The chiming of a bell sounded, shortly followed by the cheerful announcement of “Welcome to Pathfinder’s! How may I help you?”

“Pathfinder’s” was a store located on a beach on the shores of Vanhoover. It was a quaint establishment, owned and run by a pegasus of whom the store was named after. The store itself was a map making store, which was a great place to stop if one was a tourist, and needed to know of the interesting sights that Vanhoover had to offer. One of the most interesting and unique sights though, lived within the store itself.

Standing behind the counter in a pink t-shirt, blue jean skirt, and white apron, was a mare by the name of Scylla. At a distance, one might mistakenly see Scylla as just a normal pony mare, but with a closer look anyone could tell that she was not an average pony. Unlike other ponies, she didn’t have any fur to speak of, but instead had a layer of rubbery grey skin covering her body. That wasn’t the only difference either, as where normal ponies had tails made of long strands of hair, she had a thick tail of meat that ended with a fin. She had another set of fins on her back, looking a bit like a pair of pegasus wings, and lastly she bore slits on her cheek that were in fact gills for filtering oxygen from water. The only similarities she shared with normal mares was a general shape, and a mane of red hair atop her head.

No, Scylla was not an average pony. She was what was known as a Kelpie, a pony much like a sea pony, but with slight variances. Scylla’s body had no scales, only smooth flesh and webbed areas to help with swimming. She was more like a dolphin than anything else, though lacked certain qualities like a blowhole. Not that the average pony would know that, as kelpies themselves were reclusive creatures who didn’t usually interact with land ponies, preferring to hide away in the water from those unlike themselves.

However, Scylla didn’t share this trait with her species, and was a fairly sociable pony. One could attribute that to Pathfinder, the pegasus who had adopted her at a young age, finding her abandoned near a riverbank with no one else about. Thus, Scylla grew up and adapted to a life around creatures outside of her species, and became one of the many treasures ponies came to Pathfinder’s map shop to see.

“Hello Scylla,” said a mature looking gryphon as she entered the store, “Is Path in?”

Scylla quickly recognized this womanly feline fowl as Anya, another oddity of the town, as she was the only gryphon to reside in Vanhoover. She was a long term friend of the family, having a close relationship with Scylla’s adoptive father.

“Oh! Hello Anya,” she said to the gryphon, slightly embarrassed that she mistook her as just another tourist wanting a map. “Dad’s in the back packing up for the trip.”

“So tomorrow’s the big day, huh?” the gryphon stated, leaning over the counter and placing her elbow atop it, “I bet you’re excited.”

It had been known to most in town that Pathfinder’s was going to be closing down for a while, to allow the two that ran the shop to go on a long vacation.

As Anya assumed, Scylla was very excited about this, but was able to contain her energy inside of her brightly lit, cheerful smile. While Scylla enjoyed her job as a counter clerk, the thought of going away someplace away, where she wasn’t considered a tourist attraction, was appealing. Especially when that place happened to be Haywaii, a small set of islands that was a little bit off the coasts of Equestria, but still within its dominion. The entirety of the islands was suppose to be a large tropical resort, with rumors saying that they dealt with aquatic ponies fairly often, so Scylla wouldn’t have to worry about sticking out like a sore thumb and attracting ponies to her like flies on honey.

That sounded wonderful to Scylla, a time where she would be able to sit back, relax, and have ponies catering to her every need instead of the other way around. Maybe she would even find a stud who could show her a good time on the island, both on the beach and in the sheets. Her eyes practically shimmered with the thoughts flowing through her head about the things she would see and do once she got there.

“Hey Scylla,” Anya said, snapping her fingers in front of the daydreaming kelpie, “You still with me?”

Scylla snapped back into reality, shaking her head to remove the visions of paradise from her eyes. “Sorry, just can’t wait till tomorrow. Me and dad are going to get on a pegashuttle first thing in the morning and be there by noon. Then it’ll be fun, sun, and stallion buns for a whole three months.” She said, picturing more sexy studs in swim trunks in her mind.

“Sounds like a riot,” said Anya, “But before you go, Path’s gotta give me that thing I ordered.”

“Right! I’ll get him right away.” Scylla ran from the gryphon, her tailfin bouncing along and hitting the floor as she practically skipped the whole way.

