My Little Paintball: Rise of the Griffon Kingdom
Chapter 9: Expanding Fronts
-Canterlot, Equestria-
"Booze! Booze! Where are you?" Gear Shift rushed down the hallways of the now deserted kid-friendly pizzeria. The white earth pony rounded one of the corners towards some kind of security office. To her surprise, Booze wasn't at his post. Not actually much of a surprise, I suppose. Gear brushed a few stray dark grey hairs back into her mane before she darted back out towards the main party room. Gear's eyes scanned the tables that were spread out around the room and the neatly placed party hats that stood in front of each seat. A single stage loomed silently over the room with no performers to be found.
Celestia's flank, this place is creepy. "Equestria's under attack!" Gear called again. "You need to get your flank out here, pronto!"
That's when she heard it. A metallic groan sounded from down the hall. Gear's ears twitched as she slowly walked towards the cracked open backstage door. As she approached the door she heard the faint whizzing and occasional clanking of machinery.
Gear stopped at the door. The noise of machinery suddenly stopped. "Booze, if this is some kind of a joke, then-"
The door swung open to reveal an animatronic suit that looked like a bear with a top hat. The bear's mouth was open in what could have been a smile. Behind the robot's jaws was a second pair of jaws, this time with wickedly sharp metal teeth.
The pony let out a shriek and began backpedalling, only to trip over a chair and fall back as the animatronic advanced. "Whatever you are, stay back!"
"Gear Shift… is that you?" a haggard voice asked from inside the backstage room.
Gear looked past the robot. "Booze? Is that you?"
"Hang on," Booze responded. The alcoholic pony stumbled out of the backstage room with an empty whiskey bottle in his hoof. "Freddy, da buck did I tell you about shcaring poniesh?" The hung-over pony slurred.
The animatronic bear turned around to face Booze. The bear gave a silent nod and then turned around to go back into the backstage room.
Gear's gaze shot from the bear to Booze. "Uh… Booze, what exactly happened last night?" she asked as she stood up.
Booze opened his mouth and held the bottle over his waiting maw, only to be disappointed at the lack of sweet alcohol. "Well, I wassh doing my security job like I was supposed to," he said as he absentmindedly let the bottle slip to the checkered floor. "And theshe robots tried to get into my office. They did eventually and dragged me to the backstage room. Just before they could shtuff me in a suit, I figured I'd have one last drink. Forgot I had the shtupid thing in my-"
"Does this story have a point?" Gear interrupted.
Booze let out a chuckle. The smell of his breath made Gear's nose want to commit seppuku on the spot. "Turns out those robots like whiskey. Who'da thought?"
Gear blinked at the explanation. "Okay, okay. Look, can you hold up a paintball gun?" She asked with a quick shake of her head.
"Oh yeah, Gear, don' worry about it," Booze replied with a doofy smile on his face.
"Good, 'cuz the griffons are attacking and we need to help defend Canterlot," Gear said as she turned to go back to her squad.
Booze squinted his eyes in thought as Gear took off towards the exit. "Wait, what?" Well, better follow her and see what happens. Booze looked back towards the backstage room. "Hey, I'll see you lightweights tonight, alright?"
A rust red animatronic fox peered out from behind the door and gave the alcoholic pony a thumbs up in response.
"Cool. See ya!" With that, Booze galloped after Gear.
-Vanhoover Outskirts, Crystal Empire-Equestrian Border-
The biting wind ripped through the members of Stonehenge Squad as they hiked up one of the many mountains that formed the chain of mountains that separated the Crystal Empire from Equestria.
The squad leader looked back at the ponies as they ascended the rocky terrain. "Come on, everyone! Not much farther to go!" The human waved his arm towards the mountaintop.
Mike "Elementarsenal" Black looked down at the group of ponies that were working their way up the stones. Just another twenty meters then we'll head back down, he figured. The air was getting noticeably thin up at this altitude and he didn't want to take the chance that somepony would collapse on the mountain.
"Squad Commander Black!"
Mike's gaze flicked to a plain white unicorn with a cloud-grey mane. "What is it, Private Silver?"
Sacred Silver looked up towards his human superior. "Care to remind me why we're out here, sir?"
"Reconnaissance," Mike replied over the wind. "With the Griffon Kingdom now militarized against us, it's our job to establish defensive outposts against attack!"
"Right," Silver said with a nod as his orders came back to the front of his memory. "And you need me to use my cryomagic to conjure up an outpost structure, right?"
