//------------------------------// // Griffons Lose and the Answer Everyone's Been Waiting For (Hopefully) // Story: Super Equestria // by PonyofTacos //------------------------------// Samus back flips out of the way of a frozen griffon as it slams into the hangar floor and explodes into a storm of icy shards. Landing on her feet she scans the upper regions of the hangar to find the remaining griffon warriors. It only takes her a few seconds to spot one and she fires a quick burst of her Ice Beam to take it down. It dodges the blasts of ice cold energy with it's surprising agility. Immediately after her Ice Beam barrage a lion's roar from behind alerts Samus to a dive bomb attack. She barely leaps out of the way, transforming into the Morph Ball mid flight. The offending griffon, now on the ground, stabs at the rolling ball of metal with it's beak. Another griffon dive bombs the ball and successfully pins it to the ground. Samus feels a bit of pain as the attack caused major damage to her shields, leaving her at 843 units of energy. While she's pinned she plants a power bomb. The bomb's timer alerts the two griffons and they look down at the spinning explosive. Before they could take flight to get away from the weapon, the power bomb unleashes it's immense fury leaving no traces of the two foes. Returning to her normal form, Samus smiles underneath her helmet. The victory is short lived as one of the few griffon warriors remaining swoops down and grapples on to her helmet and left shoulder with it's eagle talons, lifting her off the ground. Samus' surprise leaves her stunned until the griffon smashes her into one of the many supple crates around the hangar. Having had experience is such situations she fires a missile into the griffon's lightly armored underside. The griffon was frozen solid by the powerful explosive projectile. As with all objects and creatures frozen in mid-flight, the griffon crashed into the ground freeing the bounty hunter from it's clutches. After quickly smashing off the frozen talons still gripping her suit, Samus began to search for the last of the griffons in the hangar. "I assure you Miss Sparkle, everything is fine. Your friend knows how to handle herself," the Admiral said reassuringly to a worrying Twilight. "Are you sure?," Twilight asked, her voice trembling slightly. "These are griffon veterans we're talking about here. Rumors say they have the strength of a manticore, the ferocity of a dragon, and less compassion or empathy than Nightmare Moon!" "And," Rainbow Dash butted in, "she's a bit insane." The Admiral raised an eyebrow of curiosity Insane? This is new. Though I need to be careful, I'm already on thin ice letting the bounty hunter be free, asking about her sanity might just get everyone here killed "Rainbow Dash!," Twilight scolded. "Don't say such things, sure she's a bit... off... but I think any one would be with history like that." "You're probably right," Rainbow Dash said apologetically. "But still, that look she had on the chariot gave me the creeps." "Same here," added Applejack. "I haven't seen anypony make a face like that, except well, maybe me when Pinkie pulled that prank with pears." She shot Pinkie an annoyed look. "Oh come on AJ, it couldn't have been that bad," the party pony said in her ever cheerful voice. "It was Ah tell ya! Ah, in all mah days..." The Admiral felt a tap on his shoulder so he turned around to see one of his ship's communications officers. "Sir, Federation HQ is waiting for your report on the planet and on the status of the mission," reported the officer. "Patch them through, but make sure the video screen won't pick up any trace of them," the Admiral gestured towards the colorful equines. "They don't need to get involved any further." "Yes Sir," replied the communications officer. "Also, what about the bounty hunter? I've heard you might let her go." "That is true, but it's necessary." "Necessary Sir? What about the reward or the punishment?" "Who cares about that? I'm ensuring most everyone here makes it home." The officer smiled at his leader. "Well Sir, I think we've kept HQ waiting long enough," he said with a slightly cheerful tone. With that said the comms officer and the Admiral walked to the video screen. "...and there were pears every where needin' to be cleaned--," Applejack stopped in mid-sentence. She was the first to notice their host wast missing. Everypony else looked curiously at the apple farmer and then at the once occupied space. "I knew it!," declared Rainbow Dash. "He's gone and back stabbed us!" "Or he had some business to take care of," added Lyra calmly. "He is the commander of this thing we're in. Maybe he's checking on something." "She does have a point Rainbow," Rarity agreed. "He is fighting an army of griffons. Something probably needs to be checked on or maybe the battle's over. Speaking of checking up on something, I wonder how our friend Samus is coming along." "You heard the Admiral, he said she can handle herself. Besides, if what she's done is true, a few griffons won't be too big of a problem." "Yes I heard that but remember what Twilight said? These are VETERAN griffons. She might be in a tight spot. Oh I wish we could help." "How could we help?," asked Fluttershy in her soft tone. "I mean, they have the attributes of some of the most mean and evil creatures in Equestria, how could we stand a chance?" "It's easier with a suit like mine." The group of ponies snapped their heads in the direction of the voice to find their warrior friend smiling at them. In a blur of motion the bounty hunter was surrounded by the colorful equines. "Well those griffons aren't veterans for nothing," began Samus, some what exhausted by her fight. "I didn't think they'd be that agile or fast in that armor of theirs but this new tale is for later. Right now I want to know if that admiral back stabbed me." "I wouldn't dare think of that, there are too many lives at stake." Samus turned on her heel to face the Admiral. "So you're letting me go?," asked the bounty hunter in an astounded voice. "Yes, but I'm going to have to remain here a few days longer," sighed the Admiral in disappointment. "HQ was disappointed that the bounty hunter that set the beacon here crash landed into a "hostile creature's den" and that you aren't planet side." Samus frowned. "That sounds a bit too... accepting of HQ... are you sure they aren't going to send a fleet over here to search?" "Sort of.," began the Admiral in serious tone, "there's going to be a research lab orbiting the planet eventually. HQ was interested about the planetary scan failures we had earlier, the flora and fauna, possible resources, and evidence of Space Pirate activity." Samus groaned in frustration. "So the Admiral here did back stab you!," Rainbow Dash yelled, attracting a few stares. "Why I'm gonna--" "No, Rainbow, he didn't," the bounty hunter sighed. "He kept his end of the deal, but I totally forgot about HQ and it's inability to just stop." "So don't give up hope!," Pinkie said cheerfully in an attempt to brighten up her friend's mood "I mean sure this HQ is going to be constantly watching the planet but we got your back! Not to mention that we have plenty of tricks to keep you hidden." Samus gave the hyper active pink party pony a smile. She knew Pinkie was right. The Federation hasn't encountered talking, magical ponies before this planet. That gave her hope that even with the Federation in the night sky she would be hidden by methods unknown to her pursuers. Author's Note It's been a while but I'm back.... sorta... Not gonna lie, I'm not sure if this is the ending much less if I'm going to have enough motivation/inspiration to write. I kinda think I can't make this the ending because well... so far the story's been pretty boring in my opinion and probably yours as well. Also I kind of wanted to do something with the moon (Why not? It might make things a bit more interesting.) ... but still... not sure of anything because of my inability to think of what happens next at a pace faster than a snail.