>>227577
Chapter Two: Meet the New Boss
Princess Twilight Sparkle, imaginary spaghetti still dribbling from her imaginary pockets, flapped her wings frantically as she hurried towards the Friendship School. The wedding had gone on far longer than she had anticipated, and she knew that the Princess and the new Chancellor would be waiting for her.
“Oh, Sweet Celestia!” she muttered to herself. “I’m so late! I’m never going to make it there at this rate!”
And then she realized that she could just teleport, so she did that instead of flying the rest of the way.
Inside her office, Princess Celestia was waiting for her, along with a tall, gaunt, elderly griffon she had never seen before. His long, hooked beak protruded outward and downward, his mouth curled in a perpetual frown, thick-rimmed glasses balanced across the bridge. He raised a bushy eyebrow at her as she appeared suddenly in the room.
“I’m so sorry I’m late, Princess,” she said, groveling before her former teacher in a way that would have made Sunset Shimmer’s nether regions tingle. “You see, Fluttershy’s wedding took a little bit longer than I expected, and….”
What remained of her spaghetti was depositing itself on the floor at an alarming rate. Thankfully, the Princess smiled and gave a gracious wave of her wing, as if she were trying to say “please shut the hell up, you adorable little sperg,” except she wanted to be more polite about it than that.
“It’s quite alright,” she said. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, allow me to introduce Chancellor Griffonberg, the new head of the EEA!”
Twilight turned and grinned broadly at the griffon, who only snorted.
“So…” Twilight began after several awkward seconds, “Welcome to Ponyville, Chancellor. How are you liking it here so far?”
Chancellor Griffonberg snorted again.
“It’s very dry here,” he said. “Very, very dry. My sinuses are going crazy. I don’t know how you all live here.”
His voice was a high, raspy, grating whine, and he spoke with a thick Manehattan Griffon accent. He sucked air through his enormous nostrils, as if trying to see if it was still as dry as he had previously believed. Disappointed to find that it was, he snorted a third time and continued.
“Anyway, yes. Hi, hello, my name is Herschell Griffonberg, you can call me Chancellor Griffonberg. Actually I would prefer that you call me Chancellor Griffonberg and not Herschell. And please don’t call me Mr. Griffonberg, I find that very rude. I didn’t spend all that time becoming a Chancellor just so I could be called Mister, thank you very much. Anyway, yes, hi, hello. I’m Chancellor Griffonberg, I’m the new head of the EEA, and I’ll be overseeing this school for the next few weeks, even if it means that I have to stay here and breathe in all of this terribly dry air and it’s going to be murder on my sinuses.”
“Er…Chancellor Griffonberg has been chosen to take over after Chancellor Neighsay stepped down,” Princess Celestia explained, after a few more seconds of awkward silence. “After some of the…recent incidents at your school, we felt that it would be wise to review some of the EEA’s previous policies.”
Chancellor Griffonberg cleared his throat and interjected.
“That’s right. We’re making some changes, a lot of changes actually. In Manehattan, we have some very new and exciting ideas about how to approach the future of education in Equestria. Equestria is going through a fundamental transformation, we’re going into a multicreatural mode, and we Griffons are going to be taking a leading role in that transformation. Griffons may be resented for our leading role, but without that transformation and without that leading role, Equestria will not survive. My gosh, the air here really is very dry, I don’t know how you all can stand it.”
“Um….okay….” said Twilight Sparkle. “Well, I…uh…” She still was not quite sure whether she was being scolded or not. However, the Chancellor only gave her response the briefest of nods, and then resumed his speech.
“First of all, like I said, we’re transitioning into a multicreatural society here. In Manehattan, we’re very forward thinking, very forward thinking, you see. Soon, all of Equestria is going to be like Manehattan, but first we have to get there, and your school is going to set the example, because I’m going to be overseeing it from now on. Yes, hi, how are you?”
Twilight looked over her shoulder, but didn’t see anyp—anyCREATURE else in the room. Meanwhile, Chancellor Griffonberg was looking at her as if she were expected to say something.
“Well, er…” she began. She was a little intimidated by the old griffon’s manners, but as she processed what he had said, her face suddenly brightened. “Well, I think you’ll actually be pretty happy with the way our Friendship School is being run. You see, our school is currently open to everycreature, not just ponies--“
The griffon snorted loudly and interrupted her.
“‘Open’ isn’t enough. You’ve got to have proportional representation. And by proportional, I mean you’ve got too many ponies here. Your town is called ‘Ponyville’ for Griff’s sake, that’s very problematic for all of the non-ponies who are going to be migrating here. Gosh, this air is so dry, I don’t know how you can stand it. My sinuses are going crazy. Are your sinuses going crazy? My sinuses are going crazy. Anyway, how many yaks do you have enrolled at your school?”
“Uh…just the one I think…” Twilight could feel the spaghetti beginning to dribble out of her mental pockets once more.
“Hrmph.” The griffon snorted. “You’re going to need more yaks, a lot more yaks. In Manehattan, we have thousands of yaks. Millions. You’ve never seen so many yaks until you come to Manehattan. They don’t live near me, of course, but they’re going to live near you. We have a ton of them. Yes, hi, hello.”