Anna groaned, eyes narrowed as she scoured up and down the small storage room of the airship. She lifted whole bundles of fruits from their storage boxes with her magic, giving the containers a once-over before putting the produce back where she found it. “Ugh, he’s not in these boxes either,” she seethed, turning to a stallion decked out in golden armor. “Anything on your end?”

“No, ma’am. No sign of Sir Spike,” the stallion answered, shaking his head. “He wasn’t in the control room, either.” At this, the archer’s eye twitched, and her form shook as if bristling with porcupine needles.

“Let’s give the lounge of the ship another go-over; we might’ve missed something there,” the mare scowled before hastily galloping out of the storage room. The armored stallion ran behind her, and both met five sets of frowning faces and another face that had gone wide-eyed once they arrived in the makeshift living quarters.

“Was Spike in there?” Twilight questioned, her breathing hitched. Anna shook her head.

“We’re gonna need to scour this room once more. Surely, he must’ve left something behind,” the green-maned Fantasian sighed, and with eyes flickering in a grudgingly dark gleam, she trotted around and overturned the small tables and chairs that were in the room. At least, until she found something that lay underneath the open window which stuck out like a sore thumb. “Aha!” she exclaimed, turning to the worried Mythonians just as she scooped up that very object to present to them with her magical grasp.

“A white feather? It doesn’t belong to Spike...” Rarity trailed off before her eyes zeroed in on a series of claw marks that stood out on the window sill; deep gashes in the wood reminiscent of flesh wounds.

“I’m not sure how the hell I missed this, but now that we know it’s here, I think we can guess how it got in this airship,” Anna stated, her scowl morphing into a small, almost feral smirk. Her eyes gleamed a faint crimson as the Mythonians’ eyes darted from the feather, to the mare, to the window sill, and back again.

“Someone… kidnapped Spike?” Fluttershy whimpered, her eyes going wide as saucers.

“Yeah. Why they’d go after a little drake, I haven’t the foggiest. But this feather and those claw marks narrows down the list of possible suspects,” Anna nodded, briefly jerking her head at the gashes in the wood for emphasis. She glanced at the armored stallion and addressed him, “You, pilot! Ready the ship for flight and follow the Valkyrie. I think I know where this feather came from.”

“Are you sure it’s not from one of Lance’s gryphons?” Twilight pleaded, ears flat on her head.

“No; none of them are white. Closest one to that color would be Quicksilver, and he’s all grey,” Anna replied, shaking her head. “I have met someone who is pure white, however, and that was just days ago.”

“So you know who might’ve kidnapped Spike?” Pinkie mused, making a beeline for the Fantasian mare until she stopped just inches from the archer’s muzzle.

The unicorn nodded. “Yep. And when we find him, we’re gonna give him a nice, long talking to—maybe shake some more of the ‘end of the worlds’ thing me and my companions heard from him while we’re at it,” she answered.

“Wait, so the owner of that feather’s the same dude who told you about the whole ‘end times are coming’ nonsense?” Dash half-shrieked her question, front hooves flailing to the ship’s ceiling as her eyes went wide.

Anna tsked Dash just once before answering, “Bingo.” She turned to the airship’s boarding dock and started to trot to it with a confident spring in her step, but had stopped once the armored stallion cleared his throat.

“Miss, are you going to be riding in the ship, or the tank?” the sod asked, the faintest of a concerned glimmer alight in his eyes as she turned to him with a wide smirk.

“Nah, I’m gonna ride the airship. Why do you think I was about to trot out?” Anna replied in a sarcastic tone of voice. Her smile fell as she added, “Seriously, though, someone has to tell Lance to get the tank in gear so we can get a move on.”

“Fair enough. I’ll get the airship ready for takeoff,” the stallion nodded again and watched as Anna trotted out onto the boarding dock. The green-maned Fantasian galloped to the Valkyrie and levitated herself to the to the top of the tank as though she’d been fired from a slingshot. Dropping into the hatch and landing in the tank on her hooves, she turned to Lance with an unreadable look.

