AN: This chapter’s going to get pretty grimdark; just a warning.

Sweet sweet air filled Kains lungs. A ragged breath passed through his lips and the buzzing in his brain died down. Nasty finger shaped marks encircled his throat and Kain knew they were going to bruise. That was assuming he survived past today. Pushing himself to his feet, and ignoring the dizzying spinning sensation he felt while standing, Kain turned to face Xath.

Twilight had only just teleported into the clearing and Xath had tossed Kain away in order to deal with her. Looking at Kain then at Xath, Twilights horn started to shine with magic, at the same time Xath leapt forward and grabbed her horn. Twilight gasped and disappeared with a flash of magic.

Kain felt all his hopes die with the disappearance of the unicorn. Now he had no hope of escape. Xath could fly so any attempt to run would be foolish and even if he couldn’t Xath was endowed with superhuman speed and endurance.
There wasn’t even a chance that he could beat his brother in a fist fight. Without a sword there was no conceivable way he could damage his brother. Kain could punch and kick his brother all day long with all his might and would still barely bruise him. The most he could do with his hands was hit a few nerve endings and that would achieve little more than a loosened muscle at a convenient moment. Even then Xaths’ healing ability would return the damaged area to working order in a matter of minutes.
Why of all days did I choose today not to bring my real sword?

Xath turned around to face Kain looking furious.

‘You let the elements escape!’ Xath shouted.

A grin sprouted on the Xaths’ face ‘That doesn’t matter. We only wanted the Pact anyway.’ He chuckled. ‘And I know how where going to find it’ He said pointing at Kain.

Xaths’ smile disappeared and he screamed in frustration ‘The elements could imprison us again!’
The grin returned and Xath answered himself ‘What those little girls?’ he giggled ‘Please, they barely managed it last time and these new ones are nowhere near as dangerous as some of the old elements were. Besides if it makes you feel better we can hunt them down later.’ He giggled once more ‘I want to make the big one scream again.’

After a while the giggling stopped and Xath looked furious again.

‘Very well then’ he growled angrily.

The grin returned and Xath advanced towards Kain.

To say the least, Kain was confused by what he’d just witnessed. Xath had just had a full blown argument with himself. Kain had long known that his brother was insane but seeing that destroyed all of Kains doubts that Xath might be clinging to some shred of sanity.

Bringing his mind to present circumstances Kain considered his options. Looking across the clearing Kain saw his shirt and his boots.
My boots!

Kain always kept a knife hidden in his boots. He usually kept a variety of other blades on his person but today he’d left those all at home. Still he did have a knife. He’d just need to get across the clearing past Xath, retrieve his knife and then he’d have a chance, not a good one but a chance.

Kain decided that ambush was his best option. Retrieve the knife without Xath noticing, lure him over and cut something important while Xath still thought he was unarmed.

Kain adopted a fighters’ pose and Xath just laughed at him.

‘Do you honestly think you stand a chance?’ Xath lowered himself into a similar pose.

Kain considered Xath. In his head he ran through a series of scenarios and likely outcomes, few of them didn’t end in his violent demise, but he kept returning to one that seemed possible to succeed. He decided it would have to do.

Kain moved forward and fired a quick jab at Xath. Not even bothering to block the attack, Xath brought his own fist forward to hit Kain in the stomach. The fist hit air, Kain sliding around the blow, entering under Xaths’ guard and ramming his knee into Xaths’ crotch. The move didn’t hurt Xath but he still reacted instinctively. Pulling back in shock Xath failed to block the attack Kain sent flying into his face. Blinded for a second Xath was pulling back when he felt his ankle catch on Kains’ foot. Tripping over onto his back, Xath rolled backwards with the momentum and landed on his feet and one hand. Kain was now standing slightly to the right.

Snarling Xath and launched himself forward and Kain stepped to the right again. Circling around Xath, Kain mentally noted the position of his boots. They were directly behind him. The fighters had circled around into each-others old positions. The horned man looked even more furious than he had before. Kain deliberately slipped a little, briefly presenting an opening which Xath charged into. Normally Kain would’ve reacted differently to such an attack but in this case he was allowing Xaths’ blow to connect with him. Xath slammed a fist into Kains’ chest launching Kain off his feet and into his boots.

