"Shining, I'm going to be very honest with you here - this report makes absolutely no sense to me." Captain Gibraltar says while sitting at his desk, his expression a mixture of puzzlement and concern as he studies the sheet levitated with his magic in front of him.
"I know, sir, this doesn't make sense to me either. But it's what Lieutenant Stratocumulus brought back to me when I sent him to investigate who went against your explicit orders not to let the griffons have hard drink." Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor replies, making something like a shrugging motion as he speaks.
"It still doesn't make sense, though. Why would the Quartermaster do this on his own initiative? Surely he knows the consequences of defying such a direct order, and he's never done anything like this before." Gibraltar states.
"Sir, is it possible...?" Shining Armor hesitantly asks.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to consider it a possibility he's one of those Agents of Chaos. I'll confront the Quartermaster about this when he brings his report in here to my office. Usually he's done so already, but he must be running behind schedule this morning..." Gibraltar answers, eyebrows knitting tighter.
"Understood, sir. Is there anything else I can do?"
"Put Lieutenant Stratocumulus on notice he may need to come to my office to verify the report as soon as he wakes up. Without more hard information, that's all I can ask of you right now."
"Alright, sir. Have a good day, I hope?"
"I definitely hope I can have a good day, because it's not starting out very well that's for sure!"
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EARLY AFTERNOON...
"So nice of you both to come!" Princess Cadance said, afterward taking a sip of tea from the tea cup levitated by magic in front of her as she and two other mares sat around a small table in a tea party of sorts.
"Oh it was our pleasure, Your Majesty! Diamond Rose and I are thrilled beyond belief to be here!" Lemony Gems, a unicorn mare with a pastel yellow coat and cerulean mane, exclaims in return. She and Diamond Rose - a pegasus mare with an off-white coat, a mane striped in three shades of pink and more than a passing resemblance to Fluttershy - had been friends with Cadance in high school and helped her get together with Shining Armor. Since then, both mares had entered the jewelry business - Lemony Gems in Ponyville and Diamond Rose in Canterlot.
"I'm sure you two are. I know there's a lot we need to catch up on, particularly with you Lemony." Cadance replies, taking a sip of tea before continuing. "I haven't heard much from Twilight about Ponyville, so I want to know how she's adjusting to living in that town."
"To be honest, haven't had much chance to check on her, but I know she's living in the Golden Oak Library there." Lemony Gems replies before drinking some tea herself.
"Not surprised, she lived in the library here, why should it be any different in Ponyville?" Cadance asks, before the three mares share a giggle for a few seconds.
"Hey, you're not allowed in there!" one of the guards is heard calling out from the hallway, immediately drawing the attention of the three around the table and cutting the conversation short.
"I am the Ambassador, it's my job to talk to royalty!" the griffon ambassador's voice is heard shouting back in a rather arrogant tone as he enters the room the tea party is being held in, the two guards assigned to the post fast behind him.
"Guards, let him have his say. It won't work anyway." Cadance orders in exasperated annoyance, rolling her eyes at the same time. The two guards pull back a little bit but keep their eyes fixed on the griffon ambassador, who is slowly pacing around the table with an almost predatory expression on his face. Lemony Gems and Diamond Rose both scrunch up in their chairs, freaked out by the griffon's unexpected arrival.
"Ambassador, is there a point to this visitation beyond scaring my old high school friends silly?" Cadance asks with an unamused look on her face.
"Hmph, tea parties! No wonder that darkness lasted as long as it did." the griffon ambassador states with a great deal of contempt on his face. "All that interbreeding has made our old rivals soft, putting them to guard frivolous things like this and perform for the amusement of those ground bound!"
Those statements produce a set of angry glares from the guards, both of which were pegasi, and an annoyed glare from Diamond Rose. Lemony Gems just continues cringing in her seat, and Cadance gives a look that mixes both boredom and annoyance.
"A pegasus like you should be ashamed of herself! In the old days, you took up arms alongside your mates, not giggled alongside the unicorns!" the ambassador continues, looking directly at the annoyed Diamond Rose. He approaches close to her and the guards rush toward him in response, but a hoofraise by Cadance stops them in their tracks.
"Take it easy. He has a right to his own opinion, guards." Cadance states.
"That's right. And if I was to say that Princess Celestia is a tyrannical trolling molester, well that's my opinion too!" the ambassador replies in a mocking tone, which again brings the guards rushing in an indignant anger.
"Don't do it. That's an order!" Cadance calls out again, which stops the guards once again.
"But Your Majesty...!" one of the guards objects.
"It's not worth starting a fight over, guard. Now, can we please finish our tea party?" Cadance asks in exasperation, levitating up the cup and saucer and taking a sip afterward to try to help calm things down.
