Vex shivered in the chilled dark of the dungeon cell in which he had found himself- never would the pegasus have expected to be facing the situation that was now upon him. A tribute? To the griffons of all things… not any griffon, King Grover himself. He’d never seen the griffon King, but he had heard of just how fierce he was reputed to be, and his armies were known across the land to be the most skilled and terrifying that could be faced.
 
Perhaps that is why the tribute had been called. The Celestial Diarchy must have been threatened by King Grover and knew that their newly established Guard couldn’t face off the strength of the griffons, Vex pondered to himself in the darkness. That must be why they had called for this primitive ritual… he’d been chosen by random lot to be the one sent to Griffonstone to appease the warlike nature of the King and ensure peace between the Kingdoms. He never felt like a lucky soul, but truly this luck was the worst he’d ever had.
 
What would they do to him, he wondered. Was he to be held as a captive worker? No, he was the only tribute pony, and while surely more would follow in years to come it was just him now. No, they wouldn’t use a single pony as a worker. Maybe they meant for him to be a curiosity? Part of the King’s menagerie, to be ogled and gocked at like a zoo critter for the rest of his life. Vex shuddered at the thought; it seemed like something a King like Grover might do to a pony, and he was a unique specimen for sure, his coat a stony grey, born defective without wings, but still keeping the distinctive feathers in his tail that marked his breed of mountain pegasi.
 
A sudden clank from the door jarred his thoughts, the pegasus jumping slightly, rattling the chains around his hooves. Bright light flooded the cell as the thick wood and wrought iron door creaked open and two armored griffons stepped through. The made their way to him, one male, one female by the looks of their plumage, mottled with greys and brown, and clad in identical sets of polished bronze armor that bore a winged crest upon the breast, orange plumes cocked high atop their helmets.
 
“On your hooves, pony.” The female spoke sharply.
 
Vex looked her over for a moment, eyes darting between her and the male as he approached with the key for the locks that held him tethered to the cell wall. His mind raced to think up a plan, if he could push through these two with haste the moment he was unlocked, he could throw the door shut behind him and make a dash through the-
 
“I said on your hooves!” The female guard roared, grabbing hold of the nape of Vex’s neck with her talon and heaving him up with apparent ease, his eyes growing wide at her surprising strength. She held him painfully tight, her wicked talons held perilously on his throat, preventing any chance of escape as the male guard unshackled him and bucked a thick collar onto his neck, tightening it into place and attaching a chain lead to a ring hung from its edge.
 
“Now get moving! To the hall!” The guard forcefully let go, whipping her tail harshly to hit his flank.
 
Vex stumbled out into the light of the corridor, the two griffons flanking him on either side with one holding the lead and tugging his collar sharply. His hoofbeats echoed in sharp contrast to the soft steps of paws and talons as he was led up long winding staircases that spiraled upward through the hewn mountain beneath the Great Tree of Griffonstone. In any other context he might have felt at home in these stony corridors, but he dreaded what was to come, knowing he was being taken to the King.
 
The corridors turned from solid stone to built masonry to carved wood as the three ascended, the staircases finally ending after countless flights that left Vex panting, the griffons seemingly accustomed to the exertion. They pushed through a thick door that took them out into a lavishly decorated hall, built into the hollow innards of the great tree, the ceiling soaring higher and broader than any structure he’d seen built by the Sisters in Everfree, his breath taken for a moment in the grandeur of the space.
 
An immense carpet stretched the length of the hall, richly colored and warm beneath Vex’s hooves, a welcome change from the cold stone deep below. The guards took him the length of the hall to a gilded double door of tremendous size, which sat ajar enough that one could enter through it but not easily see what lay beyond. The female guard nodded to the male who tugged the chain that held Vex’s collar, indicating for him to stop where he stood as the female slipped through the door.
 
A trio of griffons caught Vex’s eye, standing off to the side of this grand entrance, each wearing intricately patterned robes of richly hued samite, draped around their feathery forms. They whispered amongst each other, looking pegasus over carefully but not approaching. One of the three narrowed their eyes, their purple tipped crest feathers puffing up with consternation. Vex quickly averted his gaze from the three, turning his head to look straight down at his hooves, not wishing to upset anyone important here in the hall by staring at them, looking for anything at all he could do to ameliorate his situation.
 
The minutes seemed like hours to Vex, slowly drawing in his breath and then letting it out to calm his nerves. After an excruciating wait the female guard’s head appeared from around the edge of the door, looking toward the male guard and chirping lowly. He then tugged Vex’s chain and led him through the doors.
 
He kept his gaze low, jumping visibly as the doors were forced shut behind him with a resonating thud that reverberated around the smaller chamber he was now in. Slowly he looked up from his hooves to take in his new surroundings, not noticing the two guards bowed low as his gaze travelled along another carpet that led to a set of stairs reaching up to a raised platform, the summit of which was graced by an involute nest of braided limbs of vines, lined with shimmering purple silk. A griffon of startling size sat within the wreath-like nest, feathers and fur a dusty brown with a mask of cream behind a sharp hooked yellow beak. The griffon wore a scarf of flowing purple silk, marked by a golden cockade that bore the same crest as the armor of the guards that held him captive, and a dense, radiant crown of solid gold rested upon the griffon’s head, shining in the multi-hued light which shone down upon the chambers through stained windows high in the vaulted rafters.
 
The King… there was no doubt that this was him, Vex was certain of it. For now the King’s attention was off his side, talking in hushed tones with a smaller snowy white griffoness who wore similarly stark white robes. She glanced down at the pony for a moment before focusing back on the King as they spoke secrets betwixt them that he couldn’t hope to hear. She produced a small corked vial of clear fluid and held it out to the King, who took it in an immense talon and looked it over pensively in the light.
 
A glint of light captured the attention of the enthralled pony, looking to the other side of the King and seeing what looked like a tremendous chalice of glistering electrum, wonderously worked into the shape of a curled wing which flowed like petrified fire upon a griffon’s talon, cradling a hoof sized sphere of gemstone the likes of which Vex had never imagined, glimmering with an unearthly light of many hued bands that transfixed his eyes, radiating with a magical power and authority that he could sense palpably in the air.
 
Vex’s spell of wonderment was broken by the sound of a booming voice, amplified by the acoustics of the hall’s architecture.
 
….
 

 
Rest of story is at the source on Furaffinity~!