Unforgiven Bloodline

by mr_minati

Out Of Jurisdiction

On top of a tall cylinder tank, leaning against its rusted guard rails, Chrysalis had a top view of the five monstrous buildings surrounding her and just above the web of power lines that seemed to come from everywhere. The roar of machines was always resounding. Spotlights shone all day since the building’s furnaces blocked up the sun rays with its smoke. A cloud of smoke drifted its way to her, toxic enough to possibly kill a pony.

Chrysalis inhaled deeply and let out a satisfied sigh.

Her mane was cut short and sharp. She sported complementary a grey tie on her neck and silver glasses, making her looking professional among the rest as she was the great executive. Still, the rest of her workers followed her appearance by keeping their chitins black, lacking any uniqueness.

“I like it as well, boss.”

Chrysalis turned back, and stared with her glowing green eyes at another changeling. He was wearing a red wing cover strap with a belt, and attached to it was his silver badge with ‘Morpheus’ boldly printed on it. Chrysalis raised her eyebrows.

“The smell of progress, is my favorite too.” The changeling explained. “And with that great speech to the production line, we’ll surely gonna meet the demands by this quarter.”

His employer nodded at the flattery and flicked her hoof to be left alone again.

“Oh, my apologies if I’m disrupting, but I also came to gave you this.” He pulled up and handed an envelope. It had a peculiar sweet scent on it that Chrysalis recognized, and upon turning it, she frowned.

“It’s from the Equestrians again. This somehow it slipped on its way to you. So I made sure to- ohhh…” Morpheus stood dumbfounded at the sight of the executive chewing up the letter.

“Anything else?” Chrysalis said, the glow in her eyes seeming to have intensified a bit.

Morpheus cleared his throat. “Um, yes, t-there was also an incident involving three of the workers in the north-east facility. One of the mishaps lost a leg, the other, a wing and the last one the operator... might just be mentally scarred after all that? But production will resume shortly on the plant.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary then.” Chrysalis replied annoyed and slowly approached the changeling. “And nothing that a bit of retraining won’t fix. If they thought that they could limp their way out from the sharp tools plant they’re wrong.”

“Y-yes, absolutely.” He replied, a sudden feeling of dread creeping in as his employer towered over him, her tie wiping his face wildly as a breeze blew by.

“Are you trying to waste time, Morpheus?”

Morpheus ears fell down, sweat suddenly rolling down his brow. Surely this reports should've please her. No changeling should ever show Chrysalis any sign of inefficiency in front of her, not unless that changeling was interested in a position as a sharp tools assembler. “N-no absolutely not… There is actually something else that I was informed, boss. Someling was bold enough to try to break into one of your offices last night. Thankfully the good for nothing scum was successfully detained and he will be punished. So were now trying to implement some additional measure-”

“You-- seriously? You should've started with that!” She groaned and stomped shaking the whole structure. Morpheus yelped. Pausing for a moment, she took a step back and fixed her glasses up. “You need to fix your priorities, Morpheus. It’s one of the things that can keep you from reaching success, after all, and there's nothing more that I despise than a changeling who has them all mixed up. Everything that has to do with the Equestrians goes at the very bottom of the list, got it?”

He bowed. “Noted, boss.”

“I’m not dealing with mad pony queen who can’t even keep her unstable and good-for-nothing sister in check. In fact, write her the truth, so she’ll stop bothering me with her petty persistent idea of exclusivity to her ponies.”

Then she lowered her head to look him face to face, her glare could pierce through her wide glasses.

“Now let’s go back to the top priority. Where's the interloper?”

---

Resting down on the cold floor of a dimly lit room, a faded black changeling was sleeping through the echoing of water drops, the dank smell of mold growing on the wall, a product of the leaking faucet mounted in there, and the throbbing pain in his stomach.

The door abruptly opened letting out a loud creak, brought out of his sleep. He squinted through brightness as light flooded the room until he met Chrysalis’s cold look.

