My Little Griffon: The Red Paw

Preparation
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“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” ~Alexander Graham Bell
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(One week later)

“Ah, the great and mighty capital of the great land of Equestria,” Clive said, holding up his paws as if to convey an infinite sort of greatness, “Canterlot!”

“Skip the theatrics, Clive. Nogriffon gives a shit,” Gilda commented as she pushed past him, away from the train, “Sooner we’re in and out the better.”

“Is that a pun directed at our sexual relationship?” Clive asked, Ales snickered, Huntley ignored the comment, and Gilda threw a glance at Clive that should have killed him.

Biting back a rather violent physical reply, Gilda followed Huntley’s example, “So what was the name of the hotel we’re staying at?”

“It’s a rather well known big time place, the Hoofiday Inn. They have at least one in all of the major cities,” Huntley croaked, drawing a few extra glances from bystanders. Not just griffons, but griffons with that odd voice?

“So long as it’s got four walls, a roof, and a bed, I’m happy,” Clive said, his head on a swivel to take in and analyze the sights of the city.

“Then I’ll make sure to downgrade you from suite to shack,” Huntley said, staring straight ahead. Clive looked with an eyebrow raised at the elder griffon behind him, after a few seconds of awkward silence, Huntley spoke again, “I’m joking, Clive.”

“Oh,” Clive said, laughing a bit but suddenly stopping, “Wait, you joke?”
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“Beautiful vantage point,” Ales commented as she peered out the room’s window, “Get a decent enough Acrumsire and you’d be able to rain on quite a parade.”

“Pff, I can do that if I drink enough,” Clive said, getting a set of rolled eyes from Ales.

“The door between our rooms is there for a reason,” she said, turning to Clive, who was standing in the doorway of the room separator, “I’d ask how you unlocked it, but I can see you have your lockpick so instead I’ll ask what you want.”

“To pick another lock, I’m bored,” Clive explained with a wing-shrug.

“Oh, go bother Gilda or raid your mini fridge.”

“It isn’t complementary. Come to think of it, the mini fridge isn’t complimentary either...” Clive said, trailing off.

“Well neither am I,” Ales turned back to her suitcase and started piecing together the large telescope stored within while Huntley continued to study a map.

“Ouch. Well I’m going to go raid my other neighbor’s mini fridge, assuming they aren’t home. You want anything?” Clive asked.

“Why not? Nothing girly and if you get caught then this conversation never happened.”

Clive gave a goofy salute and closed the door.

“So we know that there’s one pony running the shield twenty-four seven,” Huntley began as Ales finished her telescope and started peering through it, “Under normal circumstances, killing him off would give us a time where the shield was inactive, but since we need him alive for the queen to feed off of, that presents a problem. Our shield bearer is the only one, so he doesn’t swap duties with other ponies meaning that assassination is out of the question...” Huntley stopped to let Ales pick up, which she did.

“So perhaps sabotage is a better idea,” she paused in thought, scanning over the crowded streets below and making an adjustment on the telescope, “If we could bring down the shield, even for the briefest of moments, that could give us a window to get the queen inside. Seeing that this shield is maintained, even in sleep, I would assume that it's a ‘cast and forget’ spell that must occasionally be replenished. If we could let the shield not be replenished for long enough, it would become weak enough that it would fall. But then there’s the fact that the shield is probably replenished long before it is about to run out of energy meaning that we’d need to do something crazy in order to keep the shield bearer form replenishing it...” Ales thought for a while about other forms of sabotage. During this time, Clive entered and placed a bottle of hard cider next to her before saluting again with a smile and leaving, “I really can’t think of a way that sabotage could work subtly enough for it to not be considered sabotage.”

Huntley gave a nod, never looking up from the map unless he was switching tools. Ales popped the top off her stolen drink and took a few sips. She looked over to Huntley to see if he wanted any, but the griffon was looking studiously over his map and she looked back to her telescope.

“We should move into the castle to plant some bugs later, the queen needs at least a week with the shield bearer and that gives us two to find a flaw in this shield. We have plenty of time.”
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“So tell me again how this thing works?” Gilda asked, looking over the mark two darksuit in her paws. It was similar to the original, but it had interlocking plates, was considerably heavier, and made flight almost impossible for a yet unexplained reason.