The pegasus stallion sat in front of the control panel, front legs lazily slung on the steering wheel like he’d been sitting in a recliner as he leaned back and met her gaze. “What’s your report?” he asked.

“Spike is not on the airship, and I found this feather and claw marks on and near the sill of a window,” Anna reported, levitating the white feather to the general.

Lance studied the object and scoffed, eyes narrowing low as the feather floated beneath his scrutinizing glare. “I see,” he groaned, “and to whom does this feather belong?”

“I have reason to believe it belongs to one of the villagers of Frostbite. It may even belong to the elder—only part of him that wasn’t white was his beard,” the archer answered with a nod.

“Well, we won’t know who exactly did it until we hit that hippogryph town again, or even if a hippogryph was responsible,” Matt snorted, turning to Lance and giving him a nod. The pegasus nodded back and whipped around to face the control panel after disentangling his front legs from the steering wheel, typing into the keyboard frantically. Anna levitated herself and flew upward, poking her head out of the hatch and waving a hoof as she spotted Rainbow likewise peeking out of the open window.

“Tell the pilot we’re about to take off!” the mare yelled.

“Alright!” Dash called, closing the window with her front hooves and darting off to do as she’d been asked. Anna nodded and watched as the boarding dock of the ship started reeling into its vessel, dropping back into the tank just as the aircraft’s vehicle slammed shut.

“Is the airship ready to go?” Natz inquired, her tail twitching slightly.

Anna shot her a look and smiled, “The S.S. Leviathan is locked and loaded.”

Lance gripped the steering wheel with his front hooves, a wide coy smirk playing on his muzzle. The tank’s treads violently whirred to life, in perfect tandem with the airship ascending into the sky. Within moments, both vehicles darted off northward, with the land-bound one leading the way. In another few moments, the igloos of Frostbite started to crop up into view, a faint silhouette at first. The spindle of black became darker, thicker, longer, and wider as the tank approached in a steadfast beeline.

“Is that black stuff smoke?” Matt asked, eyeing the dark color that stood out against the grey skies like a splotch of ink.

“I believe so... Is the town ablaze?” Katie asked, eyes narrowed low.

“Doubt it. You can’t exactly set ice and snow on fire. Hmm… maybe they’re having a celebration of some sort,” Natalie replied, turning to the wraith with a shrug.

“But then, if they did kidnap the dragon, why?” Matt mused, frowning.

“Maybe they need a dragon for the festivities. We can only hope it’s not one of those kinds where the dragon dies,” Anna sighed, sitting on her rump as the town began getting clearer the closer the tank got. The vehicle halted in its path an instant before it would have run over one of the igloo houses. The ponies, gryphons, and changelings hopped out of the still-open hatch, landing in the snow just as the airship began its landing. As soon as the boarding dock landed in the snow and the Mythonians trotted out of it, Lance turned to the mares and animals and cleared his throat.

“Since it’s your friend we’re after here, I’ll let you have a say in how we should approach the town. Do we walk straight in to find the source of the smoke, or scour each and every ice-brick house on the closest street?” he asked in a flat voice.

“Let me go!” a feminine voice called out, one high-pitched and frantic in tune. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“Get your beak away from me!” another, masculine voice howled, irritation and confusion rampant in the outcry.

“D-d-don’t make me breathe fire on you! Y-your feathers will get scorched off!” a third voice warned, this one sounding dreadfully similar to that of Spike’s.

Twilight’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. “No time to scour the houses. Let’s get in the town already!” she cried.

Lance shot a look at his fellow Fantasians. “You heard the Mythonian unicorn, let’s go, people!” he barked. Nobody needed to be told twice. Without a moment’s pause, the groups galloped into Frostbite as though they were one, surging into the nearest street like a torrent of rain. Wings flapped madly, hooves kicked snow everywhere, muzzles donned firm frowns as the scent of a bonfire and cooking meat filled their nostrils. The streets were oddly empty; at least, they were before the group saw a large gathering of hippogryphs coming into view.