Mike adjusted his shoulder-slung sniper rifle. "Exactly!" The human squad leader looked back up towards the mountain's top and scanned the area for any possible building spots. Moments later, one spot stuck out like a sore thumb. Mike analyzed the level outcropping that jutted out from the mountain no more than ten feet from the peak. That should do it."Not much farther to go, guys! Let's hustle!"
Several minutes later, the group had arrived at the outcropping. After a short testing of the outcropping's stability, Sacred stepped out into the middle of the area.
"The building's gonna have to be stable, but lightweight so as to not collapse the outcropping. Can you do that?" Mike asked Sacred.
The cryomancer pony gave Mike an assuring grin. "You bet." Sacred's horn began to glow ice blue. As the glow intensified, the snow from the outcropping swirled together and solidified into ice blocks. The blocks then stacked on top of one another and walls began to form. Within seconds, the lower portion of the outpost was constructed.
As Sacred built the outpost, Mike reached up to his helmet and flipped down a thin set of glasses-like objects over his visor. The thermal sensor goggles tinged the surrounding mountains purple and blue while the ponies next to him glowed orange and red. Mike scanned the area to see if anyone else was around. To his surprise, a clump of orange and yellow specs floated between the mountains in the distance.
"Private Silver, did anyone say we were getting reinforcements?" he asked without turning to the unicorn.
Sacred looked up from his magic to glance back at his commander. "No sir. Just us up here as far as I know of."
Mike's eyebrows scrunched together as he flipped up his heat-vision visor. Griffons, no doubt about it, but they weren't flying towards the mountain. They were travelling north.
But the only thing to the north of here is the Crystal Empire. Negotiating attempt, perhaps? Mike wanted to believe that the griffons were courting the crystal ponies for an alliance, but with how close Equestria and the Crystal Empire were diplomatically, the odds of such an alliance between them and the griffons were pretty slim at best.
"Sacred, as soon as you finish that structure, we're to RTB as soon as possible," Mike ordered.
"Why is that, sir?"
Mike's face hardened into a grim visage. "Because it might not just be Equestria that the griffons have their eyes on."
-Claw Penitentiary, Classified Location, Griffon Kingdom-
Black Mark stared indignantly at the dull metal walls that surrounded him. There wasn't much of a trial after his capture at Site 17. Just a quick interrogation, an assurance that whatever he'd been up to had failed, then solitary confinement for an indefinite amount of time.
Those birdbrains couldn't interrogate someone to save their skins, Black though with a chuckle. I'd imagine a slightly peeved cat in demand of some catnip would be more intimidating that whatever they call "interrogation".
Black glanced towards the door a single thick slab of metal with hinges, save for one small crease at the bottom where the door met the floor. There was never more than a single guard standing outside the cell door. The solitary shadow that ran along the ground made Black aware of that within a few days of solitary confinment. Since then, he'd had plenty of time to concoct an escape plan.
Alright. Gonna get out of this place, get back to Equestria, and smack Celestia around until she tells me what went wrong at Site 17. That was the general plan, at least. But there was still the dilemma of his immediate situation. Well, here it goes.
Black inched his way to the slit under the door and put his muzzle to the door. "Hey guard." No response. The silent treatment, eh? This is gonna be good. "Guard? Guard? Guard? Guard? Guard? Guard? Guard? Guard? G-"
"What?!"
Black's eyebrows rose at the sudden bark. "Wanna have some fun?"
"Silence, prisoner," the guard ordered.
"Oh come on, there's gotta be some kind of fun that registers in that birdbrain of yours," Black suggested with a smile.
To the chegasus' disappointment and expectation, the guard said nothing in reply.
"You have any siblings, guard?"
After a period of silence, the griffon replied. "Two brothers."
"They in good health?" Black questioned.
"Yeah, why?"
"I have a cousin that once shoved five plastic horse figurines up his butt." Black paused a moment to let the odd statement sink in. "When I asked what his condition was, the doctors described his condition as stable."
An audible groan sounded from the guard, much to Black's enjoyment.
"What did the pony politician say on a bill he opposed?" Black Mark waited a few moments before delivering the line. "Neigh."
The griffon's groan turned into a growl of disgust.
One more oughta do it. "What was the name of a circus pony whose hair reached the floor?"
"Don't you f(yay)ing do it," the griffon warned.
Black Mark grinned as he spoke in barely above a whisper. "The mane attraction." He instantly backed away from the door as the griffon guard spun around to face it. A clanking of keys and lock tumblers alerted Black to the opening of his cell door.
The door swung open to reveal a rather peeved griffon in black paintball armor.
They even integrated paintball warfare into their prisons? Black Mark raised an eyebrow at the thought. This is gonna be easier than I originally thought.
