A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Chapter 23: The New Garde
Rainbow Dash slipped into consciousness with a long groan. Everything hurt, her hooves hurt, her wings hurt, but most of all her head hurt. It felt like she’d been strung up by her hindlegs and beaten with paddles for an hour. Her tongue was thick and dry, the heavy metallic taste of dried blood hanging to it like glue. She didn’t bother to open her eyes, that would probably just hurt as well.
‘What…’ She thought groggily, struggling to string a coherent thought together. It was hard, it was like somepony had shoveled half of her brain out with a spoon and other half was struggling to keep up. She lay silently for what felt like hours, listening to the steady beep of some machine and the distant clopping of hooves against tiles. Slowly she felt a bit of feeling start to return to her, she could wiggle a wing now without her mind screaming in protest.
The sound of hoofsteps approaching sounded in her ears, she felt something bump into the side of her bed.
“Can you hear me Rainbow Dash? The nurse said you’d woken up.” An unfamiliar voice asked.
She tried to speak but found that too hard, instead nodding a little in response.
“Fantastic. Can you open your eyes?”
Rainbow cracked her right eye open slightly, flinching at the bright light which flooded her senses. She slowly open it further, taking in the small ward she was in. Everything was painfully white, white walls, white floor, white curtains and blinding bright white lights. She looked around and noticed that she was the only patient.
“Bright...” She croaked weakly.
The doctor smiled slightly. “How do you feel?”
Rainbow took a deep breath, thinking over his question for a few moments. She swore horsley as way of response.
He laughed. “I expected as much. Now just bear with me for a few minutes, I just want to give you a quick check up.”
Rainbow nodded groggily as he took her temperature, blood pressure and had a look in her eyes, ears and mouth. She winced as he touched the left side of her face, the flesh was tender and raw like it’d been burnt.
“Sorry.” He apologised before stepping away. “Well, physically, you’re fine. A few sprains, cuts and fractures, nothing you won’t walk off in a few days. You do have some nice burn scars on the back of your neck and your face though.”
“Then, why-.”
“You’re brain is still a bit bunged up. Scrambled, so to say. You’d need a neurologist to give you the specifics, but in simple terms you had a very severe stroke. Your EEG is promising, but we’ll need to some more tests before you’ll be cleared. Regardless, we’re probably going to keep you in here for the better part of the week so we can monitor your condition.”
Rainbow groaned defeatedly. She hated hospitals. She’d be stuck here, alone and bored while everypony else was out being useful. Her mind scrambled to halt at the thought. “Is Lightnin-.” She croaked.
“She’s fine. A minor injuries and a slight concussion. She was knocked unconscious during the battle.”
Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. a weight lifting off her chest. Lightning Dust was her partner and as much as Rainbow found her a pain in the rump, she would’ve never forgiven herself if something had happened to her. “What about the others?”
“They’re fine. Applejack barely left your side for a few days. You’ve got a good friend in her.”
Rainbow smiled wryly, she didn’t need that told to her. If Applejack had been hurt she probably would’ve traded places just a readily.
“Can I see Lightning Dust?” She asked.
“Of course.” The doctor nodded, scribbling a few notes down on a clipboard before hanging it over the end of her bed. “I need to let the Commander know you’re awake first, he’s been worried sick and barely slept. Poor thing is a wreck. I’ll have her brought down soon. I’ll also get a nurse to bring some food, you look famished.” He added before retreating from her side.
Rainbow nodded, relieved that this doctor at least had his priorities right. She suddenly realised how hungry she was, her stomach rumbling and growling lowly. How long had it been since she’d last eaten? It sounded like she’d been unconscious for at least a few days judging from what the doctor had said.
She looked around the small ward, suddenly impatient. She wanted to get straight back into action, not laze around like a sloth. Rainbow sluggishly tried sitting up, the movement making her neck and head scream with agony. She gritted her teeth and pushed through the pain, almost collapsing before managing to awkwardly prop herself up with a pillow.
Another nurse trotted in, levitating a tray of food in behind him and placing it down on the sideboard beside Rainbow’s bed. He fussed over her for a moment before the doors to the ward swung upon and Soarin plodded in.
