"You cannot afford to play the Long Game with this one, Celestia!" Discord growled. "Remember, Trevar is only human, after all and you know what humans are like! Besides, you cannot exactly afford to keep what you know about the Cat-Lord from Luna, any longer. Why, he's probably already out there, gathering an army as we speak! You need help, Celestia! And whether you want it or not, I'm going to make sure you get the help you need." And with that, Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving the room still dripping with red juices.

"What doest he mean, Celie?" Luna asked astonished and alarmed.

Celestia picked up a dripping napkin to dab at the red juice dripping from her lips. She was NOT pleased.

"Celie? What is going on?" Luna asked. "Who, or what, is this 'Cat-Lord' that Discord doth speak?"

"He, apparently, is the human stallion we know as Allec Trevar," Celestia growled. She slowly stood up and shook the still dripping beet juice off of her, and flapped her wings to remove as much as possible. Unfortunately, doing so reapplied a new coat of the stuff onto her sister, but it was unavoidable. "We shall talk in more detail after we clean ourselves up. And if this leaves stains in my fur, I'll have more than a few choice words with Discord about it!"

Celestia sent some of her magic through her horn to open the door, getting the attention of the guards standing outside. When they saw the state of the room, they suddenly became alarmed.

"Guards," Celestia gently began, but the low rumble of anger was clearly still in her voice, "please ask the cleaning staff to come make repairs to the dining room as soon as possible. And also, please convey our apologies for the state of the mess."

"Your highnesses!" the guards exclaimed. "What happened?"

"You needest not be concerned," Luna said, getting up to shake off the dripping red liquid from her frame as well. "'Twas but a prank done by Discord and was of no danger to either of us."

The diarchs left the guards to stare after them and the condition of the dining room in astonishment.

"Why! Hello Cadence! Have thee seen my sister, Celestia?" Luna asked as she came out of her shower room.

She blinked at Luna.

"Why no, Twilight Sparkle. Have you seen my sister, Luna?" Celestia asked, not to be outdone by her sister's pranking. Fortunately, for both of them—or perhaps it was more correct to say fortunately for Discord—the beet juice didn't permanently stain either of their fur.

"So, whatever then is this matter with the human, Allec Trevar, and how does he endanger the Griffon Empire?" Luna asked getting serious. "And whatever is this 'Cat-Lord' thing that Discord mentioned?"

Celestia kept silent until she and Luna took their customary seats on their respective pillows when meeting in Luna's antechamber.

"Do you recall what I spoke to you regarding the argument I had with Ambassador Gustav over the human? And how, after the human collapsed, we brought him to Ponyville?" Celestia finally asked.

"Of course, Celie," Luna replied, taking her customary cushion.

"What I left out of my recounting the story to you was that during the flight to Ponyville, I saw that Gustav had moved to have a private conversation with the shadowcat. It was not as private as they had hoped."

"Of course that was a serious breach of etiquette and trust we have with the griffons!" Luna said with alarm. "But naturally, I will not disclose this to anypony!"

"What concerns me is that Gustav, for some reason, believes the human stallion is something called a 'Cat-Lord', evidently one of two progenitor gods for both griffons and shadowcats," Celestia explained. "However, I have not been able to find any mention of such in our histories."

"And this Trevar creature has such power to usurp the Emperor and take over with but a single word?" Luna asked astonished.

"You weren't there to see the reaction that Gustav had upon hearing the human speak," Celestia said darkly. "I've no doubt that he would have the same effect on Emperor Tail Feather. Almost certainly, he's influenced the griffon guards that Gustav sent to watch over him, every one of them a hen! The accounts from our guards all agree: he's begun breeding with them all, even though not all of them can possibly be in heat! I dare say that Gustav would be willing to lift his tail and stand to be bred if the human stallion wished it!"

"This cannot be true!" Luna exclaimed.