The griffon guard thrust a fist into his other hand and cracked his knuckles. "Just for those puns, I'm gonna enjoy these next few minutes," he threatened from behind his helmet.
Black legs tensed as he readied for a fight. "You can't stop the puns, birdbrain. Let's not make this any more hawkward than it already is," he said with a smug grin.
"Oh shut up!" The griffon began barreling towards Black in a blind fury.
Gotcha. Black Mark quickly sidestepped the charge and looped a hoof around the griffon's neck and tackled him to the floor. Keeping his arm hooked around the griffon's neck, Black grabbed his chokehold arm and held it even tighter as the griffon squirmed. No more than ten seconds later, the griffon guard fell limp.
"I'll take those," Black said as he swiped the key ring off the knocked-out guard's belt. "Now to get out of here."
-Appleloosa, Equestria-
Sheriff Silver Star sat contentedly in his rocking chair as he watched the wind whistle its way through the apple orchards. The lawpony smiled at the faint smell of freshly grown apples. He closed his eyes and leaned back. Moments like this are what I live for.
"Lovely day, isn't it, Sheriff?"
The sheriff opened his eyes and looked down from the office of the sheriff's porch to see a young buffalo cow with a solitary pair of feathers standing up from her curly tan mane.
"Little Strongheart," Silver Star addressed as he stood up from his chair and removed his cowpony hat. "What may I do for you?"
"Our tribe's rations of apple pies are starting to run a bit low," the buffalo asked with a soft smile. Chief Thunderhooves, while a strong and firm leader, tended to overindulge the tribe with apple pies in feasts every now and again. "Care to spare some more?"
The sheriff nodded. "That you may, ma'am. Take as many as you like." He gestured towards the Appleloosa general store towards the center of town. "Thank Celestia for that surplus of crops we yielded over the past year. We honestly didn't know what to do with so many pies. I was afraid the value would drop from so many, but I guess that's one more reason to give you buffalo some of our pie."
Little Strongheart flashed a toothy smile. "Thank you, sheriff. Well I'd best be on my-"
"Griffons!" a lone voice shouted from the orchards.
Both Silver Star and Little Strongheart looked towards the distant apple trees to see a familiar yellow stallion galloping towards the town.
"Braeburn?!" Silver Star called back in slight agitation. "What're you yelling about?"
"Griffons! Everypony defend the town! Griffons are coming!" Braeburn was now a stone's throw from the sheriff's office.
"Griffons?" Little Strongheart wondered aloud. Such creatures had only been described to her by stories from the other tribe members. While she was excited to see one, Braeburn's alarming tone was cause for concern. "What're they doing here?"
"Now, Braeburn, we don't have any proof other than your word for it that griffons are coming here," Silver Star tried to ease the younger stallion. "Have you been working too hard today?"
"I know what I saw, sheriff!" Braeburn replied defensively. "We have to-"
That's when they heard it. A distant mass of eagle cries, but no eagles could be found in Appleloosa's skies. Hawks, yes, but no eagles.
Silver Star looked to Braeburn immediately. "Braeburn, spread the word," the sheriff ordered. "Get the paintball guns from the town armory. I'll help get a defense ready in a moment." No sooner had the words left his mouth that Braeburn took off towards town. Silver Star's eyes shot to Little Strongheart's. "And my dear, I think you'd best get back to your tribe. Things are about to get pretty messy here."
Little Strongheart put on a stern look. "If anyone's going to attack Appleloosa, they will have to deal with the buffalo tribe as well."
Silver Star put up a hoof. "As noble as that is, Little Strongheart, I don't think buffalo can be equipped or trained for a paintball fight."
"But still, we can help you," Little pleaded.
Silver Star glanced towards town and then back to the young buffalo. "I'm not getting rid of you, am I?"
Little Strongheart shook her head. "No, sheriff."
"Alright," Silver Star pointed towards the land past the apple orchards. "Tell your chief to bring some of his buffalo warriors to Appleloosa. You can help us defend our town. And be sure to tell him that there'd be a handsome reward of apple pies if he helps us."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" With that, Little Strongheart dashed towards the orchards.
"Well," Silver Star muttered. "Here we go again."
Well this took a bit longer than I thought to get out to you guys. Sorry about the wait, but college has been hounding me for the past couple weeks. Glad to finally get out a new chapter, though! Thanks for waiting and I'd like to thank these users specifically for their OC contributions:
-KaiserDruid
-Thanatos's Scribe
Thank you so much for being patient and keep sending in those OCs!