Cobalt walked calmly through the woods. No longer having to feign being lost in order to reach his objectives, he could actually use the map he had been given properly. If his family noticed how suddenly he had learned the art of orienteering, they had elected not to comment.

It had momentarily crossed Cobalt’s mind that he would have to explain his failure to complete one of his objectives to his supervisor. But that became much less important to him than tearing a strip off of the idiot.

A familiar, yet out of place sound reached Cobalt's ears. While it escaped the notice of his family, the trained agent recognized it anywhere. He heard metal clicking mechanically, in the way that only a firearm did.

Cobalt stopped dead. And after a moment his family did the same.

Sugar Heart walked up to her husband. “Cobalt, why are we stopping? Is something-”

Cobalt placed his hoof over his mouth and made a soft shushing noise. The blue unicorn’s horn glowed as he cast a spell. A favorite in his line of work, the softhoof. It generated an aura around ones hooves that caused them to make no sound and leave no visible imprint on the dirt. He inched ahead slowly and cautiously. After about four meters Cobalt found himself at the crest of a small valley, and in its trough, he saw the source of the noise.

The unicorn cursed under his breath. He had hoped it would be hunters, or possibly Royal Frontier Rangers, but the worst had come to pass. In the valley below the worried father stood three griffin sentries, armed and alert, searching the woods for something.

Hopefully that ‘something’ wasn't an intelligence agent, because that would indicate that not only had the mission been compromised, but that Cobalt had gotten his entire family into even more trouble than he thought he had.

Cobalt quickly tried to think of a way out of the situation. His own pistol was breech loaded, had there been only two, he may have been able to take down one of them and use a spell to incapacitate the other. But that left time for the third to shoot him. If the office had had the decency to spring for a revolver action pistol, he may have been able to handle this adequately. Cobalt was no tactician, and though he was a proficient fighter, he could hardly handle all three griffins on his own.

Yet another reason why he should have at least had a cover team. But that was irrelevant now. Cobalt knew he didn’t have the ability to cast the spell over his entire family, and if they ran, the griffins (what with being able to fly) would undoubtedly catch them.

That left only one option, one Cobalt wasn’t a fan of. He walked back to his family and looked his wife in the eyes.

“Sugar,” Cobalt said as sternly as he could. “I want you to take the kids and the map. Get as far away from here as possible and hide. If I’m not with you in 20 minutes get the hay out of this forest. do you understand me?”

“Cobalt, what’s happening?” She asked frantically.

“Do you understand me?” He repeated, firmly.

Blue spoke up angrily. “Dad, what the buck is this?”

“Blue, I have something for you.” Cobalt opened his saddlebag and levitated the pistol cuff out. His son’s eyes widened and a look of terror came across his face.

“Dad, I- what-”

Cobalt cut him off. “Do you know how to use one of these?”

“I... I guess? Why do you even-”

“That isn’t important right now. Do NOT use this unless you have to. Here are the extra cartridges.”

Sugar shrieked hysterically at her husband. “Why the hay do you have a gun!?”

Cobalt looked at her solemnly. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I got us into this. In all my life I’ll never be able to make this up to you, but right now I need to get you home safe. Do you understand me?”

Sugar was sobbing now. “Cobalt, please tell me what’s happening!” She pleaded.

“I can’t, there isn’t time. All I can tell you is that you need to do what I’ve said, please. It’s the only way out of this.”

“Out of what?” Sugar sobbed. “Please, Cobalt, you’re terrifying me! First you bring us into this forest and run us around day and night through the trees, and now I find out you've been carrying around a gun?”

Cobalt grabbed his wife and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Listen, please, listen to me. I made a bad choice. And I know I can’t fix it, but at least I can keep you from getting hurt on account of my stupidity. No matter what happens, Sugar, I’ll always love you, I love you so, so much, and that’s why I need you to go.”

Sugar was at a loss for words, she stood still, dumbfounded by her husband’s cryptic behavior. She understood nothing about his sudden change in character. The casual, sarcastic stallion she had married was nowhere to be seen. Instead was a serious, urgent one waving a pistol cuff around in front of his foals.

Cobalt kissed his wife on the cheek, and whispered into her ear. “I love you.” He let her go and turned his head towards his son. “Blue, I need you to get my saddlebag to my office. Give it to the secretary. Whatever you do, don’t look in it, that’ll only complicate things. Understand?”

Blue swallowed back some tears and nodded. “I... I think I do, yeah.”

Cobalt turned to his daughters next. “Girls, I... Daddy has to go, okay? Go with your mommy alright? I’ll be right behind you. Okay?”

The eldest of the two, Rosebud, looked up at her father with tears in her eyes. “Daddy, I’m scared, please don’t go.”