Kain feigned enormous pain while fumbling around as he silently slipped the knife out of his boots.
Xath giggled walking forward ‘You know… It’s kinda sad how bad I’ve gotten over the years. Back when we were still human I wouldn’t have gotten tripped up like that. What’s even sadder is despite the fact you’re better than me I’m still going to win this fight.’ He giggled again.

The giggling was replaced with a scowl ‘Get to your feet!’ Rage Xath ordered.
Kain had actually taken that punch very well and he wasn’t in much pain at all. He hoped his act was convincing enough. He pretended to struggle to his knees in pain.

Xaths’ patience grew thin and he stalked forward to grab Kain like he had before. Reaching forward and closing his hand around kains’ throat Xath lifted Kain up, or he would have if Kain hadn’t suddenly slashed open the upper veins of Xaths arm.

Dropping Kain in shock, Xath reeled back. Kain seized the advantage and stepping forward and ramming his knife up to its hilt in Xaths’ stomach. Drawing the knife down Kain intended to disembowel Xath. Xaths’ fist struck Kain in the side of the head and Kain was knocked unconscious.

Celestia was in the middle of court with a petitioner when a green flame appeared over her head. A scroll fell out. Celestia caught it and opened it. The princess read the letter with a grim look on her face. She dropped the letter and stood up.

The petitioner who had moments before been nervously stammering through a request for funds fell silent when he saw the look on the princesses’ face.

‘Cancel all appointments for the rest of the day. The court is closed for now. Awake my sister and summon the guard.’ Celestia turned to the petitioner ‘I’m sorry but this will have to wait for another time. Something urgent just came up.’

The petitioner nodded and bowed his way out the door very quickly.

‘Milady?’ One of the guards said in a questioning tone.

Celestia turned and looked out the window of her throne room.

‘We’re going to Ponyville.’ She said with grim finality.

Rarity pulled herself to her feet, She was still in the library with the others. It had been over half an hour since they’d teleported in and the guards had arrived. The situation had been explained to them and they now patrolled the streets of Ponyville in force. The lady had voiced the opinion that they’d needed to go rescue Kain but the guard captain had told her that their orders were to protect the elements not their teacher.

This answer did not satisfy Rarity. The element of generosity was unwilling to leave Kain, or anyone for that matter, to die at the hands of that monster.

Having thought about it long and hard she’d come up with a plan. A vague plan that still needed a lot of the details worked out but a plan she thought might work.

Applejack had a cast wrapped around her broken arm and was unconscious after Rarity had used a sleeping spell on her at Fluttershys’ request. Fluttershy herself was busy trying to calm Pinkies badly damaged nerves. Twilight was still having trouble with her magic and was now staring at the ceiling blankly in the aftermath of an adrenaline rush. Rainbow and Gilda had both awaken from unconsciousness and seemed to be fine.

When she’d awoken Rainbow had wanted to go after Xath immediately but a stern warning from the guard captain had prevented that. The weather folk now sat and glared sullenly at the guards that patrolled the room. The griffon handled the situation much more calmly and was now sitting next to her friend. Rarity approached them and considered the best way to get what she needed.

Rarity said with as much tact as possible ‘Rainbow, would you mind helping me in the ladies room?’ She hoped that Rainbow might pick up on the hint that what Rarity actually wanted was to talk with her.
Rainbow gave her a confused look and said ‘Ew. Why do you need me to help?’ Not picking up the hint at all.
‘Rainbow. Please just follow me.’ Rarity said exasperated and making an obvious eye motion to a nearby guard.

Realisation dawned on Rainbows’ face ‘Ohhh…. Yeah sure.’

She stood up and the griffon stood up with her.

‘No Gilda you stay here I-’

‘Actually it would be better of Gilda could help too.’

