The frigid cold of the water hit Quill in the face, rushing over him like a blanket of ice. He was snapped out of his unconscious sleep, gasping for air as though he had just broken the surface of the Ponyville Lake. An agonising pain was digging into his skull from his temple and he groaned reflexively. Looking around, he became aware of three very tall shapes standing in the shadows of the small stone room which Quill could only describe as a prison cell.
“T-Twilight?” he asked in hushed tones, shifting his weight and finding himself tied to a wooden chair, back to back with Twilight, who appeared to still be unconscious. Quill turned back to the tall shapes, trying his best to look menacing in his groggy and pained state. One of the shapes moved forward into the white light of the moon shining through a grated hole in the ceiling and revealing a large, muscular man with tanned skin and red eye-liner painted in a threatening design. His body was covered in leather flight armour, typical of older Pegasus styles, but it was the forearm-long golden metal gauntlets that he had on both arms and the large white wings that told him all he needed to know about the identity of their captors; Griffins.
The griffins were a race of people from a particularly mountainous region of the continent, and so were much taller and stronger than the average equestrian. Their gauntlets were a ceremonial artefact bestowed onto all members of the society when they came of age and were meant to closely resemble eagle’s talons; right down to the sharp claws on each of the fingertips.
Quill was a taller than average man, but there was only one person in Ponyville able to look a griffin in the eye, and that was Big Macintosh, Applejack’s brother. Quill was barely tall enough to head-butt him in the chin, and the same went for griffins.
The griffin with the red eye-paint bent low to look at him in the eye, smiling with a malicious gleam in his golden iris.
“Good Morning,” he said happily, his yellow stained canine teeth catching the light.
“But it’s night time,” Quill said groggily, instantly regretting it as the griffin’s face changed to the scowl and he swiftly backhanded him across the face.
“No smart talk. This is serious business,” the griffin responded as his smile returned. “Now, first off, I want to apologise. My… Associates were only meant to obtain the student and not the boyfriend.”
He clicked his fingers and one of the griffins in the shadows stepped forward and tipped a bucket of water over Twilight’s head, snapping her back to reality in much the same way that Quill had.
“Wha? Q-Quill what’s going on?” Twilight asked in a panic, her hand grabbing his own between the chairs. The head griffin cocked his head, studying them both with an almost child-like fascination.
“Ah, the student awakes,” he exclaimed happily after a while, moving out of Quill’s line of sight as he went to address Twilight. “I was wondering when you were going to join us.”
“Who are you and what do you want?” Twilight asked, seemingly shrugging off the post-drugged confusion like nothing.
“Ooh, we have a strong one here lads,” the griffin laughed and was soon joined by his friends, one of which seemed to be a woman by the sound of her laugh. “Well it’s quite simple, my dear student; you and your little friend here are our hostages, and we plan to ransom you to the princess for a stupid amount of money.”
Quill could almost hear the grinding of Twilight’s teeth as his eyes watered from the force of her squeezing his hand in anger.
“The Princess will not negotiate with you, nor will she allow me to suffer at your hands,” Twilight said defiantly. The griffins laughed again, and Twilight just squeezed his hand tighter.
“Oh student, she will have no choice.”
***
Morning sunlight warmed Quill’s bloodied face as his chin rested against his chest, passed out from the beating he had received the night before in response to Twilight’s lack of cooperation.
“Quill? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, shaking both of their chairs and waking him up. He coughed up a small amount of blood, which splattered across his torn blue hoodie.
“Uh… Let me get back to you on that,” he groaned, stretching his neck out and testing to see if any of his teeth had been knocked out.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that they would do that to you,” she told him sadly, laying her head back and resting it on his shoulder in a kind of hug.
“It’s alright Twi, I’ve been through worse.”
“Wait Wha-“ Twilight started, before she was interrupted by the sound of the heavy iron door being thrown open. The head griffin strolled in, noisily chewing on an apple as he walked around the two.
“Morning,” he said, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth. Quill acknowledged him with a nod of his head, giving him a very sarcastic smile at the same time. The griffin grinned in response, crouching to look him in the eye, while behind him, the two griffins from the previous night walked in, standing on either side of the door. “So we sent the ransom note out to the princess this morning and I’m just so excited to hear her response.”
“Very happy for you,” Twilight spat, once again gripping Quill’s hand. The griffin stood back up and made his way around to Twilight, dropping the remains of his apple into Quill’s lap as he did so.
“Thanks!” he exclaimed, giving Twilight’s horn a flick. “Say, I never introduced myself did I? I’m Ignatius, it’s great to meet you student.”
“Pleasure is all yours,” she snapped, smirking at her own joke. “But there is one thing I think you forgot when you kidnapped us Ignatius, something utterly important to your little plan for us.”
“And what is that?”
“We’re from Ponyville, the most attacked place in all of Equestria,” Twilight smiled, before severing their binds with a spark of magic from her hands. Time seemed to slow down for the two of them as they leapt to their feet. Twilight whipped both of her hands to the front, charging up a blast of magenta coloured energy that hit Ignatius square in the chest and threw him against the stone wall of the cell. While at the same time, Quill rushed at the male griffin guard, uppercutting him with all of his exhausted strength. The female guard, looking shocked by the sudden turn of events, swung a heavy fist at Quill, the golden metal of her gauntlet flashing in the light. Taking a deep breath, Quill blocked the blow with his left arm and with his right, punched his assailant in the throat, bringing her down in just under five seconds.