Heading into a door in the back, Scylla entered the living area of the store. Pathfinder’s, while a place of business, also doubled as Scylla and Pathfinder’s home, of which they had lived for several years. Aside from the store area, the home had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a couple of spare rooms that the two used as personal spaces. The room directly connecting to the front half of the building was the living room, and there, standing in between a coffee table and a couch, stood a brown and white pegasus stallion.

This was Pathfinder, the store’s proprietor, and painter by trade. He was an attractive, pretty stallion, with a short cut mane of brown, and lovely green eyes that matched Scylla’s own. Every map in the store was created by his talented hands, though it was Scylla herself who did the legwork for the process, going around and collecting data for Path to go off of. The two made a good pair, as Scylla loved to explore around, and Pathfinder liked illustrating what his adoptive daughter told him about.

Right now though, he was busy trying to stuff one final pair of hoof socks into an already over packed suitcase. Pegasi were more known for athleticism than strength, and Pathfinder was not one the rare few that broke that mold, so he was having an awful time trying to close the clasp on the case.

Seeing his struggle, Scylla rushed to his side and added her own weight to the top half of the luggage, which allowed Path to finally get it closed and locked up tightly.

“Whew” he exclaimed, wiping a bit of sweat off his brow. “Thanks for the help, pumpkin.”

“No problem,” Scylla replied as she removed herself from the case, always happy to be of assistance.

Path gave her a small peck on the forehead, and then asked, “Did you close up the shop?”

“She was about to,” Path heard in response from the doorway to the shop, Anya having followed after the kelpie, “But I came in looking for a certain pegasus who owes me a painting.”

“Right, I got it right over here.” Path said, walking away from the coffee table and to a covered canvas he had lying in the corner. “I thought you’d come for it sooner, almost thought I’d have to wait another three months before handing it over.” Both Anya and Scylla went to the pegasus, and watched as he unveiled what was underneath.

The painting was of a beautiful waterfall, pouring down into a flowing river, with sun rays gleaming down on the water to make it shine. A simple landscape painting of a location not too far away from the shop itself. Anya had wanted the painting to keep, as she didn’t live in Van Hoover herself, and only visited from time to time. The waterfall was one of her favorite spots in the city, so she wanted something to remind her of it, and the two ponies she kept coming around to see.

“It’s wonderful,” Anya said, taking the painting in her claws. “Exactly how I picture it when I close my eyes at home.”

“You should have seen him as he was painting it.” Scylla chimed in, looking over the gryphon’s shoulder, “Dad spent a whole day there trying to get everything right. I had to force him to take breaks for food.”

Path rubbed the back of his head in a coy gesture, “Well it was a request from a friend. How could I half-ass it?”

“Don’t you worry,” Anya said, wrapping her arm around the pegasus’ neck and pulling him closer, “I know that you always put your full ass into everything I want from you.”

Pathfinder blushed, as he and the gryphon had been on and off sexual partners in the past, and he was sure she was making reference to some of their bedroom escapades. It was especially embarrassing that she said something like that in front of Scylla, but what he could see in his peripherals, the sly comment had gone over his daughter’s head, as she didn’t show any signs of acknowledging it.

“Well then,” Anya said, releasing Pathfinder as she grabbed the covering for the painting, wrapping it on the canvas tightly so she could carry it around without worry of damaging the image Path had created on it, “I suppose I’ll have to see you two later. Don’t want to keep you if you’re still packing, since you got to get up early and all.”

“Thanks,” Path said, rubbing his neck a little where Anya had held him, reminding him a little of the times she had made him wear a collar during their tries at pet play. “But feel free to stop by when we get back.”

“Will do,” Anya said back, heading back the way she came in.

“Wait a minute, I’ll help you out the door.” Scylla said, following the gryphon as Pathfinder stayed behind to make sure he packed everything.

The two girls made their way back to the front of the story, and Scylla held the door open from the older woman. “I’m gonna miss you while I’m away.” She said as a parting sentiment.

“I’ll miss you too,” Anya replied, “You look after your father, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but be sure to have some fun.”

“Of course, it’s a vacation after all. If I didn’t have fun then I would be letting down every store counter clerk in Equestria. I’m going to eat expensive food, flirt around with cute boys, and dance the night away.”

“That’s my Scylla.” said Anya, placing a hand on the kelpie’s mane, and ruffling it up before heading off with her painting tucked under her arm. She only looked back once to see Scylla flip the open sign to closed, and lock the door as she stepped back inside. It was going to be rough not seeing two of her favorite ponies for a while, but they deserved some time off. So letting her emotional attachment go, she opened her wings and took to the sky.