Rainbow looked at Gilda and shrugged ‘Alright then. Come on.’

The three of them turned and started up the stairs.

‘Where are you three going?’ A Guardsman called out.

Rarity turned around ‘To the restroom if you must know.’

‘All three of you?’ he said sounding confused and suspicious.

Rarity rolled her eyes visibly ‘I’d hoped to do this with subtlety but if you must know someone has made a mess in the restroom and we three are cleaning it. So unless you enjoy the aroma of…’ Rarity let the words hang.

The guardsmen nodded ‘Oh… Alright.’ And returned to where he’d been standing.

The three girls walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

‘Alright Rarity what did you want to talk about?’

Rarity ignored her and cast a spell. It was a simple spell she’d learned from twilight that was used to muffle sounds.

When she was done she turned to them and said ‘We need to rescue Kain.’

Rainbow nodded and said ‘I agree.’

At the same Gilda crossed her arms and said ‘No fucking way.’

Both Rainbow and Rarity turned to stare at Gilda.

‘Why not?’ they both asked in unison.

Gilda shook her head and said ‘Well for one thing I’m not sure we can rescue him. From what you told me of this Xath guy he’s not just some average folk I could beat in a bar fight. He’s a professional soldier with the power of a princess! I wouldn’t want to fight a soldier let alone one of the fucking princesses.’

‘Two, why the hell should I rescue Kain at all? You might not remember it but that guys a douchebag and he threatened to kill me just last night! I’m not sticking my neck out for him!’

‘Three, we don’t even know where the hell they are. Xath can fly. He could be anywhere within thirty miles by now and that’s assuming he’s a bad flyer.’

‘Four, we could get killed. Not just me not just you, but all three of us. Personally I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.’

‘Five, and this is the most important one, Kain is probably already dead. I’m not risking my life to save some dead guy!’

Rainbow looked at Gilda with disgust and barely veiled contempt ‘Fine. You stay here like the big fat chicken you are and me Rarity’ll go save him.’ She put special emphasis on the word chicken. Rarity was shocked to hear such a strong racial slur come out of Rainbows mouth.

Gilda looked shocked too. ‘What the fuck Rainbow!’ she shouted ‘That’s not cool!’

Rainbow folded her arms and looked unimpressed.

Gilda looked between the two of them. ‘I’m not going to let you guys do this. You try to leave I’ll stop you and I’ll get the guards. There’s no way I’m going let you get yourself killed Rainbow.’

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak but Rarity shushed her with a wave of her hand.

‘So that it then?’ Rarity said.

‘What’s it then?’ Gilda asked.

‘You’re going to just let an innocent man die.’

Gilda shook her head ‘No I’m not going to let my only friend kill herself.’

‘So the proud griffon is too afraid to help us.’

‘No I just said-’

Rarity interrupted her and continued ‘I thought griffons were meant to be proud and fearless. Not helpless children. Gilda you are a griffon! You’re supposed to be one of the fiercest predators out! Your kind is supposed to be one of noble warriors without peer! All I’ve seen is a bully and a coward. You shame yourself and you disgrace your species. Maybe we don’t stand a chance. Maybe we will get killed, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re abandoning your only friend. Turning us into the guards will be an act of betrayal. Don’t come with us and it will be an act of cowardice.’

Silence hung in the air and Gilda absorbed what had just been said.
After a while Gilda spoke ‘Fucking fine then! I’ll go with you but on one condition.’

‘What’s that?’ Rainbow asked.

‘You listen to me and do what I say. I’m a griffon, we know how to hunt by instinct. I was taught how to hunt and track by my father so I’m even better than the average griffon. I can help you find Kain but when I say hide or run or whatever it’s because I know what I’m doing and because there’s danger.’

Rarity thought that sounded reasonable. Plus she knew they sort of needed the griffons help because neither she nor Rainbow knew anything about tracking.
‘I can agree to that.’ Rarity said.

Rainbow had apparently also been having the same thoughts. ‘Fine.’

Rarity nodded ‘Now we just need to get past these guards.’