Although the stallion always bore some sign of chronic fatigue, he looked more even ragged than normal, bits of his frayed mane sticking out and the ever-present bags under his eyes deeper than she remembered. He pushed a small cart loaded with books in front of him.
“Sir.” She croaked, giving him a semblance of a salute.
Soarin bristled slightly. “Do that again and I’ll have you locked in room until you know what’s good for you.” He said tiredly, still flashing a weak smile.
“What, get hurt or salute?” Rainbow grinned.
Soarin shrugged indifferently. “Either. How do you feel?”
She swore coarsely again to illustrate her feelings before remembering who exactly she was talking to. “Oh, sorry sir.” She added, her cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment.
“Oh you can swear at me, Rainbow.” Soarin chuckled. “You tend to hear a lot of ‘F’ words in the service, the most common of which of course is flank.”
Rainbow Dash cracked a small smile, it was good to see Soarin still had some humour about him. They shared a moment of awkward silence, Soarin’s mouth dropping open as if to say something but no words came out.
Soarin finally took a clumsy step forward, kicking forward the small cart he’d wheeled in with him. “Well, uh, the doctor told me you’d be out for a few weeks and I know how much you like to read so I brought you some books to read. There’s some ones you’ll like, some ones you won’t, textbooks and the manuals mostly.”
“Still have to study, don’t I?” Rainbow sighed, suddenly wishing she was still unconscious.
Soarin flashed her an almost savage grin, clearly aware of how much she detested textbooks. “Yeah, you do. There’s only one way you’d get out of that.” He jeered. He looked away for a moment, a regretful look flashing across his face for an instant. It’s… It’s good to see you’re alright, Rainbow.”
“Thank you, sir.” Rainbow said as he turned to leave. “And Soarin?”
He turned.
“Get some sleep would ya? You look like a walking corpse.”
“Yes, mum.” He shot back sarcastically, giving her a quick smile before trotting out, nearly tripping over Lightning Dust as she forced her way into the infirmary. One of her forelegs was bundled up in a sling but otherwise looking no worse for wear. Rainbow’s co-pilot seemed to give Soarin a voluptuous look over as they awkwardly got out each others way before trotting over to Rainbow.
“Chatting up Soarin now are we?” Lightning Dust purred suggestively, a sly smirk growing across her face. “Friends in high places and all that?”
“Lightning Dust...” Rainbow grumbled back. Her co-pilot at seemed unaffected by their harrowing experience at least, her usual libido jammed forward at full throttle.
“Enjoy your little sleep?” Lightning Dust asked with a yawn.
Rainbow rolled her eyes slightly. “Only because you weren’t there.”
“Hmm. So you did miss me.” Lightning Dust replied dryly, her head tilting to the side slightly as she gave Rainbow a thin smile.
Rainbow returned the look, silently happy that Lightning Dust was fine. Already she was itching to get back into the conpod, to rejoin their shared consciousness. The silence and solitude of her own mind almost felt oppressive.
Rainbow broke the companionable silence. “How’s Daring?”
“Oh she’ll be fine. Most of the damage was to the conpod, just bumps and bruises basically anywhere else. They reckon she’ll be back up and running in a month or two at worst.” Lightning Dust shrugged, wincing as she bumped her leg against the bed. “You should’ve seen it, the whole left side was a mess, like it’d been mauled by an Ursa. So much torn and shredded metal.” She said, leaping up onto the bed and carefully lying down on her belly to take the weight off her injured leg.
“Who needs armour anyway?” Rainbow asked sarcastically.
“I know right? Still, I think in future we should avoid being hit again.” Lightning Dust suggested with a snort of amusement, rolling over onto her back and snuggling into the bed sheets.