Scylla and Pathfinder were certainly treasures to those who knew them. As with all things of value though, there was always going to be somepony out there looking for a moment when they could seize that treasure for themselves.

Long after the sun had gone down, Scylla was still wide awake in her room. She couldn’t help it, as she was just far too excited to sleep. So instead of lying in bed with her eyes wide open, she decided to do something she felt was more productive, and try on a few of the outfits she had gotten for the trip.

Specifically, she was focusing on what swimsuits she was going to wear on the beach. As an aquatic pony breed, she did have a certain fixation to the water, and enthusiasm for swimming. She wasn’t dependent on it like a whale or a dolphin, and could stay out of water for long lengths of time if need be, but the feeling of liquids flowing over her smooth form was exhilarating. After long periods of absence, it could even have an almost orgasmic feel, as her form was surrounded and embraced by large body of water. She expected the warm, tropical waters of Haywaii to be especially thrilling, and thus wanted to make sure she wore the right outfit to maximize the high she would receive when first touching that salty ocean.

Standing in front of her full body closet door mirror, the kelpie struck a few poses in a modest two piece that was made up of several long length of fabric. The top part was practically just that, a strip of cloth cut a few inches in width and a two feet long, twisted halfway to form two cupping sections, and tied tightly in the back. The bottom part was more of a loincloth bikini, with a length of fabric attached to the waistband of the part that covered her privates, adding additional concealment from onlookers. There was another, similar strap, but it had been cut down the center to allot space for a pony’s tail to poke out and move freely.

Scylla placed an arm behind her head, and blew her reflection a kiss in attempt to be flirtatious, but shortly after she slumped down a bit. She just wasn’t feeling it in this outfit. It was a fine bathing suit, and showed off a lot of her curvy features, but something about it was just off. Perhaps it was just that Pathfinder had picked it out for her, but she couldn’t help feel that it was a little too modest.

“But what if…” Scylla said to herself, starting to form some scandalous thoughts in her mind. In a matter of seconds she slid off the outfit she was wearing, and opened her closet door, diving inside so she could dig around. It didn’t take her long to find a small box hidden in the back of it, to which she brought out with much glee. Taking a look to her bedroom door to make sure it was locked, she slowly opened the box to reveal another swim suit, one that she had gotten herself. With a heavily beating heart, she took this two piece made of black latex out of its container, and closed the door to her closet with her hoof so she could watch herself put it on.

The latex outfit, unlike the cloth one, concealed little of her body. Little strands of silk made up the outlining of the top part, interweaved into the latex straps that crissed and crossed with one another to create a netting that hugged Scylla’s breasts, revealing much of the C-cup sized orbs while covering her nipples and areolas, even if their indent was visibly noticeable. The bikini bottom was pure form fitting latex, covering her crotch and ass little more than a thong would, and had several strips coming off the top that wrapped around her waist, slipping above and below her tail, to come back around and clip to the front.

This outfit made Scylla feel incredibly sexy as she looked herself over, taking moments to do some incredibly flirtatious, provocative, and downright lewd poses that started with bending over to show off some cleavage, lead to her presenting her rump to the mirror, and ended with her cupping a tit while slide her fingers into the space between her crotch and its covering. The poses were all mimicked from a few magazines she had stashed away, ones featuring pony models posing for the camera, knowing that the images would end up in the hands of some pervy stallions.

A part of Scylla greatly enjoyed pretending to be like those mares, while another was incredibly embarrassed over the whole thing. As a young, sexually active woman, her sexuality was at its height. As Pathfinders’ daughter though, her modesty always took precedence. To put it another way, her hormones told her it was fine to act as she did in these private times, while in reality she could never actually do stuff like this in public. She was not a slutty girl, though she did have a few boyfriends in the past that she slept with, and what she did as pretend was just that. While she had went out of her way to purchase this swim suit in secret, and took ample opportunities to try it on, she knew it was the outfit her father picked for that she would be wearing on the island.

Having had her fun with her secret, scantily crafted swimwear, Scylla took it off and boxed it up so she could try on what she would be wearing one last time. While it wasn’t as sexy as she liked, it was a cute two piece, and if she was going to wear it she wanted to make it work. She had to be quick though, as it was already well past midnight, and she certainly didn’t want to be asleep on the first day of her vacation.

