Chapter 7 - Last-Minute Cancellation

Not much was known about where and how the origins of this small underworld empire of kirin crooks sprouted, as its development had only just been uncovered by the public police investigators spanning across Ponyville and Canterlot. The only available information about its origins was that it was started by a well-respected spiritualistic enthusiast known only by his pseudo-name Ginseng Dragon. According to police reports, he had immigrated from Far Eastern Equestria within half a month since Twilight's coronation to spread his own religious ideals to the other young kirin students attending the School of Friendship. It was believed that through his charismatic influence, he was able to lure the students into dropping their friendship studies and continue their alternative education of achieving enlightenment through a series of yoga exercises, meditation, ritualistic ceremonies and, most notoriously, drug parties. Though the exact idea behind the religious cult (known as the Ginseng Triad) is mostly unknown due to his refusal of interview requests by both the public and private newspaper media, the police had believed that the cult was just a front for the Ginseng Dragon to illicitly smuggle, distribute and sell dried opium latex in Ponyville. Seeing this as a scourge towards friendship and harmony in Equestria, the police had been highly focused on cracking down the underground Ginseng Triad, but despite the small size of the gang, their organized secret communication messages, constant changes in eluding strategies and their counter-surveillance made the Ginseng Triad a real criminal force to be reckoned with. There had been rumors from the sensational Squawker newspapers that the Ginseng Dragon lived in a secret homemade mansion within a secret spot within the Everfree forest to discourage any local police from venturing into their base of operations, but the police can neither confirm nor deny its exact location of the gang, until the investigation was complete.

----------(SOMEWHERE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST)----------

"Here's the 10 000 bits you had requested, Huntress!" exclaimed the blue-shrouded kirin with a fuchsia coat as he handed over a chimera leather suitcase filled with 100 bank rolls of 100 bits each. The white-coated blue-shrouded kirin, who was wearing a blue fluffy mane and brown-tinted round sunglasses, was sitting a very comfy sofa chair covered in the leather hide of a cougar, within the humble living room of the Everfree Forest one-story house.

"Much obliged, Delft Blue", said the Huntress female griffon with a white face and mottled green body. The Huntress was wearing a red bandana around her neck, a black vinyl rebel jacket and pants on her person, and a pair of black vinyl laced boots on her back lion paws. Much like Delft Blue, she was also sitting on another cougar sofa chair nearby. In fact, there are total of four cougar leather sofa chairs surrounding a beautiful mahogany table that was also covered in cougar leather. Underneath them was a very fine intricate rug decorated with a garden of weaved flowers in all shapes and sizes.

"The pictures of your target is within this suitcase", mentioned Delft Blue as he pointed out the four photographed portraits of Sunburst walking around in Ponyville.

"Heh, I only need one photo to know what I'm looking for! You won't regret this, Delft!", smirked the Huntress as she took one frontal portrait photo of Sunburst, and threw the rest of the three pictures on the cougar table. "Just gotta ask your dragon head one thing though..."

Outside in the grassy mowed backyard of the house hideout, a certain red-coated kirin with a black fluffy mane, who was wearing a black cloak, was vehemently stomping along on a train of broken glass with oiled up back hooves, excessively breathing in and out as to ignore the searing pain. As he does so, he firmly grasped with his dorsal gold-plated left hand against his other dorsal plated right hand (which happened to be pointing upwards with two fingers, as well as wearing a gold bracelet and a pair of jade rings on his middle finger). Surrounding the crazy kirin were other strong kirin in black tuxedos, green-tinted sungalsses and cotton shirts. All of them acted like his personal guard, as they were responsible for keeping a close eye on the red-coated kirin for personal protection.

"Ginseng Dragon! Our hungry catbird wanted to know if you wanted his head to be sent to your house or have the confirmed hit order signed in the target's blood", interrupted Delft Blue as he entered the backyard via sliding paper-screened doors. Ginseng Dragon stopped with his intense routine and signaled one of his lion-maned henchmen to place a golden-laced bathrobe onto his person.

