Equestria Trainers' Society: Work For Hire

The moon hung full in a pitch black sky, casting its pale, silvery light over Equestria like a lantern. The celestial body, placed there by Princess Luna, went unobscured this evening, with hardly a cloud in the sky. If Equestrians didn’t need to sleep at these hours, every citizen of the pony kingdom would be able to see and appreciate a spectacular night such as this, one lovingly crafted by their dark princess for their enjoyment. Instead, it was often those who held ill intent for the citizens of this kingdom that got to take in the splendors of Princess Luna’s craft.

“By King Gover’s bones, this place is frigid.” said some gryphon hen that, until now, Anya had never associated with.

The two were stationed atop an icy cliff side, looking down on some small town in the mountains in the north part of Equestria. That anyone would build a settlement, even this small, in a place like this, where it was hard to grow food, with noeasy way to get to other cities could only serve one purpose; ‘Isolation’. Anya wasn’t privy to what the ponies residing here were trying to hide from, but it seemed that this place was discovered by the head mistress a while back before the gryphon had recruited to the Society’s cause.

“Yeah, but suck it up.” Anya said in a hushed tone, wanting to keep quiet as she was well versed in environmental hazards like avalanches.

Anya was cold as well, but after learning about the benefits of colder temperatures, particularly how they kept her thoughts from drifting to daydreams of minotaur sexually dominating her, Anya had come to welcome the chilling bite upon her skin.

“We need to keep our eye out for that signal.” she continued, “It could come at any moment.”

The gryphoness beside her gave a disapproving “tsk” from the tip of her beak, and looked in a direction away from Anya as she pulled out a thermos from an inner jacket pocket. Anya, looking out of the corner of her eye as she kept watch, grimaced to herself as the container was opened, and hot steam poured out before her assigned partner took a drink of whatever was inside. The minotaur had said to dress warm for this, but she didn’t plan for things to be this cold, and thus she was not as prepared as this other gryphon was.

This was, in a sense, her first capture mission for the Society, though it was doubling as an exam. Several pairs of gryphons had been stationed around the peaks surrounding this no name town, and in a little while they would all be given the go ahead to enter it and capture whatever ponies they could while paying mind not to let any escape. Not that it was an issue that they did, as the one road going through this village was being blockaded by groups of minotaur and other trained hunters to prevent any who might slip away from reaching any other town, but to let even one pony leave the borders of this village would look poorly on each gryphon of the group.

Another thing that was stressed was that this mission was supposed to be executed with stealth in mind. While no points would be deducted overall so long as every pony that inhabited this place was captured, it would be much easier to accomplish this goal so long as no one was alerted in the first place. Also, there was talk of penalties for unnecessary damages to buildings or the things they contained, which Anya assumed was due to the minotaur wanting to preserve any goods in the town for expropriation after the mission’s success.

Aside from that, the rules were simple; Each pair got their own house designated to them, which was assumed to have somewhere between five to eight ponies residing in it, as this place was some sort of commune with shared living quarters. They were not provided with tools that would aid in the mission, but were allowed to take with them anything they had on hand at the announcement of the test, and would each get a small satchel of leather cuffs to use to restrain those they captured. Outside of that, there was a strict rule about not maiming or causing the death of one of the targets, unless the gryphon who did so wanted to become part of the Society’s inventory themself.

This was how Anya was supposed to get approval to become a hunter for the Society, and thus be qualified to participate in the upcoming raid, which would fulfill her end of her contract with Rubric. Thus, she wasn’t going to let anything distract her from passing this test with as high of marks as she could. If she could, she’d be the first one in and the first one finished with her assignment.

As Anya continued to watch, a ball of dim light shot up from ground level, silently bursting into a ball of dark purple that merged with the sky. At this late hour, it was unlikely that anyone would be awake to see it, except for those participating in this capture mission. Likewise, if someone had gotten out of bed to get a glass of water or some other reason, a signal like this would not be something noticeable for anyone not looking for it.

“Ok, there it is, let’s go.” Anya said to her assigned partner, already seeing shadows of other gryphons flying towards the village from their perches.

“About time,” said the other gryphon, spreading her wings to take flight.

Anya followed the other gryphon’s lead, and together they descended to their targeted house, having shared maybe ten lines of dialogue with one another up until this point, two of which being ‘hi’ to one another when they were first paired up. Now Anya had to depend on her to do her part to get them both to pass, and Anya wasn’t very trusting of the other gryphons on the Society’s payroll in general.

“Hey,” Anya said, flying aside this other hen, “Just as a reminder, they are judging our performance on this one. If we don’t do a good job, they won’t let us become hunters. So we really need to work together, and get this done right.”

“Okay, I got it,” the other hen replied snidely, “We go down there, break into the house, and get the ponies inside cuffed to their bed. In and out, with no problems.”

It would be great if it were that easy, and Anya prayed that it would be, but something in her head told her not to assume everything would just go their way. While this kind of job was a new experience for her, she had practice in a variety of other adventurous fields, and far too often things got their worst when you believed that nothing could go wrong.

Each pair of winged shadows touched down either on top of their assigned building, or on the ground next to it, readying their unlawful entry. There weren’t many options on how to get in, either a window or a door, and it was up to the gryphons to figure out how they’d get past them. As Anya and her partner touched down, she immediately started scoping the place out to see if there were any exploitable vulnerabilities. First thing she checked was the back door, finding it to be locked as she turned the handle.

“Ok, so this door’s shut tight,” Anya said to the other gryphon, “Do you know how to pick a lock?”