Wrapping the top part across her waist again, the kelpie moved to get the bottom part back on, but then suddenly heard a tapping. The noise only distracted her at first, assuming that it was the house making normal house noises, but then the tapping made a musical rhythm that could not have possibly been made without somepony making it. Scylla first tilted her head to the door, thinking it was Pathfinder checking in on her, but then redirected it to the window in her room when she figured out where the sound was really coming from.

What she saw sent a spike of terror down Scylla’s spike, and made her blood run cold like river water. At her window, tapping over and over again, was a vicious looking claw. Was a monster trying to get inside, or some sort of wild animal? No, that was a silly thought. There weren’t any pony-eating animals near Vanhoover, or at least none that made up nests. It wasn’t like the town was next to forest or something silly like that. This made the kelpie’s curiosity grow, so slowly she approached the glass barrier.

Whatever it was though sensed her approach, and before she got close enough it moved away. Scylla wasn’t about to let it get away unseen though, and as quickly as she could, she unlocked her window. Throwing it open, she stuck her head out, looking all about to see where the claw, and the owner of it, ran off. It was hard to see in the dark, with her eyes still acclimated to the brighter setting of her room, and only the moon and stars in the sky providing light outside. However, she did manage to catch a figure slip around the house. The figure, while shadowed, definitely had wings, and a profile that was not of a pony. If she wasn’t mistaken, it looked kinda like a gryphon.

Anya? That was Scylla’s first thought, as no gryphons actually lived in Vanhoover. Did she forget something when she left? She did know where the bedrooms were on the house, and perhaps she was trying to get someone’s attention before they both left. She knew that they would be leaving in the morning, so maybe she just wanted to make sure she didn’t miss them. That was the immediate idea Scylla came up with, and if it were true then it would be best if she went out to see what Anya wanted.

Scylla rushed to her door without hesitation and proceeded through the living area, not pausing for a second as she made her way to the store section of the building. Her curiosity and belief in the safety of the city she lived in was phasing out any danger she could have felt in this situation, and before she knew it, the Kelpie had her hand on the front door’s knob, twisting open the deadbolt while turning the handle so she could exit her abode. Before she could pull the door open though, a hand fell down on top of her own.

“What are you doing?” asked Pathfinder from behind her, having spotted Scylla heading to the front door in when he was heading back to his own room after a midnight bathroom break.

The kelpie jumped a little, not expecting anyone else in the house to be away at this hour. “I… I... “ she stammered, trying to recover from the fright, “There was a gryphon outside-”

“A gryphon?” Path questioned.

“At least I think it was a gryphon. I didn’t get a good look, but It was tapping on my window, and I thought that it might’ve been Anya trying to get in, and…”

Path grew a bit concerned over hearing that some possibly random gryphon was tapping on his daughter’s window. He was not nearly as naive as she was about the dangers of the world, and knew better than to just assume that this was Anya making a house call in the middle of the night. That begged the question, what was some random gryphon, or whatever it was, going around and knocking on the windows of his home?

As safe as Vanhoover was, that didn’t account for every creep or delinquent who decided to wonder in, and Path wasn’t about to just let this slide. “Scylla, you stay in here and lock the door.” said the pegasus, tightening the belt of his house robe. “I’ll see who’s roaming around out there and take care of this.”

Scylla pouted, thinking that her curiosity had caused trouble for her father, but gave him a nod in reply.

“Good girl,” Path said, grabbing a lantern from a nearby wall hook, and giving the kelpie a quick pat on the head. “I’ll be right back, don’t you worry.” With that said, the pegasus stepped outside, and Scylla did as he told her and locked the door behind him before going to the living room to wait for his return.

The second Pathfinder got outside, he felt a cold chill hit his body. He hadn’t expected the night air to have this much of a chill, and was in a hurry to see who this intruder was, so he had left without putting on any warmer clothing. That wouldn’t have been too bad, except that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath his robe.

“Damned hooligans.” he said with a chattering of his teeth as he lit his lantern with a match he pulled from a compartment on the object, blaming whoever was prowling around his property for his small lapse in better judgement.

Once lit, he was on the hunt, ready to shoo off the trespasser. First he made a pass around the house itself, and found that Scylla had left her window opened in her rush to get outside. He closed it for her, and passed on to complete his circuit around the building. He didn’t find anypony, but he did find a few freshly made tracks around. Whoever it was sneaking about was clearly not an experienced prowler, and could have just been someone trying to get a glimpse at the kelpie who lived inside. It wasn’t like Pathfinder hadn’t had to deal with this issue in the past, seeing how curious ponies got when it came to a breed as rarely seen as her, so he could see that being the case, and that they already ran off when they were caught in the act.