"Very well then! I shall speak to her at once personally! Have yourself and my guards clean up the mess! OH, and careful not to cut yourself, Delft Blue!", ordered the Ginseng Dragon as he went under the red-tiled balcony to put on his straw sandals, before he head back inside the green-camouflaged house.

"Yes, Saan Jyu! As you wish", said the kirin bodyguards in unison.

"Okay, he's gone! Gather up all the fake glass! If he suspects even a small whiff of these props, he'll have your back hooves chopped off!", whispered Delft Blue in a condescending yet hasten matter.

After Ginseng Dragon entered the living room where the Huntress was, he went on to answer her question. "A head on a pike would be fine, though if you want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, bring me his unicorn horn alongside a confirmed message".

"Saan Jyu, your personal entrusted 算命 (Suàn Mìng)¹ named Lucky Dew has arrived", said one black-maned male kirin bodyguard as he entered the room and bowed his head in respect for the dragon head.

"My apologies, Huntress. I just remembered I have so many visitors coming over for some underworld business. Why don't you stay in our lovely kitchen for herbal tea? We just had the walls spruced up with white paint!", offered Ginseng Dragon.

"Love to chat, but I got an important errand to run! Point me to the back door, and I'll leave you and your business partner alone", replied the cocky yet humbled Huntress as she picked up her suitcase of bank-rolled bits.

"It's down the hallway there, then to the right", answered Ginseng Dragon before Huntress obeyed his directions to the exit and left the scene.

Two new kirin guests (one old male and one young female), who each wore white tunic robes, large amber-colored bead necklaces and carried orange silken strapped bags, were being escorted by Ginseng Dragon to the living room via clandestine backyard entry. The young brown-coated female kirin with the black fluffy mane was the only one in the duo holding what appears to be a wide heavy dark-wood cabinet strapped to her back with tightened hemp rope. One old beige-colored and grey-maned raspy-voiced kirin named Master Lucky Dew finally said to the Dragon Head,

"It is in my utmost confidence in my clairvoyant powers that I had found what you had sought for to improve your fortunes, Dragon Head of the Ginseng Triad." spoke Master Lucky Dew with high formalities.

"In courtesy of your punctual arrival, I too had found what you so eagerly seek as well, Master Lucky Dew!", humbly replied Ginseng Dragon. "Delft, the payment, if you so please!", he shouted out for his deputy officer².

After he and the bodyguards were quickly done collecting all the fake broken glass, Delft stepped inside of the living room (with his indoor straw sandals) and took out 10 bank rolls of bits, with each roll containing a total of 50 bits (thus making the cost of fortune telling worth 5000 bits). All the bank rolls were bundled up with three loops of hemp string to ensure they do not unravel. As it was handed out, Master Lucky Dew bowed to Delft in respect, before the female

As Delft Blue bowed down to Master Lucky Dew, the fortune teller bowed to him in return, and the female kirin assistant took the bank rolls of money from Delft's hands, before placing the money in her orange silk bag.

"You may now begin with the ritual, Master Lucky Dew!", permitted Ginseng Dragon as he got a little excited about what fortune he will receive.

"These rituals are not to be rushed, Dragon Head. With the correct amount of patience, my divine spells will yield a 99.99% accurate vision of what your future will look like", boasted Master Lucky Dew as he took out something from his own orange silken bag. It was a brown wooden bowl that was intricately carved like a turtle shell and it was placed on the flowery rug (next to one side of the cougar table). The female assistant of Master Lucky Dew then turned around to allow access to her portable cabinet on her back.

"What about the other 0.01% chance, Master Lucky Dew?", asked Delft Blue as the elderly fortune teller opened up the left drawer of the portable cabinet to fetch a porcelain white-and-blue potion vessel.

"If you were trapped within that 0.01%, then you must have done something extremely upsetting to some really important figure to deserve such a cruel twist in the gods' fate", said Master Lucky Dew as he crouched down to pour some sort of yellowish translucent liquid with mixed bits of many herbs.