But the expression on the ambassador's face clearly showed he was not done yet, and continued speaking on as he paces around the table: "Of course, I'd also say that Princess Celestia deserves her junior partner in the business of running a kingdom. Pretty and pink and with the power to restore love between ponies... there's a reason we've kept our dueling tradition even between mates. We don't want anything pink and equine coming over with her spooky magic to fix our problems."
Shocked gasps spread across the room as it becomes clear the griffon ambassador is talking about Cadance herself, and the sidelong glare as she sets down her teacup and saucer again indicates she knows too. Perhaps if the ambassador had known the hot blood of pegasi was Cadance's by birthright he would not have been so spoiling for a fight, but as it was he was in for quite a lot of trouble.
"Ambassador, don't you think you should rephrase that?" Cadance says as she scowls at the ambassador's smug confidence, the ambassador almost sticking his beak in her face at this point.
"You're right, I should." the ambassador smugly starts to answer. "I didn't mean to say that you're pink because you're a princess, I meant to say that you're a princess because you're pink."
The griffon ambassador breaks out in roaring laughter, and a very fierce Cadance rises from her seat. Lemony Gems and Diamond Rose scramble into a far corner of the room as a scowling Cadance smashes a forehoof between his eyes. The surprised and pained squawking from the ambassador brings screeching from other griffons positioned just outside the room, and soon the room is the sight of a full-on brawl, with Cadance repeatedly bucking and smashing the ambassador wherever she can land a hit and the guards rolling around smashing everything up while trying to keep the other griffons from interfering.
The squawks and cries ring through the hallway, followed by the hoofsteps of other guards scrambling to break up the fight. All the commotion also reaches a cloaked figure hiding in a utility closet, his hooves wrapped in cloth and a white unicorn horn sticking out of a hole in the cloak. If his smile could've been seen, it would've been a mile wide.
"Perfect. Everything is going to plan." the cloaked figure says to himself.
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LATER THAT AFTERNOON...
Agent Snake had quite a sight in front of him. To his left was the griffon ambassador stuck in bed, casts over two of his legs and moaning in pain - Cadance had broken several ribs in addition to the two legs. To his right, a young female griffon going on and on about her trip to Ponyville had been ruined. Under the cloak, the smile was very amused indeed.
"My condolences to what happened. At least now you have an excuse to increase your demands." Snake speaks to the ambassador, who responds with a moaning squawk - getting beat up by a pink pony princess was not exactly the way he thought he would succeed in his mission. But if it worked, no one back home would be laughing about it, right?
"It's not fair! I try to go visit my old Junior Speedster friend and that's the kind of treatment she gives me?!" the young female griffon is roaring out indignantly.
"Gilda, I told you it would be a waste of time coming with us." one of the ambassador's guards - the young female's father, if Snake had to guess - replies. "She was not your friend then, she is not your friend now and she never was your friend. All the stuff that happened to you over there proved it beyond a doubt. Griffons and Equestrians just cannot be friends, no matter what they may say."
"Hmph, ain't that the truth!" one of the other griffons adds on before continuing to write the revised version of the original demands for "compensation".
"Fortunately, your troubles will be short lived. We are ready when you are." Agent Snake says to the griffon writing.
"You mean tonight?" the writing griffon replies, only briefly stopping in his work.
"Yes. I have arranged an opening to execute the plan. All I need is your slave." Snake explains.
The writing griffon looks over at the ambassador, who gives a nod - apparently, he has nothing to loose at this point except something he could replace once he got back to his own lands.
"Bring him!" the writing griffon orders two of the guards, who leave to fetch the enslaved griffon, Gilda following behind them.
While waiting, the griffon writing the revised demands finishes his job, and Agent Snake pulls out a needle full of a black liquid. Interestingly, he did not use telekinetic magic to accomplish this despite sporting a unicorn horn. Fortunately, the griffons seemed not to notice or care about this little detail enough to make mention of it.
Two guards bring in the squawking, screeching slave, which is fighting claw and talon against their pull. This effort is only redoubled when he sees the needle Agent Snake wields.
"Hold him down!" the griffon that had been writing orders out, and the two guards smartly pin down all the legs of the slave, rendering him unable to do more than squawk incessantly.
Agent Snake approaches with the needle - he can see the slave griffon struggling to resist, but it's no use. The needle is jabbed into the slave's neck and the plunger pushes the black liquid into his body, the slave all the while crying out in pain.
"There. Unconscious in eight hours, comatose in sixteen. Even if he does squeal, the Equestrians won't be able to get anything useful out of him." Agent Snake explains to the other griffons.
"Good. We'll give him the knock-out drug to smuggle in during the opening you mentioned, and execute the plan." one of the guards says to Agent Snake.
"There, you see Ambassador? All worth it." Agent Snake replies, and the evil devious grin that spreads across the Ambassador's face indicates he agrees. Once again, the Agents of Chaos were ready to strike...