A deafening cheer went through the entire raiding party as I was picked up and paraded through the camp. Sinosis led the parade towards wherever I assume they were keeping the prisoners, his chest puffed out and a beaming smile on his face. No doubt he thought he'd be the most feared warlord in the history of ever now. I have to admit, an Equestrian princess is no small catch. If I knew my history, only three beings had ever managed to completely subdue one: Celestia to Nightmare Moon/Luna, Chrysalis to Cadance, and now this joker to me.
Though if he thought I'd just give up because I was tied up, he had another thing coming.
I was carried towards a large wooden door in the camp, and I guessed that all of the prisoners were behind the door, awaiting transport to wherever the griffins decided they would go. Before the door was opened, Sinosis raised his fist, and I was thrown to the ground at his talons. He gave me a smug smile, and put a claw on my head.
"Gentlemen, we have achieved something that none of our kind has ever done before: we have successfully captured an Equestrian princess!" Another cheer went through the crowd for a moment, before Sinosis raised his fist to silence them again. "Of course, we have to decide what we're going to do with her." He looked down to me and gave me a nasty grin. "Chop off her horn and wings then give her as a pet to a Diamond Dog king? Send her to a minotaur gladiator arena?" He snorted. "Heck, I might just keep her for meself and make her my personal servant. Could travel around and charge other beings to see one of Equestria's princesses now the lowest of the low."
Uh huh. You keep thinking that, buddy.
Sinosis shrugged. "I have some time to think about it. Open the holding cell and throw her in until I decide what to do with her. If any of the others so much as touches her, kill them at once."
The griffin raiders cheered again as the door opened, and I was picked up again. I did my best to turn my head and look inside the holding cell to see what was inside.
Yep, the missing ponies were in there. Most of them were huddled in the corner, holding on to each other in a state of total fear. The few unicorns in the group had magic blockers, and the pegasi's wings were tied to their sides, a fate that befell me once I was inside. The gathered ponies gasped, and once or two of them even started crying when they saw me tied up like I was. In truth, it probably was a little disheartening to see a princess captured. I mean, to them, if a princess couldn't save them, who could?
After my wings were tied to my sides, I was dragged to one of the walls and a rope leash was placed around my neck. Honestly, that just made the whole thing funnier to me. Did they seriously think that I couldn't get out if I wanted to, that I couldn't snap these ropes? I did actually have earth pony strength now. Heck, I was probably on par with Big Macintosh, if not stronger, so simple ropes wouldn't hold me down.
Of course, if I did try to escape, it could mean trouble for the captive ponies, so I stayed still.
Once I was secured, Sinosis turned to the huddled ponies and pointed at me. "If any of you so much as touches her, you won't live five seconds, understood?" He pointed to the wall, where griffins armed with crossbows patrolled above to ensure compliance. "Your precious princess is mine now, just as you are! There is no escape. Never forget that."
Sinosis strutted out of the holding cell, and the large wooden door slammed shut and locked. Well, now I had relative privacy away from that moron. With some effort, I pushed myself up to the point where I could lean against the wall and faced the ponies. I was only about ten feet from the nearest one, so most of them were able to see it when I winked at them, something that changed the terror on most of their faces to confusion, and in some cases hope. One of the nearer ones, an earth pony stallion, leaned in close to me.
"Is rescue coming? Do you have a plan to get us out of here?"
I snorted and nodded. I jerked my head up to the griffins patrolling the walls and rolled my eyes. Cries of relief went through the crowd, and I tried to get more comfortable as they chattered amongst themselves about how I would get them out. They had enough sense to not ask me how I was going to do it, I was muzzled on top of the fact that they were watching us, so all we could do at that point was wait for my plan to be enacted. Hopefully it would go off without a hitch. I mean, given that I was one of the most powerful beings in the world, I could technically use my magic to kill all of the griffins in this camp easily, but I wanted this to be a relatively bloodless affair, and, if I planned right, it would be.
