My Little Griffon: The Red Paw

Failure
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“Failure leads to success.” ~Unknown
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All four griffons had things to say and ask, but all remained silent. It was obvious from the start that this was one of the main sewer pipes and that someone had turned it into an impromptu escape tunnel. That said, the acoustics would make sure that anything could hear them from a mile away, this prompted the group to remain silent.

The four griffons had donned low-light goggles and were making good progress away from their starting point. For now, the goal was to escape and evade authorities and find a way back to the surface. The ponies were sure to have spotted the fact that the group were griffons and possibly tracked down their room, maybe even one of the other two pairs.

After about thirty minutes of travel, making the occasional right or left turn, Clive tapped Huntley, who was leading, on the side.

“Where are we going?” he asked with hand gestures.

“Escape and evade until later,” Huntley replied similarly, “Then the safe house.”

“Later?”

“Till it gets darker,” Huntley replied before turning and beginning on his way again.

Clive grumbled, annoyed that they would be here for a while but knowledgeable on why.
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(Nightfall)

In a less populated area of Canterlot, a sewer cover lifted slightly above the ground for a moment before a set of talons slipped out and slid the cover off the opening. A group of griffons, two clad in armor and all smelling of sewage, got out and shot into cover to get their bearings.

“Fuck, it is good to get out of that sewer!” Clive said, taking a deep inhale of the fresh outside air.

“Yes,” Huntley agreed, “Now let’s get to the safehouse,” The elder griffon looked around with the others as the group tried to get their bearings.

After noting the position of the slowly falling sun, they were able to judge the four compass points. From here, they tried to spot different landmarks.

“Well there’s that Top Notch Spelunking company building,” Ales pointed out, “Based on its location compared to Canterlot Castle, I’d say we were in the Northwestern quadrant of Canterlot.”

“Which means the safehouse is on the other side of town, damnit,” Huntley said, “With that invasion settling down, I’d guess that security is going to be high as Cloudsdale,” he pondered a moment, “Gilda, Clive, you two know where the safehouse is, right?”

The two nodded.

“I think we should split up and head there separately. If we get caught, the less of us out of the game the better. You two head out first, we’ll hide the heavy armor and be there ASAP. Good luck.”
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Gilda pressed her back into the side of the building as tightly as she could, hardly breathing as two ponies trotted past the opening to the alleyway.

She gave a silent breath of relief and peeked around the corner.

“Clear front,” she whispered, ducking back into cover.

“Clear back,” Clive said from behind her.

The two griffons, sticking to the shadows like their lives depended on it (and they probably did), continued on their way. They had originally thought about flying, but a few pegasus guards that had almost noticed them had shot down that idea.

Now the two were sneaking down the streets, skirting the light from lamp posts and still open stores to get to the safehouse.

Under normal circumstances, their hearts wouldn’t be pounding so loud in their chests, but normal circumstances included darksuits and they had none. Their only form of defense was their weapons and the darkness of night, which wasn’t uniform due to the lights of the city.

It took them an hour of heart-pounding travel to finally get to an nondescript little gardening shack in the Northeastern quadrant of Canterlot.

The shed was unlocked and the two griffons stepped quickly inside, their heart rates finally beginning to slow down.

“That was certainly fun,” Clive said, a stupid grin forming slowly on his face.

Gilda rolled her eyes and moved to a corner of the shed. She drew her knife and inserted it into a small groove in the floor. Using the knife as a handle of sorts, she pulled open the trapdoor that led to the safehouse.

Clive quickly followed her and she let the trapdoor close. There was no light, which meant that their low-light goggles wouldn’t work, as they required at least some light to function.

She and Clive removed their goggles and started down the stairs, “It’s us, anygriffon down there?”

The silence that returned her call was shortly followed by a blast of light, which caused both griffons to cover their eyes, squinting as their pupils shrunk to compensate.

“Shit,” Gilda knew that it was Kyne from the voice, “There’s a shit-ton of explaining that needs to be done.”

“Where’s Ales and Huntley?”

The two griffons were finally able to uncover their eyes to see Kyne and Zephrine standing at the bottom of the stairs, both holding Arcumsires.

“They should be here shortly, we split up to lessen the chance of all of us getting caught,” Gilda explained as she and Clive made it the rest of the way down.

The interior of the safehouse had been dug out, the walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered in simple cement. There was a single table in the center, a weapons and armor rack along one wall, a shelf with preserved and non-spoiling foods, and a series of sleeping bags rolled up in another corner. Two had been placed out already.

“Where’s the other pair?” Gilda asked.

“Ponies got them,” Zephrine stated, “After that...shockwave took out all the Changelings, they left the restaurant and for some reason the ponies called after them. They ran, but got tackled pretty quick. I don’t even know why, they didn’t do anything.”

“And what the hell happened to you guys?” Kyne asked, “You smell like shit.”

