Princess Celestia stirred with a start. The princess propped herself onto one elbow and examine her room. Everything seemed eerily silent and cold. A chill traveled down Celestia’s spine. Panicked she analyzed her room once more. It appeared to be in its normal state except her graceful glass doors which led upon her royal balcony had strayed open which left her beautiful pink curtains bellowing in the heavy gusts of wind. Reluctantly the princess arouses out of her grand bed and moves towards the doors. She ignores the harsh wind and manages to close the glass doors. How odd, almost always the princess would remember to close her glass passage to the outside world of the smiling, demanding ponies. The tiles that lined her floor were freezing to the touch with celestia’s bare hoof. Celestia slowly clambered back onto her bed. Before she closed her eyes once again she glances at a nearby clock. 2am what an unearthly hour to be disturbed and with that she lowered her eyelids and drifted off into sleep. After a few minutes of tense indecision 3 menacing shadows emerged out of the darkest corner of Celestia’s chambers. They huddled together briefly before splitting up. The middle shadow unveils a vile of a purple mixture while the other 2 begin to quietly barricade the door with anything they can find. The middle one cautiously makes her way to celestia’s bedpost. The princess is hunched over on her side ever so slightly snoring. The figure slowly uncorks the vile of mysterious liquid and leans in above the princess, careful not to rouse her. He lowers the vile and tilts 2 drops of the liquid to fall into the princess’s mouth. The princess shudders for a second and the snoring no longer continues. The middle one gives the signal to the other 2 who have barricaded the door with everything from furniture to books.
They hustle quickly over to the now unconscious princess. “Come on,” pleads the middle one “We don’t have much time before she awakens.” Together they lift the princess from her bed and lay her onto the floor. One of the team goes and stands watch for any activity in the barricade. One of the other 2 produces 5 coils of long sturdy rope. They work quickly by the light of a flashlight. They nudge the princess onto her back and pull her arms behind her. They circled her wrists with the rope and lace it through pulling it tight. Together they breathe a sigh of relief; now that her arms are tightly secure they feel false sense of security. They roll the princess back onto her front, as they do so the princess lets out a grunt and shifts her feet. “Come on bind her feet quickly, I knew the potion wouldn’t last long,” The leader mare says. The other two stallions obey wrapping the rope tightly around her feet, they step back admiring their handiwork. “Don’t forget the wings,” the lead mare ushers. As they start to bind the princess’s wings together the princess lets out a heavy groan. Her eyes flutter open. Celestia completely startled by three presences looming around drops her mouth agape. Her eyes swing from left to right trying to comprehend the situation while the 3 characters gasp quietly. “Who are you?” Celestia spoke in a drowsy manner. She tried to sit up and found her hands tightly tied behind her back. Rushed by the sense of adrenaline the princess was immediately awake. “I’m bound,” she spoke to the 3 characters. “I’m on the floor; help your princess out of these binds please.” Celestia pleaded. The team of 3 guffawed and none came to her aid. The princess’s eyes widened. “You…You did this to me?” She asked calmly. “Indeed we did princess and I’m afraid you are completely helpless,” the head pony snickered. The princess stared at them in disbelief. “You underestimate me, you do not think I can get out of this simple bondage,” the princess said smoothly. She let out a muffled laugh and her horn started glow a soft shade of yellow. The bonds started to loosen. The team unmoved exposed a golden ring. The princess was seconds away from being free. “Quickly, Dusk!” the head mare shouted and one stallion ran towards the princess and slipped the ring over celestia’s horn. The ropes being resisted by celestia’s magic quickly snapped back to their original placing’s on celestia’s wrists and heels. The confused princess lay in a state of shock and disbelief. “My…My powers don’t work” she murmured almost inaudibly. The leader laughed a shrill cold laugh a stepped forward to face the Princess. “Afraid not her majesty Celestia, as long as you bear that gold ring upon your horn your powers are rendered useless.” She spoke in a harsh tone. Celestia glanced at the ring on top of her horn and gasped in astonishment. “The Ring of the Dark Spirits” She spoke panicked. “Indeed Princess, we must tell you the whole story later, but now we must smuggle you out of the castle unnoticed.” The Princess wormed on the floor helplessly, she managed to sit up she spoke “You will not be able to smuggle unnoticed, I will yell for the guards, Luna will hear my shouts.” “A feeble threat,” the lead mare gawked with her voice full of arrogance. “But I suppose a valid one; we’ll have to deal with that. Vortex?” The lead mare commands. The stallion to the mares left revealed a ball gag from his cloak and handed it the mare. The princess squirmed on the floor switching her head side to side with her mouth forcefully sealed closed. Eventually the mare manages to shove it into the princess’s mouth. “Come on quickly you fools!” The mare grinned evilly. “We must return to HQ, Tomorrow all news reporters will have but one story The Mysterious Kidnapping,” Vortex Flame laughed maniacally."But first," she said with a mysterious smile. Vortex reached under her clok one last time and produced one orange feather. And with that Vortex heaved open the glass doors and joined Dusk and Charger as they took to the sky carrying a struggling princess upon their backs.
As they crossed across the seemingly giant full moon, a ray of reflected light smiled down upon the group and in the eerie light you could just see a flash of a Shadow Bolt uniform. And then they were gone…