“I’ve heard worse ideas.” Rainbow agreed, finally digging into her food hungrily. At least the infirmary’s food was good compared to the normal stuff she got, a generous serving of hay fries and a delicious looking sandwich heaped with all sorts of vegetables were spread over her plate. There was also a small tub of red jelly and a small green apple which she decided to leave for last. “So, what about you? Doc said you’d be okay.” She asked, resisting the urge to kick Lightning Dust off her bed.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Lightning Dust rumbled, enviously watching Rainbow scoff down her food. “I swear if this damn leg doesn’t start hurting less soon though. I’m going to never bother walking again.” She hissed.
Rainbow ignored her complaint. “Do you remember anything about the fight?”
“Well, Trample came down on the conpod, the lights went out and that’s the last thing I remember.” Lightning Dust said, “I woke up a few hours later to some gorgeous hunk of a nurse taking my blood pressure. I don’t remember a thing in between.”
“So I was piloting the Jaeger solo! No wonder everything was so hard.” Rainbow exclaimed, downing the last of her fries and cheerfully cracking open the tub of jelly. The excruciating pain she’d felt when she’d woken up seemed a distant memory.
“Yeah, for all of about twenty seconds.” Lightning Dust grumbled indignantly, obviously trying to save face. “I looked at the logs. If you’d stayed connected any longer your brain would probably be the texture of that jelly you're about to so happily slurp down. Pull a stunt like that again and it’ll be a miracle if it doesn’t kill you.”
Rainbow stopped dead, the red jelly suddenly no longer quite as appealing as it had been a moment ago. She pushed the cup away with a grimace, feeling the aching pain starting to creep back up her limbs and into the base of her skull. Lightning Dust cheerfully liberated the uneaten jelly from her tray, attacking it with a spoon as if she hadn’t seen food in a week.
Rainbow was too sore to hide her disappointment. She had always hoped she’d be one of the special Rangers who could pilot their machines solo for great lengths of time. The record was apparently over three hours. Twenty seconds hardly matched up in comparison.
“But I did finish it, solo.” She grinned toothily, giving Lightning Dust a meaningful look.
“So? Hardly anything special, anypony with half a brain could’ve done it.” Lightning Dust shot back defensively, pointing the spoon between Rainbow’s eyes accusingly.
“Well...” Rainbow said, looking up in a carefree manner. “It’s a good thing I was able to handle Trample by myself. It’s not like you really did much, after all.”
Lightning Dust chuckled sarcastically. “Oh-hohohoho, you’re playing a very dangerous game here, Dashie.” She said, waggling the spoon indignantly at her.
“I mean, can’t give you too much credit now can we? 20% at best?” Rainbow continued, allowing a slightly mocking tone to enter her voice.
“If you weren’t just in a coma…” Lightning Dust muttered, indignantly finishing off the last of the jelly and throwing the spoon at her co-pilot. “You know what? I don’t like this conversation, I’m leaving.” She snapped, her wings snapping open indignantly as she stood. Lightning Dust rose too awkwardly though, grinding her injured leg against the bed as she stood.
“Careful there princess.” Rainbow taunted as Lightning Dust swore profusely.
She pulled a long face at Rainbow Dash and carefully hopped down off the bed, giving the bedridden pegasus a crude gesture with a wing as she limped out of the infirmary.
Rainbow grinned stupidly, tickling Lightning Dust’s over-inflated ego was just too much fun. “Aren’t you just a barrel of laughs?” She snickered quietly to herself, settling back into her soft pillow. Her head was starting to hurt again, a hot slicing pain which cut down her forehead like a knife and hammered away at the base of her skull. She threw a look down at the books Soarin had brought down for her, smiling thinly as she recognised the thick letters running down the spine on one of them. She almost found it funny that he remembered at all. She clumsily picked it out of the pile, flipping the first page open.
It had been a while since she’d read Daring Do.
***
Twilight pushed open the heavy door to her office with a hearty sigh. As she crossed the threshold she let an immense wave of tiredness wash over her, her shoulders slumped and her head drooped slightly. She cast a thought to the small kitchen attached to her office, turning the kettle on with a sharp click and preparing a cup of tea with another few idle thoughts.
Twilight was tired but happy. Today the negotiations with the griffons had concluded, a concrete deal having been struck for the EJC to construct another Jaeger, this time for the griffon state of Orion.
