Chapter 13:
Intel

Shouts came from outside, drawing our attention to the window through which the ruckus came. Walking up to the window Gilda and I looked out over the city, Griffins in uniform armour and with weapons in claws were forcing griffins into their homes as they took up position in the streets.

But what caught my eyes were the particular weapons they were carrying. Long tubes with wooden stocks that had a glowing fuse waiting to ignite gunpowder in the tube itself.

Fucking muskets… They can’t have gotten the idea from me though, too short a development time, this must have been in development for a good while...

“Rainbow, I suggest getting comfortable under that table. Gilda, I’m going to need your help identifying the leaders of the movement.” I threw off my cloak, revealing my tactical vest and other weapons as I untied the wrappings that concealed both my rifles.

“To do what? They’ll never allow you to get close enough to harm them if that’s what you’re after.” Gilda said reaching for my rifle to see what it was, only for me to swat away her claw.

“Good thing I prefer to keep my distance to targets,” I told her readying my vest in case the griffins would figure out who I was. Gilda huffed in reply as she didn’t know the capabilities of my weaponry.

“Your funeral. The leader of the Griffinstone faction is called Garrick, big bastard he is, grey feathers and fur while his head has black feathers. He’s as savage a griffin you can get.”

“And he has badly maintained wings?” I asked as the description was familiar.

“Yeah… How did you know that?” Gilda asked in surprise.

“Gabby described him to us as Garrett’s contact in the castle,” I answered her, more shouting from outside drew more of our attention. A griffin was arguing with a group of Red Claws armed with muskets, shouting all sorts of obscenities at them as he refused to follow their orders.

Come on man, get out of their way before one of them does something stupid.

What I feared happened mere seconds later as one of the claws raised his musket and warned him for a last time. The griffin protesting hesitated for a moment but then drew a knife on the others. A loud crack later and a lot of smoke from the musket's barrel he was lying motionless on the ground.

“Damnit,” I cursed while Gilda beak dropped open in horror.

“What? How did they… did they just kill him?!” She said in utter shock.

“They did, the weapon they carry is called a musket,” I explained as I pulled her away from the window. “It fires a metal ball at a target through means of an explosive charge.”

“So it fires a projectile like a bow and arrow?” Gilda asked while I kept an eye on the happenings outside.

“Muskets are more powerful, one of those shots will make metal armour quite literally explode where arrows will bounce.”

“So what do we do?” Rainbow asked as she sat on a pillow under the table in the kitchen.

“Right now? Nothing,” I sighed. “We don’t want to attract undue attention to ourselves, those two that came knocking before are enough attention as it is.”

“They won’t be too much trouble, they’re a lot of bark and no bite,” Gilda spoke up. “As long as we don’t antagonize them then we’ll be fine.”

“That’s good to-”

A rapid set of knocks came from the front door again, immediately getting me to spring into action, taking position at the door to the hallway with my rifle and motioning for Gilda to open up.

“Calm down, I think I know who this is,” Gilda held out her claw, gesturing for me to relax as she went to open the front door.

“M-Miss Gilda I-”

“Get in here.” The front door slammed closed again as Gilda pulled in a small blue griffin. His coat was faded from all the dust in there and you could see his ribs through the furry skin as he was clearly underfed. He shrunk down as he noticed me examining him from my position at the doorpost.

“Come on, into the living room you go.” Gilda shoved him past me.

“I-I don’t have a-anything for you this time, miss Gilda,” He stammered as he kept his eyes squarely focussed on me.

“That’s not important, Gallus, It’s better to have you off the streets right now,” Gilda said, turning her attention back to me. “I don’t have the bits to support you all, you’re going to have to find a way to make due.”

“I have enough bits for the moment, I’m more concerned that they’re going to ration food because I can’t give up Rainbow.”

“I can barter under the table if the need’s there in that case. I’m going to check my supplies upstairs. Rainbow come along, I’ll point you to a hiding spot up there. It’s much more secure and out of view.” Dash waved sheepishly at Gallus as she passed him and followed Gilda up.

“So, Gallus right?” I said, holding out a claw to him while I slung my rifle onto my back. He carefully nodded and shook it. “My name’s Jack Grey. I’m kind of new around here, how do you know Gilda?”

“W-Well, she allowed me to sleep here last winter. Taught me to write as well and… I shouldn’t talk about that.”