It was not an absurd question to ask, as many clawed creatures, such as gryphons with their talons, had natural tools that could be used to trip a lock tumbler. It wasn’t easy, but with enough skill one could make short work of a door like this without excessive force.

“Not really,” the other gryphoness said as she shuddered and rubbed her arms, the cold of this snowy mountain top climate getting to her. It was unlike what one would feel in Griffonstone, where they merely had to deal with strong winds.

“Well you better start learning if you want to get in quick,” Anya said, not being very skilled in breaking locks herself. At least not ones like these, as she was more used to breaking into old temples, and not other people’s houses, “Just see what you can do, and I’ll check the windows.”

The two hens swapped places, but Anya didn’t think that this other gryphon was gonna learn on the spot how to undo a door lock. She also wasn’t too confident that the windows would have been left unlocked either, expecting them to be closed up tight to keep out the chilly air. She had to at least try and hoped they’d be lucky.

One by one, she attempted to lift up or push in the framed glass, trying windows on both the first and second floors of the structure. The place was locked up tight, more than most homes in Equestria, which felt a little weird if this was supposed to be a shared home in a community where it was presumed everyone knew and trusted one another, but perhaps there was something else out in the mountains they needed to keep out. Anya hoped that wasn’t the case, because she would have loathed if this test turned into some sort of horror film. Then again, seeing that the gryphons were home invaders trying to kidnap the residents of the town to sell them into slavery, it already was a horror film, just with her group as the monsters.

In the end, not a single window gave so much as a jiggle. The only progress gained from this was that Anya got a good layout of the inside, and spotted the ponies that they were after, a bunch of mares sleeping soundly in beds located within two separate rooms upstairs. So if they could get in without a sound, this should have been the easiest job in the world, but that still begged the question of how. In her desperation for an easy solution, she went so far as to check under the front mat for a spare key, but the ponies were not so naive as to have left a free ticket to being burglarized in such an obvious spot.

Relenting on her inspection of the house’s exterior, Anya headed back to her partner at the back door to see if she had made any progress, only to find that the gryphon had stopped attempting to crack its lock, and was standing next to the door with her hands in her jacket pocket.

“Fingers get cold?” Anya asked, figuring the metal of the door’s knob and key slot might have been freezing to the touch for an extended period of time. It was not that much easier for herself, but she had the advantage of not having to keep constant contact with the windows as she inspected them.

The other gryphon didn’t even dignify Anya’s question with an answer, since it was clear that she wasn’t taking too well to the frigid climate, instead saying, “Did you find a way in?”

“No luck.” Anya replied, “This place might as well be a vault, and since we don’t have a key…”

“We’re busting in?” the other hen asked, “Fine, whatever gets me inside. I feel like I got ice collecting in my feathers.” The gryphoness looked around on the ground for a second, and then bent over to pick up a large rock, “This should do the trick.”

Taking a few steps over to the closest window, the gryphoness made sure to make distance between herself and her target, before winding up for a toss. The motion was so fluid that Anya barely had time to comprehend what was going through this other gryphon’s mind, but as the stone was being brought into the arch of a throw, Anya figured out what plan was running through her partner’s head. Anya dashed to get in the way, and since she wasn’t too far away from the other avian, she managed to shield the window with her body, using her wings as the barrier to keep it away from that glass.

“Are you stupid?!” Anya said, infuriated while keeping a hushed tone. It was lucky the stone did no damage, to her or the window, “We’re here this late because all those ponies inside are sleeping! If you smash open a window you’re gonna wake them up, along with any ponies in the next houses over!”

“Well, how do you suggest we get in, then?!” the gryphon said back in a more elevated whisper, already knowing that forced entry wasn’t a great idea, but what other choice did they have?

Anya took a moment to calm herself, now that the near disaster had been averted. The other gryphon, while brash and crude with her actions, was the least of her issues at the moment. “Look, just give me a minute to think.”

Anya wished that the minotaur had given them some kind of tools for this trial mission. The Society had plenty of things to help hunters when they went to collect some new merchandise, but it was likely that the point of this test was to see the ingenuity of each gryphon pair. Gryphons were on average no more or less smart as ponies, so this had to be part of the vetting process, to determine who could be trusted to be smart enough to deal with situations like this if they arose.

“Give me a second to scope out our competition, maybe they’ve figured out something.” The other gryphon gave Anya a roll of her eyes, certainly thinking shattering the window would be faster, and assuming that might happen while she was gone, Anya grabbed the stone and any others she could find that were of decent size, “Two minutes, tops. If we still have nothing, we’ll do it your way.”

Not waiting for a reply, Anya made her way to the front of the building, dropping all the stones she held after taking a few steps around the corner. Every building in this town faced a singular road going through the center of the town, leading to one larger building at the end. With nothing really obstructing the view between each structure, Anya hoped to catch someone else making their way inside their targets. If this was a test, someone had to be watching everyone’s progress, probably from a safe distance while they used the open city streets and the light of the moon above to keep an eye on everything going on. So there was no reason Anya couldn’t do the same if it led her to an answer to this problem.

She was at least happy to see that her pair was not the only one having trouble getting inside, as other gryphon pairs were just as stumped with their homes without alerting the neighborhood as she was with her partner. A few had no signs of activity, however, and it could be assumed those ones had been successfully infiltrated.