A fourth, masculine voice cried out, but it died mid-wail in a gurgling choke. The group skidded to a halt on land and in sky, gaping at the sight before them. The hippogryphs of Frostbite used their talons to tear out a hapless stallion’s throat, with some more ripping at his stomach and spilling his organs onto the snow. He struggled and kicked as the uninvited spectators’ eyes went wide, but his thrashing grew feebler and feebler as blood poured from his body.

The light soon left his eyes, and he ceased moving altogether. His head tipped back limply, eyes wide open in a frozen state of pain. Rarity’s hoof flew to her mouth, and so did the hooves of her fellow ponies—even the Fantasians could not suppress the urge to hide their mouths with their front limbs, all wincing in unison.

The dead stallion’s legs were ripped clean off; the front ones were devoured in seconds by savage beaks and the back ones tossed into a raging bonfire to cook. The pony’s torso suffered similar punishment; meat being plucked from bones and more innards strewn about like trash.

The head of the stallion suffered worst; the jawbones were grappled by talons that pulled them apart at the very seams. His tongue flopped out, and that, too, had been yanked out. His eyeballs were gouged out, and the brains pulled apart in pieces from the emptied, bloodied sockets. What little the head had to offer had been brutally picked off and crammed into waiting mouths, with the crimson-stained skull tossed aside, whereupon it rolled in the snow before stopping at the foot of the flames.

The beaks of Lance’s gryphon soldiers scrunched up, Armin’s legs shook as a scowl set in his face, and Angel shivered at the sight of the carnage. NoLegs glanced forlornly at the carcass that was once a pony before turning back to the villagers and using his tail to draw his sword. The cat heard a shuffle from the left and turned his head to glance in that direction before his ears fell flat on his head at the new sight he had witnessed.

Held by more hippogryphs to the sidelines were Spike, a dull grey dog-like creature that stood on his back legs with a club-like tail, and another hippogryph mare who had the face of a pony and the slit-pupiled eyes of a gryphon. The mare froze upon seeing Anna, entranced with the others as the hapless stallion’s bones lay in the stained white as though forgotten. “Sister!” she shrieked, and only then did the green-maned unicorn turn to the left and take notice of her.

“Green eyes and a green mane hanging past her shoulders, with a light brown coat and dark brown talons…” Anna murmured before her eyes went wide as she took in the sight of the detained hippogryph, and she turned to the other gryphs with a scowl set in her face. “Let my sister and the dragon go,” she snarled, and at once, the villagers turned to her with fresh blood dribbling down their chins.

“That cunt with a cutie mark is your sister?” one villager spoke, a sinister smile framed on his muzzle. He shook his head, still grinning, small droplets of red flying from his face and further staining the snow.

“We were hoping you foolish lot wouldn’t come back to our abode,” another stallion hissed, scowling. “Oh well. More food for us.” He snorted, and the villagers donned a unanimous smirk on their faces.

“You maniacs! What did that pony do to deserve such a fate?” Rarity chided, eyes narrowing low. Before she could open her mouth to speak again, a cream-colored hoof rose in front of her muzzle.

“Let them go, and we won’t cause any more trouble in this Godcat-damned village,” Anna growled, summoning her bow and nocking an arrow with her magic as she jerked her head to the detained group for emphasis. At her demand, the villagers only chortled in unison.

Katie moved in closer, wings keeping her aloft, but she kept her distance from the bloodstained hippogryphs. “Let the dragon, mare, and diamond dog loose, else we’ll free them by force,” she warned. The hippogryph holding the mare responded by lifting a halberd—one with a harp tied to the middle of the shaft—from the ground and brought the pointed tip to his captive’s throat. The one holding Spike lifted the drake with his talons, bringing his beak mere inches away from his neck. The ones holding the diamond dog procured an array of cutlasses from sheaths strapped to their bodies and brought them dangerously close to the canine’s chest.

