Introductions
Chapter 8 - Introductions
The sound of hoof steps echoed its way through the dark corridor, ponies moving out of the way for the figure to pass on through.
The figure's golden eyes scanned the faces of those who passed its side or got in its way. Whenever a pony was chatting and was stopped in the direction the figure was going in, the figure would loom over them creepily, as if to size them up. Once the pony would turn to the shadow, they would instantly move away in fear.
As the figure passed through a bright lit corridor, many of the new ponies in the warehouse could make out its appearance.
The figure was that of a griffon. It had a feminine look to it, but it also gave off the impression of a tomboyish attitude. Her head and neck were that of an eagle as well as her large wings and her forelegs eagle claws, yet the rest her body and tail belonged to that of a lion. The area surrounding her eyes and the tips of the feathers on her head tinted to the color of purple.
The griffon paused in front of a door and sighed, bringing a claw up knocking on the cherry wood.
"Come in!" Barked a voice from the other side.
The griffon opened the door and stepped inside, the immediate smell of brewed cider entering her nostrils.
The small office was filled with posters upon posters of a pegasi racing teams, as well as some of infamous illegal air speeders: the Wonderbolts. Other than the posters, the office was an absolute mess. Litter and paper balls scattered on the cemented floor, the wallpaper ripped and faded, and assortments of cider and alcohol all in a shelf.
The turquoise pegasus mare with golden hair looked up from her newspaper and gave a small smirk at the griffin who stood in the doorframe.
"Gilda! What a surprise. And I thought you hated me, guess not if you're paying me a visit."
The female griffon, Gilda, gritted her teeth in annoyance. She should've known going into the office was a bad idea, but it wasn't by her own account to go. It was her boss's.
"I'm forced to come here LD, and you know that. And it's not a visit either cause this is my office too."
"An office you don't come into much. Really, it's rare enough to see you at home base, but even rarer to be seen into our office," the pegasus mare replied.
"Yeah, because I actually get things done in the field than stay cooped up in the office drinking cider and doing absolute bullshit, Lighting Dust," retorted Gilda.
The mare, Lightning Dust, grunted and sat back in her chair. She put her arm on the armrest whilst bringing it up to prop her head on her hoof, a bored expression on her face.
"Why are you here Gilda? I know it's not to hurt my pride and dignity anymore than it already is."
Gilda glanced at the clock on the wall, which ticked quite annoyingly to Gilda's perspective.
"The boss's stallions told me ta get ya so we could get our new field work started."
Lightning Dust's eyes widened, a grin replacing her frown.
"The boss is actually gonna let me do shit?"
"Boss said since we're..." Gilda breathed in deeply, "'partners', we should do work outside home-base together instead of you slacking off and me doing all the dirty work. They want us in their office now to tell us the next move in our operation."
Gilda watched as Lightning Dust jumped up from her seat and flew in circles in the air in excitement. The female griffon rolled her golden orbs and pinched the area between her eyes.
"And when the boss means come to the office now, they mean now, LD."
Lightning Dust stops and grins sheepishly at the griffin, who was restraining herself from dragging the pegasus to the office by her wings. "Oops, right, sorry."
They fluttered their wings, passing the variety of ponies that stood in their way and quickly coming close to their destination.
"Erk! Damn, I haven't flapped on these babies for such a long time. I guess you were right when you said I've been cooped up in the office for a long time," Lightning Dust flapped and stretched her wings.
Gilda just kept looking forward, but the trace of a smirk coming off her from Lightning's comment. "I'm always right."
The two paused in their flight and hovered in front of metal sliders, the door mark in red ink, declaring that "Those who have permission, enter at own risk".
"Hey, I was just wondering, have you ever even seen the boss before? It seems a bit suspicious that we work for the mare or stallion and we don't even know who they are, what they are, or how they are like." Gilda landed to the ground softly and walked up the steps to the burly white pegasus stallion guarding entrance to the office, not answering Lightning Dust's question.
"I mean, you are the boss's second in command. You probably have seen their face before! Can't you tell me what they are? More importantly who?"
"You know I can't share such information with coworkers, LD, especially to you."
The pegasus stallion moved aside to let the griffon through, smiling at Lightning Dust in a more smirking manner.
"Finally got your job back, huh?"
"Oh shut it, Biceps."
She walked past, making sure to swat him on the side with her wing and tail.
"C'mon Gilda! Can't you just tell me a bit about them? I mean, I've been working for this company since day uno, and yet I still have not even heard a snippet of their actual voice. Why can't I know stuff about the boss?"
The female griffon turned her head to her partner, the grim expression on her face making Lightning Dust shiver and shrink under her gaze.