* * * *
Night fell on the camp a few hours later, and a trio of griffins came into the holding cell to give the prisoners a meal of bread and water. None for me, of course, but that didn't bother me. They needed it more anyway. I'd treat all of them to a proper meal once we were all out of here, which would be sooner rather than later if my plan came to fruition.
Which it sounded like was right about now.
I hear talking on the walls near the front gate that didn't sound like idle talk. It was more akin to how the gate guards talked when I was talking with them, so it seemed like somebody was there. I strained my ears, but couldn't hear what they were saying. Didn't really need to, though. I had a pretty good idea.
The talking ceased, and the door to the holding cell swung open, revealing a thoroughly irked Sinosis, flanked by four of his guards. He growled at me and used one of his wing blades to cut my leash, allowing his guards to pick me up and carry me towards the wall above the gate. When we reached it, I was forced onto my knees while Sinosis held a knife to my throat, allowing me to see what the hullabaloo was about.
Captain Blaze, all alone as expected, a small smirk on his face. Sinosis growled again. "We have your princess, and I will kill her and the captives if you do not withdraw immediately!"
Captain Blaze, rather than be intimidated, chuckled and took a step forwards. "I don't see why you think that would put you in a better position. We already know where you are, and I assure you that a single scratch on Princess Antares would result in a most painful death being brought upon you." Blaze shrugged. "But hey, if you want to try, go ahead."
Sinosis turned his head to one of his archers, and pointed at Captain Blaze. "Kill him!"
The archer raised his crossbow, took aim, and fired directly at my captain. His aim was true, and it whizzed straight at his head. Of course, I don't think he expected it to harmlessly bounce off of the shield spell that one of my hidden troops was casting, so that put a damper on their plans.
Of course, it also pissed Sinosis off immensely.
"I'm giving you three seconds to leave before I carry out my threat! You would be wise to not test me!" He narrowed his eyes. "My scouts would know if an army was on its way."
Captain Blaze chuckled again. "Not if the scouts never made it back to camp." He took another step forward. "Of course, you firing upon me is all the cause I need to wipe you out."
With that, Captain Blaze spread his legs in an aggressive stance and raised one of his forelegs high. "Ringa pakia!
A single beat of silence.
"Uma tiraha!"
Another.
"Turi whatia!"
A third.
"Hope whai ake!"
They were in for it now.
"Waewae takahia kia kino!"
The second the last syllable left his lips, the fort was surrounded by hundreds of burning torches, illuminating for the first time the entire Snarcasti-guard, out in full force and armed to the teeth. The torches were so numerous, it looked like the entire forest was on fire.
With a shout, they all stomped their hooves on the ground so loud that one would have thought an explosion had gone off before they all began chanting.
A previously unseen magical aura dissipated from around Captain Blaze's helmet, and blood slowly dripped down his face as he screamed again. Ka mate, ka mate!
The entire army responded. All five hundred of them. "Ka ora' Ka ora'!"
"Ka mate, ka mate!"
"Ka ora' Ka ora'!"
With that last cry, the entire guard went into the haka, screaming it to the high heavens. "Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru Nāna i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā A Upane! Ka Upane! Upane Kaupane Whiti te rā,! Hī!"
The effect on the griffin raiders was immediate. The screaming, the stomping, the blood dripping down the faces of my soldiers, the pegasi slapping their armored wings against one another, the illusion that the entire forest was alight... yeah, they started screaming their heads off and flying for their lives. Of course, I had pegasi guards positioned in the sky, and they started firing knockout darts into the fleeing griffins, and they fell to the ground. Given that they had dropped their weapons when they started fleeing, my guards were in no danger at all.
I looked over at Sinosis as my army started to repeat the haka, and smiled when I saw that he was completely frozen with fear. The talon holding the knife was shaking, and he was incapable of hurting me with it at this point. I chuckled and sent a burst of magic through my horn that overloaded the horn blocker and shattered it. To my delight, a piece of it bounced off of his head, but he was in such shock that he hardly noticed. I untied and unmuzzled myself before taking the knife from him.