“When worn, the suit taps into the creature’s magical field and uses that magic for power. Hence, our wings lose their magical capabilities and make flight almost impossible. However, the payoff is well worth it. The magic is used to bend light around the wearer and renders them completely invisible. However, due to the fact that light can no longer reach your eyes, you would normally be blind as a bat. To combat this, these goggles do not use light to work, but heat,” Huntley explained.

“Sounds like a load of shit to me,” Gilda commented. There was a tap on her shoulder and she turned her head to see nogriffon there. She sighed, having fallen again for that dumb old trick and looked to the other side to see...nogriffon?

There was a rustle of plates and then Clive’s head appeared floating in the air behind her, “Boo!” he exclaimed, sending Gilda shooting towards the ceiling with a cry of terror. Clive’s floating head laughed out loud, “This thing is fuckin awesome!” He looked down at where his body should have been and after a few seconds more of him was exposed and a mark two darksuit appeared over part of his body, “The plates can be a little bit noisy when you walk, but you’re completely invisible! No shadow or anything! Gilda, try yours on!”

Gilda’s heart rate had returned to normal by now and after glaring at Clive for a few moments, she was calm again. She pulled on her own suit, noting that it activated once she was wearing it up to her neck. She pulled the mask on and everything went black for a few seconds before everything appeared in a multi colored sheen.

“Geez, everything is so...weird looking,” she said, she found it easier to talk with the mark two as it seemed there was space for her beak to move, “So none of you can see me?” She began to stalk away slowly.

“Hold on a second,” Clive said, his oddly colored form appeared to pull on itself for a short while, “Now I can,” Clive looked around and locked onto her, “Hi, Gilda!” he said, waving.

“The mark two darksuit does not block thermal images so two griffons wearing them will be able to see each other. The field around you is about a centimeter off your body so you won’t be able to bring any weapons or gear,” Huntley explained, “The mark two darksuit does have a small pouch where you can carry a few very small items, bugs for example, however they will appear in your paw when you hold them, so getting one out and placing it should be fast and smooth. The ponies will not likely suspect anything, but it’s better to be more cautious than less...would you two mind showing yourselves?” Huntley said, looking around.

Gilda and Clive pulled their headpieces off and then tugged the suit down a bit further to deactivate it.

“So we head over to the castle at night and plant some bugs,” Clive began, “Any particular places?”

Huntley nodded before speaking, “We want to keep and ear and an eye on the shield bearer to see if he has a routine or if he goes different places at different times. We have plenty of bugs, but a few places that we need him include his sleeping area, the chow hall, the hallways between these, and a bunch on the castle’s main grounds. I’ve written up a list of exact spots for you to bug, we’ve got audio and visual. I suggest that the two of you go over the spots so you can infil and exfil faster,” Gilda and Clive nodded and Huntley turned to pick up a set of papers before handing them over, “Good luck.”
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Gilda crawled up the pillar, trying her hardest not to make noise. She made her way to the top and reached to her side for the small pouch.

From it, she procured two gems, one red and one blue. Both were smaller than marbles. Gilda placed them in a small outcropping of the pillar’s luxurious aesthetics. She heard Clive make a click from below and froze as the sound of hooves clopping over marble flooring trotted past her. Clive clicked again and Gilda quickly made her way down.

“One last bug?” Clive gestured with his paws.

Gilda nodded the affirmative, “The last place is the shield bearer’s living quarters,” she motioned, “Let’s go.”

The two made their way to the shield bearer’s quarters, stopping whenever a guard came too close and continuing once he was out of sound range. There were fewer guards at night, but there were still a lot and one little slip of noise might blow their cover right out of the figurative water.

It took them some time, but they were eventually at a door marked Capt. Shining Armor in bright, bold, and surprisingly fancy lettering. After making sure that the coast was clear, the two griffons pushed inside and went about their work.

Both made silent sighs of relief that they didn’t wake the sleeping white unicorn in the room. Clive went over to a dresser and placed a single blue gem on top. He then turned to a picture and forcefully shoved a red gem into a spot of red, where it would be nigh impossible no notice.

Gilda made her way to the bathroom and, standing on the toilet, reached up to grab onto the hanging light and place a single blue gem inside. She nodded pridefully at their handiwork before she heard a groan from the main bedroom. She froze, her front paws gripping the hanging light and her back feet placed atop the toilet.