As he proceeded to stand up, a small quiet plopping sound was heard from the turtle bowl filled with the suspicious yellow liquid. Perhaps it was an unfortunate little Everfree fly that had inadvertently landed into the wet liquid, but that was not going to be a major problem for Master Lucky Dew. As all the kirin in the living room were too focused on what future lies for the Ginseng Triad, Master Lucky Dew fetched a matchbox from the top middle drawer of the assistant's portable cabinet, before striking the match on the hard cabinet surface and throwing the tiny flame into the turtle bowl.

In an instant, the yellow liquid suddenly became ignited and the yellow-orange flame has suddenly grown tall and had turned blue. As Ginseng Dragon gazed in awe at the spectacle, Master Lucky Dew explained his fortune telling process to his onlookers as he used his kirin magic to gather the blue ball of flame around his pair of palm-cloven amber hands.

"As you will see, my several years of experience as a fortune teller will only allow me to see which lucky man will bring prosperity to your future life"

With one hand holding the hovering blue flame, Master Lucky Dew then proceeded to fetch the iron ashtray from the bottom middle drawer of the portable cabinet and placed it on top of a nearby black marble table with four tall curvy mahogany legs (which was standing on the brink edge of the flowery rug)

With his flame in hand, Master Lucky Dew immediately threw the blue flame into the sacred ashtray, creating a large "WOOMPH!" within, before the flames started to take on a very weird shape.

"Let's see who your lucky man is today", said Master Lucky Dew as he and the other kirin gazed upon the morphing flame

Slowly, but surely, the ball of flame hovering over the ashtray became more recognizable as the face of somepony they knew for some time now.

"Wait! Doesn't that flame look like---??!!!" shouted Delft Blue before the flame took on the face of Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst!!

As soon as Master Lucky Dew realized they were seeing the same image as he was, he immediately fetched a fuchsia cover blanket from the right bottom drawer of the portable cabinet and threw it over the ashtray to snuff out the flame.

"Master Lucky Dew! Is this stallion the one who will bring luck to my empire?!", asked the bewildered Ginseng Dragon.

"He is not only your lucky man! Based on your facial expression, it seemed that you were familiar with what you saw in that blue flame! This stallion that you had saw just then is also your future successor of your empire!! He may actually become the new dragon head of the Ginseng Triad both abroad AND in Far Eastern Equestria!", answered the equally bewildered and shocked Master Lucky Dew. "You may doubt me all you want, but there is no point in doubting the fortune gods!"

As soon as they realized the grave error that they had made, Ginseng Dragon huddled together with Delft Blue and dragged him over to the backyard for a private talk.

"Delft Blue, you must head on over to find the Huntress and ordered her to cancel that contract before it's too late! Save that school mage who will become my new successor to my empire!", commanded the now worrisome Ginseng Dragon.

"Of course, Saan Jyu! I'll make swift before the order is carried out!", obeyed Delft Blue before venturing into the Everfree forest to seek the assassin.

As soon as his deputy officer had left, he returned to the living room and noticed something strange on the cougar table. He saw that a couple of the photos had somehow got spilled over the edge and were somewhat scattered on the floor. "Hmmm, must be a dumb peasant mistake by my maids", the dragon head thought to himself. As his trusted fortune teller gathered his stuff before his quick departure, Ginseng Dragon ordered his kirin henchmen to give 30 lashings to the last maid that was cleaning the living room.

----------(MEANWHILE IN PONYVILLE)----------

It was finally time for both the Headmare and the Vice Head-Stallion of the School of Friendship to finally take their weekend off from their busy and mentally laborious career. Considering this week's hectic events that almost led to two male students being gravely hospitalized, both Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst decided that they needed to relax their frazzled minds by taking their stroll around the Ponyville town hall. No longer in their professionally official school garb, Starlight was now wearing her casual shoulder-less fuchsia shirt, which was worn over by her turquoise shoulder-strapped lace top, and was also wearing her own pair of dark violet nylon warmers around her wrists. Instead of her usual business pants, she was also wearing her pair of casual black yoga pants, which were tight enough to hug around her smooth medium-sized derriere. As for Sunburst, he was without his usual starry-patterned cape with the dark teal background, and instead was in a white shirt and silver-grey cotton pants.