I smirked and leaned in next to his ear. "And there was me thinking that beating a griffin warlord with a small army was going to be difficult."
He blinked once, but otherwise didn't say anything. I snorted and used my magic to open up the gate.
Is it just me laughing at the video at the end?
It was still a stupid plan. There was no guarantee that he the raiders wouldn't rape, murder, mutilate TD after capturing her so why the fuck would being caught be part of the plan? Any plan that is based on the assumption that slaver bandits aren't THAT evil is stupid. Also why would you want to avoid hurting or killing murderous slaving bandits? There is no real reason why Luna or Celestia couldn't have just walked in and taken over the camp, killing them or not.
Oh, you beautiful, wonderful person.
GLORYESS!!!!
damn...
3461018
TD easily overpowered the ring and snapped those ropes like they were nothing.(Or use magic to untie them i guess)
Sure she wouldn't be able to talk but that isn't needed anyway.
That. Is the best damn way to intimidate an opposing force. EVER.
Yep. He definitely has a little Hannibal (Smith) in him.
3460998
When you see the All Blacks fanatics do their Haka IRL, you piss your pants, you don't laugh.
I'd argue that Chrysalis to Celestia and the Mane 6 to NIghtmare Moon/Luna could also count. And if Sombra to Cadance doesn't, he certainly came close. But they're all still much more powerful than this warlord, so the point still stands.
I knew there had to be more to TD's plan. I would be rather disappointed if there hadn't been. Though I don't see why he did it yet. Did he just want to be absolutely sure that the prisoners were really there? I could see if he wanted to be with them during the attack to protect them, just in case the griffins got any ideas, but he doesn't seem to be too worried about that right now.
3461046
That is kinda the point. If the weakest princess is that strong what possible reason is there that Luna or Celestia, you know the immortal archmage warrior princesses, can't just solve the entire situation without relying on TD being captured? The whole TD scene accomplished literally nothing. The guards ended up doing all the work and if the really needed to find the prisoners before starting the battle why not use, I'm going out on a limb here, MAGIC? This was a series of scenes created to look neat, not to make sense. The entire premise is based upon Luna and Celestia just not feeling like solving it themselves for "reasons".
3461070 Well when YOU see a horde of C'thulus knocking at your door, constantly quoting lines from bad television shows all the while having a death orgy, you will know the true face of erotic terror. It's quite interesting.
3461092
What.
Stupid griffon warlord is stupid
Happy ponies happy
Impatient reader is impatient MOAR
...Was this really worth a full chapter? I liked it, but really... Why?
Called it (at least in that TD let himself get caught and had a plan the entire time).
i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm48/daemonindisguise/TV/Avatar/Flameo_large.gif
I knew that TD had something up his sleeve; but an army doing the Haka? My expectations were blown clear out of the water. That was amazing.
Love this new chapter! I look forward to more!
3461099 Exactly. Your confusion in this matter shows how inexperienced in this you are. Most others would read it and run away screaming. At least the ones who witnessed the atrocities would. Only one such as I, who has seen the terrors of horrors incomprehensible would watch in the debacle, craving to join the party.
Really, a Haka?
Already get enough of that in real life.
3461074 TD asked to take point on this one. That was the whole point of the meeting in his throne room. If Celestia didn't feel that he could do it, she would have said no and just done it herself, but how is TD going to learn how to deal with these situations unless he gets hooves on experience with it? Celestia and Luna can't hold his hoof his entire reign, if he had a plan that would work, he should use it to gain that experience.
Also, I go into a lot more detail as to why he chose to walk straight in in the next chapter, which will be out probably later today. Trust me, I have a reason.
Also, you have to remember that TD is a person who doesn't really like violence (if you've read Wanderings of a Non-Brony, he is only ever violent in the sense of "I'm going to freaking kill you" when he has no other choice) so he'd want to avoid slaughter. Remember even as far back as a few chapters ago when he actually started crying when he almost lost control against the foal abuser. There's no way he'd go into the camp and slaughter everyone. It's hard to believe Celestia or Luna would have instantly gone with the violent plan either.