"Why? You wanna know why? Because if I don't, this organization wouldn't exist and everyone in this damn warehouse, facility, whatever, would die."
Her golden eyes trained on the quivering pegasus. She watched every movement, every shake, every weakness the pitiful mare showed to only her.
"If I tell ponies like you who the boss was, there would be no more trust. Some pony would find out, tell the cops. No important pony identities should be known. It would...it would just be the incident all over again."
Gilda glanced glumly at the floor, Lightning Dust recovering from her slight fear and patted Gilda's shoulder.
"Hey, hey. Don't be a grumpy griffon now. I didn't think about it, the incident and the rules and all. Just me not usin' my noggin. Let's just forget about this before it gets sappy, aight?"
She wiped the stray tears falling down the griffon's cheeks. Gilda gave an apologetic grin and turned around to wipe the rest of her eyes down. She faced Lightning Dust once more and glared at her.
"Tell this to anyone and you're griffon grub, got that?"
Lightning Dust nodded furiously whilst grinning forcefully, her pupils dilated and a cold sweat running down her neck. "Ye-yeah, I hear ya."
The two trek down a dim hallway, illuminated only by the flickering of broken lights, noises consisting of circuits buzzing and sparking and the constant clomping from the mare and griffon.
"Damn, this place always gave me the creeps," muttered Lightning Dust.
"Yeah, well I've seen worse."
"Bet'cha have you salty murder machine."
A door emerged from the darkness, a skull with wings emitting from it painted in white on the cherry wood. Under it read, 'Enter at risk'.
"Geez, do they always have to be so frightening? Can't they turn down the doom for a bit? I mean, who's stupid enough not to go in at their own risk?"
Gilda rolled her eyes and knocked on the door with heavy fists and in a pattern only those who visit frequently knock to. A voice on the other side gave the approval and the door opened slowly, the creak echoing around in Lightning Dust's mind.
Gilda slowly sauntered forward, Lightning Dust right behind her tail. The eyes belonging to the turquoise mare scanned around the dark walls, light emitting from inscriptions of ancient magic spells scrawled onto the menacing and tattered walls. Doodles of alicorns and the skull with wings symbol also illuminated on the walls in various colors, giving the office room a colorful yet grim look.
Lightning Dust looked ahead towards the desk, in which the silhouette of a pony sat silently, watching with careful eyes at the two whom entered their room. The unsettling part gaze in Lightning Dust's opinion was that their eyes glowed, only to show the purple iris's the pony had. Everything else about the pony was hidden in absolute darkness.
A pony and a zebra stood at opposite ends of the desk, their eyes also trained on the two females.
"Gilda, Lightning Dust." The pony spoke, a deep masculine voice resonating throughout the room.
The pair bowed their head in respect, their left arms coming across the chest whilst doing so.
"Great and Powerful, what is it that you ask us to come here for?" Asked Lightning Dust, trying not to show fear to her superior.
"Just...business."
The pony casually grabbed at a portfolio and tossed it with a black gloved hoof. It landed on the floor and slid across the slick metallic floor, the portfolio caught in Gilda's talon.
"You know Dr. Caballeron I assume. You've worked with him before. Anyway we are expecting a huge amount of trade from him tomorrow night at the Crystal Wing Empire Club."
"What kind of trade are we talking about here?" Gilda cocked her head in confusion. She flipped through the portfolio, scanning every detail there is about this Caballeron stallion.
The pony chuckled, deep and full with menace.
"A big one. Nothing to worry about is all. Once it's in my hooves, I will explain as soon as possible, Gilda." Gilda nodded in consideration. All things were explained to her once the job was done.
"To no disrespect, but why am I called here Boss? I mean-"
"We need you Dust."
Lightning Dust froze and looked into the Boss's eyes curiously.
"N-need me?"
"Yes. We need you back. These few months have been hectic on trade and transport and dealings, especially since Manehattan Police Department's loss. Now that their out of the way, we can spread business across to Las Pegasus, Griffonstone, especially to Canterlot. We may be the biggest illegal trade on the block, but we have to extend to more ground.
"More and more dealers are trying to get into the position we are in, but instead become traffickers owned by us. Dr. Cabelleron just seems to be one of the biggest traffickers on the block, and if we convince him enough, we may get the ground we need."
Lightning Dust cocked her head, confused on the Boss's small spiel.
"Ooookay? And that having to do with me in anyway is...?"
The pony face-hooved.
"You and Gilda are going to be in charge of operations made by yours truly. You two have been in on this corporation the longest, and with the Boss's trust in you, you will bring pride to this establishment. Welcome back, Dust."