“Don’t cry my little ponies, I-I won’t be long.” Cobalt said, choking back tears. He looked at his wife one last time. “Go. Now.” He said, an air of urgency and finality permeating his voice. Sugar Heart stood there for a moment, but her son tapped her on the shoulder, and she followed him off, casting confused, pleading glances at her husband every few seconds.

Cobalt refused to look around though. The only way to help them now was to have a clear head, and buy them time. His plan was really quite simple. Act as suspiciously as possible and get arrested. While they dragged him off to be interrogated and tortured his family would have time to get home safely. Though a prisoner transfer was possible, it was highly unlikely given the relationship between his bureau and the rest of the Equestrian government.

Cobalt crossed the crest of the valley and walked toward the griffin soldiers. “Uhm, excuse me? Gentlecolts? I’m afraid I’ve gotten lost, and I was wondering if you could help me?”

The griffins turned around and were momentarily shocked.

“Wha- what the, Pony! Freeze right there!”

Cobalt cocked his head to the side and played the wide-eyed innocent pastel horse. “Oh, have I done something wrong? I’m so, so sorry! I really just can’t figure out where I’m supposed to go from here, I’ll be on my way if you could give me a hoof!” He said, with as saccharine of a smile as he could manage.

One of the griffins leveled his rifle at the unicorn. “Stop moving or I shoot! Get your filthy hooves behind your head!”

Cobalt continued. “Oh, I’m ever so sorry, have I offended you? Of course I have, I didn't introduce myself! My name is Brazen Strider...”

“Stop talking!” Another griffin said as he closed on the pony.

“Oh, you want me to stop? Sorry, sometimes I really do talk too much. Not always though, some ponies are terse, and hey, I can be terse too! One time in high school I was laconic!”

“Shut up damn you, shut up!” The same griffin said, punching Cobalt in the chest.

The impact of the blow threw Cobalt back a few feet. He regained his balance and lowered his profile, anticipating another strike. “Now, come on guys, there’s no need for that kind of horseplay...”

One of the griffins shoved the barrel of his weapon right between Cobalt’s eyes. “One more pun. Give me a reason pony, one more pun is all I need.”

Cobalt said nothing. He knew where this was headed. He’d pissed them off enough that they wouldn't bother with any kind of due process, they’d drag him back to their base and figure out what to do with him there. He had been trained in resisting interrogation, but he knew he could only hold out so long.

Cobalt's staring match lasted longer than he would have liked, and at a much closer proximity. He tried to back off slowly, keeping the innocent smile going as long as possible. The lead griffin, with the rifle, growled at the unicorn.

“I want to know who you are. And I want to know what you’re doing in my forest.”

Cobalt went for his training, when the cover ID is questioned, you have to play it harder.

“Oh, why didn't you say so in the first place? I’m here on vacation, sightseeing!”

One of the griffin's rolled his eyes. “ I've heard enough. Let’s take him in, see what the LT wants to do with him.”

“Come on guys, there’s no need for that.” Cobalt said, trying to buy time. “All I want are some directions to-”

The griffin holding Cobalt at gunpoint made a move to strike Cobalt with the butt of his rifle, but the unicorn moved to the side quickly on reflex. The weapon swung by him, and the other two griffins moved in a bit closer. Cobalt’s griffin became visibly frustrated, and with a short roar swung the rifle at him again. Cobalt lifted his right forehoof and knocked the griffin’s paw aside. Surprised at the sudden burst of action from the pony, the griffin reeled back in surprise for only a second.

A second was all Cobalt needed. As the griffin regained his balance, Cobalt’s horn glowed and a blue field of magical energy appeared underneath the griffin. Suddenly the feathered beast found it much more difficult to stand properly, as the ground beneath his claws was inexplicably devoid of traction. The other two griffins rushed at Cobalt, the one on the left charged in, wings outstretched and paws raised in anger, completely forgetting the rifle slung around his shoulder. The other was more cautious, flapping his wings and hovering about two meters off the ground, aiming his weapon at the unicorn.

Cobalt had hoped that the griffins wouldn't fly, it gave them a tactical advantage which he couldn't counter. Any continued resistance was pointless, but he had certainly convinced the griffin patrol that he was more worth their time than whatever their mission was.

Even though he saw it coming, Cobalt took the punch. The griffin’s strike knocked him flat on his back, and when he looked up, the half-avian creature was standing over him with a brutal look of anger.

“You try something stupid like that again, and you’ll wish we’d put a bullet in you the second we-”

The conversation was cut off by the unmistakable roar of a firearm. Cobalt thought for a fraction of a second that the airborne griffin had misfired, or decided to cut out the middlemare and take a shot at him. But when death didn't come, Cobalt realized what had happened. The flying griffin was falling suddenly, the splatter of blood spraying onto a tree to his right.

