This story is a sequel to The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian
All Princess Sun Shines wants to do is escape from her stuffy room and explore the castle. All Green Grass wants to do is find some distraction to keep him from worrying about Twilight’s most recent dangerous mission. Can the two of them find a way to achieve their goals without starting a war?
Contains Fierce Neighponese Ninjas, Noble Alicorn Princesses, Carrot-Thirsty Lettuce-Eating Lapins, Poisonous Green Garden Hoses, Terrifying Twins, Death-Defying Nighttime Chariot Rides, and a dead fish.
Featured on Equestria Daily [Slice of Life] [Comedy] [Romance]
Editing assistance provided by Fan of Most Everything, Bad Horse, MarMelMM , Peter , and Ghost of Heraclitus
This is a sequel to The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian but is written as a standalone. No previous knowledge of Twilight Sparkle and Green Grass’ relationship is needed, other than Greenie is finding out just how far over his head he has gotten.
Princess Sunny's story continues in Diplomacy by Other Means, a considerably darker tale of assault, murder, and the darkness that lies within the soul. Four diplomats travel to the Misty Mountain aerie to prevent war, and wind up in a race to escape and a fight to the death.
Credit for the image goes to Kalas17 at Deviantart.com, who I would like to thank for giving me permission to use his adorable Baby Gilda. The background is pulled from the Royal Wedding episode.
Comment #1 is reserved for the author. Welcome to the sequel to The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian . Please be assured every part of this story can be rated G, and is perfectly safe for young and tender minds to browse. Well, maybe a PG phrase or two inside, but I'm very conservative in that respect, as you know if you have read my previous story.
Chapter 1 : Your introduction to the young Princess Sun Shines, and Green Grass' older valet, Friday Haystings.
Chapter 2 : Sunny and Green Grass find something to do
Chapter 3 : For every action, there is a reaction.
Chapter 4 : Green Grass gains a skill that may be of use in the future.
Chapter 5 : Making Tea and asking questions. Very long, with extra verses.
Chapter 6 : The reward for doing a good job is....
Chapter 7 : Ties to the past for Green Grass and Sunny
Chapter 8 : Shopping and gifts, of many varieties.
Chapter 9 : Time, Teaspoons, and Tablespoons.
Spoiler: There are three teaspoons to the tablespoon, except in Australia, where there are four teaspoons to the tablespoon. I'm not quite certain how that affects making tea, but tea is not what is being measured here.
Note: This story was written and edited before being posted. I'm starting to think all of my future stories will go out this way instead of racing to do one chapter at a time. Much less stress and much better results.
The sequel? That that fic? OH HELL YES!
~Skeeter The Lurker
Update: Yes. Yes yes yes.
This will be QUITE good.
Please, by all means, feel free to continue so I may spam this with more comments.
Oh, may I make a suggestion? If you're going to comment in the comments, why not use the Author's Note's box for the footnotes? It'd give it that uniqueness to it, I'd think. Then again, I am crazy.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2856585 ALL OF THEM! RIGHT NOW
Yaaaay!
I'm not sure how to feel about seeing my name listed in another's story description. It almost makes me feel significant.
In any case, I'm eagerly looking forward to the further adventures of one of the best original characters on the site.
2856585 Oh, my. Your unique sense of humor is a really nice addition to my following fictions list. I really missed it. But then again, I've also not gotten around to reading the last two recent updates to Monster. Should probably do that now.
At long last, the sequel to TTatL arrives! I can't wait to get started!
Before I dive into the previous story in preparation of reading this one... Will there actually be gryphons in this story, or does the cover art lie?
I'm liking that griffon more and more.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2857732
I can confirm that there is.
~Skeeter the Lurker
YES! Me find this, me favorite and thumb it up. Twenty minutes later, another chapter appears!
I'm just puzzled at what the romance tag is for 0_O
So far....we've got an ADORABLE griffin chick, a semi-normal but amusing unicorn, and an elderly butler.
I regret that I am unable to give this story the thumbs-up it deserves, because I am DED FROM CUTE
2857842
Have you read the fic this is a sequel to, out of curiosity? Also, unicorn? Who are you referring to?
2858051
Hmm. No, I probably should though.
Earth pony. not unicorn /headdesk.
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTIvMTIvMDYvMThfMTRfMTRfMjRfMTc0MjkxX19VTk9QVF9fIl1d/174291__safe_rainbow-dash_animated_cute_book_bed_adorable_reading_books_hoofy-kicks_read-it-and-weep_adorable-as-fuck_hnnng_awesome_leg-wiggle.gif.gif
^Me while reading this chapter.