Gallus looked away, making himself smaller. I had my suspicion about what he almost revealed though. “You’re Gilda’s source of information, aren’t you?”

He went a bit paler as I probably guessed right.

“Don’t worry kid, I’m not ratting you out,” I assured him, “You’re a courier for them or do you get them in other ways?”

Gallus still didn’t look at ease but more of that nervousness seemed to be directed at the noise from outside now. “They give inconsequential letters to street kids to deliver around Griffinstone for food because they can’t read them anyway...”

“...Except you could because of Gilda. But she had more important letters too.”

Gallus scratched his claw over the floor, “There are more ways into the castle than the front gate...”

Hmm, that’s useful to remember in case I need access into that place...

“To all griffins! An announcement will be made in an hour!” Someone announced from outside, “All griffins are obligated to head to the castle square to listen to the glorious re-instatement of our kingdom!!”

I scowled as I looked out at the announcer who continued on his way to the next section of the city where he’d most likely relay the same message again. Gilda came back down, this time without Rainbow.

“We should get there as soon as possible,” Gilda said as she had heard the message too.

“Agreed, I’ll drop my stuff with Dash upstairs. I don’t think they’ll appreciate me heading there fully packed.”

“Probably not, no,” Gilda said as I grabbed all my gear and hauled it upstairs, finding Rainbow and pushing my rifle into her hooves along with my tactical vest after taking out the pistol.

“Don’t you need this?” Rainbow asked as she held the rifle.

“I’m going without a cloak so I can’t hide it. I’m taking my pistol and a mag with me since I can actually hide that under a wing,” I told her as I helped strap on the tactical vest around her barrel. “If you’re found… well, let’s hope they don’t search the house. Clear?”

Rainbow shook a little but nodded in understanding.

“Good, don’t play around with the rifle but be ready in case there are uninvited visitors,” I clamped my pistol with an extra mag under my wing and turned to the stairs again. “Keep that dragonfire candle close. We’ll be back as soon as we can be.”

Gilda and Gallus were already waiting for me at the front door as I came down.

At least I’ll have Gilda on my side here.

Griffins were slowly coming out of their houses while the armed griffins watched over everyone and pointed them towards the square, armed griffins were standing guard all around while others worked to set up a little podium for someone to speak at. Whispers rang throughout the growing crowd as the given deadline for assembly came closer.

Gallus squeezed himself between Gilda and me, shielding himself from all the other griffins in the square. Neither Gilda nor I said anything to each other as I took my time to study the guards, finding markings on the chest of their armours of which I became pretty sure denoted ranks.

Eventually, the castle’s door opened and a new group of griffins came out who walked over to the podium, his rough black feathers moving about in the wind.

“That’s Garrick,” Gilda muttered silently as silence fell over the massive crowd.

“To all griffins assembled here, rejoice! I am sure you all have many questions, some of which shall become clear over the next few days! But, brothers and sisters, from now on Griffinstone shall no longer wither away under the rule of weak ponies. Our magnificent city shall blossom like never before, but as with any new venture like this the ponies shall not take kindly to our new path!” Garrik looked over to a group of his griffins who brought forward a pony onto the stage. I frowned as I could see the heavily mangled and gagged batpony struggling to stand, claw marks all over his body and one of his wings completely missing.

“This is the leader of a group of Lunar Guards which we captured as they spied on our great city! They were here to stop us from reaching our goals, to keep us living in the dirt!” The bat pony tried saying something through the gag but had not the strength to do so, a wave of disapproving shouts came from the crowd aimed at the pony.

“No more! We have cast off the chains of the throne in Canterlot and shall make our own path! No lowly pony shall stand in our way, and any hostile action against our new state by the ponies shall be punished severely!” The Griffins around the batpony pushed him into position while Garrick was given a musket.

The bastard is going to execute him right there...

“Gallus, look away,” I told the little griffin who obediently turned his head away. Garrick took aim at the batpony and pulled the trigger, the loud explosion startled most of the crowd as the Lunar Guard dropped onto the stage lifelessly. I felt anger boiling inside of me at the callousness with which this griffin had killed the guard.

This is wrong. I can see Gilda’s point of view but this is way too far.

“We shall not tolerate any interference with our new state! Glory to Griffonia!” He turned and along with his guard retreated back into the castle while they just left the pony’s body out in the open. A definite mixed feeling could be felt in the crowd as the guards around the square started calling for everyone to return home again, some seeming to be cheerful while others silently minded their own business.