As the two best friends walked around the large town hall of Ponyville, some creature was hiding within the shadows---or to be it more accurate, a shadowy light-bending invisibility cloak---as she stood and laid back idly by against the wattle-and-daub timber-framed walls of the Ponyville town hall. As she lifted away from her invisibility cloak, she---the Griffon Huntress---stalked her intended target with her telescopic bird-eye...

----------(LATER AT THE PONYVILLE PARK)----------

"You know, even after all we've been through ever since Princess Twilight Sparkle first met me at my own village and molded me into the proper role model I am today, I still don't understand why your old man Sunspot still doesn't approve of us being very close together whenever he sees us" wondered Starlight Glimmer as she laid her back onto Sunburst as the two best friends took a rest by a large apple orchard tree.

"I mean, he practically had to be convinced by your mom to back off, or else she'd threaten to have him kicked out from her campaign race to be mayor of Sire's Hollow!", chuckled Starlight as she snuggled against Sunburst's chest.

"Well, I could think of a couple things. For example, my dad knows that you were a troubled rebel riot back in your teens and you DID convert some of the Equestrians back in Sire's Hollow to join your cult of equalism by taking away their cutie marks away." mentioned Sunburst as he stroked Starlight's swirly mane.

"HEY, I was foolish knucklehead before Twilight came to save me from my deep depression, all right??! Can't he just see how much I had changed over the past couple of years? I know it was no excuse for me to lash out against your parents for sending you to magic school without considerations for my feelings, but I was a mare who felt like a very scared little filly inside...", Starlight recalled as she thought back to her old memories as a former villain of her own life story.

"Hahaha, I wasn't finished, silly! I was going to also mention that since my mom is running against your dad in the mayoral race in Sires Hollow, he's afraid that our close relationship would end up hurting my mom's chance in winning if everypony in Sire's Hollow knew about her son---ME---is dating her rival's daughter" Sunburst giggled as he caressed Starlight's belly with his hand.

"It's not like I care anything about the politics about my hometown! I'm way too occupied with my students' future in their life and work skills education to be caught up with our parents' competition for their spot in town hall!", commented Starlight as she watched the young fillies, colts, yaks and griffons goofing off on the playground set. "Besides, I think the REAL reason why your old man still has a grudge against me is that he also was aware about that time I almost took away the princess' cutie mark, after one of my former followers left my homemade village and spilled the beans about my defunct operation to a reporter"

Sunburst then interrupted. "That was during last year's panel conference at the Friendship Journal convention, wasn't it? When dad read the paper about you, it made him very angry and he had bit of a meltdown in front of my mom, more so because you never mentioned about how you used to lock up whole families for days for---"

"PLEASE!!" cried Starlight as she clenched her fists and dole out a single tear for her eye "--it's---something I don't want to talk about and relive------I'm---not the same mare I used to be anymore!!", sobbed the trembling Starlight as she was reliving her old memories as a cult leader.

"OH, I'm sorry! Sometimes when I over-analyze stuff, I tend to forget about how much you felt about your past mistakes in life", apologized the pitying Sunburst as he stroked Starlight's red-hot face. He later continued, but was careful to choose how he conveyed his words.

"All that I'm saying is that my dad has a very different opinion about how the princess should've dealt with those who kidnapped, imprisoned and mentally brainwashed innocent Equestrians. How they should be locked in a dungeon hole and throw away the hole.", commented Sunburst.

"Even though I may not had much contact with you over the years back then, I still know a lot more about you than my dad does. I should've been there for you when we both got separated. I was too focused and struggling on my magic studies to even bother contacting you.......I should be the one who needed to be punished for not being a best friend by keeping you out of trouble", comforted Sunburst as he hugged his best friend very tightly.