Anya cursed her timing, having missed what method they found to enter, but as she watched the others make their attempts, she came to the conclusion that far more than just her had come to this woefully unprepared, or lacked skills that would have made this test easier. When she started seeing some of the males get fed up and start ramming the door with their shoulders, making noise that could only be ignored so many times by the hopefully still sleeping ponies, Anya knew that the time for a stealthy entrance was running short. Having made no discoveries that could help, she turned around and resigned to just breaking in. While it would certainly alert those inside, it was a better idea than standing in the cold like an idiot.

Anya made her way back, snagging a rock from her discarded pile as she went to rejoin her partner, a little disappointed that this was gonna be the solution, since it was gonna make things much harder, and she had now stopped the other gryphoness for no reason. “Okay, it looks like we’re going with your…”

Being brought to a pause as she turned the corner, Anya found the other gryphon hen drinking from her thermos again. She had, as Anya requested, stayed herself from busting anything down, and was taking a drink of whatever hot liquid she had as she waited. Seeing the thermos though made the cogs in Anya’s head start moving, and with a toss of the rock over her shoulder, she walked right up to the other gryphon and snatched the thermos right out of her hand, saying “Give me that” as she used her other one to keep the robbed avian at an arm’s length.

“Hey! Get your own!” the gryphoness yelled, this time being a bit louder due to her outrage at having her only source of heat pulled right out of her hands.

“Shut up,” Anya said, both to get her to be quiet and to show that she was dismissing her objections, “Just watch.”

Without any explanation, Anya moved to the window with the angry gryphon still trying to reach past her to get her drink back. Taking the open thermos, she placed it at the top of the frame, and poured its contents onto the glass panel. It turned out to be coffee inside, though it didn’t matter what the fluid was when it came to how she was using it. The other gryphoness was not pleased with this perceived discarding of her heated drink, knocking Anya’s away as she made a reach for the thermos before what was left ended up wasted as well. She had managed to grab Anya by the wrist, but by that time one eyed gryphon’s objective had been achieved, and a series of large cracks appeared in the window, breaking the panel into numerous large shards.

“What the…” the gryphoness questioned in confusion, getting the thermos shoved back into her claws as the first response to this question.

“It’s something I picked up while working with ponies,” Anya replied, while pressing against the glass to push its newly formed segments inward enough that they could be safely wiggled free from the wooden frame they inhabited, “If you add something really hot to something really cold, it will often react by shattering. These windows have been out in the cold of this mountain for so long, I assumed your drink would be enough to do the trick.”

This thermic reaction was not one your average gryphon would know, and it was one Anya herself had to learn in reverse when visiting the dragon lands while doing her real job of acting as protection to small groups of ponies who saw themselves as adventurers. This particular expedition involved watching a dragon migration within the reptiles’ own domain. The ponies had brought along a cooler of ice cold water bottles to stave off the heat, and one idiot accidentally dropped down a hill that led into a lava stream. Seconds later an explosion happened, and the guide had to explain to everyone that intense heat and cold had destructive properties when mixed.

“Ok, smartass, but how is this a different result than if I had broken it with a rock?” the gryphoness asked, still upset that her coffee had to be used for this.

“Cause this didn’t make as much of a sound.” Anya explained, reaching inside to unlock the window, now that the glass was removed, “And I would like to at least get inside before alerting our victims.” A quick turn of a latch, and retrieval of her arm, and the window was ready to be opened without any further issue.

With that out of the way, the two gryphonesses made their way inside by climbing in, immediately enjoying the temperature difference of the inside from the outside. “Take a second to warm up.” Anya said, needing this other avian in a decent condition before they proceeded. Though, she was aware that this room they had entered would not stay heated for long, now that there was an open gap in the window for the warmth to flow out from.

“Don’t worry about me,” the gryphoness said, “I have my drink to keep me warm.” Without a second thought, she drank down the remainder of the coffee, and Anya couldn’t help but think that this was in part to prevent her from trying to take it again. Not that Anya had plans to do so, but the other hen left little doubt that she was pulling a petty act that was far too typical among their people.

“Fine, then let’s just do the job,” Anya said, ignoring the chill on her own body. She could get warm while being on the move, and the cold was keeping her focused more than anything, “Come on, I think I saw where they were sleeping earlier when I was checking the windows.”

Anya had spotted some beds with ponies sleeping in them on the second floor, with the lower floor being used as a general living space, where the bathroom, kitchen, and a simple lounging area were. All they had to do was get to the second floor and then restrain their unsuspecting prey without waking them, and this would all be over. It was easy to believe that getting in was supposed to be the toughest part of all of this since they made their entrance so silently, but Anya would find other obstacles to overcome as she proceeded.

The other gryphoness put her drink container away now that it was empty, and followed behind Anya as they searched for the way upstairs, “Hey… The minotaur didn’t say anything about taking things that might be… valuable, did they?” she said to Anya, as her eyes started to drift about the building.

“Not in so many words,” Anya replied, grumbling a bit that this other gryphon could keep her greed boner in her pants, “But I’m sure they don’t want us distracting ourselves with worthless trinkets.”

“Oh come on, some of these pony ‘trinkets’ can fetch as much coin as the ponies themselves,” the gryphoness said, more as a testament to how low the Society’s head mistress paid for run of the mill ponies than how valuable their possessions were.

“Look, I’m not trying to get in trouble here,” Anya replied, “And I have a different reason to become a hunter than just money, so if you could keep your hands to yourself, I’d really appreciate it. Besides,” Anya took another look around this place they were in, and everything looked cheap and bland, like the inhabitants of this house were purposefully trying to keep from having anything that would stand out, “I don’t really think these ponies have anything that would be worth your while stealing.”