So much cuteness! I love Sunny already!
Something tells me that this Griffin is going to be a non-pony version of the Cutie Mark Crusaders - Young, daring, adventurous, ultimately good-hearted but utterly fearless and with no concept of propriety or logic. In other words she's going to be a hyper-cute hell-raiser.
Guess who's going to end up fledgling-sitting her?
Something tells me that Sunny's sense for a patsy for her scheme failed her this time. Green Grass (and Friday Haystings, by long necessity) are good at dealing with plotting little fledglings and fillies! Something tells me that tonight's Royal Dinner will be a learning experience for all attendees!
I also think that Sunny is currently disabled by a sugar rush.
Damn it, Georg, are you trying to kill me with cuteness? Heck this story doesn't even need Green Grass. It could just follow Sunny around and I would be satisfied.
Those gryphon names are just fantastic.
I gotta say, that hat sounds like the perfect hat for Friday.
2858116
You should read the prequel, it also is one of the most adorable shipping fics on the site. And perfectly SFW with an OC, which by itself is impressive.
Greenie ought to know, he's very familiar with troublesome mares at this point.
Sunny might just have thought twice about her choice if she knew he was a schoolteacher.
Hat shenanigans? Rarity would be proud.
I wonder how close he is to setting a "number of Princesses escorted to formal events" record.
And for this chapter, we have the Main Course....
2859566
Just did. Frickin. Adorkable XD
Lol...
prank?? War!
I'm quite sure what Green Grass and Celestia are doing aren't 'pranks' but something else, but I'm not sure what, could someone help?
That fish sounds excellent.
And something tells me that the good old grandfather opened his mouth and pissed Luna off.
~Skeeter The Lurker
All I could think of when Sunny approached the guards was you threat level guide from "Genealogy - (or the Mating Habits of Nocturnes Pegasi)" chapter 10, you know, and how Sunny would definitely be a category 8 "Category Eight (Small child with stick attempting to make Guard on duty react. Don’t move or you buy beer for the whole shift"
Finally remembered the name of the fic (well, in truth I searched the site and found it fairly rapidly), were the guards at the kitchen door a A Slice of Life reference?
Listen to Friday Greenie, he's old and from the sound of things is specifically trying to be helpful. His advice is probably based on experience and hard earned wisdom.
So, one seat to two seats to four seats? A mathematically sound progression, nothing suspicious about that at all.
Oh my. So could that make the Green Grass stories fully in canon with the Pumpernickel stories? Nothing springs to mind that would make them incompatible, unlike Monster that had a similar cameo. Also, Luna is somewhat terrifying.
And preening lessons? I can't imagine how that skill set could ever turn out to be useful.
Hmmm... I find this an odd coincidence. I am already reading a fic where Twilight tries fish.
Negotiations not going well? RIP AND TEAR... a loaf of bread to make a nice sandwich.
Loving it thus far. Still, I can't help but wonder just how long Celestia was holding onto news of Twilight's return if they're already getting shipments of crystal berries. That's probably going to come back to bite Green Grass on the flank soon enough...
2862003 I have this mental picture of the guard from the first half of the Crystal Empire scene actually saying: "Princess Celestia. He has returned. And he sent a lovely gift basket, with a case of Crystal Berries and a bottle of wine. Do you want me to read the card?"
2861943 Some crossover is possible, but no perfect corners. You may have noticed a very short cameo by the excellent Dawnscroll's Hop and Lethe, from A Slice of Life (Which I would encourage anybody reading this who has not experienced this delicious fic to immediately click on the link and read it. I'll wait for you to get back.) Since the Pumpernickel-verse doesn't have female guards (yet), it doesn't perfectly match, but they were too tempting to pass up
2861290 Ya' think? Grandfather will show up again in "Diplomacy By Other Means", as will Pumpernickel. There will be a nasty fight between them.
2861160 You can think of it as education, with Celestia as the teacher. Lesson #1 : It's good to be the Princess. Lesson #2 : I don't mind you having fun, but remember Lesson #1.
2861156 Thank you. I hope EqD loves it this time through too. It took a lot of work to write a SFW shipfic, and I hope you guys enjoy this one all the way to the very last footnote(*)
2861947 I think you're reading Twilight's Secret which I'm really enjoying and have tagged to read chapters as they emerge. A wonderful little concept of which I'm jealous.
