King Darkfeathers looked thoughtful from his spot on the throne, “A trade route across the sea,” he said as he looked at me.
I nodded, “That’s the basic proposal. A joint effort to increase trade between Equestria and Griffona. The only other trade route is a single rail line all the way around the sea and it dosn’t go all the way. It would turn transport times from months to weeks.”
While train were technically faster, it was a hell of a lot shorter to go across than around.
Sadly, airships were too expensive and couldn’t carry enough cargo. At least so far.
“And what of the sea monsters?”
I shifted my wings, “The ships would be defended by our joint forces. But they are also rarer than most ponies realize… and tend to avoid ships, especially if they keep getting booped on the nose by an arbalest or fire spell when they get close.”
Sure, would work on me. If there was a muffin on a table that shot sparks at me when I got close, I would find some less hostile food instead.
Darkfeathers moved off the throne, “And who would pay for all this?”
“It would be a joint effort,” I said, “The details are all outlined in the paperwork. But in short, Equestria will pay for half the guard, the magic protections and the pegasi and the construction of the ships. We have the expertise needed for this kind of ship building. Griffona would pay for the materials for the ships and the majority of the crews for them.”
“How many ships?”
“The current plan is for five ships,” I told him, moving up to stand next to him as he looked at a painting of a griffon in a full plate set of armour.
Darkfeathers was quiet for a long time, “That’s a lot of material and griffon power. In case you didn’t notice on the flight here, Griffona is not covered with forests. Especially the ones suitable for shipbuilding.”
“The specific terms are very negotiable,” I told him, “I’m just here to present the proposal. I have no doubt that actual negotiations over the details will take years until it’s all hammered down. Does it sound like something you would be interested in?”
“If it worked, it would help both of our economies,” he admitted after a second, “I’m unsure on how feasible it is however. Even five vessels of the size of a cross sea trade ship is rather significant.”
I nodded in agreement, “True. But think of all that Equestrian goods and Bits flowing into Griffona.”
“I need to think of this.”
“Of course. Like I said, I’m just here to present the proposal. If it turn into something real, is up to normal channels. The paperwork has been turned in and should arrive for you soon.”
He nodded, “What do you think of it?”
“If I didn’t think it had a chance of working, I wouldn’t waste my time being here, I would be much rather spend my time by the fireplace with Princess Luna,” I told him quite honestly, “It won’t be easy. But I think that if it works, it will be well worth it for everycreature, pony or griffon.”
Darkfeathers shifted his wings, “If it works.”
“Indeed.”
“But as you said, Lord Page,” He started, “Cutting three quarters of the transport time of goods would open up…”
He didn’t get much further before being interrupted as the door to the throne room opened to let another griffon inside. She looked like she were falcon/lion pattern.
“Father?”
Darkfeathers visibly perked up as he spotted her, and he smiled, “Silverlining! You’re back early!”
She nodded and approached, “The hunting trip had to be cut short, one of the guides hurt his wing so there were little point continuing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” He said and reaches to stroke the feathers on her hair before motioning to me, “May I introduce Lord Blank Page of Equestria. Lord Page, my daughter, Silverlining.”
I bowed slightly, “A pleasure to meet you, my lady.”
“You as well, Lord Page,” she said, eyes flicking between my wings and horn.
I smiled at her, “Never met an Alicorn before?”
She shook her head, “No, my lord.”
“We are rather rare,” I admitted, “May I ask what you were out hunting?”
“Saldian,” She said and then explained, “It’s a kind of horned animal that graze in herds on the plains. Fast and stupid.”
I nodded, “Hunt them a lot?”
“Rarely, only my second time,” she admitted, “It’s only allowed for the royal family and on special dispensation.”
Darkfeathers nodded, “To prevent overhunting.”
That made some sense, especially combined with the entire ‘kings woods’ thing that used to exist on Earth. It made sense it did here too.
“Makes sense. Don’t want to deplete the population for the local predators,” I agreed.
He looked at me in surprise, “I’m curious, what would a pony know about hunting?”
“Oh, not much,” I said with a smile, “Never been hunting. Just fishing a couple of times.”
“Would you care to try it?”
Not particularly to be honest even if I wouldn’t say no to a steak, but there was a challenge in that question.
“Of course.”
Ho ho, I'd like to see if Blank knows any sniper spells although I suspect the Gryphons would balk at such "cheating"-- it would be honorable to use a bow, xbow, spear or some such device. If anyone had firearms, it'd be them or the minotaurs. As for dressing the kill, I'd leave that to the experts while I turn green in the corner.
So, will he go air Narwhaling?
I can't wait to see how Page react to see a fish or animal to be hunted in front of his eyes, would love to see the mammal they hunt for sports. I wonder what Griffin eat most of the time, fish is my best guess, I take it that their population is limited but what they can hunt unless they eat lots of beans and tofu to their diet?
Nice chapter, good work.
Yay~! New possible lady friend!
Silverlining seems nice. I hope Page and her hit it off. More friends are always nice.
Looking forward to more.
... Cool story ... but bruh, this is less than a thousand words! took only a minute to read. Other than that good chapter... just wish it had body... its like you're not giving it any real effort. Just being half-ass with it
Wonder if our little hunter will use human tactics to hunt.
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Humans were, at first, persistence hunters… Would make quite the impression on the Griffons.
That said, ambush tactics might worked better, depending on the prey.
Still, with Blank Page, we have the example he set with Tirek, he went head-on on him.
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This is generally around the chapter length that Hiver uses, and has been for the entire Blank Page saga. There are exceptions, some about twice this length, but in general you can expect small, frequent updates. Only a thousand words? Sure. But how many other stories out there update every other day?
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That is true, but at the same time there are stories out there that updated weekly with three times the word count. From what I can tell from my previous comment, ppl are 50-50 with and against me, so I guess it's just a matter of preference.
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I used to write a part a day, but that was before I managed to get a full time job.
I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist a gryphon Hunt.
Whoo! Spent a week and have now gone from Very beginning to All caught up. Great story, good pacing, enjoyable characters. Great trolling can't wait for the next chapter. Probably gonna take a short break from reading your lovely story so I can Binge Read the new chapters
I can help but feel the ‘were’/‘was’ thing is intentional, but maybe I’m just missing something. Either way, I love seeing Page show human tendencies. I hope he gets his steak, and look forward to the reactions that gets.
One question, how does Luna deal with nightmares when ponies are asleep when she's in night court? From this story, she's spending time with Page and is too busy to deal with Nightmares.
Show the griffins how a former human hunts. Persistence hunting ftw.
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Yas.
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Just keep walking until otherwise stated
Funny. That’s what what’s his name that got his head chopped off loved to do instead of ruling France. Hunt in his woods. To be fair tho it was because he was what I would say indecisive and had a lot of anxiety issues. He was like page actually, just wanted to stay away from all that. Unfortunately doing so kinda fucked up the country considering that his literal job was being a celestia and not a page
Hunt it, kill it, cook it AAANNNDDD NOM-NOM ♡
The eat is going to be sooo delicious that Page will make her a mate... Would be a funny romance plot
Guardian Page through the hunting trip will be,a bitch of a task to accomplish for Amber. Poor Ling
Silver Lining, a nice once of use character. To bad Page never seem to beach out in races dated. But he is still in his first life time.