Slowly, he stood. “Nice. You did show up,” he greeted trying to sound casual through his tired tone. He began stretching his legs, clacking each one of them. “Thought that this was it for me. All alone in a dank and miserable room.”

“And you were expecting something better when it comes? How charming.” Chrysalis replied, a crocodile smile on her face. The changeling dropped his ears and coughed. She took note of the fading color of his chitin, the drained look in his eyes and his thin body shape. Concerning in comparison to the usual state of a regular worker. “Are you the one who broke in my office?”

He raised his hoof. “Yep, guilty, though I wanna clarify. It was my way to reach you, to cut through the whole bureaucracy of this place. Y'know, taking the quickest road in the woods and nothing more.”

“Yes, the road to the dragon's den, good choice.” She frowned. “Who are you and why aren't you wearing the uniform?”

“Don't you remember me Chrysalis?” He asked surprised. She just gave him a raised eyebrow. He reached his chest. “I-I’m Polistes.”

Still nothing.

“Your mating buddy…”

Her widen like full moons. “The breeder.” She hissed. “You’re still around!? Everyling I asked told me you were long dead!”

“Well, they weren't lying. I was dead to everyling long before all this-” he coughed, “And I'm barely holding up right now, to be honest.”

“And what will is keeping you alive? I must know, you’re wasting resources!” she spat.

“The little ones, Chrysalis.” He said looking straight into her bright reptile eyes. “I can't even describe how I felt knowing that I have two-argh!”

A sudden force of magic coming from Chrysalis’ horn pinned him against the wall.

“Who told you about them!?” she growled.

“I-I snuk around and overheard your caretaker."

"Impossible, you're terrible at sneaking." She waved her hooves around. "Look where we are, you failed to sneak into my office!"

"Being dead to everyling had its perks, and it made it easy. This was on purpose, though. I told you that I was just looking to talk, that's all."

She dropped him. "So let me guess, you want to talk about them."

"I want to see my sons, Chrysalis."

"They are not your changelings, and you'll never see them. Now go and die!" She turned around to leave, but something grabbed her hind leg.

"Please, please! Just grant this last wish!" He said as he clung from her leg. "I'm dying just for- Uff!"

Chrysalis pinned against the wall again. "Don't you dare guilt trip me! Must I remind you that this was all on you! You volunteered for it and knew very well about the curse that could bring. The whole factory knows about it. It’s not my problem the rusted gears in your head began spinning now, and I really don’t care either.”

Polistes had nothing to say as the truth was hard to swallow. A moment of silence passed until finally she dropped him again, and Polistes let out a flurry of coughs.

"Just a look, Chrysalis… Please, nothing more..." He begged and kneeled before her. "I'll die in peace... and never bother you again."

"Go out in peace, hmm?"

Her horn began to glow a sickening green and so were her eyes. Polistes squinted his eyes shut and braced.

A loud crackling sound made him wince, his hoof met a soft and smooth surface, and a yelp coming from someling else made him peek. He found himself in some unrecognisable chamber alongside Chrysalis. The chamber was well lit and the walls were completely white, painful to his eyes. In the middle of it, a freaked out changeling leaned against an open container that had a golden symbol of a triangle with a diamond.

"I, uh… wasn't expecting you to appear like that, boss… and so soon," she said heavily breathing and with hoof on her chest. Polistes saw her red wing cover on her back and soon recognized her. A sudden cry from inside the containers made her gasp. “Nooo! just when I was done getting them to sleep.” she hung her head and sighed.

"Toxidia, I would like to have a word with you later," Chrysalis began "But for now, just go and keep an eye on that idiot, don't let him step closer."

Toxidia gulped and nodded, moving beside Polistes who gave an apologetic smile.

"Take a good look, Polistes." Chrysalis said bearing a predatory smile. She pulled out two squirming larvae from the containers. "Aww, you two must be mad right now, huh?" The hatchlings let out a high pitched cry that made poor Toxidia wince. She turned them to face Polistes. "Well, you can blame it all on him."