‘More work’ Twilight thought, stifling a yawn. She’d have to have one of her free J-Tech teams start drawing up detailed plans...
She’d been actively involved in the negotiations since Lysander’s congregation had left, debating and arguing points ranging from cost, design and even pilot training with her griffon counterparts until finally coming to ameable conclusion. As both a representative for the Equestrian Crown and the Equestrian Jaeger Corp, Twilight felt she’d done both branches proud.
‘Yes, so very proud,’ Twilight thought happily, leaning back into her well-worn chair tiredly. She’d slept in her office more times than she could count, the stress, duties of her job and her own dutifulness occasionally preventing her from divulging in some of life’s smaller pleasures.
Perhaps a vacation was in order, she thought before promptly dismissing the idea, too many ponies were counting on her for her to enjoy such luxuries. She could hardly complain about the lifestyle. Until recently, she’d been surrounded by friends and she still kept in constant contact with those that were further afield; she’d almost dropped everything and gone to Trottingham when she’d heard of what had happened during the battle with Tusker.
She had the unique opportunity to work in the cutting-edge field of Jaeger technology, no doubt one of the most advanced areas of Equestrian science and magic. Disregarding her position as a princess, she had an almost unparalleled access and contact with some of the greatest minds in Equestria. On top of all that was the constant invention, tinkering, creation and discovery which gave her so much of her drive.
Who’d want a break from all that?
No, a holiday could wait. Maybe once the pair of Mark IIIs currently under construction were deployed, once they had pilots and were out of her mane, she might consider it. But until then there was just too much to do.
The two Jaegers were proving troublesome on account of the buckets of new technology going into them. The groundbreaking reactor-pons-magic interface was buggy at best, though it did at least work on occasion. The reactor’s energy conduit was also problematic as only a sufficiently advanced unicorn or alicorn could harness it without being flooded with uncontrollable energy. While she herself had little problem controlling the output after spending a few days getting used to it, weaker or less disciplined testers had caused all manners of phenomena such as gravity loss in the areas around the test chamber, uncontrollable bursts of lightning or even more exotic incidents which had forced her to postpone further tests for reasons of safety. It occurred to her that while willing pilots there would be no lack of, capable ones, less so.
And those were some of her smaller concerns.
Twilight shook her head, banishing the thoughts with some effort. She only had a few minutes free until her next appointment and she’d prefer to not spend them worrying about her work. The kettle finished boiling and she poured a cup, drifting the gently steaming mug out to her once she was done.
Her eyes drifted across her cluttered desk, searching for a place to put the mug. Although she’d given up keeping it completely clean long ago, the half-dozen odd mugs, stacks of paper and small components which haphazardly littered it all had their place. She wrinkled her nose up at a week old half-drunk cup of recaf, maybe that didn’t have a place. She levitated it to the small kitchenette she had adjacent to her office and dumped the contents into the sink with a satisfied smile.
‘Spike would’ve helped kept this clean.’ She thought wistfully. Not only clean, but more importantly, organised. He knew almost all of Twilight's small intricacies.
She quelched that thought almost immediately. As much as she missed Spike, he was still a child, and as solid and reassuring several feet of concrete and reinforced steel felt, the shatterdome was effectively the frontlines of a warzone. The middle of Equestria was safe as safe got, no Kaiju incursion could penetrate that far inland.
She didn’t need any more of her friends in danger, not now.
A quiet knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
“Come in.” She called, tearing her gaze away from her mess and hurriedly straightened a bit her mane so she’d at least look a little more presentable. She decided that she could probably skip the weekly K-Science brief in lieu of a long, warm shower.
The door quickly swung open, slamming against the wall on its loose hinges and adding yet another dent to its metal surface. The pegasus who’d pushed it open didn’t even flinch at the noise, he was well used to it by now, Twilight even suspected he actually enjoyed the loud bang.
“Two griffons for you ma’am.” Her aide said curtly.
“Sent them in. Thank you, Sidewinder.”
He tapped a hoof to his forehead and vanished.