"Stop trying to make me feel less of a villain of my own story, Sunburst." Starlight scorned at Sunburst as she looked down on the ground. "We all knew that I was a selfish mare for keeping those Equestrians all to myself, just so I wouldn't feel lonely and heartbroken ever again. I was the one who took away all those Equestrians' hopes, ambitions and dreams to pursue their own future! And for what?? Because I was too scared about my new friends leaving me behind when they find their true calling in life?!", Starlight shouted as she cried.

"And that's why----why---!!" Starlight sobbed as she tried to cover her eyes with her arms, so that the other creatures wouldn't see her cry. She immediately turned around and came face-to-face with Sunburst.

"That's why I had to make this up by giving these young Equestrians a better future, a chance to learn about the wonders of friendship so that they can benefit from the harmony of Equestria! I---I don't want them to make the same mistakes I had made in the past...."

Sunburst blushed and stared at Starlight Glimmer for a nervous moment and mumbled, "Starlight..."

Realizing that there were kids staring at the duo with confusion, Starlight immediately regain her composure and quickly sat herself down next to Sunburst's right side.

"I'm sorry! I should've checked and stopped myself sooner! I am a headmare, after all!", Starlight loudly mumbled as she looked down on the grassy floor.

"No no, it's all right. I'm glad you truly showed me how and why you felt really passionate about your students' future. The Princess of Friendship really picked the best candidate to be the new headmare after her coronation to the throne room.", said Sunburst as he smiled and took something out from his own pocket.

"Is there even any hope that your dad will finally see what the real potential inside me in the upcoming future?", asked Starlight as she bent her knees upward and hugged her legs while sitting down.

"I'm not sure if I would be able to answer that, but I do know what our contemporary future will be like in the next 24 hours", said Sunburst as he held out a single key attached to an adorable key-chain with Sunburst's acrylic decal of his own cutie mark.

"Sunburst, is that---??" Starlight asked as she took a peek at Sunburst's key, before Sunburst interrupted with an amazing surprise.

"TADA, it's my key to my new humble abode in Ponyville! Thanks to the money saved up from babysitting Flurry Heart for a year, I was able to find a top-notch middle class living quarters at the top floor of a duplex! Since Princess Twilight Sparkle is now very busy with running the country and all, if there is a time where the princess is absent and you needed somepony to lay their arms around you, you can find me at 7007 Rainbow Road, Duplex 8! Don't worry about me! I already asked for a spare key for myself from the local locksmith!"

"Sunburst---this is---are you sure about that? I'm very flattered by your offer, but---I'm not sure if your dad would like it if he found out I started living with you all of a sudden.", hesitated Starlight as she stared at the key.

"Starlight, you don't have to worry about my dad. If you don't want to visit me right now, then I won't force you. But at least keep it for the time being, as a courtesy gift from not just your Vice Head-Stallion, but as your long-time best friend in the whole wide world!", insisted Sunburst with more fervor.

"......Okay...I will", replied Starlight as she smiles and takes the house key. "I'll think about it later, but right now, I still need to relax myself a little bit more..."

"Agreed! Hey, I heard Applejack is now opening her own memorial walk-in apple orchard park in honor of her parents, a gift for both the students and her hometown!", gleefully replied Sunburst.

"Wasn't the park under constant attack by vampire fruit bats a few days ago?", asked Starlight.

"Most of the pests had already been captured and relocated to the refugia³ orchards and Applejack's working volunteers had already started to plant more fruit trees in the refugia. In other words, those pests would be directed away from the family orchards, so there's not too many concerns at the park for you to worry about." explained Sunburst as he got up and held Starlight's hand.

"Applejack and her team already had this fruit bat problem all under control", Sunburst assured as he and his happy best friend began walking out of the park to continue on with their leisure.