The crowd parted some, and the elder stepped down the makeshift aisle right towards the groups. He had so much blood staining him not even Lance could tell what had been feathers and what had been beard. The elder shot Matt a wry smile, eyes gleaming like that of a predator’s. “Pity you left just days ago, you foolish ponies,” he spat, still smiling. “We could have made you into excellent morsels. Though, I suppose it matters not now, since you brought more bounty for me and my fellow hippogryphs to share.”

Matt took a step forward, summoning his blade and holding it defensively in front of the Mythonians with his magic. “These mares and their dragon are not food,” he snarled.

Natalie scanned the villagers, and frowned upon noticing something. “Where are the mares and foals? I could’ve sworn they were out here when we visited,” she asked.

“We killed them,” the village elder answered, pointing an accusing talon at the unicorn who’d asked the question. “They all wanted to go off gallivanting for those wretched cutie marks! Too bad we’ll have to kill the green-maned hippogryph over yonder; had she not gotten her mark, she’d have made an excellent slut!”

Lance shot a look at the captives, frown deepening as he spotted the aforementioned mare whose eyes flickered with vestiges of fear and panic. He then turned to look at the elder and the rest of the villagers, quickly noting the engorged bellies of the winged brutes. “I’m impressed you bastards even managed to get mares to procreate with you,” he spat.

The elder continued to sneer, oblivious to the glares the Mythonians gave him. “I used a little method to keep those whorses in line,” he said simply. He turned to his villagers and flung his talons high into the air before shouting, “Bring unto me the last foal!”

A burly hippogryph stalked towards the elder from the crowd on his back legs, dragging with him a screaming, pony-faced, and nigh-featherless filly that kicked and flailed about. The child flapped her wings, tried grasping at the snow with her talons; anything to get out of the vise-like grip that held her by the scruff of the neck.

“Let me go! I promise I won’t get my cutie mark! Just don’t hurt me anymore!” the filly shrieked, her voice wracked by sobs. The musclebound hippogryph threw her in front of the elder, who lunged at her with one talon, pinning her to the snow. The foal stilled as she looked into the formerly-white hippogryph’s visage, her claws feebly holding onto his limb, rear legs falling slack against the snow.

“Oh shit,” Lance mumbled, eyes widening. His heart stopped in his chest as he and the others witnessed the elder’s other talon lower itself to the foal’s groin. The claws were plunged deep into the flesh, and the hapless filly let out a hoarse, anguished wail as the talon tore deep gashes down her privates and into her thigh. Natz, Anna, and Katie froze, and the dead changeling landed in the snow as everyone’s eyes widened further still while the filly’s cries devolved into pained and incoherent sobs.

The foal kicked feebly with her wounded back leg, only to stop and scream once more as the claws tore into her again, creating more oozing gashes in her groin and right thigh. “Stop!” she howled, her voice cracking as pain seared through her body.

“You broke one of this village’s rules, little slut! You have to pay for your insolence!” the elder cackled, laughing quite jovially at the filly’s suffering. He raised his bloodied talon and punched her in the face one time, giving her a black eye. Another punch to the face had her gasping in pain, coughing as fresh blood trickled down her nose. Her attacker spotted a few loose feathers clinging to her wings and tore them out, grinning as another shriek came from his victim.

Discarding the feathers to one side, the bloodied hippogryph laughed, digging his claws into her tender flesh yet again—and this time, once his claws parted from the wounds, he grabbed bits of snow and rubbed them into the newly-created openings, causing the filly to let out screams that rose a few octaves higher. He ran his talon up, grasping one of her ears, and violently jerked it, garnering more pained whimpers as his claws ran across the ear’s thin skin as if searching for a weak point.

“Maybe I could tear that pretty little face off and use it as a cock sleeve,” the elder hissed in a low voice, eyes alight with a predatory gleam—the gleam of a sadist.

