Several Hours Before Canterlot Attack
Night lay heavy on Ponyville. The sky was covered with stars, shimmering pinpricks of light that glimmered and sparkled through the scraps of clouds that floated over the village. The town was entirely silent, the populace asleep. And thus there was nopony to see the twelve shapes that flew through the sky above the village. They were in a V formation, and as they came over Ponyville they split into pairs, each pair making their way towards a separate building in the town. These were the Darkfeathers, King Aeris’s personal guards, spies, and when the occasion called for such a line of work, assassins and kidnappers. They were here for ponies, a certain six mares in particular. Each pair set down on the roof of the building that they had been assigned to, making preparations to enter and claim their targets.
***
The first pair dropped down quietly on the balcony of the Ponyville Library, both silently landing on the platform with practiced ease. Though both were armed, one with a dirk and the other with a fearsome set of steel claws that went over his hands, their intent wasn’t to kill the mares known as the Elements of Harmony; it was to kidnap them, bring them back to Gryphus, and keep them the prisoners of King Aeris until such time that the king saw to release them. The griffin with the dirk dug around in the small satchel that had been slung around his shoulders until he came up with a length of rope, a piece of cloth that he would use to gag their target, and a ring similar to the one used on Princess Celestia. The griffin turned to his partner and nodded, and both quietly snuck off of the railing and onto the balcony proper. The other griffin tested the lock, and the door swung open silently on well-greased hinges. Both griffins smirked at one another. The fools didn’t even keep their doors locked.
Creeping into the bedroom that the balcony was a part of, the Darkfeathers silently made their way across the floor and up the stairs to the loft that held their target’s bed. Moonlight shone clearly through the bedroom’s oval window, illuminating the face of the unicorn that lay sleeping in the bed, blissfully unaware. The two griffins again looked at one another and nodded as one. She looked asleep enough that they wouldn’t need to use the knock-out potion they’d been supplied with.
One gently pulled back the covers and the two began their work. The ring was slipped over Twilight’s horn, and her legs, which were curled up against her body, were pulled upward and bound together with the rope. Unfortunately, doing that woke her up. The unicorn’s eyes fluttered open, then widened at the sight of the two griffins. The one not binding her legs quickly lunged at her, stuffing the cloth in her mouth before she could scream then wrapping another length around her head to keep the gag in. This didn’t stop her from letting out a short scream beforehand.
“Unh…Twilight?”
Both griffins jumped in surprise and turned to see a small, purple-and-green dragon rise out of a basket that was on the floor, close to the bed. The dragon rubbed his eyes and looked up at the bed, his eyes suddenly widening as he took in the scene. “What are you two doing?!” he shouted as he jumped out of the basket and ran at them.
One of the griffins jerked his head in Spike’s direction. Faster than the baby dragon could react the other griffin was in front of him, one black-gloved fist sinking deep into Spike’s gut. The baby dragon’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he coughed what looked like jewel dust, glistening particles of blue, red, and green that coated the floor in a scintillating carpet. Twilight screamed behind her gag, her eyes wide and frantic as Spike was lifted off of his feet by the punch. A right hook from his attacker smashed into his scaly cheek, plowing into the skin and twisting it into a small mound of flesh and scales. Spike flew off of the loft from the force of the blow, landing face-flat on the floor, unconscious even as Twilight kept screaming from behind the gag as the purple unicorn’s eyes went wide with fear and concern while she struggled madly against her bonds. As Spike hit the ground the other griffin went down with him, tying the young dragon up and gagging him.
The griffin that had stayed to finish tying her up rolled his eyes and dug a small potions bottle out of his satchel, yanking the gag away from Twilight’s mouth long enough to pour a thimbleful of a soft golden liquid into the unicorn’s mouth. Twilight’s eyes widened and she let out a gasp before her eyes fluttered shut; her head lolling backwards as the Darkfeather once again stuffed the gag into her mouth and tied it in place.
Both griffins went out the still-open balcony door and took off, their mission fulfilled.
***
Two other griffins had gone to the area north of Ponyville, towards the far-reaching apple orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Flying low over the farm’s trees, the pair of Darkfeathers set their sights on the large barn that housed the Apple family. As they approached the fence that separated the barn and the surrounding area from the orchard, the two griffins dropped into the trees. Landing silently on the ground they immediately taking cover behind the tree trunks, where they would be out of sight of any of the building’s windows. A sudden breeze rustled the leaves above them, moonlight working through them in an alternating patchwork.
One of them peeked out from behind his bit of cover and checked out the building. There were no lights on, no sounds of activity coming from anywhere in the house. The griffin looked at his compatriot and nodded, and both ducked out from behind the trees, hopped the fence, and quickly shot across the yard to the barn.