----------(TWO HOURS LATER AT APPLEJACK'S MEMORIAL PARK)----------

It was a very lovely day for a stroll along the wooden sidewalk path through the apple-pear hybrid orchards within Applejack's own property. Ever since her big brother Big Mac had married her sweetheart baker Sugar Belle, Equestrian tourists outside of Ponyville began visiting the beautiful orchards to see the famous intertwined apple/pear trees planted by Applejack's parents back in their heyday. However, since it was considered private property, Applejack was not pleased about the new trespassers strolling along her former parents' family-owned memorial. Though most of them only wanted to take a peek at the miraculous wonder symbol of forever love, there were some trespassers who decided to pick the fruit from the hybrid intertwining orchards. Seeing this as a major disrespect to her parents' memories, Applejack had to build barbed wire fences with "No Trespassing Signs" around the private family property to keep out the tourists, much to the dismay of couples who wanted to post pictures of them posing with the special dual orchards.

The dispute with the tourists had gotten so violently bad (leading to one Equestrian tourist couple almost crippled for life from Applejack's shotgun), that Mayor Mare of Ponyville had to interfere and come up with a compromise that will satisfy every creature. Hence, the apple family, Mayor Mare and the citizens of Ponyville all agreed on transforming the family apple/pear orchard field into a popular Ponyville tourist spot and all the money generated will be added to the School of Friendship budget. The only conditions for the tourists were that they were only allowed to walk on the designated wooden sidewalks and hang out around the designated open areas. Tourists were also not allowed to enter areas blocked off by the high wooden palisade barrier surrounding the apple/pear orchard fields, though flyers are free to fly above the trees, provided that they refrain from breaching through the vast network of huge Kevlar nets laid above thick treeline of the restricted areas.

In addition to these conditions, the tourists will also have to pay a 5-bit entry fee per family (or 10-bit fee per couple/individual) and be given a specific permission cards to be given 2 hours of free time within the tourist spot. During that time, they were free to pick apples and pears from the designated picking areas only, though they still had to pay 1 bit per pound of fruits once they exited from the orchards. Lastly, and most importantly, picking from the special intertwined apple/pear orchard is off-limits to every creature except for the Apple Family members and the Elements of Harmony.

If these tourists agreed to and had obeyed these rules, they would be allowed to enjoy leisure time at the additions to the new tourist spot, such as the taking a stroll through the new open-wide spaces planted with flower gardens. These flower gardens are also surrounded by artificial rivers dug up by volunteers and outside members of Applejack family. In addition to that, families can take a relaxing picnic break at the hilltop gazebos or have their young offspring play at the small playground park.

As of right now, the tourist park has been experiencing a run-in with the horde of vampire fruit bats sucking the fruits fry from their orchards. The problem all started to worsen when the apples within the refugia experienced bad apple blight, forcing the bats to search for new food resources within the family apple/pear orchards. Unsurprising, the Apple Family started to lose tourists that way and decided to hire either volunteer students and new laborers to deal with the pest problem. Fortunately, most of the pests had already been relocated, though there were some pests that still lingered around a couple of the orchard trees. Nevertheless, tourism at the Apple family memorial park was now slowly rising, though the number of visits were still much lower than before the major bat surge.

It was this factor that made it a much appealing opportunity for the Huntress to make her deadly move against her intended target as she hid behind the gazebo. As she peered from behind the hilltop red-painted wooden gazebo, she saw her target walking alongside his female companion along the wooden sidewalk path. Standing between her was some floral foliage, some bushes and a low-level river bed that slithered around the garden bed. Fortunately, with her higher vantage point and her eagle eye, she was still able to pinpoint her target as she loaded her concealed four-limb metal crossbow with her cyanide bolt and peered at the couple through her iron peephole sight.

Just as the Huntress was just about to acquire her target, her left shoulder suddenly felt a sudden hard tap, causing her to immediately drop her bow, turn around swiftly and quickly pull out her hidden hunting knife from her hidden pocket within the inner lining of her black jacket. Fortunately, she was in no danger of getting caught by either the authorities nor the Apple Family members, as she find herself being ganged up by Delft Blue the criminal deputy officer and his bodyguard posses of Gingseng kirin gangsters.

"HEY, what gives, man??! I was THIS close to scoring my hit!", yelled the irritated Huntress as she stared at the upset Delft Blue, who was still wearing his iconic brown sunglasses and blue robes.

