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.

Author's Notes:

Alright, everybody who thought he was dumb enough to just walk in without a plan owes me a dollar. Heck, I do have that donation button...

The intimidation dance the snarcasti-guard did is a New Zealand Maori haka, often performed by the New Zealand All-Blacks, but instead of thirty guys doing it, it's hundreds of armored ponies with blood dripping down their faces at night surrounded by what seems to be a forest on fire.

And no, it is not copyrighted by anybody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_iBV3ljxI