I'm afraid I have to stop you. (Patreon)

It was a busy evening at Royal Palace in my Equestria dreamscape. The new ambassador from Senta, the southern zebra kingdom had arrived in Canterlot and the Royal Sisters had arranged a dinner in his honor.

    From the dining hall one could hear the sounds of ponies chatting, eating and having a pleasant time as string quartet provided pleasant background music.

    However the rest of the palace was relatively quiet. The night staff was taking care of some cleaning duties, but with the exception of the routine guard patrols most of the palace wings were quiet and empty. Someone was counting on that.

    Sitting outside on a windowsill over a hundred feet above palace grounds a single figure carefully worked on the wards and locks that kept a window closed. Occasionally they looked furtively around then continued with their labors. Finally there was a soft click and window swung inward silently. Oiling the hinges before trying to open it had paid off.

    The griffin peered in the room for several seconds before entering. In one smooth motion he entered and then turned around and pushed the window almost closed. He smiled and moved toward his target. A large, ornate writing desk with a sun symbol carved and gilded on the front panel. Quickly moving to the back of the desk the griffin removed another ward from a satchel around his neck and placed upon a particular drawer handle, the ward glowed for a moment and then faded away leaving only the piece of paper which fluttered to the ground.

    This is going better than I expected. Thought the griffin. From a pocket in his vest he retrieved a lock pick set and began attacking the lock on the drawer. A couple minutes it finally clicked open. Longer than he would've liked but he knew the guards patrol schedules and he still had plenty of time to finish his business. His business was a modest black-cover ledger which he snatched up and stuffed in a large side pocket of his vest. This job was almost done; now he just needed to..

    Click! The  window snapped shut. Spinning around the griffin watched an earth pony mare slowly drop back down on all four hoofs and turn to face him.

    “Excuse me sir.” Said the mare. “You are not suppose to be in here. Would you please come with me.”

    The griffin stared at the mare. She was an unassuming thing dressed fashion that said she was a maid. Not even a private in the guard. The griffin slowly stepped away from the desk and out into the center of the floor. He grinned at the maid.

    “I'm afraid I must decline your request dear. I am very busy, and my client is even busier, so I'll be on my way.”

    The maid took a step to intercept him. “Then I'm afraid I have to stop you.” She hadn't raised her voice above that of a loud whisper but there was a confidence and an aura of authority to it.

    The griffin froze. This maid was either delusional or did she honestly think that she could stop an adult male griffin by herself? Either way he reared up on his hind legs and drew two katar-style punch daggers. He prided himself in usually avoiding physical combat while doing his job but he could not afford to be caught by the guards because of this maid.

    “I don't want to hurt you dear.” Said the griffin.

    “Neither do I.” Said the little earth pony. “But I will if you leave me no choice.” The maid was just standing there. In the moonlight the griffin could see she had an almost bored look on her face.

    “Very well then dear. I will try to be gentle...” Suddenly the maid who had been at least 40ft away was suddenly standing right in front of him and reared up on her rear legs.

    “I won't.” She said as she drove a front hoof violently into his ribcage. Fortunately his brigandine armor took most of the blow but he still felt his ribcage creak as he staggered back several steps. Out of reflex he made several sweeping moves with his katars, but his assailant had already moved out of his reach. She slowly began circling him.

    “Hmm, flexible armor on your upper torso. Troublesome but that can be dealt with.” The maid's voice was still quiet and almost bored sounding.

    The griffin never saw the next attack. He just felt the blow land on the right side of his head. Then he felt his hind legs kicked out from under him and he was slammed to the floor. As he tried rise he suddenly felt the weight of the mare press down on him.

    “Since I cannot let you leave, and you won't yield.” The griffin let out a screech of pain as mares front left hoof came crashing down and broke his left upper wing.

    The griffins eyes were clenched shut from the pain, but he was still aware of a brief flash of light and another female voice joining the conversation.

    “Ah Quick Silver, you beat him already! Why'd you summon me If you're going to do all the work anyways?” The griffin suddenly felt his paws go numb and the knives were wrenched away from him.