The other gryphoness did a scan of the spaces the pair were quietly wandering through as well, and her on the spot appraisal had her agreeing with Anya. That was until they made their way into the lounge room which was where the steps were located. They both were making it through the room with no issue, until they passed by a long, knee high table placed between some chairs and a beaten up couch.

“Wait…” the other gryphon said, spotting a sizable bag sitting on top, “What about this?”

Anya turned her head in her partner’s direction as she reached for the sack, and noticed that it was not just any kind of bag, but a large coin sack. This was confirmed immediately as the burlap bag was untied and opened, revealing a decent amount of coins within.

“Now this has to be worth more than one or two of the ponies we’re nabbing.” the other gryphon stated, a devious grin appearing on her beak. It didn’t take any kind of deep thought to determine what was on her mind.

No, Anya’s thoughts were dwelling more on why the ponies in here would have such a large amount of bits just lying about in the open. This was a lot of money for any single pony, but maybe not for the entire household of what she estimated was about six mares. While the amount could be explained away as the residents pooling their money together, the placement of it wasn’t as easy to accept. These ponies were cautious enough to lock down every door and window, and yet not mindful enough to put away such a large bag of money for safekeeping? This felt weird, but as far as Anya’s trained eyes could see, both her real one and the artificial one in her eyepatch, there were no traps or the like protecting this small bounty. It was just there for the taking.

And that was the very intent of Anya’s partner, as she reached down to dip her hand into the sack, clearly to scoop out as much coin as she could to shove into her pockets. While there seemed to be nothing wrong with the bag, and it was likely that a single handful of coins would not be missed, something about this felt off, and Anya didn’t want anything to jeopardize her ability to be a part of Rubric’s raiding team.

For the second time that night, Anya had to put her hands on the unfamiliar gryphon, snagging her by her wrist before the gryphoness could touch the gold. “Look, something doesn’t feel right about all this.”

“You growing some morals?” the gryphon replied angrily, “It’s not like they’re gonna need any of this after they are sold to the Society.”

“No, it’s just…” Something about how the ponies could be simultaneously prepared for potential intruders, but lack common sense when it came to the safekeeping of money bugged her. “This is supposed to be a live test, right? Something real to make sure we are cut out to be hunters. Well, how many of these could they have if we’re supposed to be here on a legitimate mission?”

The other gryphon stopped resisting as she heard this, which in turn prompted Anya to release her grip. Pulling back her arm, the gryphon considered what was being said to her. “So you think this was all set up?”

“The conditions for this are too perfect,” Anya answered, “An entire city in the middle of nowhere, houses lined up in two neat rows, every house locked shut, and while every pony’s sleeping in their beds. I wouldn’t be surprised if the crystal mare had this whole town set up, and is using those trustee pony slaves she has to set up an ideal testing scenario.”

“And this?” The other gyphoness asked about the bag of coins.

“If I were to guess, it’s a loyalty test.” Anya replied, “Or just something to see if we’d get sidetracked. Think, it’s just sitting there for the taking, but it isn’t a lot. It looks to be about ten weeks of pay for warehouse work, which as a hunter you’d make a lot more.”

Estimating the amount in the bag made Anya think that perhaps the test here, if the was indeed a test, was maybe one for intelligence instead of loyalty, because if this little amount of money was enough for someone to risk the opportunities the Society was offering, then their judgment and rational thinking skills were not fit for a profession of abduction. What would such a person do if offered a bribe from their victim? Take it and release them? That would put the Society at risk, and that would be trouble for those whose interests lay with it.

“So we’re… just supposed to leave it then?” The other gryphon said, looking disheartened at the coins.

“Yeah, we leave it,” Anya said, stressing the point once more, “Now come on, let’s get this job done and over with.”

The other gryphon nodded, quietly following behind Anya up the steps, “Wait, if this is a test, does that mean we’re not getting paid for these captures.”

Anya groaned, knowing what might come if she said yes. Without the motivation of money, some gryphons would refuse to work at all. She didn’t put that past this gryphon to stop on the spot if there was even the slightest doubt that payment wasn’t coming, so Anya thought up something quick to keep things on track.

“The crystal mare has done this plenty of times, right?” Anya said, “And I doubt she’d be dumb enough to piss off a bunch of gryphons who were expecting to get richer from this. You’ll get your money, no doubt, else everyone here would end up rioting.”

“Ah, good point,” said the other gryphon, accepting this reasoning.

The two hens made their way up to the top of the steps and were met with a single hallway with a door on either side. From Anya’s earlier reconnaissance, she knew that each side had beds for three ponies, six in total, and last she saw they were all full.

“What do you want to do?” Anya asked the other gryphon, “Take them one by one, or each takes a room?”

Going in together was safer, as one could block the doorway as the other went to work, but had the risk that the other room would be unguarded if they were alerted to the gryphons’ presence. This would be easily rectified by the person who was standing guard stepping out into the hall to block the steps, but even then it might be hard to keep three or more ponies from barging past them. Alternatively, splitting up would be faster, and simulation or not, Anya didn’t know if they were being graded for time. The issue there was that if someone slipped past one of them, they’d be unobstructed as they made their way downstairs and to the front or back door.

“I think splitting up would be best,” the other gryphon said, “We already wasted enough time outside, and I want to get this over with.”

“Okay then, open up the shackle satchel.” Anya said, to which the other gryphon obliged.

Taking out three of the chained leather cuffs, Anya draped them over the arm of her off hand, and then gave a nod to confirm she was finished. Her partner then closed the pouch, before making her way to one of the doors. Anya went to the one not selected, and together they quietly turned the knobs, finding neither locked, and separated as they went into their chosen rooms.