"I truly wish it weren't," Celestia said, sighing. "As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm afraid Discord is correct. I cannot play the Long Game with this creature. And we'll need help to counter whatever Trevar comes up with."

"So, what sort of help will Discord be sending us?" Luna finally asked after taking time to consider the ramifications.

"That, perhaps, worries me more than this 'Cat-Lord' business," Celestia concluded.

The warmth of the Sun added to the comfort as Mittens sleepily tried to hold onto her slumber, happily recalling both her dreams and the events before going to sleep, all the pleasures taken from both the Cat-Lord and the shadowcat, Pardus.

However, the annoying light beating upon her eyelids pushed the coming day into her thoughts, and the future became now, obliterating the past. She opened her eyes, smiling to see that the Cat-Lord still held his form as that magnificent griffon. Pardus was on her other side and Panthera had evidently joined them all, shamelessly offering the use of her body to be everygriffons' pillow.

"Good morning, Mittens," the handsome male griffon said to her, nuzzling her with his beak. "How did you sleep?" But his voice—

Shock and terror suddenly began filling her mind and heart. This was NOT the Cat-Lord! Some impostor was lying there in his place!

So she did what any sane griffon would do: screaming, she leapt up and drove her beak into the skull of the interloper! Even as she was delivering the justly deserved deathblow, she was already planning the next move: she would hunt down this squit's accomplices and find out what they had done with the Cat-Lord and she would rescue him and make them ALL PAY!!

Surprisingly, the mortally wounded doppelganger blinked at her and used a talon to dab at his wound. "Well! This is awkward," he muttered.

"WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE CAT-LORD!?" Mittens screamed, furiously slashing the obviously zombie griffon with her claws.

"Mittens! Calm down!" Pardus and Panthera both yelled at her. However, Mittens was furiously trying to shred this undead monster and refused to back down. Fortunately, the shadowcats must have used their powers to disperse the monster, as it suddenly vanished from the room, taking even its scent with it.

"SOME MONSTER HAS STOLLEN THE CAT-LORD! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Mittens exclaimed. Then she fearfully realized what she had just said. "OH, SQUIT! IF THEY FIND I LOST THE—the Cat-Lord, I'm—I'm—oh, squit!" she whimpered in terror. She LOST the Cat-Lord! THE OTHERS WERE GOING TO KILL HER!!

"No one's stolen Trevar!" Pardus sternly told her, the shadowcat's magic grabbing her to make Mittens look at her. "Trevar is out, searching for a matter that is important to him. He instructed us to make that image of him to keep you griffons from getting in his way!"

"But—but—we have our orders! From Ambassador Gustav, I have my orders: 'protect the Cat-Lord!' I've failed! I've lost him! They're going to pluck and tar me and roast me on a spit—"

Wait! The shadowcats are responsible for the Cat-Lord being gone? she thought as their words finally sunk into her mind.

"No one's touching you!" Panthera growled, grabbing the griffon's face with her wings and paws. "Trevar gave us our orders! And according to your own ambassador, both Pardus and I, as well as Trevar, outrank even your emperor, is that not right?"

"Y-y-yes," Mittens replied, still stunned that the shadowcats would do such a thing. "But—"

"But—NOTHING!" Pardus growled. "TREVAR ordered us to keep you griffons thinking he was still here. That was needed as it keeps those horses outside thinking he's still here! THAT is of paramount importance!"

"But I know that wasn't Trevar!" Mittens protested. "And if I know, then the others will know, too! And I'll be blamed—!"

"You'll be blamed for following orders that countermanded other orders you were given?" Panthera asked. "They won't dare, because they'll have to go through us to get to you!"

"But—but—one of the others is supposed present themselves today to Trevar for mating, using the passionfruit!" Mittens fearfully explained.

"Well, that's easy," Pardus said, grinning. "We'll just tell them that Trevar isn't finished with you yet. That he's specifically asked to keep doing it with you."