“I-I don’t wanna be a cock sleeve!” the filly shrieked, once more struggling. “I-I want to die! Just make it stop!”

At that point, Rarity’s face set in a scowl, ungodly fury alight in her eyes; the filly’s recent words serving to fuel her wrath. She lunged forward, hooves outstretched, horn lighting up in magic. She separated the elder from the foal and sent the hapless filly almost flying into Matt, using some more levitation to careen herself towards the bloodied hippogryph like a speeding bullet.

Matt caught the foal in his magic and held her as close as he dared, watching the Mythonian as she landed on the elder’s chest and knocked him down on his back. She began hitting his face with her front hooves over and over, blood staining the ivory as his beak broke from the repeated jabs of her rage-emboldened attack. Spike gawked as the unicorn kept up with her onslaught, screeching in pure hatred as the elder’s face caved in from the assault.

“Rarity, stop!” Twilight yelled, lighting her horn in magic. She pulled the ivory unicorn away, just as the remains of the hippogryph’s head splattered into pieces from the thorough pounding it had received. The mare flailed violently, rage still pulsing through her blood, snarling like a rabid animal and she kept her eyes trained on the elder’s now-headless corpse. “He’s dead, Rarity! He won’t hurt that filly anymore!” she pleaded, and as if a spell had been broken, Rarity stopped and slumped in her magical grasp.

The musclebound hippogryph took a step forward, only to stop as Lance, Anna, and Natz formed a wall in front of Matt with their respective weapons drawn. The half-Clydesdale continued to hold the scared, abused filly who grasped at the fur covering the barrel of his chest, whimpering unintelligible pleas into it , blood still dripping onto the snow from her recent wounds. “Go ahead, take another step forward. I frickin’ dare ya,” he hissed, briefly flinching as the filly winced in his grasp.

“I think I was being serious when I said ‘release the hostages’ two times over. Do that now, and you won’t become oversized pin cushions,” Anna threatened, conjuring several arrows of stone and crystal from flashes of magic that briefly exploded around her, all poised like daggers at the villagers. At this, the hippogryphs begrudgingly let go of their hostages, with the mare snatching the halberd with the harp tied to it and Spike running towards Twilight as fast as his legs could carry him.

The diamond dog snorted and knocked the stallions with the cutlasses down onto their backs with just one swing from his arm, and he walked towards the ponies in an upright stance. His eyes darted from one member of the gathering of uninvited guests to the next, until he spotted the wounded filly. “She needs help,” he said simply. When Matt looked at him, his eyes went wide and he nodded in response.

Matt turned to the villagers, once again scowling. “You pieces of horseshit have proved you aren’t worthy of a foal, much less a mare. We’re taking this filly with us. She deserves far better,” he said. Turning around, he rose a front leg to hold the now-shaking child, wincing as she gasped in pain before slowly trudging back towards the tank. Everyone followed him after only a moment’s hesitation, with Dash hovering next to the Fantasian unicorn, a worried frown on her face.

“I-I-I don’t wanna be with those bad hippogryphs no more,” the filly whimpered after just a few more moments of being carried, curling up in a ball. “T-they hurt mommy and daddy, a-and t-tore th-them apart.”

“Should I fly her to the tank? It would be faster,” Dash asked, worry glinting in her eyes.

“As much as I’d like for you to do that, we can’t risk it. Filly’s traumatized enough as is; last thing she needs is a high-speed dizzying session to add to her list of worries,” the blond-maned unicorn answered with a huff. “I can’t believe we couldn’t get to that stallion in time, though… at least we got this little girl away from their talons.”

“What are we going to do with her, though? It’s dangerous taking a filly with us, and we don’t know how she’s gonna react in the days to come,” Lance sighed as he trotted up to flank Matt.

“I honestly have no idea. She’s gonna need healing, though. That’s something we can all agree on,” the black-and-white stallion answered with a heavy sigh. He paused as the filly shivered, and he looked at her before his frown deepened. “Fucking hell, they plucked all her feathers off,” he hissed, gently pressing the child closer to his chest.

