My Little Griffon: The Red Paw

Reappearance
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“Many things reappear in both good times and bad, such is the will of fate.” ~Anonymous
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“For a very short period of time, the shield is inactive. This occurs as the old shield goes down and a new one is recast. The window of opportunity is small, but it’s enough for something fast to get in,” Ales explained to the changeling and through him, his queen, “Granted, it’s dangerous, one little slip up and you end up going splat against the shield, but it appears to be the only flaw.”

“What’s the window of opportunity?” The changeling asked after a moment’s pause.

Ales opened her beak, but then looked to Huntley, who replied, “Almost two seconds, one point seven to be exact. If your queen were to be accelerating at the shield at the right speed and time, then she’d be able to make it through.”

The changeling wore a mildly suspicious look, but reported to his queen all the same as he appeared to daydream momentarily, “What are the exact numbers on her speed and the time?”

“I’d need your queen’s body length and her weight to determine that,” Huntley said.

The changeling nodded and went into daydream mode again for a while. Bored, Ales began to wonder how the others were doing, she knew that Kyne and Gilda’s pairs were out in the town and the fourth squad was in the other room, keeping a vigilant eye on the bugs. Huntley and her had been left to deal with the changeling, which turned out to be quite a boring task.
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Gilda brought the camera up to her face again and snapped another picture, looking like any average griffon tourist. The only real difference was that she was snapping shots of the different guard’s areas and, of course, she wasn’t a tourist.

“I can’t believe this!” Clive said with annoyance. Gilda spared him a glance, noting that he was glaring at the menu in his hands, “Everything’s vegetarian! Where the hell can I get a good old fish steak?”

“Earth to dumbass,” Kyne, who shared the same table with Gilda, Clive, and Zephrine, began, “We’re in Canterlot, capital of Equestria, the land of half-wit herbivore ponies,” he kept his voice down so as not to get any looks from others in the outside dining area.

“What, so they can’t serve other creatures?” Clive shot back.

“We’re omnivorous, Clive,” Zephrine cut in, trying to make sure the two males didn’t cause a scene, “suck it up and just eat some leaves, maybe their breakfast menu is still up, order some eggs.”

“They’re soy eggs, fake, synthetic, shit! Whatever the hell you want to call it,” Clive paused, noting another section on the menu, “At least they have alcohol.”

Gilda snapped another picture of two guards chatting, the seventeen times lens on her camera helping greatly from the distance from the castle that they were, “You can have one glass, Clive, I don’t want you drunk in the middle of this mission.”

“Spoilsport,” Clive said.
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“So can your queen pull it off?” Huntley finally asked.

The changeling nodded, “She can.”

“Good, is that all that she’ll need of us?”

“Our queen would like some help getting rid of the real bride. All you’ll need to do is incapacitate her so our queen can send her to the old mine shaft under Canterlot castle. Our queen is strong, but it would make our job easier if Princess Cadence couldn’t fight back,” The changeling explained.

“Incapacitate? Why not just kill?” Ales asked.

“Our queen wants as many ponies possible for us to feed off of. After she takes Canterlot, pairing her back with Captain Shining Armor should create even more love for us to take. Cadence is no real threat and neither are any others that may stand in her way.”

“Any particular way that you’d like it done?” Huntley asked.

“Well what’s on the figurative menu?” the changeling replied.

“We could slip her some tranquilizer in her food or drink, maybe break into the castle and get her while she sleeps,” to both of these, the changeling considered and shook his head.

“Given the right location, we might be able to get her with a long range shot with one of the Arcumsires. We’ve got two long range ones,” Ales suggested.

The changeling shook his head again, “I said incapacitate, not kill.”

“If we use smaller, lighter bolts and tip them with the tranquilizer we’d be able to put one in her without killing her,” Ales replied.

“Hm,” the changeling said appreciatively, “What are the restrictions?”

“We’d need it to be a night operation, outside,” Ales ran a quick calculation in her head, “lightweight bolts lose lethality at...”

“Seven,” Huntley put in.

Ales nodded to her elder partner as way of thanks, “We’d need to be anywhere from seven hundred to nine hundred yards from the target.”

The changeling relayed the information to his queen and was silent for a minute before speaking again, “The queen can lure Cadence to a part of the sculpture garden, there is a small area above the mines there. Will that do?”

Huntley went over to the map and studied the distances, “We’ve got one building that’s eight hundred from the center of the sculpture center of the gardens.”

“Which one?” the changeling asked, trotting over to the, standing across from Huntley.

Huntley pointed a talon at a particular dark square on the map, “Top Notch Spelunking company headquarters. Top of the building should be the ideal spot for a sniper roost.”

“Good, I’ll be there. The queen will relay to me when to fire and I’ll let you know.”
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(Two days later)

The arrival of the queen went off without a hitch. She took the form of a pegasus and got through before disappearing into the crowds. Hours later, Huntley and Ales donned darksuits and took to the skies, two long barreled Arcumsires with scopes accompanying them.

They landed on the designated building and were soon met by the changeling, who shifted to his normal form from a pegasus.