"That won't matter! Either one-on-one or in an orgy, they'll be here!" Mittens exclaimed.

And at that moment, as if to prove the demon Murphy, who obviously had an intense and personal dislike against Mittens and wasn't quite finished turning her life into squit, Screaming Eagle arrived at the open window. Right on que.

"Good morning, Silver Thorn," Shadow Wing greeted when he and his teams arrived for their shift.

"Quiet night?" Silver Thorn asked, smirking, as he already knew the answer.

"The night, yes," his counterpart spat. "But as soon as the Princesses raised the Sun and lowered the Moon, they were at it again, screaming in Griffonese this morning."

"Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste," Silver Thorn sighed. "I mean, as griffons, I'm sure they're all fine specimens. But who'd want to risk their lives trying to bed something that would be more interested in making a meal out of you than as a lover? But have you seen that human creature?" he asked with a shudder. "I did yesterday, and no amount of brain bleach is going to get remove the image of his mangy hide from my memory! The griffons must be really desperate to choose him for a mate."

"Yeah. Weird," Shadow Wing agreed. "And another of the griffons arrived just a few moments ago. Oh, I have this for you," he said, holding out a scroll. "Last night, after you left, the Princesses instructed us to visually confirm if the human stallion was still here in the house, while still respecting diplomatic protocols, and to immediately report his presence or absence in either case."

"That's odd," Silver Thorn muttered as he read the orders written by Princess Luna's own hoof. Princess Celestia's concurrence was confirmed by her signature as well.

Their conversation was interrupted by a round of furious screeching, clearly in the Griffonese language and several speakers, coming from the window, then silence again.

"Let's hope that's the only odd thing to contend with today," Shadow Wing sighed, seeing the human mare approach from across the street.

"Good morning," she greeted. "I was wondering if I could have a word with Mr. Trevar."

"If he is willing, yes," Silver Thorn replied. They watched as the creature fearlessly went to the door and knocked.

"Well, we'll leave you to enjoy the day, Silver Thorn," Shadow Wing said with a sigh. He then saluted. "I stand relieved."

"You are relieved," Silver Thorn automatically replied, returning the salute. "Try not to get too smashed, 'tonight'," he added as a final snarky word. As the Lunar teams departed, he stood to watch the human mare wait for an answer as he idly held the scroll.

Unsurprising, Trevar opened the door, accompanied by one of the inky black shadowcats.

"Good morning," Trevar said pleasantly, draped in a white bedsheet. "Won't you please come in?"

Silver Thorn used his telekinesis to scribble the confirmation that Trevar was still there, rolled it up and used his magic to send it to Princess Celestia. Then he looked up to see that the human female had paused to watch until the sergeant was done before entering the house.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he heard Trevar ask as the door closed behind her as both teams of escorts took that opportunity to resume their socializing outside.

Shadow Wing had one last duty to perform prior to returning to Canterlot. Letting the team that guarded the human female fly on, he led his team to the nearby castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle to deliver his report.

"Good morning, Princess," he greeted when she opened the door. "There is little to report regarding the humans, other than the stallion still seems to enjoy the company of the griffon hens. Also, there's been no additional sighting of that rogue dragon that flew by the town at the beginning of last night."

"Thank you," she responded. "I'm still rather surprised by Allec Trevar's selection of a mate, or mates, as it seems to be the case. I hope that Lieutenant Scott isn't disappointed with him for choosing such.

"And I received your report of the dragon via Silver Thorn after you relieved him," she continued. "Applejack had also stopped by to report about him. She said he didn't bother anything in her orchard other than landing there. He doesn't match the description of any known dragon."

"Which agrees with what the dragon let slip when we encountered him," Shadow Wing said, thinking about it. "If he's from so far away that he missed the migration, then he probably is completely unknown to anypony in Equestria."

"That's rather a shame," the princess muttered. "From your account relayed through Silver Thorn, he seemed to be a reasonable dragon. It would have been nice to have an opportunity to converse with such."

