the story progresses. Perhaps waiting 2 or 3 more chapters before making the final decision about including the tag would be best, since it should give Twilight some time to grow accustomed to her new throne.
Of course, if you plan on having the fic be mostly about Twilight misunderstanding basic griffon culture until the end... then you will probably end up needing the comedy tag. But I don't think that's what you will do whit this fic.
Anyway, lets see how the addition of dragons into the story pans out. For now, it looks promising. Good job, as usual.
6438476 did you forget that those soldiers are a battalion of equestria's elite? add the fact that they're addressing a former princess of equestria and current empress of gryphonia, and i'd find it most likely that this would be the highest ranking officer of said "elite battalion" and not just some common foot soldier.
also, when was he supposed to voice that concern? twilight was alone talking to the emperor and empress and didn't inform the troops before making her announcement, so those soldiers only found out about the regime change at the same time as the gryphons.
I wonder what the dragon council will say when they remember that Twilight has Spike and what they will do once Spike joins Twilight in gryphonia ...
Yes, this should definitely be considered comedy. This is funny regardless of whether you intended it to be so or not.