Twilight quickly searched for two sets of files, finding them under a half-finished report on high-energy weapons.
“Garde and Hilmar…” She muttered more to remind herself than anything. Griffons sure did have strange names. They were two of Forsythe’s guards, volunteers who had elected to stay behind to help with the neural mapping for their city’s new Jaeger. No doubt they had no idea what that actually entailed, but that’s why Twilight was seeing them. She quickly flicked through their files, the sound of claws scraping against concrete coming from outside.
A bird’s head poked around the doorframe curiously, a ruby red eye staring at Twilight.
“Garde?” Twilight asked.
“Hilmar.” The griffon spoke, his soft tinkling voice at odds with his fierce appearance.
“Oh, sorry.” Twilight apologised, waving him in.
“Common mistake.” Hilmar shrugged without concern.
Twilight didn’t have time to ask what he meant by that before a second griffon appeared behind Hilmar. Another ruby eye locked onto Twilight.
Twilight blinked with surprise “Oh…”
***
Misty Fly was cross.
While to many others this seemed to be her natural state of being, she was in fact, usually sitting below full-blown anger at a level that her brother like to call ‘egotistically suppressed irritation’.
‘Why in the seven planes of Tartarus would they give this to ME?!’ She thought, storming through the shatterdome towards Michael’s office. The shift was changing and although the corridors were thick with ponies, her bark and fierce glower was enough to forge a path with little effort.
She had been enjoying a pleasant afternoon of downtime, studying simulation and battle recordings in the shatterdome’s library when Lightning Streak had joined her, bearing a new assignment directly from Michael. Misty wasn’t usually one to completely disregard the chain of command, usually taking orders and completing them the best of her abilities even if she didn’t like them. This though, this assignment, felt like it been given to them because of something she’d said. It felt personal.
She pushed past Michael;’s silent secretary, barging into the human's office without even knocking.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Misty snapped.
“Just when my door was starting to be treated like a door again…” Michael muttered, looking up from a stack of papers as thick as his arm. “Please, make yourself right at home.”
Misty glared silently.
“I’m not telepathic, Misty, what is it?” Michael asked with an air of faux sweetness.
“You want me to babysit griffons?” She snapped.
“Well I seem to recall it was you and Lightning Streak, but yes, I want you to look after some griffons.” Michael replied patiently, resting his elbows on his desk and forming an arch with his fingers. “Why, is that a problem?”
“A problem? A problem?” Misty hissed. “It’s griffons, of course it’s a problem! Me and griffons don’t mix!”
“I don’t see the issue…” Michael flipped through a few pages scattered across his desk, searching for the two griffon’s names. “...Garde and Hilmar, that’s them. I’ve met them, they seem friendly enough.”
Misty seemed to regain a little composure, draping a hoof over her muzzle with a groan. “That’s… that’s besides the point, sir. Why me? Why not get Pinkie and Maud, why not you or your brother? Why not anypony else but me?”
“Because I want experienced Rangers on it. I’d go with Soarin and Wave Chill but they’ve got their hands full getting Trottingham started up, not to mention getting things back in shape after Trample made a mess. I don’t have the time to watch these two myself and if I asked Shane to do it I’d probably just get a blank stare in response. Even if I was willing to put Pinkie and Maud on it I can’t, they’re at the Proving Grounds, you know that.”
Misty wrinkled her nose up irritably. It was hard to admit he was right. The shatterdome seemed infinitely more quiet now that Pinkie and Maud had vanished with their Jaeger into the wilderness. Oddly enough Misty found herself missing their presence.
“But why? Why bother? What’s so special about them?” She asked.
Michael shrugged slightly. “They interest me. Call it a trial period.” He grabbed two thin files off his desk and passed them over to Misty.
“They’re twins?” She asked with bewilderment.
“Cousins, actually.” Michael corrected her. “Though from what I understand of griffons they may as well be.”
Misty scowled, wondering what scheme had been cooked up for the two griffons. Nothing good she could imagine. She knew a deal had finally been closed with the infernal creatures in regard to their own Jaeger. He couldn’t possibly suspect these two of being Ranger material, could he?