"Perhaps," Shadow Wing said, noncommittedly, looking at the small purple and green specimen standing nervously next to the princess, holding tight to one of her hind legs.

"Does Lord Trevar know how you both are using your magic to impersonate him?" Screaming Eagle hissed at Pardus as they watched the scene below from the top of the stairs. "And how can you know how to speak of so many matters in his stead?"

"Indeed, he does," Pardus whispered back. "We have his expressed and explicit orders to do exactly this. In addition, if need be, we can telepathically communicate with him to relay any information that we might not be privy to. Would you like me to arrange to ask him directly while we stand up here? He'll be able to confirm the conversation to be had with you when he returns."

"Pardus! Can you please fix Lieutenant Scott some breakfast?" the image of Trevar called out from below.

"Would oatmeal with milk suffice?" Pardus asked, starting down the stairs, followed by Screaming Eagle and Mittens. The three of them went directly to the kitchen to continue their discussion.

"While he's out, the important thing for you griffons to do is to cooperate with us in keeping the ponies from learning what Trevar is doing," Pardus quietly snarled at them while he waited for the water to come to a boil. "And just so you know, there will be other times where we will need to accommodate Trevar in hiding such absences, and the three of us fully expect your cooperation! AND. YOU. WILL. NOT. INFORM. Gustav or any other griffon of such absences! Not even to your fellow guards. And I will ensure that when it happens, the others involved will likewise be informed not to tell you, either! Any griffons not present when those absences occur, they do not have a need to know!

"Do I make myself clearly understood?" Pardus finished, growling into Screaming Eagle's face. She nervously nodded.

"You are free to ask Trevar for confirmation of these orders," Pardus continued. "However, you are NOT free to question our orders! His, mine, or Panthera's! Do you understand that?"

"Y-y-yes, Pardus," the griffon meekly replied.

"Good, because if Trevar, my sister, or I have to repeat this to either of you, there will be blood!" Pardus snarled as he turned his attention back to the boiling water.

The griffons remained silent while the human female remained, but as soon as she left, Mittens and Screaming Eagle resumed their argument with Panthera and Pardus over Trevar's absence.

"Pardus, Panthera!" Mittens spoke up. "Despite what you warned us, we do have to help protect the Cat-Lord! What is it that he's doing that needs for him to depart in such a manner?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Panthera replied.

"But how can we protect him if he's not here?" Screaming Eagle asked. "If he comes across any other griffons, they might reveal the fact he's the Cat-Lord to the ponies!"

"Except they won't know he's out there," Pardus smoothly said, grinning.

"How can they not!?" Screaming Eagle yelled. "He's not exactly inconspicuous!"

The instant that was said, Mittens suddenly froze in dread. Indeed, he can be! she realized. But she doesn't know that! And I'm under orders to say nothing! She looked sharply at Panthera and the shadowcat nodded very subtly. She knew what Mittens just remembered!

"You haven't answered our demands! Where is the Cat-Lord!?" Screaming Eagle screamed. And Mittens had no way of warning Screaming Eagle that she was now flying through a storm of razorblades! Alone!

"Trevar is out hunting for something that he's very interested in acquiring," Pardus told them.

"Then we should be out there, helping him to get it!" Screaming Eagle yelled.

"And that's exactly why he doesn't want you out there with him," Panthera countered. "If you were there, then the ponies out there would know, too! Trevar wants it kept quiet!"

"WHAT IS IT!?" shouted Screaming Eagle.

"A dragon to mate with," Pardus finally said, showing his exasperation.

Both Mittens and Screaming Eagle were stunned by the revelation.

"Are you serious?" Mittens and Screaming both asked, astonished.

"Yes," Panthera replied. "If he's lucky, he's probably out there right this moment getting laid."

"Bu—but—but why would the Cat-Lord do such a thing?" Screaming Eagle asked.