He turned to Twilight, who was watching him with silent awe. He gestured out the door, a look of urgency plastered over his face and Twilight rushed to meet him as the griffins started to stir on the ground.
“How did you…?”
“Later, let’s just get out of here.”
***
Quill smiled as he spread his wings, stretching away the cramps of being trapped in a chair for almost an entire day. They sprinted down the rough stone hallways, the sounds of multiple heavy footsteps behind them. Passing by a window, Quill saw a sight that made a cold shiver run up his spine.
“I know where we are,” he told Twilight, his smile fading as they turned a corner to find the bright light of day at the end of the tunnel.
“And where is that?” she asked, breathing heavily from the run and her last blast of magic.
“Well what do you know about the last griffin war?”
“What do you want to know?” she smiled, giving him a little wink.
“Then you will know what this place is,” Quill said as they broke through the opening to find themselves on the side of a mountain, the harsh winds blowing through the cavernous opening that separated them from another tunnel on the other side. Between the two points was an obstacle course of trapezes, hoops, ropes, walls and platforms barely large enough for two people.
“We’re in an Aviary, otherwise known as a griffin prison.”
***
“How in Tartarus are we meant to get through this? The gate on the other side is locked, and I didn’t get a key off the guards and I just….” Twilight yelled, panicking as she looked behind them to see the three griffins run past the intersection they had just came from.
“It’s alright, I know exactly how these work,” Quill reassured her, stepping forward to look over the edge of the cliff at the expanse below.
“How?”
“These use motion to get through the puzzle. Some of the metal horizontal bars will unlock the gears that will raise the gate, and the only way to get through it is to swing through all of the bars.” He explained, taking a few steps back in order to judge the distance he would need to jump to catch the first bar.
“Okay, I’ll just teleport across to the other side then,” Twilight said, visibly relaxing as he explained. Quill shook his head and walked her over to the edge, pointing to the rock wall at the back of the cavern.
“Afraid not. See that blue rock over there? It’s a mineral called Magicite and it negates magic. Aviaries are always built on mountains that are rich in the mineral so that they can hold unicorns without fear of them breaking out, even if this damned puzzle wasn’t enough.”
“So what do I do then?”
“There are four platforms spread throughout the ‘maze’ that you should be able to reach with your teleport spell. Probably.”
“I’ll be fine, but why don’t we just fly out the massive gap in the cavern?”
“Not how the puzzle works. If we fly out, then not only are we stuck facing the mountainous griffin territories, but the updraft would probably just tear my feathers off. Very simple, but very brutal,” he told her, once again taking a few steps back and getting ready to run and jump. “Now you just wait until I get to the first platform and then follow me. We are going to get out of here.”
Twilight nodded and gave him a weak smile that Quill knew was only a mask for her fear. Taking a few deep breaths, he started running at the edge of the cliff, leaping off and throwing his arms out toward the bar. Tightly gripping it, Quill kept the momentum going, swinging toward the next bar and letting go with a practiced hand. The back of his knees curled around the next bar, swinging him upside down in a swooping arc that continued on as two full loops of the bar before Quill finally let go and was flung through a hoop that was slightly lower to everything else. As he exited the hoop he spread his wings and flipped over, slowing down just enough that he was uninjured upon landing in the first platform.
Signalling to Twilight, she appeared next to him in a flash of light, still smiling weakly. Quill bent low and leapt again, his wings providing him with just enough lift to get him up to the next bar. With a solid sounding clunk, the bar dropped five inches, indicating that one of the locks had released.
He continued to swing and fly between the bars, only stopping to make sure Twilight made it to the next platform safely. Every time she teleported, Twilight looked more and more exhausted as she had to put increasing amounts of energy into the spell to get her across.
As Quill unlocked the last gear and the gate was pulled open, he turned to signal her. By now, Twilight was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Her horn lit up, flickering twice before she blinked out of sight. With the exploding sound of contracting air she reappeared in front of him; and just over the edge of the cliff. Letting out a loud scream, Twilight clawed at Quill, who grabbed for her and was toppled over the edge. His wings fluttered furiously to keep them hovering, giving them just enough lift to get onto the platform.
Quill pulled Twilight through the door, flipping a switch and causing the door to close behind them. Once the locks had clicked back into place, the two exhausted friends collapsed onto the cold stone floor, Twilight resting her head in Quill’s lap. A few minutes passed and Quill suddenly let out a deep chuckle that soon evolved into hysterics. Twilight looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, but soon joined in, giggling breathlessly.
“How did we get through that?” Quill asked in disbelief, groaning from the pain of his complaining muscles.
“I’ve got no idea, but I’m glad we did. Will we have to do that again?”
“I don’t think so. If I remember correctly, they only ever had one of those per wing of the prison, and only on wings specifically designed for unicorns. The Pegasus cell blocks are considerably more devious.”
“How do you know all this stuff?”
“Believe it or not, my friends and I used to play in an abandoned one of these near my home town when we were young. Of course, when the elder pegasi found out, they took it over and turned it into a training ground.”
“What! They put children through that kind of torture? Just where are you from?” asked Twilight, shocked, but just as Quill was about to answer, the first of the locks slid across to the unlocked position with a loud clunk.
“No time… Run.”