The second griffin made a quick circuit of the house to check for points of entry. All of the windows were closed against the warm summer air. They’d have to use the door, then. He reported this finding to the other Darkfeather, then they both circled the barn until they were at the front door. Like the Ponyville Library, it wasn’t locked. The door opened with a gentle creak, both griffins freezing for a moment, listening to see if the sound had woken any of the Apples, before entering. They covered the ground floor then quietly went up the staircase, flapping their wings gently and quietly to decrease their weight and therefore lessen the chance of a squeaky step.
They finally made their way up to the second floor, which was home to four different doors. One Darkfeather turned to the other, his hands making rapid signals.
“How do we know which room is the right one?” the signals asked. The other Darkfeather sighed and replied in kind.
“Search all of them. DON’T WAKE ANY OF THEM UP.”
The first Darkfeather nodded and they both moved to search the floor, each taking a different pair of doors. The first Darkfeather opened the two doors on the left. One revealed a slumbering lime green pony, her face and body covered in wrinkles and her grey mane done up in a bun. She was sleeping soundly, muttering something about zap apples and how somepony named Filthy Rich had the biggest…
The Darkfeather shut the door before she could say anything else, a faint flash of green tingeing his cheeks. He moved down the hallway to the second door, opening it to see a massive red stallion with crimson fur and a short-cropped, burnt orange mane. The stallion was turned in his direction, clutching a small doll. The doll itself looked slightly ragged, as if it were an old, cared-for treasure of somepony. The buttons that made up its eyes were mismatched, one pink and the other blue, with a pair of tiny, blue-with-white-polka-dotted pants fitted on the back half of its body. The Darkfeather now had an even more disturbed look on his face, tilting his head to one side quizzically before softly shutting the door and blinking in confusion.
The other Darkfeather opened the first door on his own side of the hallway. It was the bedroom of a young filly, colored butter-yellow with a bright red mane that was visibly peeking out from beneath the baby blue nightcap that covered the top of her head. There were two other fillies in the room as well, sleeping in the same bed on either side of her. One was a rust-colored pegasus with a purple mane, the other a white unicorn with a purple-and-pink mane. The Darkfeather shook his head and shut the door quietly, moving on to the last room. In there, he found their target and beckoned his teammate over to him.
Sleeping in the room was an orange mare, her long yellow mane tied back in a ponytail. A dog slept on the bed with her. Both Darkfeathers looked at one another and nodded. Both quickly descended on Winona, the dog not even having time to yelp as a piece of rope was wrapped around her muzzle, a blindfold bound around her eyes, and another piece of rope wrapped around her legs. She was then unceremoniously thrown into Applejack’s closet, both griffins turning their attention to the sleeping earth pony mare.
The first took out a length of cloth and held it out, the other dripping a few drops of a liquid onto it from a small bottle before taking out a coil of rope to bind the mare’s legs. Both moved at once, gently easing the mare’s sheets off of her body before the first wrapped the cloth around her head and across her mouth as the other bound her legs. The motions woke Applejack up, and she grunted and struggled for a few seconds until the potion took effect. Her green eyes fluttered shut and she let out a sigh of breath as she slipped back into unconsciousness.The two griffins nodded at one another and made their way out of the house the same way they came in, going out to the barnyard and taking off, holding Applejack between them and taking great care not to drop her.
***
The third pair of Darkfeathers was flying in the direction of the Everfree Forest, towards the sod-roof cottage of Fluttershy. They set down on the path in front of the house, just past the small river that ran in front of the small home, taking in the black windows and all of the sleeping animals that were visible in various dens around the place. Both looked at one another, each raising an eyebrow before turning back to the front again and marching forward. They quietly slid the door open, carefully entering the small room that the front door opened into. Careful not to bump their heads into any of the birdhouses or various other animal homes that were scattered around the room, both griffins crept up the steps and into Fluttershy’s room. As they did this they also had to step around the homes of various rabbits, ferrets, and even the occasional wombat.
The pink-maned pegasus was sleeping soundly, barely making any sort of noise as her side rose and fell with each breath that she took. The two griffins looked at one another and nodded. They moved forward, only to find themselves each grabbed around a foot. Turning as one to look over their shoulders they saw a white rabbit with a determined look on its face. One of the Darkfeathers lifted a foot and kicked the rabbit in the face. Angel Bunny went flying across the room, slamming through a window and landing on the ground outside of the cottage, unconscious.
“Hrm…hunh?” a sleepy mutter came from the bed. Both Darkfeathers looked at Fluttershy’s bed as the pegasus sat up, rubbing at her eyes. They then looked at each other, and moved as quickly as their compatriots before them to gag her, bind her, and knock her out. They left the house by the way they had come, flying away with nopony in the area the wiser.