Polistes let out a smile as he saw the two hatchlings slowly calm down as they stared at him. He took a step, but was quickly halted by Toxidia. The two larvae hissed at him.

Chrysalis chuckled softly as she nuzzled them. "This is Calyx and Spiracles, they’re brothers and the future of the hive industry." .

"They're… beautiful…" Polistes said with glimmering eye, a single tear rolled down his cheek.

She sat on the floor as soon as Calyx began biting her neck tie, and laid Spiracles down. Playfully, she booped Spiracles who then bared his tiny fangs and hissed at the hoof.

"Never in all my three centuries of life have I been this eager. Eager to show these two the wonders of the biggest most successful factory in the world and take their first whiff of progress that it produces. Together we’ll laugh on mother's grave! Without you, of course, you won’t even have a grave.” Her tone was playful as she continued poking at Spiracles. “My two little heirs will never know you. They'll never hear about you, breeder, they wont even your name." Calyx climbed up onto her back and bit her.

Chrysalis chuckled. “Ah! Nicely done, dear!” She took the hatchling and nuzzled her. "Take a good look, because this is all what you're going to get before you’re gone."

The caretaker turned as she heard a whimper followed by a sniff. She felt a sting in her stomach at the sight of Polistes. He sat looking deflated, tears in his eyes but he never took them off his hatchlings. He greeted his teeth and shut his eyes trying to hold the need to break in front of Chrysalis, but ultimately failing in the end.

Toxidia wasn’t sure what to do. Initially she stepped away to give some space to the sobbing changeling but he was a heartbreaking sight that contrasted with the cackling of her boss lady. "You made a terrible mistake coming here, Polistes." Chrysalis went and grabbed Polistes by the legs and dragged him away. Away from this unnecessary suffering.

---

10 years later

---

“For changelings, I have a special deal! I’ll throw in five in total for just two bits, whaddaya say little ones?” The green changeling merchant said holding a blue sphere device on his hooves that, with a press of a honeycomb shaped button, blinked a blue light.

“Hmm, sounds like you want to get rid of it,” a little blue changeling said rubbing his chin. He was carrying a saddlebag full of consumables and wore a red snapback cap backwards.

“Wouldn’t it be better to actually get rid of it for good, sir?” A little yellow changeling beside the blue one asked. “Shift-disablers were like the worst device ever with their high collateral damage, and it almost cost the victory to the union during the revolt. Surprisingly, there are some that blame its flawed design for not being part of the production line in the first place, I say that’s not an excuse. They should’ve simply done it as a projectile instead of a throwable.”

The merchant eyes widened. “Wow, seems like you’ve done your research. That’s definitely not good for business...” He eyed the crowd passing by, composed of different types of creatures. Some looked back with raised eyebrows. “Let me tell you this, little one. It was me who made it, it was I who saw the revolt with my own eyes and I can assure you that it did in fact help. Your sources are wrong. You need to be more open-minded. For you, sure, a broken product. But for these creatures, I see a revolutionary self-defense device.” He put his hooves together. “Believe me, in do time a great partner will appear to go hand to hand with it.”

“It’s interesting how you use the term ‘partner’ instead of ‘sucker’, sir,” the blue changeling commented.

“Please leave. Leave now.” Seeing the merchant’s glaring gaze at them, both changelings left the booth. Trotting through the bustling market plaza.

“Was I too harsh, Spiracles?” asked the yellow changeling, “I just threw him the facts.”

“Yes, you were. You destroyed him, sis,” the blue changeling replied, making his sister hangs her head.

The market plaza was a small town dedicated to the trading of goods within the Griffonstone region, and settled just southeast of the changeling hive were a river split it apart. The flourishing economy from the plaza was evident as every structure showed beautiful and stylish architecture, neatly placed power lines on the rooftops, and its cobblestone roads were flooded with every single creature residing in the bordering regions.