    Opening his watering eyes the griffin saw a female unicorn looking down at him indifferently. She had a pair goggles with strange swirling, iridescent lens, and was wearing a complicated set of pannier with multiple pockets and pouches. The other thing he noticed was that her body was crisscrossed with dozens of scars of varying depth and age. Behind her floated his katars.

    The earth pony remained on top of the griffin. “He used magic of some type to bypass the spells on the windows and the desk Phoenix, so I know he has some unknown, undefined magical capability. I figured having a unicorn present was wise.”

     There was a click and the window opened as a blood red pegasus mare swooped in and landed. She trotted over and looked at the griffin and then whistled.

    “Ouch! Quick Silver that is one nasty break you gave him!” The pegasus lowered her head and took a closer look at the broken limb. A gentle prodding from her front hoof generated a series winces and gasps from the griffin.

    “Yep! It's broken in at least two places. Griffin, let me give you a bit of advice. If you ever want to fly again don't make Quick Silver angry!”


    “I'm not angry Blood Feather.” Quick Silver said softly as she sat straddling the griffin's back. “He just resisted being taken into custody and then drew a weapon on me. That is all.”

    Blood Feather looked at Quick Silver for a moment then back to griffin. “Yep you got her angry! Haven't seen this worked up in quite awhile. So since you're going to staying in Canterlot for awhile might as well get to know each other! As you can probably figure out I'm Blood Feather! The unicorn is Phoenix, and well, um, you've already introduced to our friend Quick Silver. So what's your name?”

    The griffin remained silent except for an occasional sound of pain. Blood Feather lay down on her belly so she was almost at eye level with the prone griffin. She cocked her head from one side to the other. Then sighed.

    “Look we'll find out your name eventually whether you want to tell us or not. I'm guessing we'll be able to determine your clan just by studying your personal belongings, and that cuts the search down a lot. Of course we'll start contacting the various Griffin nations and see if any have arrest warrants out for someone like you handsome, and if that doesn't work we'll find out what we want another way or the other. In the end we always find out what we want. Always.”

    Phoenix grinned making the scars on her face dance. “Yeah maybe Princess Luna will just dive into your dreams; once she's in there she can learn everything.”

    She lowered her head until the griffin could see his reflection in the strange swirling colored lens.

    “Everything.” She repeated in a dark ominous voice.

    “Or maybe we can try another of my truth potions?” Said Quick Silver, as she scratched her belly absentmindedly with a front hoof. “I think I am starting to get the hang of them, and they seem to have a lot less permanent side effects than before. You might not even lose all your feathers in the process.”

    “Or maybe Princess Celestia will..” Blood Feather stopped as she heard the sound of hoofs approaching the door.

    The door to the office suddenly swung open and in rapid sequences the lamps in the room sprang to life. With head held high and with a precise, measured stride Princess Celestia entered her office with a squad of Royal Guard in tow. She smiled at the three mares.

    “I received your discreet alert Phoenix. Luna is keeping our guests entertained and no else knows about this. Well done Ladies! As always I can count on you!”

    Slowly Celestia bore down on the griffin. As she approached him she spread her wings to full span. Her mane billowed and air around her began to ripple as magic positively oozed from her. The griffin tried to back up but the weight of Quick Silver and his broken wing made movement impossible. Just as hard he found himself incapable of not looking into Celestia's garnet eyes. It seemed as if she'd frozen him in place.

    The Princess of the Sun stopped couple feet front the griffin and just stared, silently at him. Only the sound of the guards armor clinking as they inspected the room and the mantle clock striking 11 interrupted the silence. For what seemed like a lifetime the princess just looked at him. Then slowly she lowered her head toward him. The griffin found his heart was suddenly pounding in his chest. The white alicorn had smile on her face, but her eyes were full of fire.

    “Well now.” She said. “You might not know it, but I am not fond of having my palace broken into. Especially my office. I take a rather dim view of the whole concept. But I am very curious about you, and have many, many questions that you will eventually answer. However for now let's start with a simple one.”

    Celestia gave him one of her signature, sweet little smiles. “What's your name?”

To be continued.