***
Unlike the other homes of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Carousel Boutique had a light on inside it. This light in particular illuminated the design room of Rarity, who had decided to stay up late in an effort to finish designing an outfit that had popped into her head earlier that morning but had proved more difficult to create than she had thought. Wearing her customary red-rimmed design glasses, the unicorn mare bit her lip and sighed as she took the latest attempt to bring her thoughts to paper in her magic’s hold and crumped it up, tossing it into the trash can. It bounced off of the large pile of crumpled paper sticking out of it, Rarity shaking her head. “Oh, this is hopeless!” she wailed melodramatically. “Even with Sweetie Belle out of the way I can’t concentrate!”
She turned away from her work, letting out another sigh. Opalescence meowed plaintively from Rarity’s bed.
“Oh Opal, whatever shall I do?” Rarity asked the cat, one leg across her forehead, the picture of overplayed despair. Opal meowed again in answer, pointing at one of the room’s windows. Rarity raised an eyebrow quizzically. “What on earth are you pointing at, Opal?”
“Meow meow!” Opal yowled, pointing more insistently.
Rarity walked over to the window that Opal was pointing at. Looking out, all she saw was Ponyville, deep in slumber. “Oh Opal, I’m sure you’re just imagining things,” Rarity replied, turning away from the window that Opal was pointing at and instead going over to a different one. She looked out over Ponyville from a different angle, looked out past the slumbering town and across the valley to Canterlot, still glimmering with lights even at that late hour.
Rarity was actually so engrossed in the view that she didn’t even notice the griffins entering through the other window, grabbing Opal, then tying her up in a sack and tossing her in the closet. As the door slammed shut Rarity turned around and gave a startled squeal before managing to calm herself. “Oh! Um, my apologies! You startled me. I’m sorry, but the Boutique is closed at the moment, both of you will have to come back tomorrow morning.”
The two Darkfeathers looked at one another, raising their eyebrows. “We’re not here as customers,” one of them said.
“We’ll need to you to come with us, unicorn,” said the other.
“Excuse me,” Rarity replied haughtily, “but my name is not ‘unicorn’. It’s Rarity, and I would prefer to be addressed as such. And even if I did want to come with you (which I assure you, I don't), I’m afraid I have a business to run.”
“We could burn the place to the ground,” the first suggested.
Rarity gasped. “You wouldn’t! Do you have any idea how expensive some of these fabrics are?!” She immediately ran over to a roll of cloth, a wondrous satin-colored weave that seemed to turn into water at the touch of the light. “This particular cloth was made by the finest weaver in Aloa! You wouldn’t believe the amount of bits that I had to pay in order to get just one roll!”
“Then if you want it to stay in one piece you’ll come with us,” the second Darkfeather replied, Rarity’s dramatics already getting on his nerves. Immediately Rarity was sliding up to him, wrapping her front legs around his.
“Please, good sirs!” she begged. “Please, I beg of you, don’t harm my outfits! Take me back to wherever you came from, I’ll do anything!”
Before she had even finished speaking the second griffin had slipped a ring over her horn. Rarity didn’t resist as they bound her legs, too worried about what might become of the Boutique should she resist.
Of course, that didn’t stop her complaining as the griffins hung her upside down and carried her from the store.
“Turn me right side up this instant, you ruffians! How dare you treat a lady this way! I know important ponies, you know! I’ll make sure neither of you work in Equestria again!”
***
Rainbow Dash’s kidnapping had gone just as smoothly as the missions from the other pairs. Even the last pair had found it remarkably easy to kidnap Pinkie Pie. Despite the extreme hyperactivity they had been told inhabited the pink earth pony mare, she was so deeply asleep that they hadn’t had any fuss at all in tying her up. She’d also slept through the gagging, and every other part of the process that the two Darkfeathers had gone through while kidnapping her. Even so, the extra care needed in order to enter and avoid waking the Cake twins in the process had cost the Darkfeathers a lot of time, and thus they were the last pair to arrive at the rendezvous point with their target.
They had placed a wagon here earlier, large enough for twelve ponies to fit in and lined with iron bars and tough wood. The griffins tossed their captives inside and began hitching themselves up with smooth, practiced ease. As they did, one of the griffins wrote out a small note before taking out a bottle filled with a flickering, green flame. The griffin opened the stopper on the bottle and the flame shot out, engulfing the note and turning it into a trail of glistening smoke that shot overhead, heading back towards the Kingdoms faster than any griffin could fly.
After around five minutes of hitching up, the twelve Darkfeathers were ready to take off. “Anyone have any trouble?” one of them asked as they lifted off, flying back towards the Griffin Kingdoms with the wagon in tow.
One of the griffins that had helped kidnap Twilight Sparkle spoke up. “We had a bit of a problem with Sparkle’s little dragon friend, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“Anyone else?” the first griffin said. There was a chorus of negatives. The Darkfeathers flew on, heading away from Ponyville. As they did, a chorus of low booms reached their ears.
“Cannons,” one of the Darkfeathers observed. “Blackwing must be attacking Canterlot right now.”
“For King and Country,” one of them called.
“For King and Country!” the rest echoed.