“Uh, yeah, that’s kinda why I wanted to rush her to the tank!” Dash groaned in exasperation.

“We’ll fly them both to the tank,” Nathan and Quicksilver stated in unison, only to wince simultaneously as the filly began screeching.

“I don’t wanna fly! I don’t wanna share the skies with big meanies!” the child howled, violently thrashing in Matt’s grasp with renewed vigor. The stallion sat on his rump and held her struggling form with both his front legs, careful to leave just enough room to let her kick and punch as much as she wanted. Everyone else stilled as well, with the exception of the hippogryph mare who had instead surged forward whilst dropping her halberd.

“Give her to me; she needs immediate treatment,” the winged mare pleaded, holding her talons outward. Matt begrudgingly complied, carefully handing the child to the mare with concern lingering on his face. He turned towards Natz and nodded to the cream-coated unicorn, who had likewise bounded onward with her horn glowing.

“Shh, hold still for a minute. I’m gonna make those cuts better, okay?” the red-maned unicorn spoke in a soft tone, cringing as the filly stilled and looked at her with eyes alight in fear. Lowering her horn, she carefully aligned the tip with the child’s stomach before trailing it further down, just over the beginnings of the most horrid wounds. A soft, white glow encompassed the foal’s hind quarters, and she whimpered as the glow closed the wounds and the pain went away. The glow embraced her other injuries, sending a feeling of warmth through them as they too healed. The aura died in seconds once all of the injuries, sans missing feathers, had fully healed.

“I-I’m cold,” the child complained, shivering as Natalie pulled her horn away.

“You won’t be cold much longer,” Natalie cooed, raising a hoof and gently caressing the child’s head with it. “You’re gonna get in a warm place, and we’ll feed you, and after a good night’s sleep you should feel better.”

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

The filly snuggled against Harry the bear, a blanket draped across her featherless frame. The bear looked at the filly with pity in his eyes, letting off a soothing growl as she drifted off to sleep. Angel stood next to the filly, a look on his face so sour he started to turn crimson.

“He’s still mad about the whole thing, isn’t he?” Twilight asked, shooting Fluttershy a look.

The pegasus nodded. “I don’t blame Angel if he wants to hit things, considering what we all saw today,” she answered, her voice glum. “I think I should invest in a punching bag for him when we get home.”

Pinkie looked at the foal, frowning. Her mane clung to her form as she said in a saddened tone, “Why would they do that to a filly? All she wanted was a cutie mark.”

Rainbow put a hoof on Pinkie’s withers, eyes also trained on the foal. “At least we got her out of that… that… that situation now. It’s gonna be a month or so before her feathers grow back, though,” she sighed, her voice equally as glum.

“And probably a few more before she’s mentally well enough to even come to terms with what happened,” Twilight added, her tone hushed. She turned to Spike and asked, “What happened? Were you taken this morning, or last night?”

“I was taken from the airship after I couldn't sleep last night, taken to Frostbite and thrown in a prison-like house with the diamond dog, the stallion and the hippogryph mare. They all told me they came to Frostbite to find some temple of some kind, but the hippogryph with the beard told us it was just a ruse,” the drake sighed, avoiding Twilight’s gaze.

“A ruse?” Fluttershy parroted, worry twinkling in her eyes.

“Yeah, and we saw them kill all the mares and other foals this morning, and they… they…” Spike shuddered, his breathing hitched for a moment. Twilight trotted to him and wrapped him in her front legs, which he gladly returned with his claws. “I’m probably not going to sleep tonight.”

“I don’t blame you, Spike. What them hippogryphs did was uncalled for. I have never seen anyone do something so… awful, and to a little kid no less. Poor girl’s probably gonna need therapy after this,” Applejack whimpered, nodding somberly.