...Where'd he get the blood?
that was one of the most glorious piece of comedy I have seen on fimfiction. you sir deserve a nobel prize of comedy, but unfortunately I don't have one to give so have some mustaches
3461338 Explained next chapter, which should be out today.
3461385.....So,called in a favor with the bloodbank/Vampire's ascociation?
3461387 You'll see.
3461399 ....Knowing TD,I wouldnt put what i said too far off from target....
3461227
Okayyy...? I guess I'll leave you with the men in white now.
...
And remember: they are your FRIENDS.
Of course it would be new zealand. Those guys are terrifying
I thought they were chanting in Hawaiian.
good chapter thou, althou short.
.......................................
DAYUM!!!!! TD IS THE BEST STRATEGIST/FEAR TACTICIAN IN THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright...
faniq.com/images/blog/Shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg
3461445 What? All those tentacles are your friends.
3460998 Well. I was laughing. It seemed mostly homoerotic.
And Equestrian princess huh?
Really, another excellent chapter. I had my money on this kind of outcome the whole time too, which only made it better to see.
Cant wait untill the hilarity that is the opposite gender's Heat happens to TD, gonna lmao when that happens.
...
BWAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
3461018
Well, just saying, TD seemed to have the ability to easily escape at any moment.
I held off on commenting last chapter because I wanted to see where TD/BronyWriter was going with this. Now that we've seen the plan play out, I feel free to speculate.
First, it's been established that alicorns are immensely resilient physically, and that TD shares this trait. (Celestia took a bullet to the forehead in a previous story without a bruise. And TD and Celestia went to town on each other when he first ascended, so they are comparably tough.) So I'm actually surprised that the gryphons where able to beat him. Even if he was acting, it still sounded like he was getting bruised. This kind of contradicts what was established earlier. If I go by the earlier facts, then the gryphons would not have been physically able to harm him.
That would make it safe for him to play captive in order to ensure the captives where in no danger. If enacting his plan would have risked them he would be in a position to change things on the fly.
But if the raiders could damage him, then putting himself at risk is a pretty foalish thing to do. Whether he likes it or not, his well-being is more important than the safety of a hundred mortal ponies. So when the beating actually hurt, he should have gone to a contingency. Namely blasting the raiders to smithereens. But TD is too stubborn to give up his plans like that...
3462093 What I was going for was that he threw the fight; that he wasn't getting hurt enough to do any real damage. He even said "I thanked my alicorn biology that I was more resilient to traditional weapons." These griffins were wailing on him with war hammers and he said he'd be "a little sore in the morning." Yeah, he wasn't in any big danger.
Even if he wasn't getting hurt, it's still dozens upon dozens to one. They can subdue him without hurting him. Of course, he just let them win, so it didn't matter.
Oh TD, you nigh-immortal super-powered demi-god(dess) kidder!
Ah, I never get tired of that guy's style.
1 pound of high quality tea says the next of TD's army's stand offs (serious or otherwise) will now go to the other extreme; Making the enemy shit their pants with laughter. It could be any number of ways to do it (minus getting naked, god damn ponies and their lack of nudity taboos), a dance number, silly clothes, dressing as drag queens singing Queen, the possibles are endless.
Is that the accent in him talking or is that a mistake? I still laughed because it made him sound like a 5 year old with a new toy who is too excited to form correct words.
3462179 Accent. I said it was vaguely UK. Slightly Cockneyish. I was thinking something akin to Penguin in Arkham City.
Good
Good show old bean.
That is one damn intimidating chat.... That is awesome just to imagine that scene you have created Mr. Writer sir.
I love being part Maori, such an awesome culture, awesome place(aside from the earth quakes) and the Haka is one of the most intimidating things an army can do. Well fucking done BronyWriter, you prince among men!
I have no words for how "wat?" that entire plan was. Still very TD.