Anya, being as silent as she could be as she crept into her chosen room, spied her targets immediately. Three mares, sleeping soundly in their beds, blissfully resting as a predatory avian invaded their space. They were, upon observation, fairly cute, with neatly kept manes that were each cut in a similar fashion, short, straight, and with small bangs in the front that draped down just above their eyes.

This in itself was not that odd, as they could be friends into the same hair style, as plain as it was, but what was strange was that each mare had a grayish tint to the otherwise colorful fur that covered their bodies. Not that their coats were gray, but it was like the saturation of color had been drained from them. Anya had been around ponies long enough to understand what this was, as when something was wrong emotionally with their kind, the normally bright hues of colors they wore would dim to visually represent this.

If there was anything that denoted that this was all set up by the crystal unicorn, this sealed the deal for the gryphon. It was something Anya had noticed on the few trustee slaves she interacted with, though their traits were often more subtle, but any victim of the torment and rape from the Society’s cliental would no doubt show similar signs of internal conflict. It was also unlikely that each of these mares was suffering some shared mental anguish if they were in a place where they could freely express themselves.

Test or no, Anya had to at least treat this like a normal job, and thus she got to work ensuring that none of these mares could make for an escape once they realized there was an intruder in their very room. It was like something out of a dark fantasy story, as she made her way to the first bedside. The mare had her eyes closed and was showing no signs that she was aware of Anya’s presence. Her hands were positioned under her head, above the pillow, which granted the gryphon easy access to the part she needed.

Taking a set of shackles she had, the half feline fowl wrapped the chain around the bed post, and then carefully wrapped the leather cuffs around her wrists. It was difficult, but not impossible, to get the restraint around those exposed forearms, and strap them on just tight enough that the grip of them wouldn’t rustle her from her slumber. Thus, the mare was successfully restrained, as even if she woke up now, she’d have a hard time making a run for it with her arms effectively tied to the frame of her bed.

Moving on to the next mare, Anya couldn’t believe that she was having to utilize a skill she had honed with her lover, Pathfinder. As the pegasus stallion enjoyed being tied up, and she enjoyed tying him up, there were a few times that she would surprise him by chaining him to his own bed while he was sleeping, during times when she would make an unexpected visit to his home after one of her jobs. The thought of him and the fun they had didn’t arouse her though, and not just because her libido had been fixated on minotaur as late. Her memories of him and his kelpie daughter were what kept her focused, as she used them to remind her constantly of why she bothered to work under Schorl, Rubric, or any others in the Society in the first place.

The next mare’s arms, unlike the first ones, were hiding under the covers, and so Anya would have had a harder time getting to them to lock her up the same way. The one after looked to have this same problem, but had shifted in her sleep enough that the blanket she had was pulled up, and her hooves poked out. Seeing her as the lesser challenge, Anya went to her first, and without too much trouble got a shackle on one of these hooves, while attaching the other end to the bed directly. If that mare tried to run, she’d find her trip short, ending with her face meeting the floor.

“Two down,” Anya said softly to herself, looking to the last one. Calmly she walked back to the middle and determined her approach. There was no easy way to reach her appendages, and while she could probably risk waking the mare, Anya wanted to do this as professionally as she could.

The gryphon stood there for about half, pondering how to address this problem, when suddenly she heard sounds reaching her ears. Not ones from inside the house, as she had worried she might if her partner fucked up, but ones hitting the window to this room from outside. The sounds were not as loud as she had been anticipating, but they did meet her expectations of what they would be, as several yells started to sound in the streets. Anya quickly figured that other pairs had encountered some difficulty while apprehending their own targets, and the results of these complications were now pouring out into the streets.

“Not my problem,” Anya said, remembering that she couldn’t help any other groups, even if she had felt inclined to.

However, she became increasingly aware that this steady sound of screams and shouts was actually an issue for her, as the growing chorus of pony voices was not just reaching her ears, but those of the sleeping mares. There may not have been an actual time limit to this test, but the ineptitude of the other would-be slave hunters had created a point in which all ponies in this town would be alerted to what was going on. The mares Anya had taken responsibility of subduing were being brought out of the land of dreams, and back into the reality of the waking world.

The two already shackled were effectively restrained, but the one in the center could ruin everything if she slipped out of bed. Anya had to act fast, and since she couldn’t get to her arms and legs, there was only one thing she could think of to keep the mare from getting up. Catching the at first slow, but then suddenly fast, the opening of this mare’s eyes as she saw the winged figure loaming near her bed, the gryphoness ceased her hesitations, and leaped onto the bed itself, catching the mare the moment she tried to scurry off her mattress.

In the ensuing struggle between the two, Anya had but one objective; to prevent the mare from getting out from under the blankets. The very thing that prevented Anya from easily chaining this pony to her bed would now become the thing used to pin her down upon it. This would have been a foolhardy plan if the mare had been an earth pony, and questionable if she was dealing with a pegasus, but Anya noticed prior that this one was a unicorn, with her horn in plain view on her forehead.

The physically weak species had zero chance in overcoming a predatory creature like a gryphon in a test of strength, and the only thing to worry about was if she tried to use her horn. In the mare’s panic though, it seemed to slip her mind that she could use spells to aid her escape, and so Anya could keep her trapped through brute strength alone. Repositioning herself, she straddled the mare’s body at the hips, pressing her own body down to apply as much weight as she could, as she gripped the edge of the blanket and held it down tightly at the mare’s neck. Everything from the shoulders down was now stuck under the covers, as it was used like a net to restrict the unicorn’s movements.