A dog viciously barked at them, making them flinch as the dog vigorously pounced. Luckily the dog was yanked by a rope. The yellow changeling and her brother galloped away. laughing at the dog’s demise.

“Ah damn, what a rush, huh sis?”

The yellow changeling didn’t respond and kept going.

“You can slow down now. The dog isn’t following,” he said. His sister slowed, glancing around the plaza.

“Where’s Pa?” she asked, worried. “It’s been minutes and he still hasn’t shown up!”

A shadow passed above them, and as they look up to see who it was, both only got a glimpse of what seemed to be two gryphons zipping around the plaza with a gleam that could only come from armor.

“Should we be worried?”

“No, not yet. Let’s have another look around, give him a few more minutes before we panic.” He turned ready to take another stroll when suddenly...

“Spiracles, Calyx, wait up!” A familiar shout shot across the plaza. They both saw a multitude of wanderers until finally spotting a gray changeling with blue eyes coming towards them with a saddle bag.

“Hey, you made it out alive, awesome!” Spiracles smirked.

Polistes patted his son’s head. “Ha, don’t underestimate me, buddy. How else you think I got this old? How about you two, are you ready?”

“We were ready ages ago, Pa!” Calyx replied, annoyed.

“Oh, my bad, sweetie. Things took longer than expected, but it’s all good now. We’d better get going,” Polistes gestured, and both siblings took the cue. They trotted along the way to the gates, the only entrance and exit, as the perimeter of town was guarded by a wall.

“So, How did it go?”

Polistes turned back his attention to the little changelings and shook his saddlebag gingerly making it raddle. “I got it! Bought a full bag of goods worth a hundred less, all by myself.”

Calyx beamed a smile. “I’m so proud of you, Pa! You’ve definitely improved a lot.”

“I owe it all to your teachings, sweetie.” He gave her a pat on the head, and while doing so,he felt a slight bump and turned to Spiracles.

“Pa, You should’ve seen her back there at the market when you were away.” Spiracles said, shifting his attention away. “There was this poor changeling merchant and Calyx-”

“No, wait! Pa it wasn’t like that!” Calyx frantically waved her hooves.

As Polistes was about to open her mouth, a gryphon abruptly landed in front of them with a heavy stomp. Polistes yelp and flared his wings.

The griffon was wearing sunglasses and a black vest with a radio attached to it, marking him as a police officer. He fixed his shades and puffed out his chest.

“Um, can I help you officer…?” Polistes asked confused. Then another uniformed gryphon landed just a few steps behind them. Polistes glanced nervously between both gryphons, both brothers shuffling closer to their father. “W-what’s going on?” He asked with his ears dropped.

Spiracles sighed and stood forward. “Alright, alright, you got me.” He took his snapback out and pulled a pen-like device.

“W-what? Spiracles, you took that without paying!?” Polisted asked. Spiracles shamefully nodded. “What did you take anyways?”

“A cloud puffer…”

“Unbelievable! We’re gonna have a talk about this back home!” Polistes scolded and took it from his son. “Here you go officer, Sorry for the inconvenience. I promise-”

“We’re not here for that, sir,” the grey gryphon interrupted. He pulled out his badge to show the changelings. “We’re the Rapid Action Force, not some mere market security guards.”

Polistes stared at the badge in confusion before the gryphon put it back in his vest. Regardless, the agent snatched the puffer out.

“We spotted you dealing large quantities of amprilia tablets from a smuggler back there. So you’re coming with us.”

Calyx gasped. “You bought from a smuggler!?”

“What? I-I didn’t know he was- he was right there in the plaza. Standing in the open for crying out loud!”

Spiracles and Calyx backed away shocked as another gryphon agent jumped on Polistes, searched inside the saddle bag and revealed the large filled with red tablets. The siblings held each other helplessly.

“Hey, hold up! You don’t understand, I-I really need those. There’s a legit reason why, and I can prove it!” Protested Polistes to both of the gryphons. “And also how else am I supposed to get ‘em?”