Kain awoke groggily. Shifting uncomfortably he tried to put his hands to his head. The movement was blocked and Kain realised that both his hands were tied above his head. He looked up and saw that he was suspended by his hands from a thick branch. Looking around he realised he was suspended half a foot of the ground and was but naked in a clearing in the middle of a forest that he suspected was the Everfree. In the middle of the clearing was a fire place and seated next to the fire was Xath running a whetstone along the edge of Kains’ dagger. Kain must have made a noise because Xath turned to him and grinned.

‘Ahh… You’re awake.’

Kain looked around and felt growing panic rise inside of himself. Thoughts rose in his head unbidden.

It’s ok. I’ve been in worse before

No I haven’t. This is the worst situation I’ve ever been in.

I just need to escape.

With what? I need a blade to cut the ropes and a way to outrun Xath even if I do.

I’ve been in worse before, I’ll manage.

No I haven’t... no I won’t.

Kain started struggling with the ropes as Xath approached him.
Speaking with a wide grin on his face Xath neared Kain. ‘Contrary to popular belief, torture is not a complicated process. There’s no art form to it, no secret method or special formula. The fact is you can punch the average folk a few times and they’ll usually tell you what you want to know within a few minutes. Most people can’t even last through that basic a pain. If beating them doesn’t work you simply moving up to breaking fingers. If that doesn’t work you start pulling out nails. If that doesn’t work then we burn them. After that we upgrade to… Well you get the idea. You just escalate the pain steadily. Nine in ten will break in under a day. If someone doesn’t break in the first day then I usually just kill them and find someone else who knows what I want to know. Unfortunately for you, you’re the only person I know who knows where the pact is. So if you last today, then we’ll just have to continue tomorrow.’ Xath held up the knife Kain had used ‘You almost gutted me with this. I should’ve remembered you always carry an extra knife.’

Xath buried the knife up to its hilt in Kains’ left thigh. Kain gritted his teeth in pain. He felt his muscle twitch and rub against the blade and blood drip down his ankle.

Its ok I’ve had worse before.

True but that was in the middle of a battlefield not a torture session.

Xath returned to the fire. ‘We both know that you’re as tough as they come so I think we’ll skip past beating and go straight to burning.’ He said holding up a handful of red embers with magic while his horns darkened. ‘Tell me where the Pact is.'

Not an option. He’ll torture me regardless of what I say.

Then stall him.

‘I slept with your wife!’ Kain shouted at Xath.

Xath stopped and stared at Kain. He was no longer grinning but he didn’t seem furious either.

‘No you didn’t. She’s dead. I killed her.’

Kain laughed in an obviously strained way. ‘No. It was before you came back. She thought you’d left her so she came to me.’

Xath shook his head again ‘No you were married at the time.’

Kain nodded and grinned at the pain he was causing Xath ‘Yeah. It was an affair. I slept with your wife who was married to you while I was married to another woman.’

A grin appeared on Xaths’ face ‘That’s pretty funny.’ He chortled.
Rage replaced the grin ‘The bitch got what she deserved in the end.’

The anger disappeared and Xath stood there with a hurt look on his face.

The red hot coal from the fire was pressed into kains’ gut.

Kain screamed this time, he screamed until he went hoarse. The smell of burning flesh filled the air and his mind was filled with nothing but pain. When the pain faded Kains’ thoughts returned.
I’ve been burned before.

Not like this.

It’s not so bad.

This will cause permanent damage and scarring.
‘I’m going to kill you!’ Kain shouted hoarsely at Xath.

Xath giggled. ‘Lest try that again but in a more sensitive area.’ Another handful of embers were picked up from the fireplace. The glowing embers floated through the air towards Kains’ exposed genitals. It took Kain a second to realise what Xath meant when he said “Sensitive area”.
No! No! No! Escape, I must escape!

Heat radiated off the embers and Kain felt his organ shrink in an effort to protect itself.
I can’t escape.

His hairs started to sizzle as the handful of coal got closer.
This can’t be happening.