Gilda opened her mouth to reply, but the light died. That meant that someone had entered the shack above.

Kyne and Zephrine had been wearing thermal goggles and quickly got to the stairs, Arcumsires ready.

“It’s us, Anygriffon down there?” Ales called down.

Gilda and Clive breathed sighs of relief, they had made it.
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“Our next plan of action should be getting out of Canterlot, obviously at night. We can hole up here for a few days, grab the darksuits from their hiding spots near the hotel, and get out,” Huntley said, tapping the map to make his point.

“No. Screw that, where the hell are we going to go?” Clive asked.

“I second that,” Gilda put in, “We blew our cover and all that shit in the hotel room points directly to our involvement with the Changelings. We go back to the Kingdoms, we’re going to be arrested as terrorists, working out of accord with the government!”

“Shut-up for a moment!” Huntley growled, showing a rare emotion again, “I didn’t say that we were going back to the Kingdoms, Standard Operating Procedure dictates that we’re now terrorists. We need to get out of Canterlot because guess who else knows where this safehouse is?”

Silence hung in the air as what Huntley was implying sunk in. The safehouse would be as safe as cardboard armor against a dragon if the Griffon Kingdoms decided to come after them.

“We get the hell out of Canterlot, make a new safehouse, and plan our next course of action from there,” Huntley explained, “We sleep in shifts, two pairs sleep while one guards. I am not taking any chances. Ales and I will take first watch, the rest of you get some rest.”
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Gilda was grateful when she was awoken for her and Clive’s shift, her dreams were not being kind to her.

The two sat in silence, Arcumsires in paws, for a while before Clive broke the silence.

“So...how are you taking all this?” He asked.

Gilda took a short time to think before replying, “I’m fifty-fifty split on whether or not to follow Huntley and the others or turn myself in. One final service to the Kingdoms before they either lock me up or execute me.”

“C’mon, Gilda, please don’t get all martyr on me.”

Gilda blinked once, “I’m not sure that’s the proper terminology of martyr. I’d use more of a term like ‘loyal.’ I’m loyal to the Kingdoms and I failed them. Therefore, in a way, I failed myself. Besides, it would make the Kingdoms look better in the eyes of the ponies if they caught one of the ‘terrorists’ so soon, might make the ponies let their guards down enough to thrust a knife in.”

“How do you know that’ll make a difference?” Clive asked, “Stay with us, don’t go and make stupid sacrifices. His majesty is going to kill you if you return...wait, if you return won’t that just look like a fake-out or something?”

“No, I was planning on letting them catch me, make it look like they legitimately did something.”

“Oh...but getting back on track, please don’t go.”

“What is there for me here?” Gilda snapped, suddenly getting angry, “What are we going to do? Run for the rest of our lives? We aren’t safe in Equestria or any of the other equinian countries, we aren’t safe in the Griffon Kingdoms. Where are we going to go? What are we going to do?”

Clive winced at her harsher tone, glancing over at the four sleeping figures at the other end of the room, “Gilda, calm down, you’re going to wake the others. I know that Kyne won’t take getting awakened early very we...”

“Fuck, Kyne. There’s another reason not to go, I’d have to put up with that douche.”

“Gilda,” Clive grumbled to himself, her anger rubbing off on him, “We could split up after we get to the safehouse, we wouldn’t need to put up with his shit.”

“We?” Gilda asked bitterly, raising an eyebrow, “Who ever said that I wanted to live on the run with you at my side?”

Clive started to retort when those words sunk in and he froze, beak open and a talon raised to make a point.

“After...everything, you would just...” Clive said after a bout of silence, hand lowering and beak shutting, eyes moving away from his partner, “After e-everything that we went through...you would just, just...” Had he been more of an emotional griffon, Clive might’ve gotten teary-eyed, “Leave?”

Now it was Gilda’s turn to pause as her own words sunk in, she let out a breath, “Clive...no, that was a stupid thing to say. All this shit is getting to me, I shouldn’t have said that. I thought that I got in better control of my emotions after that stupid mess-up in Ponyville,” Gilda had taken to looking at the ground, but suddenly perked up, “Wait a minute...”

From the look on her face, Clive knew that she was in deep thought.

“Clive.”

“Yes?”

“We came here to help the queen get through and take over Equestria, yes?” Gilda asked, her mind working quickly as a plan formed.

“Uh, yes?” Clive asked, not sure what Gilda was getting at.

“But we were originally coming here for what?” A sly smile crossed her features.

“To capture the...” realization slid across Clive’s face, “...holy shit, they’re still here!”

Gilda nodded, moving over to the table and map in the middle of the room, “We failed to capture Canterlot, we failed to get Fulton, but if we capture the Elements of Harmony and get them to the Kingdoms...”

“...We might just have a chance of turning this whole thing around!” Clive finished.

Gilda chuckled, “Who ever said that failure doesn’t lead to success?”