“Hold still!” Anya commanded, disregarding silence and subtlety at this point.

If the screaming from outside was not enough of a disturbance to rouse the other mares in this house from their sleep, the loud sounds of the mare’s resistance was. As the gryphon assumed, the other two mares on either side of her woke up shortly before her yell, and while their poorly rested states made their ability to assess the situation slow, they were at this point discerning what was going on. As it would have been with any pony, the two other mares’ first thoughts were to leave their beds, but both found themselves unable to assist their roommate or flee to the door as they became aware of the chains connecting them to the furniture, with the one bound by their ankle making a painful trip onto her front once she made one hasty step too many from her bed’s frame.

“Nobody try to move,” Anya demanded, believing she had full control over what was happening, and that she had removed any means of escape these ponies had, “And none of you say so much as one word to me. That is unless you want to get hurt.”

The gryphoness gave a quick display of her talons, sharp enough to cut through pony skin, to show her captives that she meant business. Each mare, in turn, not having any foreseeable options to get away unharmed, did as they were told, the two stuck in bed going still, as the one who tripped adjusted herself to a sitting position next to her bed. If these mares were indeed slaves set up here to test hunters, they had to be aware that their part was done, and if not they must have believed Anya was a common robber who would make good on her promise if they didn’t comply.

Either way, Anya was relieved that her part in this was done. All that was left was to ensure that the mare under her would not do something the moment the gryphon got off her, so she instructed the unicorn to place her arms above her head at the headboard. She obeyed without a word, and the shackles were placed on her to match those of the other mare chained by her wrists. With that done, Anya’s role in this was truly completed, and she got off the bed to look over those she might have been dooming to a life of forced servitude and sexual violation.

“I know this doesn’t mean much,” said the gryphon, “But realize that whatever comes next, it’s not personal. You three were just part of a job.”

No doubt that her words meant little to those who would suffer the consequences of her actions, but Anya felt it needed to be said. The gryphon wanted to believe that if not for her loved ones being at stake, she would never do something like this, and it felt like not giving some form of apology or condolence would make her out to be no different from any other gryphon here for the sole purpose of exploiting others for profit.

Anya was ready to receive some barbed words in return, assuming the power of her threat might have expired now that she had moved to a safe distance away from her captives, but before anyone could speak, she heard a door burst open from the hallway outside this room, followed by the distinct sound of quickly stepping hooves across a wood floor. It took Anya a moment to react, and zip over to the door, and by the time she flung it open, all she caught a glimpse of was the tail of a pony slipping beyond the doorframe, followed by her gryphoness partner coming into view as she ran towards the steps.

“One got away from me!” she yelled, doing her best to chase after what had to be the last target they were responsible for.

Anya let out a low growl, “Of course.”

The gryphon didn’t bother to run out into the hallway to give chase. A pathway that small, all that would happen is that she’d get blocked by the other gryphon and more than likely make matters worse. That didn’t mean she was going to leave it up to her partner though, as she knew at this point that would only lead to the pony getting away. Instead, she rushed over to the window of the room, undid the lock, and opened it to give her a different exit from both the room and the house. It wasn’t a good option, and she had to squeeze herself through due to her wings as she hurried back outside, but Anya managed to eventually slip herself out the opening, and back into the night air above the singular street of this secluded village.

Elevated as she was, the gryphon could see the mild chaos this town had devolved into, as many gryphons were going after their own escaped targets before they made a getaway. When it came to some of them, it wasn’t a single pony they were going after, but in some cases every single one of their targets were scattering off throughout the town, making it a hopeless effort for those few to regain control of the situation, especially when they started losing track of which ponies were the ones they were supposed to be capturing.

Anya wasn’t about to let that become her, as she was going to solve this problem before it started. “Okay, now where was that… There!” Anya was looking for the front door, as that was the most likely way the escaping mare was going to exit out of, seeing as it was the closest to the stairs.

The one eyed gryphoness made a bee-line to that door, and as expected it flung open a second after she started her descent. An earth pony then bolted out, no doubt ready to run right out of the city, only to be tackled from the sky by over one-hundred pounds of winged feline the second her hoof touched outside the house. The impact knocked the mare to the dirt, and had Anya crash right on top of her, with the gryphon’s only worry if this collision might have broken one of the two’s bones. It certainly hurt to do what she did, but as she pushed through that pain to grab the mare’s arm and wrench it behind the pony’s back, she determined that she wasn’t in enough pain to assume injury.

Shortly after subduing the final target, with Anya hoping that her so called ‘partner’ didn’t leave the other two ponies they were supposed to take care of unbound, the other gryphoness made her way out to the road as well. At first she looked towards the city’s exit, peering out to where the houses stopped, before noticing that there were two prone bodies not too far from where she stood.

“Oh wow,” the gryphoness said, “You managed to get her. I guess that means we passed this test.”

“Could you drop the act?” Anya said suddenly, struggling to get to her feet while pulling the restrained pony up with her, “You didn’t come here tonight to be tested, you’re the one here doing the test.”

“What?” the other gryphon replied, coming off as confused by what Anya was saying.

Anya was certain this reaction was false though, and believed she had this all figured out. “I’m pretty sure this town was set up for our exam, and that these ponies are property of the Society already, but even if they aren’t, you’re definitely not here to pass this test yourself. This entire time you’ve been attempting to do every bad move you could think of, either out of laziness, greed, or being plain sloppy.” Anya took a moment to push the mare she was holding over to the other gryphoness, who reactively caught the equine before she got rammed by the incoming body. “Honestly, I could chalk all that up to incompetence, but that doesn’t explain how you knew to do something that no one taking the test for the first time could have prepared for.”