The bonds were struggled against furiously. He saw the coals getting closer and closer. Time slowed to a crawl and he could already feel himself burning in the few milliseconds before the coal touched his skin.
It is.

Then it touched.

Kain shivered uncontrollably. His body was coated in burns and bruises, his left eye had been burned out and several toes on his left foot had been cut off, his manhood had been destroyed with fire and somehow that wasn’t the worst part of it. The worst part was it wasn’t even finished yet. It had only been a day. One measly day. He hadn’t told Xath were the pact was but he knew he would break sometime tomorrow.

The night was darkening and the sun had long since gone down
‘I think that’s enough for today,’ Xath giggled ‘We’ll pick up again tomorrow.’ He turned and examined the fire which was burning low. ‘I’ll go get tonight’s meal. Let’s see how you enjoy the taste of one of the girls I met this morning.’ With that he turned and flew away.

Kain watched him fly away.
This is my chance to escape.
I can’t escape without a blade.

Kain looked down at the knife that was still buried in his thigh.
I have a blade.
Not in my hands.

Kain looked up at his arms. They were both undamaged. Using all his might he lifted his lower body up to be level with his arms. It took a lot of effort and Kain was sure that desperation was the only reason he could do it at all. Kain gripped the knife hilt with his hand and slid it out of his thigh. He felt his muscle tighten as the blade passed out of the hole it created. Once that was done he lowered his legs back to their hanging position.

Using the knife he started to cut the rope. The rope gave way and he fell gracelessly to his feet before falling flat on his face. Pushing himself to his feet kain limped his way to the fireside and grabbed his clothes. Pulling them on and wincing at the pain it caused him Kain paused when he went to put on his boots.

The three small toes one his left foot had been cut off. The wound needed to be treated or it would fester. He glanced at the fireplace.

Cauterise the wound.

No fire! Never again, no Fire!

The logical side of Kain won out and he cauterised the wound with red coals from the fire place. He pulled his boots on slipped the knife into his right boot. Still shivering Kain turned in the direction Xath had flown away in and began limping in that direction.

Gilda led Rarity and Rainbow through the darkening forest. It was night and the sun had been down for a while so the tracks where harder to find. Not that they’d been easy before. Gilda was a fairly good hunter and could track most animals. That said it was almost entirely different to hunt something that can fly, she’d had to make a whole lot of guesses and assumptions in order to follow the vague direction she believed he was in.

Rainbow had noticed the griffons’ lack of certainty and had immediately called into question Gildas’ helpfulness, but for once Gilda didn’t bother to respond. She knew she was headed in the right direction and if Rainbow thought she could do better than she was welcome to try.

Rarity on the other hand had been much more helpful to the Gilda by lighting the path when things got dark and offering plenty of encouragement to the griffon. That said she was a bit of a whiner and constantly complained about mud and brambles and sap stains on her dress and a thousand other things Gilda couldn’t really listen to. It was starting to grate on her nerves but overall Gilda was impressed with the horn folk, not that she showed it though.

They’d been walking for a while when Gilda heard something. She stiffened and listened carefully. It sounded a little like flapping wings. Gilda decided to take no chances so she grabbed the other two girls and dragged them under a bush.

Rainbow yanked her arm out of Gildas’ grip and ‘Gilda whats?-’

‘Shhh’ the griffon interrupted her.

Rainbow fell silent. A second later and the sound of wings were audible to everyone. It was powerful and consistent “whump” that sounded at regular intervals. Nobody moved a muscle. A few tense seconds later and the sound passed overhead. Gilda saw a blur of large leathery wings through the bush. He was gone but they still waited under the bush. It was about a minute before Gilda signalled to the girls that they could come out of their hiding places.

‘Well… Now we know we’re headed in the right direction’ Rainbow stated.

Gilda rolled her eyes ‘I knew we were headed in the right direction before now.’

‘Well we didn’t. I’m not sure how much of tracker you really are.’