The grey gryphon growled. “Don’t play dumb with us, changeling. Everyone knows that all healing and enhancing artifacts must go through the House of Curers, they provide the portion for every creature. You just committed a violation buying it on our streets.”

Polistes started to back away with his tail between his legs as the grey gryphon approached with an intimidating look. He halted as a wing wrapped around his back, holding him down. “We’re taking you under our custody, changeling." Said the gryphon, who swiftly chained Polistes hooves.

“Oh, come on!” Polistes shouted as he struggled, but he didn’t stand a chance against the powerful gryphon agent. “Damn curers making a monopoly out of every health issue. They can’t continue with this atrocity. This is abuse!”

“Please, you changelings had a monopoly yourselves for a whole century! Anyways, save it for the trail, changeling.” Both Polistes and the gray gryphon agent glared at each other.

“Pa, what’s going to happen!?” Polistes snaped from his sudden rage after hearing Calyx’s worried voice. “Are they going to take you to prison!?”

“I-It’s alright my younglings.” Polistes told his kids, trying to sound calm, but with a hint of despair in his voice. “This is all just a misunderstanding. We’ll get through this, but there’s a big favor that I need you two to do.”

Calyx was the first to nod, already getting a hold of the situation. “We’ll get Thorax and Pharynx right away.”

He shook his head. “No no, um… we don’t need to bring them up for this. I have someling better in mind. Go to the Blood Oak woods. Follow the trail and look for Danaus’s place. He lives in a big field so you won’t miss it and he’s a friend of mine so-”

“Not going to happen, sir!” The grey gryphon agent interrupted him, and turned to the brothers. “They’re coming with us as well.” He slowly moved towards the brothers. “Now, I didn’t bring enough hoof chains for this, so you’ll come with us in a civilized manner, right?”

A look of mutual agreement passed between the siblings and immediately, they took to the air.

“Idiots!” He groans and turned at his partner. “Take him to H.Q. I’ll be back in a minute.” He jumped after them.

“Don’t you dare hurt them! They’re just younglings- Aaah!” Polistes cried and dropped as the remaining agent struck him with a taser.

“Yeah, sure. You go after two kids while I carry this heavy bug.” He mumbled to himself as grabbed the unconscious changeling.

---

Just as their father told them, they flew as fast as they could on their way to the Blood Oak woods, the forest between the hive and Griffinstone. Spiracles, held his snapback tight fighting the harsh winds from throwing it away. He was carrying extra weight on his back, so Calyx slowed herself down a bit.

The feeling of dread was slowly subsiding. Both expected a chase since they noticed the agent taking off as well just a minute after they did, but in a matter of seconds, he disappeared from their sight. The two passed by a bridge without a problem and still, no sight of their pursuer. It remained clear ahead, they could see a couple of houses below, and the forest a few yards further.

“Guess this is as far as he can go, sis,” Spiracles grinned. “Just passed their jurisdiction.”

“Well thank the great hive leader! Those RAF agents seemed really fast, we definitely wouldn't stand a chance them with these tiny wings."

He rolled his eyes. “You get scared too easily. He knew it was gonna be pointless to chase us in the first place. That's why- WHOA!”

Spiracles was caught off guard by a rapidly approaching gleam of light, giving them no time to react as it zipped right across. The force was too strong for the little changelings as they were easily overcome and spiraled out of control. Both screamed in terror as their entire world was spinning fast. Fruits, vegetables and some cans were scattered everywhere alongside them, until the poor siblings plummeted into the woods.

Waking up to a stinging pain throughout his whole body, Spiracles groaned. When his vision slowly cleared up, Spiracles saw that he hadn’t touched the ground yet. He was hanging from a tree thanks to his saddlebag getting stuck on a branch. Despite the pain, his chitin took the fall very well and his snapback was still on his head.