“You’re quite early,” he commented.

“We’re shooting from eight hundred yards, that’s not as easy as it sounds,” Ales said, she had her loaded Arcumsire resting on the ledge of the building, pointing off towards Canterlot castle, “Since we have to go non-lethal that means smaller bolts. Smaller bolts are lighter so they don’t drop as fast, but the crosswind fucks with them a lot more.”

“Intriguing,” the changeling commented, moving up next to the griffon and eyeing the rather large weapon.

“More annoying,” Ales snorted, “Takes a minute to load these things so we’ve only got one shot, well two if you count Huntley, so missing is not an option.”

“How do these things work, anyways?” The changeling asked.

Ales looked at him with an odd expression, after a moment it changed as she realized that the creature had likely never heard of projectile weapons outside of spears, “It’s pretty simple,” she began, “The bowstring attaches to a catapult mechanism inside the barrel. The bolt rests against this mechanism and when it’s released, the bolt is shot forwards at a high velocity,” she explained, “Why do you ask? You need digits to pull the trigger, hooves don’t work.” The changeling smirked and flashed green before he copied Ales and then quickly shifted back to his regular form, “Oh, yeah,” Ales said.

“Simple curiosity, really,” the changeling explained, “The ability to pull a trigger and kill something far away is an ability that many would give a limb or wing for.”

“Give us a four second warning,” Huntley commented, looking down the scope of his own weapon, “These bolts have a velocity of a thousand feet per second. It’ll take two and a half seconds for our bolts to get there, so make sure we’re well aware in advance of when to fire.”

“Okay,” the changeling said.
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“What is it?” Cadence asked.

Shining Armor looked around him with suspicion, “Not here, the walls have ears, follow me and be quick about it.”

Shining Armor trotted off, his bride-to-be in tow as he made his way towards the castle gardens outside.

“Is...is it the changelings?” Cadence asked once they were outside, Shining Armor flinched at the word changeling and Cadence immediately knew that that was what it was, “Have they broken through? What is it? Tell me.”

Chrysalis sent a mental shout towards the changeling on the building.
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“Okay, fire,” the changeling said.

Ales and Huntley pulled the triggers, both Arcumsires making a click-snap noise as the triggers were pulled and the catapult mechanism came to a halt at the end of the barrel railing.

The two small bolts whizzed off into the dark night air, too fast for the eye to follow.
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“They’re here,” Chrysalis said, letting a smile crease Shining Armor’s face and her voice flow forth.

Cadence took a step back, “Shining...” she was cut off when there was a quiet thwack of bolt on hide and Cadence collapsed with a single small bolt sticking out of her shoulder.

Chrysalis looked around to make sure nopony was watching before she lit a green fire around Cadence’s unconscious form and sent her down into the depths of the mine below Canterlot.

Chrysalis herself burst into green flame before emerging as Princess Cadence. She looked over herself before smiling.

“Too easy,” Chrysalis said, copying Cadence perfectly. She smiled evilly to herself as she began her trot back to the castle. The changeling queen had a wedding to crash, and an equinian empire to overthrow.
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“Good effect on target, one of you hit her in the shoulder,” The changeling reported.

“Fuck, if she hadn’t moved at the last second it’d have hit her in the thick of her back leg, where’s the other bolt?” Ales questioned, already packing up the small amount of gear she had.

The changeling shrugged, “It doesn’t matter, Cadence is out of the way. The Changeling Empire thanks you for your service and wishes that we may again work together in the future,” the changeling said, putting on a flair to his voice.

Huntley nodded, “Likewise, good luck with the takeover.”

“Thanks, but I doubt that we’ll need it,” the changeling said with a toothy smile. He saluted, changed into a pegasus, and was off again.
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The two griffons stuffed their darksuits and Arcumsires into their respective hiding spots before heading into the hotel.

“Well, we’re finally done here. Maybe the guys back home have more news on Fulton and we can finally go after that flying fuck,” Ales said as the elevator carried them up.

“Indeed,” Huntley said.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened and the two griffons made their way to their shared room.

When she opened the door, Ales was surprised to see Clive sitting in front of her telescope, one eye glued to the eyepiece. He threw a quick glance back at Ales and Huntley, saying, “Hey,” as way of greeting.

“Stargazing?” Ales questioned before she noticed Gilda, Kyne, and Zephrine at the table with the map, all looking over it.

“Somegriffon throw a party in this room and not invite us?” Huntley stated.

“Ah, you two are back, come here,” Kyne said, gesturing the two newcomers over.

From his voice, Ales knew something had happened, “What’s going on?”

“Clive was being a doofus as usual with the telescope,” Gilda began to explain, “Guess who happened to get the spotlight?” Gilda pushed a single picture forwards, “Pure fuckin luck that we got this.”

Ales looked at the photograph, which had been shot through the telescope, and gasped. She muttered a single word, “Fulton.”

“Looks like with this reappearance, we’re going to have to pay for a few more days stay here in Canterlot,” Huntley observed.