Gilda was hurt that her friend had so little faith in her but she tried to not let it show ‘Did you just hear that? That proves I’ve been taking us in the right direction. Besides which the guy can fly! You have any idea how hard it is to track something that can fly?’

Rainbow must have noticed something in Gildas’ voice because she looked like she was about to spit out an angry retort but her anger dissipated and instead she said ‘Yeah you were right. This is the right way.’

Rarity then voiced her opinion ‘I think we should keep going.’

Gilda disagreed, now was probably their best chance to turn back, but decided not to voice her opinion.
They continued walking for about five minutes until they came across a small campsite. It was nothing special just a fire pit in a small clearing.

Gilda immediately noticed a few unusual things. For one thing there was the smell of burnt skin and hair in the air, another thing was the broken rope hanging from a tree branch. Under the rope was a pile of ash and a fair few blood spatters. The griffon walked over to the hanging rope, she bent down and examined the pile of ash. She put her finger in it and brought it up to her face, it smelled strongly of burnt flesh. Suspicion creeping into her mind, Gilda followed a trail of foot prints to the fire place. The steps were unevenly spaced and limping. Bending down next to the fire she noticed that it was still giving off warmth. The footsteps then led off to the right and she followed them to the edge of the clearing. She looked over her shoulder and noticed Rarity and Rainbow Dash had been following her.

Gilda stood up and dusted off her hands. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened here but she had an idea. This was Xaths’ temporary camp; he’d taken Kain here and suspended him with the rope. Kain had been tortured with fire. For some reason Xath had left the camp and Kain had managed to cut his ropes. His left leg had been wounded badly judging by the footprints, he’d stopped by the fireplace before limping away into the bush.

‘Kains alive.’ Gilda said aloud.

Rarity and Rainbow both smiled looking relieved.

‘But he’s hurt. Badly. Come on he went this way.’

She started to lead the girls away from the clearing in the direction Kain had headed in. It was the wrong direction if he was trying to get back to Ponyville.

‘How do you know he’s hurt?’ Rarity asked after a few minutes walking.

Gilda found these tracks much easier to follow than Xaths’; the wounded man hadn’t made any attempt to cover them and he was wounded enough that he seemed to be stumbling into damn near everything.

Gilda looked at her and said ‘Just trust me. When we find him it won’t be pretty.’

Eventually they found him. He was limping along drunkenly just ahead of them. Blood stains soaked his shirt and he was mumbling to himself under his breath.

The three girls broke into a run to catch up to him. When they caught up to him Rarity let out a horrified gasp.
His entire left eye had been burned out. There was blood seeping through his clothes and he smelled of burnt flesh. From the fevered mutterings he gave and the way his good eye kept darting around he was obviously delirious.

Rainbow immediately put her shoulder under his left arm and lifted the weight off of his left foot. Gilda only stared in shock while Rarity immediately tried to attend his wounds but had trouble because he continued trying to limp along. After she recovered Gilda thought about it and decided on what she thought would be the best course of action. Walking up to him the griffon wrapped her arm around his neck in a choke hold she’d practiced in many a bad bar fight.

‘What are you doing?!’ Rarity shrieked.

Kain didn’t even struggle as he slowly fell unconscious. He flopped into Gildas’ arms and Gilda lay him down.

‘He would have hurt himself if he kept walking. Now we can see how badly he’s been hurt and do something about it.’

Rarity glared at Gilda but didn’t say anything. The lady bent down and ripped open his blood stained shirt. She gasped again at what she saw. His chest was coated in horrible burns that had scabbed over and cracked and were leaking blood. Rolling him over Rarity found many similar wounds on his back.

Gilda then noticed a blood stain on Kains’ crotch. Rolling him over and lifting up the brim of his pants to get a look, she turned pale at what she saw.

‘Holy fuck.’ She gasped.

Pulling her hand back she tried to remove that image from her memory. Rarity saw her turn pale and reached out to see for herself but Gilda grabbed her hand and shook her head.

‘No.’ was all she could say.