He gave her a sympathetic smile. “Look... I understand you have some, uh, reservations, about griffons and I apologise for dropping this on you out of the blue, but I need you to do this.”
Misty wanted to make a case against him but she reigned her frustration in. She was already way out of line and Michael was right, as much as she hated to admit it. There was nopony else. Misty puffed her chest out slightly. “I understand.” She said, keeping her voice as impassive as she could.
Michael rested his chin on one of his palms. “If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you like griffons?”
Misty felt her tongue twist in her mouth. She hadn't expected that. What could she say that wouldn’t make her look like a foal? Admitting weakness was not something she did.
“They- They scare me.” She replied eventually.
“They frighten you? That’s it?” Michael’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
Misty felt a hot blush creep across her cheeks. She didn’t normally give a flying feather about what other ponies thought of her, but Michael’s tone almost seemed a little patronising. She swore silently, unable to tell if the human was being condescending or not, how did their body language work without tails, flexible ears or wings?
“More than you know.” Misty grumped back, looking away and pinning her ears back against her head. She was starting to feel irritable again, if she told anypony else she was certain they’d make a laughing stock out of her. ‘Terrified of a griffon! What a pathetic excuse for a pony!’ She thought miserably.
“Being afraid of something isn’t something to be ashamed of, Misty.” Michael consoled her.
Misty shot him a cold glare, what did he know about shame? Her pride didn’t allow her to be afraid, being afraid was something others did. Being afraid of something as simple as griffons was almost as bad as her unease with heights. She shuddered at the thought of that little tidbit getting out. “I’ll keep an eye on your stupid griffons.” She growled irritably. “Just keep everything I said to yourself, savvy?”
“Good.” Michael beamed, dismissing the issue with a relieving amount of ease. “Now, unless you have something else you need..?”
Misty frowned and shook her head, making to leave before stopping again. “Sorry sir.” She apologised softly over her shoulder. “That was… I was, out of line.”
“That’s alright Misty.” Michael replied, already digging back into his work.
Feeling a little better, she marched out of his office with as much dignity as she could muster. A sick feeling grew in her gut, why was she so meekly subjecting herself to this?
“Sorry.” She apologised brusquely as she passed Michael’s secretary, feeling a sudden pang of embarrassment as she stomped off. She hadn’t closed the door when she’d stormed in and the much-abused secretary had probably heard everything.
Misty made her way back from where she’d come defeatedly, no longer the raging, stomping terror machine she had been a few minutes ago. She felt ashamed, ashamed for letting her anger get the better of her again over something so trivial. Watch griffons, so what? She could manage.
Somehow.
A knot of anxiety started to tie itself in her gut at the thought.
She arrived back the library, completely unsurprised to find her brother where she’d left him. He’d gained a book now, a thick blue-bound thing which Misty couldn’t see the contents of.
“Well that was quick, did you change his mind already?” Lightning Streak asked sarcastically, not looking up from the list he was clumsily transcribing from the pages.
“Shut up.” Misty grumbled crossly, dropping into a chair opposite him.
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad. We just need to keep an eye on them, nothing else. It’s not he’s expecting you to get cozy with ‘em.” Lightning Streak assured her.
“I know.” She muttered into the table, wishing he’d just leave her alone to sulk. She looked back at her recording without interest, a human Mark III Jaeger was garotting a Kaiju with a handful of cargo crane wires. Gipsy Danger was it? She couldn’t remember, there were a lot of human Jaegers and many of them looked all the same to her.
Lightning Streak looked up and tapped her foreleg. “Misty.”
“Muh?” She asked without interest, dismissing the recording and browsing the extensive collection without lifting her head from the table.
“Misty, look.” He said, nodding his head at something behind her.
She lifted her head slightly, following his gaze and freezing. It was the two griffons, Garde and Hilmar, Michael had called them. She’d seen them before, they were two of Lysander’s guards but they’d never talked and their interactions had been limited to a few wary glances.
“Which one is which?” She asked, edging away slightly.