The other gryphon, with the earth mare now in her grasp, took a moment to place the pony in her last set of cuffs. While she could have dismissed Anya’s accusation completely, she instead chose to humor her. “And what is that?”

“You brought a thermos full of hot coffee to this mission, when we were only told to dress warm, and were given little time to prepare. Sure, you could have made a pot, and brought a cup if you thought it was gonna be really cold, but to have a thermos ready for just this occasion? I think that’s telling that you knew where this mission was gonna take place before we came, and how long we’d be waiting on that cliffside for the signal.”

The other gryphon did not look too impressed by Anya’s deductions and went so far as to shove the pony back into the house and close the door before answering the accusation. “Ok, sure, you figured it out. This is all a set up to figure out some details about possible hunters. Each pair consists of one gryphon actually taking the test, and a hunter watching to see what they do to accomplish their mission.”

“While also acting like an idiot to see how they’d deal with that kind of problem, right?” Anya said, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Not entirely,” answered the other gryphon, “If you took too long to get inside the house, we’re supposed to do it ourselves to move the test forward, so that part was on you. As for the bag, it was there to see if you’d get distracted by gold, or go along with taking it for yourself. Honestly, I’m gonna have to dock you some points for that part.”

“For what?” Anya said, cocking her head to show disapproval.

“Because figuring out how to game the system doesn’t mean that you’d pass up on the money if you didn’t realize this was all setup.” said the other gryphon, “And so I need to mark that you could still get distracted with something that you could steal to get rich.”

This just sounded like the other gryphon was upset that Anya had seen through the fabrication of this scenario, or maybe that her own role had been figured out. “Fine, whatever, but I assume on every other level I proved my worth.”

Anya’s fake partner rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I can’t fault you too much. While it took a bit too long, you did manage to get into the building without too much noise, albeit with something you shouldn’t have had access to in the first place. Judging by how none of the other mares are stampeding out of their beds right now, I can only assume you got them restrained good enough for our B-team to come in and retrieve them. As for the ‘escape’ part of the test, I guess it can be said you thought quick on your feet and took care of the problem before it actually became a problem. While it’s not up to me to decide, you’re probably gonna pass simply on the merit that no ponies managed to get to their ‘escape zone’.”

Anya was relieved, cause Rubric had promised her that as long as she could become a hunter, he’d let her join in the raid, and complete her end of her contract. After that, she could kiss the Society goodbye, and finally move on to rescuing the missing kelpie and pegasus pair she had been after all along.

It took another hour for the fake raid to come to a close, with every pony either being ‘captured’ or making it to the part of town that marked them as having ‘escaped’. As Anya was made to stand with a collection of other gryphons in the center of town, she was curious as to how many, if any, of them figured out the test was staged. Not that it matter, since they would have still had to give it their all if they wished to pass, but early detection of this would have made it incredibly easy to get past the ‘greed test’ at the least.

As she waited, she noticed that it was not just her kind on the testing grounds anymore, as the minotaur had come in to ‘restore order’ and act as if they were cleaning up the mess of those who failed. The ponies, all slaves that were working under the Society’s orders, had allowed themselves to get rounded up by the bovines, and shoved into the large, untouched building at the end of town, where they no doubt got to enjoy the heated interior as they relieved themselves of the bonds placed on them during the event.

Then there was the matter of the two ponies who hadn’t been bound, that being the Society’s head mistress, and another unicorn mare Anya had never seen before. This pink unicorn, of whom Anya didn’t even bother to ask the name of since it really didn’t matter to her, was accompanying the head mistress of the Society as they both checked the condition of the houses. This pointed to the pink mare being the one who either owned this space of land, the slaves used for the test, or probably both. This mare, whoever she was, would have wanted to assess the damages done to her property, evaluating every nick and ding, to ensure everything was within the agreed upon parameters of whatever deal she and Schorl had.

“I swear, if Gilda was half as careless with my friends as the gryphons here…” Anya said, noting that the other ponies present were part of the pink unicorn’s property, and that while Gilda was a hunter for the Society, she was not the type to handle goods with the utmost care.

The one eyed gryphoness let that thought petter out, remembering the lessons she had to learn from trying to get back at Gilda. It was a hard pill to swallow, but the younger avian’s age and talent had her outmatched, and she often proved that when they trained together. The difference in their skill levels might have been further complicated by Anya’s problem of being distracted when a minotaur was present since she couldn’t work out without heating up and getting her blood pumping, which activated all sorts of undesired images when she spotted one of the bulky bulls.

As Anya took a moment to remind herself of this inconvenient truth, a minotaur walked right up to her, and caught her unaware as he managed to get right up beside her before she took notice of his presence. “You. You’re to come with me.”

The gryphon gave a nod to the bovine, figuring this was yet another creature directing the test, and followed him to a spot not too far away, where other gryphons were already standing in wait. With the crowd small at the moment, she spotted Gallus among these few, and once she was added to the group, she gravitated right to him.

“Hey Gallus,” she said, getting the attention of the blue gryphon, “How did you do?”

“I don’t think I did bad,” Gallus replied, “I managed to get inside quickly, and I was so focused on getting things done fast that I zipped past the coin trap.”

“Oh, so you figured it out too.” Anya said, please to see she wasn’t the only one.