The griffon and pegasus mare widened their eyes in shock and surprise. Mostly Lightning Dust. The two bowed in respect.
"We will not let you down Boss."
The two turned at the pony and the zebra were going to escort them out, but the Boss halted them.
"Before you go, I need you to also do one more thing for the Boss."
Gilda and Lightning Dust patiently waited for the Boss's response.
"There was news from one of the pegasi spies about a certain someone getting caught by the cops several nights ago. We don't know the details, but it was between the lines that he is exterminated for good. We don't have to deal with him as a threat to the Shadowbolts anymore."
Gilda stiffened up at the Boss's words. She felt her gut drop, bile rising and her breathing becoming hitched.
"Wha-what...?"
Lightning Dust noticed this and nodded at her commander's words, dragging Gilda away from the desk.
Once they were far enough from the office doors and the guarding station, Gilda sat on the floor with a huff.
"I can't believe it...he's...he's dead?"
"I know right? I never really thought that son of a bitch would die. Especially in the hooves of the cops. Now that's pitiful."
Lightning Dust looked over at Gilda solemnly, seeing her distressed expression to depressing for her to bare.
When Gilda was in a mood, so was every one else.
"Look, he won't go against us again. And besides, he did go behind our backs."
She put a hoof on the she-griffon's feather back in comfort.
"You need to get over it Gilda. He was never going to come back anyway. Move on."
Gilda sighed, knowing what the annoying pegasus was saying was true.
"I guess you're right. It was never gonna happen. I mean, it's him we're talking about."
Lightning Dust nodded and turned tails with Gilda towards their office.
"So what do you think is the big trade the Boss was talking about? Do you think it's more supplies? Wads of dough? Or something bigger?"
"Well whatever it is, it better be worth it. By what the portfolio says, it's one of the biggest trades we've got. Doesn't state what it is, but by the looks of it, we're going to have to surround the Crystal Wing inside and out in order to take this thing down."
"So what about that Cabelleron stallion? What are we gonna do about him?"
"Eh, whatever happens, happens. Either he goes with what we give him, or we kill him. Just the usual."
They enter the office, the two females completely unaware of the pony lurking near the shadows, overhearing everything said from outside the small tattered room. Once out of sight, the pony slipped outside out of the metal slides and slipped into the night.
This is new for me as well as for many as you guys too. Meet the antagonists!
So I decided to do a chapter that sidetracks away from the main two and do one based upon "brotp" I had in mind. I platonically ship Gilda with Lightning Dust for personal reasons, but mostly how they both were Rainbow's friends who somehow "betrayed" her or just did something unreasonable that Dash could't hang with them anymore for hurting the main six. I always see Gilda and LD just as a 'partners in crime' sort of deal.
Now I'm just rambling 
But thank you all for the wonderful comments you have given me in my times of hardship on trying to continue this story. I still have a LOOOONG ways to go, and I'm glad people are continuing to read and delve into this story.
Tootaloo~
P.S. I am currently changing the title of this story for reasons that I feel that the title is bland and even though it goes well with the story, I just don't like it in general. And so, I present to you the title "contest" (not really a contest to get a prize but just a contest for pride or whatnot).
I want a few or all of you to come up with new titles for this story, so far the only one that gave me a response and gave me a few good titles being from taterforlife (thanks by the way!). Anyway, once titles stop coming in, I will pick a selected few I deem as interesting and I will post them so everyone will see and "vote" on. And then the new title!
Thank you bunches!
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I know it says a deep masculine voice, but is this Trixie? I suppose its a gender swap or she's using magic to disguise her voice right?
This is going to end up being personal to him later on isn't it?
And I'm assuming Discord has some kind of dark past with this group and betrayed them? Ooh
6478472 Now now, we'll just have to wait and see to find out
6398379 I'm so sorry I'm extremely late in responding to this message but I just have the urge to actually respond back. Thank you. Thank you so much for this comment, it means the world to me. It's comments like these that help influence me to write more for not only the benefit of myself, but to those who enjoy the story just as much as I do. I'm overjoyed that you love this story, and hearing from so many others like yourself only makes the days that are cloudy and dull into those that give light and sunshine to my path. I'm so very glad you enjoy this story. I know with supportive bronies and pegasisters like you and everyone else who writes such comments that I'll not be giving up on this story any time soon!
Oooo!!!!
I'm glad you could post another chapter. The story is coming along well. I know you can be busy or have writers block and that's fine. Just letting you know this reader will patiently wait because each chapter is always worth it!!!!
6478695
6495221 Oh god how many people? I didn't legit think this was that good for you to spread lol.
I like this story! When is the next chapter coming out?