"Because he is the Cat-Lord," Pardus replied.

Standing well back from the thin gauze curtains covering the upstairs bedroom window, a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark used a set of binoculars to watch the house next door, shifting about to try and keep track of any activities over there through their uncovered windows.

Something felt very odd about the targets she was watching. Yesterday, she could only sense the griffon hen that had entered the house with the two winged panthers and the strange bipedal creature, and the guards that remained outside. But of the two black figures and the tall creature, she could feel—nothing!

Not even a presence!

Such a being has, to the best of her knowledge of history, never before been encountered. Only, here, there were now three!

She had been informed that she would encounter it, even as the one relaying her orders couldn't believe it, either. But to experience this is just unnerving as spit! she thought.

But her orders were to watch and report. Another would take that information to those who would decide what to do about it.

During the rest of the day, she could feel the griffon hen's emotions: lust and love. And extremely strong feelings at that! But she was too far away to make use of it, as were the guards standing about the house. Their emotions randomly fluctuated between boredom and lust.

How could they even do that? she wondered, thoroughly confused. Boredom, she could understand. Sympathetic lust due to the actions of nearby individuals, she could understand. But to simultaneously feel both!? But again, they were too far away for any of it to be useful to her.

And yet, again, of those others inside, the ones engaged with the griffon, making her feel such strong levels of emotion—absolutely nothing!

It was psychically impossible! Except for the fact she was witnessing it! And it worried her that her report of such would get her recalled for a fitness evaluation. Her only hope it wouldn't come to that lay in the fact they knew this sort of thing was going to exist when they assigned her to this task. She just prayed they would remembered such when they got her report….

And that griffon bitch was being stimulated for HOURS! She didn't get done until nearly sunset! At those levels, she could've fed the entire Hive for a week! Afterwards, her lust shifted fully into love as she slipped into sleep, the warm glow steady throughout her dreams. The guards drifted fully to boredom, and she expected to record very little for the rest of the night as the sun set.

But suddenly, a HUGE FLARE erupted!

It was there, several hundred trots into the woods behind the house she was watching. It had come from nowhere! One moment, nothing, the next, it was as if she was staring into a sun—no!—a supernova of emotions!

ANGUISH! FURY! FEAR! LUST! HUNGER! HEARTBREAK! JOY! COMPASSION! CONTENTMENT! LOVE—! AND—SOMETHING ELSE—SOMETHING AMAZING! ALL OF THEM AT ONCE—ALL AT THE SAME TIME—AND ALL EBBING AND FLOWING IN PERFECT SYCHRONIZATION LIKE A MIGHTY SEA, UNDULATING AS IF JUST BEFORE A STORM!!

And just as suddenly, it was taking flight. It overflew the house she was watching, and only then could she see it was a dragon!

But she had never encountered a dragon with such a wide range of emotions, so strong, and feeling them all at once, and so controlled! In fact, no being she had ever heard of was capable of doing this!

It flew down toward the Everfree, and she could only hope it would overfly the Hive close enough so that they would experience it themselves. Otherwise, her report was sure to get her recalled for a fitness eval!

Thereafter, the night was rather routine. Shortly after the dragon left the vicinity, some new guards came by to relieve the ones standing by the houses. These new ones had strong residual fear that they induced into their counterparts being relieved. But nothing of substance occurred for the rest of the night.

But then dawn occurred.

After the hated princess of the ponies raised the Sun, the griffon inside was waking, about to engage in more activities that would result in more lust and love—and such a wasted opportunity to feed the Hive—only, unexpectantly, her love soured into disgust, hatred, ANGER! HORROR! The intensity made her wince.

What the slug? she wondered in astonishment, as she tried to see what was happening. The other house's bedroom window was a direct shot across the view. But evidently, the position of the bed and the beings on it left too much of what was going on still unknown. But she could see the griffon and two of the black winged panthers. The biped creature was nowhere in sight.