Something in her eyes must have said what Gilda couldn’t and Rarity didn’t make any attempt to view the wound. There was very little they could do to help patch him up so in the end they just picked him up. Kain was held up between Rainbow and Gilda who wrapped his arms around their shoulders.

Rarity had already formulated a plan apparently ‘Alright. He needs medical attention so you two fly him back to Ponyville and I’ll stay here. You can’t carry us both so I’ll continue towards Ponyville.’

Gilda didn’t like the idea of leaving someone behind and was about to voice that opinion when Rainbow agreed to the plan.

‘Ok me and Gilda will drop him off and then come back for you.’

Gilda didn’t think that was a good plan at all but didn’t voice her opinion, instead she said ‘Yeah that’s a good plan. While where gone keep walking in that direction’ Gilda pointed the direction she knew Ponyville was in. ‘Avoid bushes and mud because they’ll make it easier for people to follow you. The Everfree can be dangerous at night so if you think you’re being followed you probably are. If that happens find a rock you can put your back against or a cave with a small entrance. Try to stay quiet and listen carefully for any sounds. We’ll be back soon.’

Rarity nodded her understanding.

Gilda and Rainbow took off and between them carried Kain back to Ponyville. Gilda nervously kept an eye out for Xath but he was never spotted. After about half an hours flying they arrived in Ponyville and dropped Kain off at the hospital. The nurses were panicked and confused when they saw his wounding but Gilda and Rainbow didn’t stick around to explain.

They just took off and headed back to the Everfree to find Rarity. It took a bit longer but they found her unharmed and carried her back to Ponyville. The flight was hard on the two fliers having carried two people in one night after a fairly rough day but they managed.

They landed with Rarity near the library. The guards where still there and they looked angry at the sight of the two of them. Inside the library she could hear shouting. One guard walked inside and said something. A moment later the door burst open and an absolutely furious Celestia stalked out. Frighteningly she had a large red blood stain on her otherwise immaculate white dress.

‘How dare YOU!’ She shouted at them.

The three girls trembled at the greater folks’ voice.

‘You two are too important to risk your lives for someone of the likes of Kain! And you’ she rounded on Gilda ‘I don’t know what part you played in this but you can bet were going to have a serious discussion.’ She turned to the guards ‘Make sure these three are kept here tonight and see if this time you can manage to keep three teenagers confined to their rooms.’ She turned back to the girls ‘Unfortunately I have to raise the sun tomorrow and that’s no simple task. I need my rest so you’ve escaped my wrath for tonight. But tomorrow the three of you can expect no light treatment. I’d be punishing you right now if you hadn’t actually saved a man’s life. Yes I received word from the hospital when you dropped him off. You three, inside, right now.’

The girls walked inside demurely and the door was closed behind them.
Only a handful of guards were inside and everyone else had gone to sleep apparently. They were separated into different rooms and guards were posted at their doors. The library wasn’t huge so they had to share rooms. Rarity had to share a room with Fluttershy who was already sound asleep. Gilda shared a room with Rainbow.

Gilda lay there going over the events of the day in her mind.

‘Hey Gilda?’ Rainbow said from across the room.

‘Yeah?

‘You were pretty awesome today.’

Gilda paused ‘Yeah I know.’

Rainbow chuckled at that ‘I think this was a good step in becoming friends with Rarity.’

Gilda nodded though Rainbow couldn’t see it ‘Yeah… That girl’s seriously hot.’

Rainbow just laughed at that. ‘Good night.’

‘Yeah, night.’

I hoped to make Gilda seem more capable then she’s usually portrayed as being. If Griffons are predators by nature then it only makes sense that they’re natural hunters. Also in my fic Gilda’s homeless so she has to get her meals somehow right?
I also wanted to get across the fact that Kain is one tough mother f***er. After… that was done to him he still had the presence of mind and strength of will to escape. That said he would have undoubtedly died if he hadn’t been rescued.
Also I hope that grimdark scene didn’t stop people from reading. That’s the worst this is going to get. Mind you I can’t think of too many fanfics that get worse than that. I promise that I will not do another grimdark scene.