He made an unintelligible noise. “Do I look like an encyclopedia to you?”
‘Could use one to beat some sense into you…’ Misty thought sourly, looking at the two griffons out of the corner of her eye.
“What exactly are we meant to be looking for?” He asked, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort and she looked at their razor-sharp claws and wicked beaks. If Misty dared sit next to one of the griffons he would’ve towered nearly a full head over her.
“Honestly, I’m not one hundred percent sure..” Misty replied, shooting her brother an irritated look. He seemed to be studying their massive wings intently, as if he were self-conscience of how small his were in comparison. “”But, based off what Michael offered me, I’d say we’re supposed to be assessing them for-.”
“Drift compatibility?” Lightning Streak finished.
Misty frowned, scratching at her neck absently. Despite how often it was starting to happen, it still slightly perturbed her when her brother did that.
Still, it certainly seemed a reasonable enough idea. Why else would Michael want trained Rangers to watch them, why not some other random grunts? That, and the griffons were, as best she could tell, identical. Half of the on-duty Rangers were siblings which suggested to her that related pairs were more likely to work well. “Okay.” She agreed, forcing down a thrill of panic as she forced herself to look directly at the two creatures. She felt Lightning Streak bump his hoof against hers, a little serenity returning to her thoughts at the gentle contact. “Assuming that’s the case, what do you think?”
“Misty, I’ve just only just seen them.” Lightning Streak shot back, his wings fluttering with annoyance.
She glowered at him irritably and returned to watching them out of the corner of her eye silently. She had been wrong, the two griffons were only almost identical. True, they both shared the same beautiful snow white plumage, hints of smokey gray tucked along their wings and nestled around their wings and shoulders. Their crests were the same as well, short and swept back with flecks of black and gray dotting their oiled feathers. The only outward differences was a thick scar which crossed one’s hooked beak and curved down his neck and a slight change in eye colour, one griffon with a deep ruby red while the other’s was more the colour of fresh blood.
Lightning Streak gave her a nudge. “Look at their eyes. See how they’re always looking somewhere the other isn’t?”
“Covering each other’s blind spots.” Misty agreed, immediately shying away as one locked eyes with her for a moment. His eyes shone sharply under the soft downlights, watchful and vigilant.
“Exactly.” Lighting Streak replied, resting one of his hooves next to hers. No doubt he could feel her heart pounding in her chest and hear her short breaths. “We should have a talk with them, maybe try and get them in the Kwoon sometime. There might be something there.”
‘You mean you talk to them.’ Misty thought, flinching away from the griffons reflexively as one cleaned its eagle talons boredly. There was no way anypony would make her go near one of the hulking creatures.
Lightning Streak rose from his chair, giving her an exasperated look, as if he could somehow hear her thoughts.
“Where are you going?” Misty demanded.
“If we’re going to case these two, I want something to eat. You want something?”
Misty scowled at him suspiciously. She didn’t like that he was leaving her alone with Hilmar and Garde on the prowl. “A jam sandwich would be nice.” She muttered eventually.
“Jam sammy it is then, sit tight I’ll be back soon.” He said with a wink before vanishing off between two bookcases and leaving Misty on her lonesome. She looked back at her mission recordings but had completely lost interest at this point, the two griffons stalking through the library were stuck on her mind. Misty swept her gaze around the room again, easily spotting the two griffons waiting patiently by an unattended help desk. She couldn’t help but stare at the albino creatures, taking every detail of their stocky bodies in. They were short, for griffons at least, for they still easily towered over her. The gnarly scar running down one of the griffon’s neck kept drawing her eye, a curious urge building as she imagined how he had earned the injury.
They stood there for several minutes, their heads swivelling around to take in the unfamiliar room before somepony she didn’t know finally found their way over to help them. They talked at length before the librarian directed them to a shelf on the other side of the library Misty knew was stocked with language books.They browsed the aisle for a few minutes before padding out of view.
Misty put her head down on the desk again, her quarry momentarily lost to her. Her eyes lazily started to drift over to Lightning Streak’s book. She scoffed, a cookbook! She’d suffered his cooking enough in the past and she imagined it no matter how much reading he did on the subject it would still be to die for. She grinned wickedly at her own joke, wishing she had somepony to tell it to.
