What Remains I: The Griffon and Her Dweeb

by Bateman66

First Strike

The lead mare stood calmly at the edge of the ice cave overhang, inspecting the two travelling figures down below. Her face remained concealed behind a large wool muffler, with a set of snow goggles further masking any facial identification.

A group of six other ponies stood behind her, equally masked in similar attire, but overly anxious to begin what they intended to do. Sensing the growing tension, the gray furred mare spoke out calmly to her subordinates.

“We have to wait just a little longer for the attack to be ready,” she said evenly. “If not timed adequately, we will fail in what we intend to do.”

“But ma’am!” shrilly whispered an eager young colt to her right. “They’re right down below us. With surprise on our side, we can be finished with them in seconds.”

The mare did not turn to the colt behind her, but merely responded to the entire group as a whole. “Agent, the element of surprise has been lost to us for nearly two years. If we are to attack, that must not be our sole advantage.”

“Two years?” the colt repeated with youthful ignorance. “What do you mean?”

The mare shook her head, as if to remove a wave of memories that washed into her mind. “It’s not relevant. What should be our top priorities is tactical execution and skill. Stealth has already evaded us as an option.”

“What?”

“They know we’re here,” she answered coolly. “They may even know we’re right up here. But the both of them, the human and the griffon, know that they cannot dispatch us from where we stand. So, they’re hoping we make the first move. Reveal ourselves and give them the advantage of countering our attack with one of their own.”

The young colt still looked confused. “Then why attack at all if they’ll follow with their own right after?”

The mare smiled a wolfish grin under her muffler. “Because their attacks can only reach so far. The griffon—if you look closely—only has about her a single saber, no ranged weapon whatsoever. The human does practices magic and has a heavy lean towards distanced lightening bursts. However, those have their own disadvantages from a range.”

“How?”

“As the concentration of magic from its original sending point grows farther and farther, the more the magic itself dissipates. There are certain spells that are able to keep a very large charge to them and thus stay concentrated for a long period of time. Lightening spells don’t.”

“The energy quickly arches outwards—as does all electricity—and loses its power the further it is from the power source. Thus, not only is the energy from the spell weakened the farther it is fired, but is as well much more inaccurate. That is why we must wait, agent.”

The colt nodded. “I think I understand now.”

“Good, then let us continue.”

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Gilda really just wanted to get this whole dang thing over with. They’d been walking in silence for nearly an hour, and if what Alistair had spoken of was true, than trouble was getting closer and closer with each passing second. And with each passing second, she could feel a nervous perspiration growing under her thick layers of feathers.

She could hear the familiar howl of the outside wind getting closer signaling that their long duration in the ice caverns was finally coming to a close. But the threat of attack removed any form of relief that she should have felt.

Waiting was the worst part of it all. She wanted to rush into the gaping maws of the expected ambush, to cut through the thick and annoying layer of suspense that seemed to only weaken her composition. Fighting was something every griffon was expected to excel at, but the more she nervously waited around the more she could feel her own abilities slipping by the minute.

Breathing in deeply, she did her best to center herself, to regain some control of her shaky nerves and overactive worrying. She was able to contain some of it, but she couldn’t shake the danger sense that kept nipping at her, reminding her that something was lurking nearby.

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The mare could see that they were nearing the atrium’s exit, a simple slopping incline that led to the opening mouth of the cave. From there, they would have a straight shoot across Saber Canyon and right into the ancient mountain’s catacombs.

“Prepare you velocity spheres,” she ordered glacially. “I want two of them to be explosive, the rest keep on normal settings. We must time this perfectly.”
The ponies behind reached into their vest pockets and removed the shimmering gold spheres that were their weapon of choice. Holding them gingerly in their hooves, they awaited the order to commence.

“Now.”

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Alistair heard the familiar hissing sound that sliced through the air, bringing back memories of his unexpected encounter with them two years before. And just as he made the mistake last time, he instinctively turned toward to the direction of the noise and was met with a rocketing metal projectile slamming into his face.

He stumbled backwards from the impact and fell flat on his back to the icy cave floor. His body lay sprawled out in all directions, his head buzzing and disoriented as he heard more hissings of incoming spheres. He couldn’t tell where Gilda was, but he assumed she was still on her feet and still facing an insurmountable opposition.

Slowly getting to his feet, he heard another sphere whizz past his head as he charged his magic to his palms. But before he could fire a returning burst of lightening towards wherever the spheres were coming from, an explosion rang out to his right. Frozen for a moment in confusion, another sphere impacted against his shoulder.

He groaned in pain as he fell to his knees, feeling a bloody and burning tear running up through his entire upper arm. He felt a clawed hand wrap around his uninjured arm as a familiar voice shouted something over another round of explosions.

“We have to get outta here!” Gilda said, her voice coming in shaky to his ears. Helping him back to his feet, Gilda and Alistair broke into a sprint up the exiting incline. Another explosion popped behind them, but they continued forward up the slippery slope.

As he ran, Alistair fired blast after blast of electricity behind him, hoping to flush out wherever the attackers were hiding. He slowed down his climb to try and get a better shot, but he still had no visual as to where to fire.

Stopping know, he turned around and fired a hail of shots to where he anticipated the sphere’s point of origin. He clearly hadn’t gotten a confirmed hit yet, but if he kept trying…

He suddenly felt Gilda’s clawed grip bite into his wounded shoulder and thrust him forward with a surprising amount of strength. Howling at the pain, he obediently broke back into a sprint with Gilda right behind him.

He could see the end of the cave now, the misty white sky peaking up with thick trails of wind thrown snow being tossed all around. He didn’t know what they’d do once they escaped, but his mind couldn’t even contemplate a plan. For now, he had to run.

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“They escaped…” said the shrill colt with a bitter edge to his voice. “They made out of here unscathed and we’re right back to where we started.”

“On the contrary,” corrected the mare, now facing him calmly, “the human is weakened. In any case we’ve done exactly what I intended to do.”

“As we speak they are disoriented and confused with what has just happened. Trying to navigate the canyon pass can be done with such a mindset, but their progress while be severely hindered. That’s where we come in.”

“To attack them again?”

“No. To beat them to their destination. From there is where we will have an ending to things, properly this time.” She gestured out to the entire space. “Now, if there are no more questions we must continue on our way. We have a large endeavor before us and I’d like for each of you to be prepared. Do I make myself clear?”

All agents nodded.

“Good, then let’s get moving.”