Lyra: He… [Shutter] He was an undercover guard… When I turned him in, I blew his cover. There were tons of arrests, but he said he had almost traced the source… And I ruined everything…

Bon-Bon: Lyra… I…

Lyra: He was furious. Said he never loved me. That it was all part of the act. That he secretly hated me. I don’t know how much of it was true and how much was just anger, but it hurt… It… It never stopped hurting. [Pause] And I failed. I failed Princess Celestia again. Took another 6 months before they stopped the drug trade, and however many ponies died along the away. Because of me.

Bon-Bon: It… It wasn’t your…

Lyra: After that was when I got the job working on the castle grounds… Sometimes I wondered if it was just to keep me out of the way.
Bon-Bon: Princess Celestia wouldn’t… She couldn’t have blamed you.

Lyra: I spent all my bits getting drunk. I wanted to forget everything. Everything that happened; everything I was- If I could… If I could just be somepony else… It didn’t work…

Bon-Bon: That was when…

Lyra: I’m still alive, but I can’t speak to her. I don’t deserve to. Any social event she’s at I make it a point to avoid her. Whenever I’m involved I just make things worse for her…

Bon-Bon: And how do you think that makes her feel? Avoiding her, I mean.

Lyra: Relieved?
Bon-Bon: Relieved… Does that sound like Princess Celestia? Look, I can’t speak on behalf of the princess… but I’m gonna! Princess Celestia loves you! You may not have believed in yourself, but all those things you said to that imposter were true. I’m sorry about what happened, but I can’t believe you allowed this to stand between you two! You need to reunite. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but this… This can’t end like this. And I know she wouldn’t want it to…

Lyra: Before we begin, I’d like to welcome back S and thank him for finding time in his busy schedule to come on down and field a question for us. Thank you, S! It’s been a while!

S: And inversely, I would like to apologize for having rescheduled this appointment more than once. I believe you’ve been holding on to this question for a few days now.

Lyra: No trouble at all! Always happy to have you!

S: Pleasantries aside, I’d like to dive right into this. Firstly, there’s been some- while I wouldn’t yet call it miscommunication (we’ll get to that part later), critical details left missing from our present situation. You see, griffons did not suddenly stop using ponies as a source of nourishment. Ascension is neither an equal process nor can it function independently of the many other circumstances required for a species to grow into an organized society.

S: There have long since been “wild” ponies living within the borders of the griffons’ claimed lands. Though not a primary food source by any modern means, they were consumed on a semi-regular basis, dependent on the income of the family unit in question. For most, it was a treat; something to be savored on special occasions.

S: The ponies themselves had every bit the potential for intelligence that we take for granted, but without the downtime necessary to create or maintain a society. The unfortunate incident often cited on this webpage was the drastic result of a civilization (griffons) facing the extinction of an exotic, upper-class food source (ponies). As the upper-class, who so often control who is in power, were the primary consumers of this food source, it should take little imagination to discern a motive for those involved.

S: This brings us to the aforementioned miscommunication. Of which there have been several. Who exactly is at fault is not so easily discerned. Ignoring the fault of wildlife researchers for failing to properly gauge the rate of the local population’s decline, of hunters for remaining silent despite clear signs of said decline, processors for leaving hunters contractually obligated to deliver a product, and even the public for forcing such a high demand on the processors, there remain many mysteries.

S: There has yet to be any clear line of communication between any griffon leader and those involved in the trading of narcotics for Equestrian ponies. This will undoubtably leave a dark spot in griffon history, considering the executions that took place. Which brings me to my next point.

S: Griffons do not hate Equestrian ponies. To hate something requires putting enough thought and effort into something to return with a negative conclusion. Griffons just don’t generally care about Equestrian ponies. The key word being “generally”.

S: The riotous backlash and executions, some of which were public, was not the result of a society’s outrage at an eliminated food supply. It was retribution for feeding the public daughters and sons- mothers and fathers. Rather than being fed animals, griffons had been eating, as the word originates from their tongue, “people”. The whole of the griffon lands cried out in ravenous blind fury, “How dare you turn us into monsters?”

S: The situation, as it stands at present, is that pony meat has not only been absent in griffon society for years, it’s actually been outlawed. In the few cases in which any piece of a pony’s body is discovered and deemed to be within the possession of another individual, having been consumed or not, it is treated as bodily desecration in a court of law.

1) Woah there, friend. You might need to slow down.

Bad stuff can only happen because of good stuff. If you know about bad stuff, there must be good things for you to contrast them against. Removing all the bad would remove all the good too. We just need to bring more good into the world. And we can all do that!

Let’s get creative! Just don’t eat a heart. (May be disturbing to younger viewers. Also totally unrelated to the message behind this answer.)

2) I’ve touched upon this before. I might be now. There’s just certain things I wouldn’t want foals exposed to, even if an adult willingly chooses to ingest something illegal.

3) I would say an adjustment to the marriage law would probably be more likely. Not that I consider that particularly likely either.

4) Nonsense. Hiding Discord there wouldn’t have been a very good disguise if other statues were criminals too. And really, who else would require such an imprisonment? Discord is immeasurably powerful.

5) The drugs were finally traced back to the Griffon nation. Borders were closed. A few well placed raids and a little time and there was nothing left.

See, the biggest narcotic in Equestria during that time was a salt-like rock called Arid. To the pony body it could serve as a replacement for salt, only it was a poisonous hallucinogenic as well. But the main ingredients for it don’t form in Equestria.

Edit: Oh yeah! Fuselight came over and we did a few asks with him as a guest! Those will show up in the morning queue starting Monday.

1) Historically? Hair. Easy to replace, abundant, and cost efficient! Mine are metal, though. Not too expensive and very durable, but Luna help you if it breaks and flings the wrong way. Cut my foreleg once. No scar or anything, but a lot of blood and it hurt like crazy! Whole thing scared the crap out of me!

Megaman Legends is my favorite series. I loved it. Loved it. I gave up on there ever being a sequel, though.

I didn’t care for Battle Network, but I don’t know anything about Star Force. I played Network Transmission. It wasn’t bad; it was just… More like okay in spite of it’s mechanics instead of because of them.

2) The gang lifestyle arose from the emergence of a now extinguished drug trade. Upper class has always existed in Canterlot, as far as I know. In fact, some families were ruined from the break-ins.

But there’s an upper Canterlot and a lower Canterlot. Lower Canterlot isn’t visible from the skyline. That’s where ponies with less bits lived and that’s where gangs festered until the source was tracked and eliminated.

3) I don’t mean for a public library. I mean colleges! Scholars! Historians! Why are you being so difficult about this?

4) Hello! Fantastically well I am; certainly not fine by far, but you could say I’m close to spectacular.

You seem to have caught Fluttershy since last we spoke. Is it contagious?

5) You gotta remember that unicorn magic beyond the basics is, for the most part, pretty rare anyway. Most of what I know came as secondary education.

Amplification won’t make any noticeable changes to a body’s natural healing process. At least, nothing that’s yet been accomplished has. It’s just not focused enough. There are healing magics, though.

Believe it or not, I’ve been asked this before.

Answering this in the spirit of its standard definition, no.

In truth, I’ve taken plenty of medications, and those are considered drugs. I also drink occasionally and alcohol is considered a drug too.