The unicorn, rubbing his forehead with an eye squeezed shut, trotted into the bathroom. Gilda gave a silent pray to whatever gods would listen that the pony didn’t need to use the toilet. The gods favored her quest as the pony, mumbling about a migraine, moved to the medicine cabinet and opened it with his magic. He produced a small medicine container and popped it open, levitating a single pill to the counter-top around the sink before recapping the bottle and replacing it.

Gilda felt a bead of sweat on her brow but ignored it since it was under her darksuit and wouldn’t end up in some cheap movie rip-off. Instead, her paws slipped and she fell, catching herself with an audible clack of paws-on-marble. She winced and looked at the unicorn who was staring right at where she was. Though she couldn’t make out any of his features, she guessed that he was squinting in confusion.

“Somepony there?” He asked, there was a slight heat increase around his head as he cast a spell. At first she thought it was directed at her, but a telekinesis spell drew the curtains away from the shower, revealing nothing.

Gilda was afraid that the pony might hear her heart racing as he continued to stare towards her. Under normal circumstances, Shining Armor would have simply shrugged and trotted off, but there was the Changeling threat and paranoia got the best of him. He charged up a semi-complex ‘reveal’ spell and fired. It would have hit the tiles of the shower wall had Gilda not been between the two.

“What the!” Shining Armor exclaimed, rearing back as Gilda’s form appeared in front of him.

Gilda hissed out a curse and her mind raced for what to...the sound of a chair breaking over a skull shattered her thoughts and Shining Armor collapsed to the floor, out cold.

“Comin outta your paycheck, general,” Clive said, dusting off his paws. He looked to Gilda, “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

“He cast a ‘reveal’ spell, can you see me?” Gilda asked.

Clive paused and pulled back his mask before replacing it, “No, you’re fine...and by fine I mean invisible. Let’s get a move on before this asshole wakes up.”

Gilda nodded and the two quickly made their way out. Luck was with them when a guard had just passed the door before they silently opened it and slipped out.

Clive tapped his wrist, signaling that they had a limited amount of time before the unicorn woke up. Neither griffon wanted to be around in case the royal guard lit up the palace with ‘reveal’ spells and they made some haste, cutting a few corners for time.

The main doors were in sight when a cry came out, “Invisible intruders in the castle! Lock all doors immediately!”

The griffons booked it, no longer giving a shit about what noise they made as they shot through the doors and outside of the massive castle right before the doors were magically slammed shut.

All the way back, Gilda could see that Clive was bursting with the need to cry out in joy. Only the fact that cries of glee from an invisible griffon were not a normal everyday occurrence stopped him. They snuck into an alleyway near their hotel and got out of the darksuits, hiding them away for later.

Clive wore an idiotic grin all the way to their hotel room and let it out in a cry of joy once the door closed behind them.

“Oh god! Holy shit, was that close! I mean, WOW! You were hanging from that light and then...” Clive gobbled before Gilda cut in.

“I was there, Clive. Be quiet, will you?” She said.

Clive stopped himself, “Right. But goddamn I love that feel of adrenaline!” There was a knock at the door separating their room from Ales and Huntley’s. Clive shot to it and opened it with a flourish, “Yes?” He asked Huntley, the knocker.

“I take it everything went well?” Huntley asked, moving in with Ales at his tail.

“Yeah, but Gilda got discovered and I had to improvise,” Clive explained, “Only permanent casualty was a nice wooden chair.” Ales and Huntley’s expressions demanded explanation, which Clive gave, “Gilda kinda fell and the shield bearer got her with some ‘reveal’ spell. I grabbed a chair and bashed him over the head.”

“Shit,” Ales swore.

“This could be bad,” Huntley started, thinking as he did so, “Hopefully he won’t suspect us griffons on account of the darksuit Gilda was wearing, but we need to be ready to fly...or at least the two of you need to. We’ve got your alibis, the two of you being here all night, and that should hold up. Everything else went according to plan, though? All the bugs are in place?”

Gilda and Clive nodded, “Got em all set and ready.”

“Good,” Huntley said, “Nothing we can do for now, so go to sleep. Hopefully we’ll know what to do or what not to do in the morning. Either way, our preparations are in place.”