Griffon the Heave-ho

by CrowMagnon

Part 22 - To Secure Peace...

Griffon the Heave-ho
by CrowMagnon

The bunny watched as Rainbow Dash busied herself with preparations. It wasn't that she would be gone for long, but she still needed to ensure that her animal tenants would be fed and cared for in her brief absence.

To that end, Rainbow was running her friend Fluttershy--the only one who didn't have pressing responsibilities the next morning--through the feeding schedule. She didn't seem all that bright, always smiling and cooing over how cute all the "critters" were. The bunny hated that about the yellow pegasus, but it meant that his caretaker would probably have to go over it several times, and that meant she would be distracted while he snuck into the cabinets where she kept all the food.

Moving with all the stealth that his small lapine frame afforded, the bunny approached the cabinet door. Slowly reaching out, he grasped the corner and--

"EEEEEEEEE!" The bunny winced at both the volume and pitch of Fluttershy's voice as her scream surprised him, prompting him to open the door just enough to slip inside and out of sight. When he dared to peek out and find out what she was shrieking about, he saw the dim-witted pegasus covered in writhing, coiling serpents. Despite that, she had the biggest grin on her face. "They're so cute and friendly! What are their names?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I never gave names to most of 'em. I used to, but I got the feeling they didn't like the ones I came up with. I mean, I thought 'Deathclaw the Mutilator' was a great name, but when a grumpy wolverine disagrees, you don't press the issue. The only ones who seemed to like theirs were Harry..." She paused for a moment to open the cabinet with her mouth. Once it was open, she leaned in to look at the food, then blinked a few times. "... And the rabbit," she concluded, narrowing her eyes upon catching him red-pawed.

The bunny gulped at being caught in the act, but quickly put on a tough face and adopted a fighting stance. He was still smarting a bit from his fight with that griffon earlier, but he was ready to rumble again and make his escape.

What he wasn't ready for was Rainbow Dash simply sighing and reaching in to pick up a small bag of food, then dropping it into his little arms. She then pulled her head back out to tell her friend, "Now, this little refugee from Tartaros is gonna try to scam you into giving him extra... So when he does, just give him the other bag that looks like this, but don't let him get any more out of you."

The bunny looked up at his caretaker suspiciously, then opened the bag. Sure enough, inside it was an assortment of greens and nuts. Enough for a hungry rabbit or several smaller critters. He looked up at her again with a quizzical expression.

For her part, the rainbow-maned pegasus looked back at him with a wry, self-effacing smirk. "Yeah, Angel. I know what you've been getting up to. And I should've said so earlier... I dunno, I thought maybe I was doing you a favor, making you fight for it, but if there's one thing this whole mess with Gilda's told me, it's that it's probably better to just say what you need to say instead of trying to act tough and dancing around it to protect someone's pride."

Rainbow leaned in close and picked up the bunny by the nape of his neck in order to pull him out and put him back on the floor. "So you and me are gonna have a talk when I get back," she said, shutting the cabinet door behind him. She then narrowed her eyes and sternly warned him, "Until then, you'd better cut Fluttershy some slack."

The bunny glowered defiantly up at her, but after several seconds of this staring contest, he faltered and looked at the bag in his paws. His gaze suspiciously shifted back and forth between that and his caretaker a few times, and each time, Rainbow's expression softened a bit until she was giving him a warm little smile.

Angel's ears flattened against his head. He clutched the bag close to his chest and scampered out of the cottage through the pet door, leaving the two pegasi behind. Rainbow watched him rush out, so she was taken by surprise when Fluttershy suddenly glomped her.

"Ack! Fluttershy, what're you doing?" Rainbow asked while the snakes covering her friend joined in on giving her a friendly nuzzle.

"Awww, I just wish I had a cute little pet like that. He's such a little sweety," Fluttershy cooed, putting an incredulous look on Rainbow's face. At the same time, one of the snakes perked up and slithered around to look at her with big, hopeful eyes. Seeing this, the yellow pegasus giggled and raised a hoof to scritch the serpent's chin. "Sorry... you're a sweety too, but my husband has a phobia about snakes. Even cutesy-wootsy ones like you!"

"Cutesy... wootsy?" Rainbow Dash shook her head, not sure if she would come back to find the critters walking all over her friend... or, based on how her compliment actually seemed to be making the snake blush, wrapped around her hoof.

She had other things to dwell on, though. After making sure that Fluttershy had memorized everything she needed to do, she stepped outside where Gertrude and Gunther Snowheart were waiting to fly her to Canterlot. Seeing the two griffons waiting expectantly for her... it made her think about Gilda, and hope that her friend was doing alright with the Imperials.

-----

"Hey, Buckbeak! What's wrong with your wings? Don't tell me you got wrecked by one of those prissy little ponies!"

Gilda winced and fought the urge to groan in annoyance. After the day she'd endured, capped off with a visit to the Imperial envoy's medic, she was way too tired and sore to put up with the usual nonsense. According to the doctor, it would be a week or two before she would be able to fly again without risking torn ligaments.

But of course she couldn't actually say that without sounding weak. Instead, she turned and smirked at the male soldier. "As if! Maybe if a whole platoon came at me, I might chip a talon while kicking their tails." She paused, her thoughts drifting elsewhere for a moment before she added, "Now if it was you, yeah, I could see a pony totally annihilating you. Hail, they've got rabbits around here that'd destroy you."

The taunting griffon's friend snickered and jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow. "C'mon, this is Gilda we're talking about here. She's not gonna lose a fight with some weak little poniies. Not when she could be doing other things with 'em. Let me guess, you went to the local 'barbershop' and told 'em to give you the ponytail, if you know what I mean?" When she gave him a dirty look in response, he just laughed and held his talons up in a mock defensive posture. "Hail, you grew up with 'em. Nogriffon would judge you if you had a thing on the side."

"I would," the other one retorted.

"Yeah, okay. He would."

Gilda sighed under her breath. Under ordinary circumstances, she'd snark right back, but she really wasn't in the mood for flirting. Instead, she used what strength she had left to pounce the two males and trap them both in a headlock. "I just went down to see an old friend. She's cool, so lay off or I'll rip your wings off and glue 'em to your loser butts so you sweep the ground like a maid wherever you walk. Capiche?"

To show that she wasn't playing around, Gilda punctuated her question with a squeeze of her forelegs. After some gasping and wheezing, the other griffons conveyed that they understood her desire to drop the teasing by tapping out.

When she let go, the others rubbed their throats, but otherwise seemed fine. As she opened the door leading to the dorm for the visiting soldiers, though, the first one asked, "Hey, Gilda. Is it true, you and the Emperor met that psycho Winter queen down there? What was it like, seeing that freak up close?"

Gilda paused for a moment in the doorway before replying, "Like meeting a fussy old grandma with the body of a supermodel. Aside from that, she wasn't any freakier than I am."

With that, she slipped into the room and shut the door behind her.

Author's Note:

I live! Sorry again for the long wait, and I wish that I could be sure that it's worth it, but I just hit a point in my writing where I realized that I'd written several different threads and had so few ideas for how to pull them all together properly without taking another ten-to-twenty chapters. But it is wrapping up soon, and those of you who've been following it this far will get a pleasant surprise. You're all important, and not just in that your continued support bolsters my fragile ego. You'll see what I mean.

Comments

[RanmaChaos]

Good

[djthomp]

Oh Fluttershy. Apparently some things never change.

[Razzy]

Hahah... Yeah, Fluttershy and animals, the one interdimensional constant.

Iron Will: Snakes, why did it have to be snakes? !

Cya
Raziel-chan