“Sis!” He looked around and found his sister resting on a branch legs dangling. She moaned and groaned, but luckily he didn’t find anything broken on her.

“Jurisdiction, yeah right.” Calyx chided as she rubbed her head. “Unnecessary and uncalled for!”

Surveying the damage, she saw all their precious food splatted and smashed on the ground. Calyx sighed and closed her eyes.

“Hey buggers, are you alright?” The agent asked as he approached the base of the tree, kicking a some of the food out of the way.

“No! You almost ripped our wings off!” Both replied.

He looked at Spiracles suspending from the stretch slings of his saddlebag and laughed. The gryphon dug into his vest and took out the device that Spiracles stole. He placed it on his beak and took a deep pull, expelling a flock of small pegasy made of pink smoke from his beak. A sudden burst of fruity flavor made him click his beak pleasantly. “This is very lame, my friend.” He commented shaking the pen like device and all he got was glaring looks from up the tree. “Alright, I’ll give you ten seconds to get down before I come pick you up myself, got it?”

“No!” Spiracles quickly set himself free and landed, followed by Calyx fluttering alongside. “Sorry to break it to ya, flying psycho, but the only way we're going back is with some help for our dad,” Spiracles said, fixing his cap.

“Don't you know what you're asking for, lil’ changelings?” The gryphon adjusted his vest and stretched his wings. “This defiance and law breaking from you three is just what we need as proof to keep the buggers from entering our region freely.” He put the smoke device away and flared his wings out. “Come at me!”

The two siblings look to each other and took a deep breath, green flames engulfed their bodies leaving a terrifying giant red spider-scorpion and a black centipede at his side, snapping his pincers.

With an unimpressed look, the gryphon took a few steps back and retrieve a shift-disabler from his vest. He threw it at the giant insects, exploding instantly on contact. Sending blue sparks everywhere as the two creatures were launched back by the shock wave and crashed on the ground.

Involuntarily, Spiracles switched his transformation off and the same happened to his sister. They gave a dazed and confused look. “What the heck! What kinda crap is that!” Spiracles tried changing back but to no avail as he recovered quickly.

“One of your bug friends sold it to me, real cheap.” He said while shaking another one of the shift-disablers. “Might actually come handy for the RAF.”

“Ugh… and you had to be the one to buy it. Unbelievable.” Calyx ears drooped, recognizing the device from before.

The agent smirked. “Now then, why don’t you? With no way to fly or change, you might as well be foals..”

“Never!” With a mighty battle cry they charged, ready to take down the abusive agent who was just stood still, not even bothering to take a defensive stance. They galloped with all their might, screaming their lungs out, and with enough momentum, they lunged at him. In one swift move, the gryphon took them with his talons and shifted their weight to throw them off to the side.

Spiracles and Calyx landed one on top of the other in a heap. They both slowly got up and recovered from the failed attack. “Let’s try again, A pear was in the way so I had to hold back a little,” Spiracles smiled sheepishly and Calyx groaned.

Once more they charged at the gryphon, who still hadn’t moved. He casually waited for the attack, admittedly sensing more a bit more vigor this time but again, they met the dirt.

“Spiracles,” Calyx groaned. “This isn’t working.”

“Then I’ll go first, and you attack from the side.” Spiracles didn’t wait for his sister and rushed to the agent.

Spiracles pounced once more to the gryphon and as he expected, his foe halted the attack with his talons. That was the chance for Calyx to reluctantly strike like her brother planned, but unfortunately for them, the gryphon was well aware of the situation. The big avian spun with Spiracles still in his hold, and threw him at the fliching Calyx. As a result, Spiracles slammed and knocked his sister out.

“Had enough yet?” The gryphon clicked his talon, looking mildly amused by his work.

The pain was getting to them, as they took longer to recover. Calyx slowly stood up and helped her brother. “We can’t this up,” she said panting. “We need a different approach… he’s not going to play offensive with us… and going at him head on isn’t a good idea.”