It was better to be thorough though, thus he made his way around the house again, this time going away from it a few feet to make a wider circle. Being beach side, his home was a little isolated, and thus there was an ample amount of hiding places among the surrounding foliage. If there was anyone still around, Path would find them, and if there wasn’t, then he would lock up the house tightly in case they came back.

That is what he thought to himself as he took efforts to look around, but eventually he became tired of searching. It was cold, late, and he had to get up early to catch a flight. Frankly, he didn’t need this shit right now, and he decided to head back inside. Just as he turned around though, he heard a noise behind him. Giggling, he believed, from a vaguely female source. Almost simultaneously, this put him both on guard and at ease. He had found the intruder, but it was a girl. That made things a little less threatening in his mind, as even most gryphon females were not so much aggressive, as much as uncaring and rude, Path mentally excluding Anya from that stereotype as he had known her for a long time.

“Okay,” he said aloud, “I’ve think I’ve had enough of your games.” Path took a single step in the direction from which he had heard the sound, slamming his hoof down heavily as he did. The sudden hostile movement caused a bush close by to start shaking, and with that he knew the exact location of who he sought. He went to the bush as quickly as his hooves would take him, and thrust his free hand inside, grasping at whatever he could inside the overgrown vegetation. “I’ve got you now,” the pegasus announced proudly, having no doubt that he would either drag the intruder out, or cause them to run in fear, but after a few seconds of searching something happened that instead filled his heart with dread.

“Click”

The sound came to his ears the same time he felt a metal band wrap around his wrist. He only had enough time to feel his heart sink a little before a force from beyond the shrubbery pulled on his arm, dragging him in with surprising force. The bush scratched at his skin, poking small twigs through his fur as he was wretched inside, and when he came to an abrupt stop, he found himself meeting face to face with a pair of fierce, yellow eyes surrounded by patches of greyish purple.

“Looks like I caught myself a dweeb,” said the female gryphon, extending her wings widely.

“Oh no, wait a minute!” Pathfinder protested, trying to extend his own wings in response, but finding them snagged in the bush he was now trapped in.

The gryphoness gave a powerful beat of her wings, and as Path had expected, this propelled her backwards into the sky. The thing was, she was not going alone, as in her claw she was gripping tightly to the other end of the shackle she had placed on him, so where she went, he was forced to follow. The bush scraped him up badly as he went through it and into the air, only traveling a few feet from the ground, but his departure from the ground was short lived as the gryphon zipped back to the earth, catching the chain linking them together under her foot, and using it the slam him face-down into the dirt.

Pathfinder’s mind raced with three thoughts, the first being who this girl was, the second wondering what she wanted, and the third telling him that he had to ignore the first two quandaries and get out of there. That was going to be hard though with her holding onto that chain, and it didn’t look like she was going to give him a chance to come up with a plan of action before she continued with her own.

Stepping off the chain, the gryphon dragged Path across the ground, to which Path did his best to crawl along to prevent any more damage to his person. While doing so, the pegasus noticed that she was heading over to a tall, but slim tree, and assumed that she intended to use it to entrap his arms by binding around the tree’s base. If that she did that, he would be at the gryphon’s mercy, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. With what little energy he had left in him after that beating, he picked himself up and rammed into the gryphon’s back, hoping the impact would make her release.

He struck with his shoulder just above her rump, catching the feline fowl by surprise, and to Pathfinder’s relief, the girl opened her claw in order to catch herself before hitting the ground. While she was falling down with a shocked yelp, he was going upward with a victorious cry, flying upwards so he could fly to safety. He figured that if he got above the trees, then he’d be able to make it back to his house no problem, and there was no way the gryphon would recover before he did that. A few flaps of his wings is all that it would take, and so he let the adrenaline surge through his body fuel their movements.

Before he could make it to the goal though, a pair of shadows swooped down from the trees Path was trying to get above, and before Path knew it, two more gryphons appeared, both grabbing hold of either of his wings. The force of the flight and the weight of their bodies forced the feathered pony to fall back to the ground, hitting it harder than before to knock the wind right out of Path’s lungs. This was more than just some random intruder causing trouble for kicks. This was a planned out attack, but for what reason, Pathfinder couldn’t even begin to guess.