“Eh… more like I was told afterwards by my partner, since I aced the test.” Gallus replied, “At least, that’s what he said, and given that gryphons don’t give out compliments lightly, I have to believe him.”

“Oh, so you must have made it inside quickly then. How did you do it? I’m kinda curious.” Anya asked, curious as to what other ways others found to break into their house.

“I didn’t do anything special. Just found a rock and broke the knob off the door.” Gallus said, “All it took was a good swing, and I was able to get to the inner parts to get the latch to unlock.”

“Really, that simple?” Anya questioned, though for her it might not have been so easy. Such an attempt required a little more brute force than her arms could muster.

“Well I noticed that the door didn’t have a dead bolt, so I thought it was at least worth a shot, and since I got it off first try, I didn’t make enough noise to wake up the ponies upstairs.”

It was never made clear if the ponies had actually been sleeping or just waiting in their beds for the gryphons to arrive, but either way, they had acted as if excessive noise mattered. Anya learned about this from a few gryphons she heard grumbling about having to deal with targets that were roaming around the houses, and how it unfairly increased the difficulty of their objective. In a real situation, such sounds would not go unnoticed, but Anya was curious if the loud smash of breaking a doorknob should have granted this penalty. Not that she wasn’t happy for Gallus, if only because this was what he wanted to do apparently, but she would hate for him to go into a live situation with him if he was unprepared.

“Well if you passed, then this must be where they are gathering everyone who pass. That’s a real relief,” said the gryphoness, happy to get some form of confirmation on that matter, “But things will probably only be harder from here.”

“Don’t worry, I know.” Gallus replied, “But my boss has been helping me shape up lately. Keeping me motivated, giving me training tips, and all sorts of stuff.”

“I thought you didn’t want special treatment from the minotaur.” said Anya.

“Oh, this is different. It’s more like, uhhh… on the side life coaching. Besides, I only didn’t like it because the other gryphons were making fun of me for favors they thought I was getting. Now that I’ve been getting better at my job, I haven’t heard anyone say anything about me.”

Probably because they know a minotaur is actually helping you now, Anya thought to herself. It always felt like the hen pecking from the other gryphons was done to keep certain individuals from establishing closer relationships with the bulls, particularly the ones who were easily more likable than themselves.

Gallus looked like he wanted to continue talking about how he had been improving himself, but he was brought to silence when he heard the Society’s head mistress yell, “Ok everyone, can I please have your attention!”.

Each gryphon in the group shifted their attention to face her, and Anya noticed that in the time it took to speak with Gallus, quite a few more gryphons had been added to this congregation. About thirty percent of the total testers had been separated from the flock, and if Anya had to take a guess, that meant they were the ones that passed.

“I would like to thank each of you for participating in this exam.” Schorl said, addressing only the gryphons that Anya and Gallus were a part of, “If you are in this group at this moment, unless you have slipped over here for whatever reason without being permitted to do so, then that means that you are among the few who have been promoted to the rank of ‘hunter’ in our organization.
From this point forward, you will be considered to join in higher paying jobs, in which you will be trusted to kidnap important targets for our organization’s members, which will increase in value the more that you prove yourselves capable of the task. However, do not think your training in this field is over, because for your first few missions you will be accompanied by-”

The rest of the explanation of the career path of a hunter was a blur for Anya, as she had no intentions of advancing any further than she was right now. She didn’t even have the intention of accepting a single mission the Society and its clients might offer her. The sole purpose of this was just to meet Rubric’s standards to be apart of his planned raid.

“Now be aware, all of you, that just because you are approved hunters now, that doesn’t mean that your services working in our warehouses, sorting and storing supplies, or adding in the processing of our more lively products, are finished. Nor does this mean that any of you should start slacking on your physical fitness and exercise routines. If every gryphon qualified to be a full time hunter was to be relieved of their duties, we’d have quite the works shortage, and capture missions don’t come in but from time to time. Still, be patient, as you’ll each get your chance to earn big soon. Speaking of…”

Schorl snapped her fingers, and a minotaur came up to the gryphons with a wheelbarrow full of small bags. Going to each gryphon in the group, a bag was handed to each one, and the clanging of small bits of metal as each gryphon received theirs let Anya know this was their payment for a completed mission. It was a good amount, with what she assumed was half the stated worth of the six ponies used in the test, since Schorl seemed to still be upholding the idea that this was real, and she had to give half the reward to the proctor. Still, this was a lot of cash for one night’s worth of work, and she could see why other gryphons would find that kind of payout appealing. Gallus himself looked immensely pleased with his portion, since it was probably more money than he had ever seen at one time.

“Once you receive your payment, please make your way back to the cave that held the portal stone used to get here.” Schorl said, wrapping up the test for those who had succeeded, “If you don’t remember where it is, feel free to ask another among you, as I’m sure at least one of you knows the way.”

With that said, Schorl made her way to the second, larger group, the wheelbarrow still having some bags of a noticeably smaller size within it, no doubt to act as consultation prize and incentive to those who didn’t yet qualify for the position of hunter. The only gryphons who stuck around after that were the ones who were clueless in which direction the cave Schorl spoke of was, and those few took the hint and followed the rest of their group.

Clenching tightly to her own gold bag, Anya had only one thing in mind when she got back to the facility. Find Rubric, inform him that she was now a hunter, and sign up for the raid he had planned. But that wasn’t all she had to look forward to, since the lead up to the raid would not be a point of relaxation, but one of considerable training, where she and those participating would be made to go through more tests like this one until every member of the group understood what they were to do, and what they were up against.