“After seeing something like that, we’re all going to need therapy. Especially Rarity; look at her, she’s a bloodstained mess!” Rainbow huffed, pointing a hoof at the mare in the corner for emphasis. The ivory unicorn had spent the last several hours curled up in a ball, mane trussed up and scrunched like an accordion, bits of dried red staining the natural purple like blemishes. She made no sound, save for soft inhales and exhales, eyes staring vacantly at the wall as though it weren’t really there.

Twilight frowned as she turned to her bloodstained companion, still and stiff and silent. Her friend shivered for a moment before falling stiff again, as if she had been cold. “Rarity?” she ventured, but felt a hoof touch her withers and turned to Fluttershy.

“Let her alone, Twilight. I know, she just… killed a hippogryph and bashed him in, but…” Fluttershy trailed off, turning to glance at the sleeping filly. “If she hadn’t acted, or if any of us hadn’t acted, that filly would’ve been dead,” she said simply.

“I’d just rather it be one of the Fantasians who’d have taken that hippogryph out. We both know Rarity isn’t the kind of pony to just snap and murder… yet she went and did exactly that,” Twilight sighed, shoulders sagging as if she’d been defeated.

“What’s done is done, as much as it hurts me to say it. There’s no going back now, Twi. I’m getting the feeling that Fantasia’s… a bad place,” Applejack sighed, her head drooping.

“And if that’s the case, then I hope—I really do hope—that we ran into the nicest ponies and gryphons around,” Pinkie bemoaned, tears welling up in her eyes as she continued to stare at the filly. The foal shifted in her sleep, the back of her head resting against the bear’s side, mumbling something from her little mouth.

A light tapping came from a window, and Dash turned to one side of the airship to see what had caused it. Outside flew the green-maned hippogryph from earlier, continuing to tap at the glass pane with her claws. The pegasus trotted to the window and opened it, letting the mare land inside.

“How’s she holding up?” the hippogryph asked as soon as she folded her wings, gesturing to the snoozing filly with a talon.

“She’s sleeping snugly against the bear. We fed her apples and carrots and sweet corn before she dozed off,” Rainbow answered, wings twitching for a moment. “She… kinda went green in the face, though. Something tells me they fed her nothing but meat.”

“Figures. My sister’s helping her friends clean out the Valkyrie’s fridges. They’re starting to think the villagers gave them raw pony and hippogryph flesh, and honestly, I can see why they’d come to that conclusion,” the green-maned mare nodded with a sigh. “The diamond dog’s opting to stay in the tank tonight, and he’s helping with the cleaning.”

“That’s good. Say, why do you have more gryphon features than your sister, if you two are even related? It strikes me as odd that she lacks any gryphon features of the sort,” Twilight mused, earning her a glance from the visitor and a small, weak smile.

“We’re fraternal twins. I just took more after our hippogryph mom, while sis took more after our unicorn dad,” the mare answered, sitting on her rump and raising a talon to fiddle about with some strands of green mane.

Twilight pondered the answer for a moment before nodding a bit. “Alright, I can understand that,” she conceded, turning to the sleeping filly who shifted again to press her body closer to that of Harry’s.

The green-maned mare turned to the sleeping filly as well, frowning. “I hope we can rehabilitate her of the meat-eating habit, especially if they fed her ponies and hippogryphs…” she sighed, frowning.

“I’m… I’m a barbarian,” Rarity mumbled at last, her breathing hitched and riddled with hiccups. The others turned to her with worried glances. “I’m… just like them. F-filthy blood’s on my hooves… hideous, disgusting, red blood...”

“B-but… they would’ve… the filly… and S-Spike…” the bloodstained mare went on, her form shivering once more. “They’d have… they’d have…” Twilight trotted to her friend with a cautious, gradual gait, only to stop in her tracks and cover her ears as Rarity threw her head up high and let off a bloodcurdling shriek.

Fluttershy could barely do more than stare in shock, along with the rest of her friends and the hippogryph mare. “Oh my,” she whimpered, staring wide-eyed as the red-stained unicorn slumped against the floor, once more unmoving.