The two new gryphons, both female like the first, pinned Path down by his wings, painfully sitting on their bones to make sure he didn’t try to take off again. In that position, they then leaned forward to place their claws down on Path’s arms, creating a pseudo-symmetrical image of relaxation as they used the pegasus as a seat and ensured the pony would not be getting up from under their bodies.

As Path, still catching his breath after his plummet, tried to recover, the first gryphon girl got back to her feet. “You stupid pony,” she said, making her feeling towards Path’s escape attempt clear. “All you had to do was come along quietly.” she said, going up to the caught pegasus to tower over his head.

For the first time, Pathfinder got a good look at his first attacker. She was, admittedly, an attractive gryphon. Not in a womanly way, like Anya, but in a more youthful manner. There was a air of ‘danger’ about her, as if her very presence exuded hostility. Maybe it was her leather jeans that gave this illusion, or the brown leather jacket that she had partially zipped down to show off her feathered chest, exposing an ample area that would be considered cleavage on a pony. Perhaps it was the way she wore her head feathers, allowing them drape over her forehead like bangs, or maybe it was just the fact that she just kicked Pathfinder’s ass without any provocation. Whatever it was, she let it be known that she one girl whose cross-hairs your didn’t want to be caught in.

She further pressed this point by lifting a leg and stepping one of her pawed feet down on Path’s face, grinding her heel into his muzzle. “Now I’m gonna have to rough you up a little to show ya who’s in charge.”

“Don’t hurt him too much Gilda,” said one of the girls on Pathfinder’s back, “You know our boss will want a pretty boy like this to be brought home unbruised.”

“Not that a little punishment isn’t in order…” said the other, twirling one of her fingers around in Path’s mane until a single strand was lassoed around it, to which she gave a hard tug, pulling it right out from his scalp.

The first gryphon, obviously named Gilda, considered what her collages were saying, and removed her foot. “Breezie, Winda, bring him over to the tree. We’re going to get a better look at the catch of the day.”

The two other gryphons, of whom Path could see when being picked up were a pair of twins, did as Gilda told them, taking the pegasus over to the tree and, as Pathfinder expected, binding his arms so he was hugging the tree. In this position, tired and battered as he was, he was helpless to the small pack of predatory femme fatales.

“So, what are you gonna do to me?” Path asked, “I don’t have anything worth robbing, and I’m not worth any kind of ransom money.”

“Ransom? You sure have a wild imagination,” stated one of the twins, the one he assumed was Breezie.

“Well he’s not too far off though,” said Winda in a correcting manner.

“Quiet, both of you,” scolded Gilda, “This femcolt bitch doesn’t need to know anything until we bag him up.”

“Hey!” Path shouted, taking offense to being called a femcolt. His attractive, ‘pretty’ features were something of a sensitive topic for him, as more than once it had caused a few troubles with stallions who had assumed incorrectly that he was a mare.

“You be quiet too,” Gilda said, turning her attention back to the pony. At first Path took to staring her down in response, but as Gilda glared back to him, she suddenly made a grab with her claws. Heading downwards, he was confused where she was heading, but then he felt her grip his stallionhood. In all the adrenaline pumping excitement, his cock had formed into an erection without his knowledge, and was currently poking out from his now disheveled house robe. “I’d hate to have to do something to this that you’ll regret later.”

Pathfinder froze, as almost any stallion would when razor sharp claws were wrapped around their most precious and sensitive appendage. The gryphon had him, almost literally, by the balls, and the pegasus had no doubt that she would deliver on her threat if he ticked her off.

“Here is all you need to know for now.” Gilda continued, squeezing down tightly on the meat rod in her grip. “Somepony has taken an interest in you and your pet fish. We were hired to take you both to her, and you don’t have any say on whether you’re going or not.”

Pathfinder clenched one of his eyes in pain, feeling the blood being squeezed out of his stiff shaft. “P-pet fish?” he questioned, not getting the gryphon’s meaning in the heat of the moment. At least not immediately, but after a few seconds it clicked. “No, whatever this has to do with me, you leave Scylla out of-”

Pathfinder was cut off as he felt a sharp pain go into his neck. No more than a pin prick, the pegasus understood that he had been injected with something. Slowly but surely, his vision began to blur, and he started to find it very hard to keep his eyes open. One of the twins had drugged him while he was distracted, and there was no avoiding whatever would happen to him next. He could only pray that Scylla would not end up the same way, and would be able to get some help.