“Any suggestion then, sis?”

Calyx shook her head. “Sadly, no…” Her ears dropped and she sat down.

Spiracles glanced at the gryphon, who was busy scratching a spot under his wing with his beak, and then to the clear sky above the trees. “Dammit, such a beautiful day. We could’ve been playing with Diarcia, Acrotis, and Tortrix back in the hive… instead, we’re here in this stinky place with this stinky idiot. All three of us locked up in a cell for who knows how long.” He hung his head. “What did we ever do to deserve this.”

“You didn’t mind at all when you took that stupid thing from the market, did you?”

He furrowed his brow. “That wasn’t enough to set us up for this, and I could’ve gotten away with that.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Anyways, we’re screwed now. Say goodbye to everything…”

Memories of their friends at the hive played, all the little moments Calyx enjoyed with them and all the mischief they’ve caused together. “And we never got to say sorry to Tortrix,” Calyx added. “Poor Tortrix...”

"To that bully? Never!" Suddenly, Spiracles got a bright idea. “I have a stupid plan, Sis.” Spiracles said, and Calyx raised an eyebrow. “We’re gonna flip him like we did with Tortrix, but obviously more hardcore this time, so you have to tackle him like you really mean it!.”

“Well, yeah it’s stupid. He's gonna see it coming, and he’s twice her size.”

“No, he won’t, trust me. I’ll make sure of that. The bigger he is, the harder he falls. It’s a basic law of nature, sis.”

Calyx frowned. “That’s not a law, it’s from a stupid saying, idiot!”

He waved her off. “Just focus your strength when you tackle his hind legs, okay? At least it’s better than nothing.”

Ksshhhhk! The gryphon coughed pink smoke from his device as his radio blasted some loud indistinct chatter, making him reply back with some sort of code. He tucked away the puffer and turned to the changelings. “Show’s over, buggers, let’s go.”

Spiracles pushed his sister. “Go go go!” He shouted and she quickly ran away into the woods behind Spiracles.

Flaring up his wings, the agent was about to take chase. But soon was met with an apple smashing on his face. He growled, but Spiracles kept on throwing whatever fruit he saw around him and rushed toward at the same time.

Furious now, the gryphon released an earth quaking roar that nearly stopped Spiracles in his tracks. Gritting his teeth, he pressed on and tackled the agent’s barrel. His strength alone wasn’t enough to knock him down though, and the gryphon just reared up with the youngling’s hooves in his claws.

“I admire your little sacrifice to let your sister escape,” The gryphon said as his talons dug deeper in Spiracles’s forehooves.

“You have it all wrong, pal.” Spiracles groaned as he felt the gryphon slowly stabbing into him. He buzzed his wings. “We always stick together, no matter what.”

“Ugh! That sounded so corny- GAH!” The gryphon yelp as something tackled from the back. He saw his hind legs in the air and Spiracles pushed him down to made sure he flipped and hit the ground hard. With a loud and solid pound, the gryphon went head first into the forest floor and rolled face down. Moaning in pain, he tried to stand up, but his forelegs began to wobble, and so the mighty gryphon guard collapsed again.

“Wooo hoooo!” Spiracles screamed ecstatically, jumping on top of the fallen agent. “Who’s. Corny. Now. Featherbrain!” The agent groaned every time the changeling bounced and stomped on him in triumph. When the stomping made the cloud puffer fall out of the agent’s vest, Spiracles smiled from cheek to cheek and went to grab it. Before he could though, the radio blasted again, making him flinch.

“Spiracles! What are you doing!? Have you lost your mind!?” His Sister shouted and pulled him away from the fallen agent. “Please, let's avoid making things worse!” And with that, they both ran deeper into the woods, Spiracles’s laughter echoing as they did.

Comments

[Time Reaper]

Alright, this is well written (IMO) but I've noticed a few mistakes here and there (example: “We’re taking you under our custody, changeling. Said the) but, otherwise, a nice read.