(*) And the last footnote is very important to the sequel, The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam
So Fast! Are you done and just uploading? Did you say & I didn't see?
Those signs... I love them.
And the bit with the Cakes... Nice touch.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Holy cow these are coming out at a good clip.
Like the story so far, love the quotes at the top, and am laughing at the amount of "troll" Celestia is putting on poor Green, even if it is educational, not that he knows this yet. And those signs are awesome. I may have to borrow a few of those for a local college.
Do I even want to know what unsafe preening consists of? Well, clearly I do, otherwise I wouldn't have asked.
Still, the only thing that comes to mind is preening in midflight. Doesn't get much less safe than that.
In any case, a fantastic discussion of the differences in pony and griffon psychology and, by extension, politics, as illustrated through Bavarian Fire Drills.
I should probably note that I made a point of not reading any of the story other than the specific part where you asked for my help, so this is all a delightful surprise for me. I'm looking forward to more.
Psh, doesn't he know that it's a valet's job to produce any kind of sundry, no matter how absurd, on demand?
Doh ho ho, is he in for a nasty surprise eventually
2862300
Unsafe preening is one of the main risk factors for cooties.
So is 'The Cakes and the Spoon' going to be your (partial) noodle incident?
The ninja ponies make me think of Pythonesque humor for some reason.
Lovin' the sequel! Keep it up!
There you have the crux of the matter. Trust is necessary for a functioning society, but any society that blindly trusts everything its rulers tell it, no matter how benevolent, is damned. Healthy skepticism, even of a supposedly all-benevolent sun-empress, is vital. Even if the sun-empress doesn't like it.
Your Celestia needs a few lessons in humility herself. She may raise the sun, but neither it nor the world revolve around her.
" topic very much free of feathers: Twilight Sparkle."
....
Poor guy, he has no idea what's coming XD
Green Grass likes to learn.
And when Twilight becomes an Alicorn.. Oh my, his face!
~Skeeter the Lurker
I regret nothing. And I'd like to specially thank FanofmostEverything and GoH for their assistance in this chapter.
You are spoiling us with these chapters
not that I'm complaining.
I love how Celestia somehow managed to make everyone feel like she's their kindly, elder aunt who's looking out for them and is secretly amused by their capers, even when they're in the wrong. I think it's this public persona and personal magnetism that's kept her on the top for so long.
Amazing. Just when I'm thinking that it is becoming a bit dreary to see Greeny dragged along, and only reacting to the actions of those arround him... *BAM*
Ah! A guest shot from Pumpernickel! I'm assuming that this confirms that this is part of your Nocturnal Pegasi continuity?
If the Griffins are stupid enough to attack the Crystal Empire, then a few days of eternal night might remind them not to trifle with the gods. For their sake, they'd need to hope that nopony was hurt or a stellar core fragment might land on their 'empire', putting a end to their homeland once and for all.
This is what diplomacy is for: Stopping hot-blooded idiots killing themselves out of pride or stupidity and killing lots of other people along the way.
I suppose they could send Sunny off with Twilight and Green Grass to 'learn the ways of Equestria' as a princess needs and then make it abundantly clear to her grandfather that she's now officially a hostage to the Griffins' good behaviour.
Well, at least Green Grass and his family aren't in any danger. I feel bad for Geen Grass, though.
Okay, I've changed my mind. If the Griffins are so determined to make Sunny the Princess of the Crystal Empire... why not get Cadence and Shiny to foster her for a while? The Griffins get to claim that they've won (because she's living in the Crystal Palace) and the ponies get to influence her and deprogram her from the equiphobic racism that her grandfather seems to have been inculcating in her. Once again, the old concept of the peace hostage works here - The griffins dare not attack knowing that Sunny's would be the first throat slit, long before even one of the Crystal Empire's defence forces died.
Of course we know that Sunny wouldn't be in a moment's danger, that Cadence's first reaction in a crisis would be to evacuate Sunny along with the city's foals and that she would protect the fledgling with her life. However, the Griffins (who seem to see everything through the prism of their own culture) wouldn't believe that even if told so explicitly.
There is no lie quite so believable like the lie someone tells themselves.
I did love the official note from the Griffin ambassador. "P.S.: She's allergic to beets" - Even in a time when war is hovering in the background, he's still basically a nervous and over-protective dad, isn't he?
Damnit, stop updating so fast. You're making me fail my exams. xD