Where was Lighting Streak anyway? He sure was taking his sweet time. She snorted again, maybe he’d fallen in love with some simpleton again and forgotten what he was doing. He had his moments of weakness like that.
“Boo.” A voice said in her ear softly.
Misty screamed like she’d been stung, leaping out of her chair and perching on top of a nearby bookcase out of fright. Her focus snapped back to the seat she’d just vacated, an icy cold chill of fear sweeping over her as she laid eyes on the two griffons she was meant to be watching. Their wicked beaks were half open, a glint of mischief evident in their eyes.
“She scares well.” One piped up, the griffon’s voice tinkling like a soft bell. The pair seemed unduly amused at her reaction. “Are you always so easy to catch unawares?” He asked in somewhat broken Equestrian.
Misty snarled back, she wanted to fly away but she’d chosen a bookcase tucked against a wall and the griffons were blocking her only path of escape. She edged sideways, partially covering herself with her wings and hoping they couldn’t see how terrified she was.
“Garde.” The one with the ugly scar proffered. “And you, pretty mare?”
Misty was unsure if she should be scared or flattered. She settled for barring her teeth at him and growling under her breath. Why wouldn’t he just leave her alone?
“I did not realise you were dog.” Hilmar jeered before barking roughly.
“Wanna try me, buckbeak?” Misty snapped hotly.
Garde rolled his bloody eyes as Hilmar squawked with amusement “A start at least. Tomorrow we will talk, you will do better, you will see. Maybe we will not need to call each other names.”
‘Not freakin’ likely.’ Misty thought as he scratched at the floor absently before padding off with his companion. If either of those fuzzballs tried something like that again she’d buck their stupid faces in. She remained frozen on top of the bookcase well after they’d vanished from sight, the irrational fear that one was just hiding around the corner burrowing into her mind like a tic. She had been chased by griffons before, they were excellent hunters and were more persistent than they had any right to be. She could hear somepony unfamiliar talking to her but she ignored them, quite happy to sit in her feathery fortress.
“Oh good, you’re here. She’s been up there for nearly fifteen minutes.” Misty heard a voice laden with obvious concern.
“Misty, why are hiding on top of a bookcase?”
She looked out from behind her wings at the familiar sound, Lightning Streak was standing beneath her with a slightly concerned looking member of the archive’s staff.
“They were here.” She hissed. “They scared me.”
Lightning Streak gave the librarian an apologetic look. “I’ll deal with her, don’t worry about it.”
The mare nodded and trotted off, giving the two a curious glance before vanishing from sight.
Lighting Streak tapped a hoof impatiently. “Misty you can come down now.”
Misty looked around cautiously and after another gentle round of coaxing from from her brother flapped down to the floor.
“Can’t leave you alone for more than a few minutes without something going wrong.” Lighting Streak jested, draping a wing over her back. “You’re a nuisance, sis.”
“Sorry.” She blurted, surprising him with her blunt apology. “They came right up to me, I panicked.”
“It’s alright.” He said back softly. “I’ll have a talk to them, maybe you should come as well and get to know them. Things you know about aren’t as scary, are they?”
“I’m happy not to.” She growled.
Lightning Streak huffed with annoyance.“They’re probably going to be here a while and from what I gather we’re going to have quite a few more griffons on base over the coming months. You should get used to them unless you want to spend all your time in your room with the door locked.”
Misty grimaced at the thought but nodded hesitantly. She didn’t want to be anywhere near the two griffons but the alternative certainly wasn’t that appealing either.
“Good girl. We’ll have a talk with them tomorrow.” Lightning Streak smiled, giving her an almost condescending pat on the head.
Misty glared at him suspiciously, something seemed a little strange. Lightning Streak seemed almost too at ease with the turn of events. Why did the griffons even come over near her anyway? Where she'd been sitting was on the other side of the library, completely out of their way.
Most importantly though, where was her jam sandwich?