Back at Pathfinder’s store, Scylla sat patiently on the living room couch for her father’s return. She was completely oblivious to what had happened to him outside, having only heard the muffled sounds of him yelling through the walls, and assumed it was just him telling off whoever it was he had found. All she really figured out at this point was that the gryphon she saw couldn’t have been Anya.

Because of this, she was blissfully unaware of what was happening to what was happening to Pathfinder, but now was worried that some stranger was tapping on her bedroom window. It was unnerving, to say the least, and had her more than a little creeped out. It made her think unsettling thoughts like “How long had they been there watching her?” and “What if they had tried something when she poked her head out the window?”.

“Wait a minute…” Scylla said to herself quietly, thinking about her exact actions when she had went to open the door. In her hurry, she had left her window opened, and thus left the house insecure.

With it like that, locking the front door was practically pointless. She would have to rectify that immediately. Scylla picked herself up from the couch to go back to her room, going at a leisurely pace as she was still not too concerned at this point. When she opened the door though, she discovered just how wrong she was to feel as safe as she did.

“Ow!” She heard when opening the door, the sound accompanied by the feeling of resistance as the door only opened a little bit. Scylla herself froze on the spot at the realization that there was not only someone in the house, but in her very room. Unbeknownst to her, Pathfinder had closed her window, but he couldn’t lock it from the outside, so someone was still able to push it back open and climb inside.

Next thing Scylla knew, a claw grabbed the door and pulled it open the rest of the way, revealing that not one, but two gryphon males had made their way inside. The closest one held the door, as well as his bruised beak, while the other one was holding back a snicker caused by his partner’s pain.

“Damn bitch,” said the one closest as he rubbed his mouth.

“Don’t be that way Talon,” said the other, still chuckling under his breath. “She didn’t do it on purpose. Did you sweetie?”

Scylla didn’t know what to say or do in this situation. The kelpie had never encountered someone so brazen as to break into another pony’s home before. She didn’t run though, as she knew that if she did she could be easily caught if these two wanted to catch her. Besides, there was something menacing in the way the second gryphon spoke to her that made Scylla feel numb.

“Y-you two had better leave...” She spoke out in a near whisper, looking to the floor as she held onto one of her arms, “My father will be back any minute and-”

“Don’t you worry about him,” the one named Talon said. “A few of our friends have got him.”

“Got him?” Scyla squeaked out, her concern rapidly rising.

“What he means to say is that your father has been caught and restrained so that we can have some alone time with you uninterrupted.” the second gryphon clarified.

“Please, don’t hurt him!” Scylla immediately pleaded, not wishing any harm to come to Pathfinder.

“Don’t be afraid,” The second gryphon said, coming up to the kelpie and gently placing his claw under her chin, forcing her eyes upward to meet his. “We are forbidden to hurt our targets unless they resist, but you’re not going to do that, are you?”

Scylla tried to aim her eyes back to the ground, but when she did the gryphon just tilted her head up more to compensate. He wanted an answer, and he wanted Scylla to look at him as she said it. “N-no, I won’t resist… So please don’t hurt us.”

“Good,” The gryphon replied, then tilting his head back to Talon, “Start getting things set up for delivery.”

Talon grumbled, but reached into a pouch on his belt to pull out a rather sizeable net, and proceeded to spread it out across the floor.

“A-are… are you kidnapping me?” Scylla asked, not so naive to not understand what was happening.

“Very observant,” said the nameless gryphon, reaching into his own side pouch to withdraw a set of shackles. “Yes, we are kidnapping you, as well as your father.”

“But why?” Scylla asked, watching the gryphon go behind her, and then feeling him bind her arms behind her back.

“Tell you what,” said the gryphon, “You’re being such a good girl that I’ll tell you.”

“Griff…” Talon said, questioning his partner’s judgement.

“It’s fine, she’s not going anywhere.” Griff reassured as he placed a second pair of shackles on Scylla’s ankles, “You see we work for a special group of ponies who like to abduct and enslave others of their kind. ‘The Equestria Trainers’ Society” they like to call themselves.”

“Equestria… Trainers’ Society?” Scylla questioned, of course having no clue about this organization.

“Yes,” Griff said, slipping a talon into the back of both pieces of Scylla’s bikini, and with a single motion, cut through them both to cause them to fall right off his captive’s body.