The fear continued for several moments, but had settled to a tolerable level, mixed with confusion, before spiking in fear once more with the arrival of another, lust-filled griffon.

Then came more anger and confusion from inside the house.

The bored guards standing watch were in the process of being relieved by their day-counterparts when the other biped creature left its home to seek entry to her target's house. This one, she could feel! A mixture of boredom and confusion. But the odd biped was the one to answer the door. Still nothing!

She continued to watch. Inside, one biped, alternately puzzled and angered. Two griffons, in various degrees of disappointment, fear and anger. Six bored guards after the other six departed. And nothing else!

Eventually, the "normal" biped, she decided to name it, left the house, taking three of the guards with her.

Three bored guards outside remained. Inside, the two griffons slowly shifted to anger. Then one suddenly spiked to dread while the other ramped up in anger. Then they both spiked to astonishment. And still nothing from the one biped or the two winged panthers!

What in the Name of the Queen was going on over there? she wondered.

"What do you mean 'there's only one left'!?" Screaming Eagle demanded of Mittens, once more living up to her name.

Mittens shot a fearful glance at the shadowcats and they also reacted. Revealing that Trevar had two, and survived, would reveal that he had somehow transformed into a griffon, to which she had been ordered to not tell any of her fellow guards!

"The fault for that is ours," Pardus quickly spoke up, covering for her. "Panthera and I sampled one while Mittens and Trevar did the first."

"Oh, of course," Screaming Eagle responded, clearly disappointed with the loss, but unable to criticize the shadowcats or Mittens for the reason.

"Can we not get more?" Panthera asked.

"Not right away," Mittens replied. "We bought all the vendor had on stock, yesterday. The fruit is rare and hard to find in the Everfree and exceedingly dangerous to hunt for it."

"Given how tough we shadowcats are, perhaps we can assist in acquiring more," Pardus suggested.

"Assuming the vendor was willing to supply us the information about his source and they were willing to allow you to accompany them," Mittens replied.

"Can't hurt to ask, I suppose," Screaming Eagle agreed with a shrug of her wings.

"In the meantime, you and I can make use of the one remaining," Pardus told her, licking his lips, to which she nervously and audibly gulped.

"They're supposed to be for Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle began.

"Did not Ambassador Gustav tell us all that he wanted our blood as well as Trevar's for breeding?" Panthera silkily replied.

"Uh—yes," the griffon admitted. "But I had assumed that because we are already closely related, we would not need something like the passionfruit. Plus, we can each only take one dose and the entire fruit must be consumed to activate the magic in it. If Pardus and I use the remainder—"

"Then Panthera and Trevar can use another, if one can be found by today," Pardus cut in, reminding her. "Unfortunately, we are not so closely related that we can breed without the fruit. Last night confirmed that it will work for us, however."

"Y-y-yes, of—of course," Screaming Eagle nervously responded. "Assuming Lord Trevar doesn't object."

"Don't worry. He won't bitch about it," Pardus assured her.

"Much," Panthera added as a caveat.

"Remember, if anyone asks, Trevar is still in the house, enjoying your friend's company," Panthera whispered to Mittens as they prepared to depart out the bedroom window. "However, if you can't respond that way, leave me to answer. I don't like to lie, but I'm fully capable of doing so, if the situations call for it."

"Yes, Panthera," Mittens replied as she leapt.

They landed on the road running in front of the house, surprising Silver Thorn.

"We're just going into town for a spell," Panthera told him before they calmly walked away.

"I hope we can find that vendor again," the shadowcat whispered when they were far enough to assure privacy. "If he's out of stock, there'll be no reason for him to hang about the marketplace."

"Even if he's not, somepony is sure to know where to find him," Mittens replied, to which Panthera nodded.