“Gallus?” I asked as we got out of the square.

“Y-Yeah?”

“I’m going to need pointers on how to get into the castle unseen,” I told him as we strode back to Gilda’s house, passing guards that were now posted everywhere. They must have quite the force if they got this many out on the streets.

“Why?”

“Multiple reasons,” I responded, “Reasons not best uttered in public.” Gallus kept silent after that until we reached the house and Gilda opened it back up. “I’ll check up on Rainbow.”

Gilda nodded and was going to make something to eat for all of us.

“Hey Dash, you still here?” I asked as I didn’t immediately see Rainbow where I left her. Her mane slowly appeared from behind a box, streaks of tears having matted her fur, and my rifle pressed against her chest as she shot forward and pulled me in a crushing hug. “Whoa there, what happened?”

“T-They were c-checking houses to see if everyone had g-gone to the announcement,” Rainbow sniffed, “They t-tried the door first and l-looked in through the windows after that.”

I stroked her hair as Rainbow cried into my chest, carefully getting my rifle back from her and setting it to the side. “Rainbow, why did you follow me? This is one of the main reasons why I wanted you to go back to Ponyville.”

“I… I just couldn’t l-let you go alone, i-it felt so wrong,” Rainbow choked, making me sigh.

“Dash you-”

“I didn’t feel safe, okay!” She shouted, starting to shake as her grip somehow became tighter. “Every time you’d go on your own I was looking over my shoulder at every bush in case a griffin was hiding in there!”

Ah, crap. What am I going to do with you Dash, I have work to do here...

“Rainbow, I can’t be there to constantly keep watch of you.”

“I know...”

For a few minutes, I just sat there, stroking Rainbow’s mane while she kept herself pulled close against me. “Look, let’s get some food before we decide our next move.”

Rainbow silently agreed and after grabbing the dragonfire candle, my rifle, notepad, and pen, we joined Gilda and Gallus at the table downstairs. Gilda had prepared some bread which we silently ate. While we were doing so I lit the dragonfire candle, a letter appearing from the fire.

“Anything interesting in there?” Gilda asked as I read through it.

I huffed. “They lost contact with their scouts in the mountains around here.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked as she hadn’t been at the square.

“They were captured, Rainbow. Their leader was executed at the announcement,” I answered, starting to write my reply. “That’s one of the reasons I need Gallus here to show me a way into the castle. The rest of his team are most likely still alive and I might not be part of the night guard for that long but I don’t leave people behind.”

Taking my letter I put it to the candle’s flame and waited for a reply. Thirty minutes later two separate replies came back, one stamped with the seal of the Solar Guard and the second with the crescent moon from Luna’s night guard. First opening the one with Solar seal, I read it out softly so the others could hear too.

Mister Grey, we thank you for your willingness to help but, as you yourself have determined, this situation has deteriorated way past the point of reasonableness to ask you to continue to risk your life.

We ask you only to give us as much information about these new weapons you describe and lay low while forces are assembled and sent to Griffinstone.

Stay safe up there.

-Princess Celestia Morningstar, Diarch of the sun.

“Sounds like the reasonable way to go about this,” Gilda muttered, I ignored her as I broke the seal on the second scroll and read it aloud too.

Specialist Grey, If you have not read my sister’s scroll first I will ask you to do so first.

I know that my sister asked you to sit back and wait but as you pledged yourself to the night guard, and by extension me, I wish to give you another option.

The unit that was captured was part of a larger infiltration force in the area and acted as the eyes of the unit. We were still trying to figure out why they had gone silent when your message came through.

Attached to this message you shall find a map, if you agree with working with us then I will have thestrals be sent out to the marked locations on there at a night of your choosing. Your task will be to determine the status of the captured unit and free them from the griffins’ claws.

No action will be taken against you if you opt to take the option my sister has presented to you but the Lunar guard would very much appreciate your help in returning its members. If you agree, sign your next reply with a crescent moon.

-Princess Luna Morningstar, Diarch of the moon.

We all looked at each other in silence as I finished reading the scroll. I read through it again just for myself before starting to pen a small reply to the princesses.

A small crescent moon marked the end of the reply.

Author's Note

Next week will probably not have a chapter, I was rather busy this week and I'll be busy with more stuff in the next.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.