"I sent a passenger pigeon message to you and you sent back a message telling me to write back to you later", explained Delft Blue as he wagged his finger at the Huntress. "I tried to send a wireless telegraph message to your headquarters in Griffonstone, and the office told me their communication line to that location had been disconnected. I sent a tape recorder message to your room, but was told by the staff that you had already checked out from the motel. I wrote a fax message to your biblio-telautograph⁵, and you didn't reply back. I searched for you at the underground black market forum, and you weren't seen anywhere. Just what in Equestria is with you assassins being SO mysterious?"

"Just get to the point, jackass! What the hell do you want from me?!", yelled the impatient Huntress.

"The Saan Jyu of the Ginseng Triad wants to talk to you!", shouted Delft Blue as he barked at her.

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Standing within another gazebo 50 meters north from Huntress' deadeye shooting position, Ginseng Dragon sits on the back malachite green railing of the hilltop gazebo, flanked on each side by two well-dressed black-suited kirin bodyguards. As soon as the Huntress and Delft Blue made themselves known by climbing up the implanted stone stairs on the sloping hill to the open gazebo entrance, the Dragon Head respectfully but sternly gave out his order.

"Huntress, your contract has been cancelled! You are no longer permitted to hunt down this target!"

The Huntress gave out a jeering short chuckle, clenched her talon on her medium-sized canvas bag and smirked with an insincere smile, before blurting out her remark.

"HEH! You don't seem to understand how this works, do you? When a Greenlighter's contract is signed, there's no going back on that deal, NO EXCEPTIONS! Even if I would cancel that contract (which I won't!), how am I going to explain this matter to the other griffons homeboys back home? In our organization, we don't tolerate cowardly chickens who fail to get the job done!"

Frustrated by her cockiness, but still wanting to end this contract without violence, Ginseng got off the railing and attempted his cloven hands at negotiation.

"Please, let's be reasonable creatures here! If it makes you feel any better, you can keep all of the money I had paid to you! If the next target comes, I'll have that contract replaced with a new one to deal with!". The Huntress then replied back with a scornful squawk.

"This isn't a matter of money here, Ginseng! This is a matter of my PRIDE!"

"Pride, you say?", questioned the skeptical triad boss as he approached into the Huntress' personal space.

Then suddenly, a fast flying stone zipped right into Ginseng Dragon's head, causing him to be knocked back off his feet and his kirin bodyguards around him to instinctively surround him with their buff strong body fronts.

"SAAN JYU HAS BEEN HIT!! WE GOT AN ASSASSIN OUT HERE!!", yelled one of the kirin body guards.

"Saan Jyu, your forehead! It's bleeding!!", cried Delft Blue when he spotted blood pouring out of Ginseng's head. As every kirin immediately duck for cover for any more incoming deadly projectiles, the Huntress immediately went over the south green metal railing of the hilltop gazebo and flew off, taking her opportunity to escape the wrath of the injured triad boss.

"AHHH, is any part of my brain leaking??! Please tell me I'm not dying!", panicked Ginseng as he asked one of his bodyguards to assess his critical condition. As Delft Blue poked his head above the metal railing on the west side of the gazebo, he shouted to his boss with furious vigor.

"I'm going to check out who fired that shot!! He or she is a dead creature once they realize who they are messing with!!"

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---END

Author's Notes:

1. Cantonese for "fortune teller"

2. In triad terms, a deputy officer is like a second-in-command officer for the big crime boss (or dragon head)

3. Refugia (re-foo-jee-ah): regions of crops that are left untouched with pesticides/herbicides, so that more diverse wild-type pests (and their predators) can still thrive within the population, and therefore not be completely overtaken by the breeding resistant population; this ensures that the wild-type genes without the alleles for the resistance against pesticides/herbicides can still thrive within the gene pool and predators (e.g. hawks, owls, raccoons) can still keep out the pests attacking important crop areas

4. Hypnotic: medicine that induces tranquility to the mind (aka a sleeping potion)

5. It's the same magical communication book used by Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle to write to each other (see https://derpibooru.org/images/1485365)