The griffin which Cobalt had knocked down rushed over to his fallen comrade, a look of panic in his eyes. Cobalt’s captor turned his head towards the commotion and called out.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” He said angrily.

“Herman’s shot!” The other called back, his voice wavering.

“I can see that numb nuts! Where’d it come from?”

“I don’t-” Before the griffin could finish, the wind was knocked out of his lungs. He found himself on the ground, grappling with a shadow. Cobalt saw that the assailant was equine, possibly a good omen, but considering the agent’s luck so far, probably not.

The griffin keeping Cobalt pinned turned around entirely, about to rush over to help his friend. Cobalt saw a chance and took it. As the griffin had presented his back entirely to the unicorn, Cobalt propelled himself forward on his hind legs, tackling his captor. The agent wrapped his left foreleg around the griffin’s neck and squeezed with all his might. The griffin panicked, flailing his paws wildly trying to get a grip on Cobalt, but the longer he struggled, the weaker his resistance became, until he finally went limp.

Cobalt exhaled and let the unconscious beast go. The griffin slumped on the ground at Cobalt’s hooves, motionless. Cobalt then looked at the pony who had saved him. The stallion wore a green cloak and hood. From what Cobalt could see, his mane was a faded crimson, almost maroon, with a dark blue approaching navy colored coat. The pony shook his head, dropping his hood and showing Cobalt a stern face, with a deep scar cutting diagonally across his left cheek.

“Who are you?” The stallion asked in a deep, raspy voice.

Cobalt eyed him suspiciously, trying to determine where his firearm was, and if it had been reloaded since last fired.

“I was about to ask you the same question, it looks like I owe you one...”

The stallion raised an eyebrow. “You told them you were on vacation. I think that was a lie.”

“Oh? And why would you think that my new friend?” Cobalt asked, using the same innocent tone he had adopted a moment before.

“Because most ponies don’t take vacations alone in the Everfree forest. And if they do, they certainly don’t get lost and bungle around like an oxygen deprived bullfrog.”

Cobalt paused, pondering the simile. ‘Bullfrog’ was an unusual insult at best, but it also happened to be this months challenge. It was a long shot, but Cobalt decided to give the countersign.

“Hey, cut me some slack. In this fog, it’s basically impossible to see anything.”

It didn’t take a cryptology expert to point out that there was no fog.

Both stallions dropped their guard. The challenge had been given and accepted. They were among friends.

The cloaked stallion offered his hoof. “Wald Flash. Equestrian Frontier and Forest Rangers. Yourself?”

“Cobalt Crescent. Royal Inquiries Bureau.”

Wald looked impressed. “RIB? In my humble domain? What could be so important as to send you Con Mane types out to the forest?”

Cobalt was about to respond, but then remembered that just because his savior was a part of the intelligence community didn’t mean that he had the necessary clearance to know about his mission.

“Classified, all hush-hush. I appreciate your assistance though. Give me your superior’s name, I’ll put in a good word for you in my report and see that he gets a copy of the non-classified bits.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be making my own report. I’ve been out here for near a month tracking a surge in griffin patrols that started about six weeks ago.”

“Six weeks?” Cobalt said questioningly.

“Yeah, what of it?”

Cobalt groaned.“I started prep work for this op six weeks ago.”

“Hardly seems coincidental.”

“Yeah, I agree. How many more patrols are hanging around?”

“Ten I’ve tagged... nine now.”

“Buck!” Cobalt exclaimed. He had just sent his family quite literally through the lions den. There wasn’t time for self pity, he needed action. In less than a moment he formed a crude plan. “Ranger, I’m going to need your help again.”

“Not a problem.” The stallion said coolly.

“I’m transporting sensitive information out of the forest with... vital civilian assets. It is essential that those assets do not come to harm. I need you to help me locate and secure them.”

The ranger nodded. Tracking was basically half of the job. “And then?” He asked.

“We’ll need to get out of the woods intact.”

“I think I could help with that. You give me that sensitive information and I’ll see that it reaches the RIB. I have a kid dragon back at my station.”

Cobalt debated the proposal. On the one hoof, his superiors would have his head for handing off his intel to someone he had only just met. On the other hoof, they were idiots and he couldn’t care less. If the op really had been compromised, Cobalt’s family would be a lot safer not carrying around damning intel.

“Alright,” Cobalt said. “Let’s do it.”

The ranger nodded and opened the breech of his weapon to reload it. For the first time in this whole mess, Cobalt was beginning to think he might get out of it intact.

Author's Note

Royal Inquiries Bureau: A department of the Equestrian government tasked with intelligence gathering. They work closely with military and law enforcement agencies, and are roughly analogous to the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States.