Scylla, sensing that she had been disrobed, let out an “EEEEEEE!” in dismay, and curled up a little while standing in attempt to cover her nudity.

Griff laughed at her response, and picked up the pieces of her swimsuit, “You see, Scylla, somepony has taken an interest in both you and your father, and thus you are both now officially property of The Society. Me and my friends are going to crate the two of you up, and ship you off to a secret location where you’ll be trained as slaves.”

“Slaves?!” Scylla yelled out, only to have the bottom part of her bikini shoved into her muzzle and tide around her head with the parts Griff had cut apart before.

“Yes, slaves.” Griff confirmed, placing the bikini top around her eyes to use as a blindfold, “Probably sex slaves, but that’s up to them once you get there.”

Now bound, gagged, and blindfolded, Scylla had lost all semblance of of control she might have had.She couldn’t try calling for help, running away, or watching for an opportune moment to do such things to arise. She was only left to helplessly tremble as these gryphons did what they would, which from the sounds of it would lead to Scylla and her father being sent to a labor camp. Even worse was the possibility that her abductors might rape her, which was the last thing that she wanted.

As all these terrible thoughts raced through her mind, Griff placed a hand on her shoulder, directing the kelpie in the center of the net. His employer had been very specific with the method of capture for Scylla. She was to be caught in a net, to go with a theme relating to her aquatic species. Griff personally thought it was silly, but he couldn’t complain about the money.

“On your knees.” he said, to which Scylla abided, dropping down so she sat on her lower legs. “Good girl, now you’re going to feel a small prick, and then you are gonna go to sleep.”

Looking over to Talon, the other gryphon was preparing a syringe, removing its protective cap and pressing the plunger down to ensure no air would be injected into their target’s veins. Once sure it was safe, he went to the kelpie and stuck the needle into her jugular, giving her a full dose of tranquilizers inside.

Scylla instantly felt herself go woozy, and even in the darkness created by her blindfold, she could tell she was becoming unbalanced. The last thing she heard before passing out was Griff saying to her. “Everything is going to be fine. Don’t think of this as enslavement. Just think of it as a vacation.”

Author's Notes:

Hello there loyal readers, Schorl here again. Nice to see you all here again, at the start of a new story. Another... new story. As the more observant of you might have noticed, I have been starting up quite a few new stories as of late, which is odd since I have two unfinished stories that have been sitting in wait at the moment. Well... I do have a bit of an explanation for that, which will be the topic of today's notes.

Let's begin with the first story I left on hiatus, "EqTS: Recruitment". It is a story that I had gotten deep in, and was meant to show the recruitment process of the Society through the eyes of a unicorn name "Blank Slate". I had made quite a bit of progress through the story, but at one point I felt kinda stuck. I don't know why exactly, but perhaps it was because I had been overworking myself.

Which then leads to my second postponed story "FoE: Weak and Powerless". A story of Trixie having to re-acclimate herself in a world recovering from a group of ravaging barbarians. I really like the idea of writing about a PTSD Trixie, and have a pretty good (in my opinion) plotline planned for it, but then my "anniversary" for a certain important event happened, and I went straight into writing out "FoE: Meet Thy Maker" from start to finish.

After that I made a chapter for a story called "FoE: Legacy of Dainn" to tell the story of what came from the events of Meet Thy Maker, and introduce a new character that is dear to my heart.

And now we have this story, one featuring an OC of one of my online friends, and current cover art illustrator. But why? Well to be blunt, a while back I promised Scylla a cameo in EqTS, as I often do for many bronies with their OCs. Well then I started doing the other stories listed above, and putting it off and putting it off until my guilt for delaying got the better of me. So I started talking with Scylla, and eventually I came to the idea that instead of having her just be a cameo, that it might be a nice idea to create an actual story around her.

I came up with a interesting and useful way to depict her time in the Society, with Scylla's help, and now we are not only planning a story featuring prominently, but have also set up a series of images to be made and released along side the chapters as they are released.

Fans of the other stories, do not worry though. While I will be focusing on this story for a while, I WILL get back to them, in time. I just want to focus on something that I think will get me back into the swing of writing a Society story (as I have focused too long on FoE), and believed it has been too long since I have done an EqTS story anyways. Like I said though, I do intend to finish all my currently open projects, at the very least, and unless something terrible happens to me, I promise not to disappoint anyone interested in them.

Just please bear with me, and forgive my scatter brained methods of story writing