…

They were in luck, however. He was there, and they had to wait a few minutes as the tan pony stallion with a dark gray or black mane and tail dealt with a previous customer. The two stepped up when the other customer left with the bag the vendor had loaded with a jar filled with a spectral-looking substance.

"Oh, good morning!" the stallion happily greeted them. "I trust you were satisfied with the product you bought yesterday."

"Indeed, we were," Mittens replied. "In fact, we are here to see if you have any more." The stallion gulped as he blinked and nervously loosened the collar of a partial incongruous business suit he wore.

"Uh—you—you bought a three days' supply!" he hoarsely whispered to them. "You are aware of the dangers of an overdose, are you not?"

"Yes, we are," Mittens responded. "However, we have not taken more than the prescribed amounts. It's just that more than one couple was involved in last night's—endeavors."

"My friend had failed to take that into account when we were here, yesterday," Panthera said, speaking up. "Otherwise, there should have been no need for confusion just now. I understand you may be out of stock at the moment. However, we hope that you can still assist us with acquiring the amounts we need."

"Well, I do have an exclusive contract with my supplier," the pony explained in a drawl. "I'm sure you can appreciate the delicacy of divulging my source as that would undercut my own business."

"We do understand," Panthera spoke up before Mittens could. "That is why we are willing to pay you the same profit margin you charge for every passionfruit your supplier provides us." That news brightened the pony's attitude and thereafter, he was much more cooperative.

…

"Now, all we have to do is find his supplier," Panthera said to Mittens after they left the market. "Let's check with the town mayor to see if she knows where we can find this Zecora."

"Wow! You're looking chipper," Twilight Sparkle sarcastically observed as she arrived at the rendezvous with Rainbow Dash for her weekly flying lesson. The azure pegasus woke from the nap she was taking on the cloud to see her "new flying buddy". With her wing muscles reminding her of the exertions of yesterday's workout, Rainbow slowly developed a sly grin. She wanted to see Twilight's face when she heard about it.

"Heh! Hey, Twilight, would you believe I'm happy because I lost a race?" Rainbow asked.

"Say what?" Twilight exclaimed in shock. "But—aren't you the fastest pony in Equestria? And how can you be so happy about losing a race?"

"I'm still the fastest pony in Equestria!" the pegasus said grinning, knowing the trap was about to spring.

"Th-that's not possible!" Twilight protested. "You can't still be the fastest pony if you lost a race, Rainbow! Everypony knows that!"

"I can if the one I lost the race to isn't a pony," she replied. And spr-roing! goes the trap!

"Wait! That just doesn't make any sense!" Twilight began. "Who'd you lose to?"

"Panthera," Rainbow finished. And SNAP! Twilight just hovered there, blinking. Poor thing is still only beginning to process it, Rainbow gleefully thought.

"And Panthera isn't a 'pony'!" the lavender princess groaned, facehoofing.

"'Enyope!'" Rainbow replied in a passable imitation of Big Mac.

"Good one, Rainbow," Twilight sighed, admitting she got caught so easily. "So, what's the upside to this conversation? You still lost the race—?"

"I got up to Mach Five point Five! And on level flight!" the pegasus exclaimed, cheering herself.

"Wow! That's—that's amazing!" the princess also cheered. But then she stopped, thinking of the implications. "But-but, if you did that and still lost, then what did Panthera do?"

"Mach eight," Rainbow admitted, considerably less enthusiastic about it.

"EIGHT!?" Twilight exclaimed, horrified. "Th-that's—that's speed is meteoric!"

"Yeah! Totally awesome, isn't it!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"That's totally disastrous!" Twilight countered.

"Whazzamatter?" Rainbow inquired, puzzled why this was bad news.

"'What's the matter?' 'What's the matter?'," Twilight asked in her typical panic mode fashion. "I'll tell you! Princesses Celestia and Luna sent me a message last night that Discord had given her dire warnings about Trevar and the two shadowcats."

"Phfsh! Like we can trust anything Discord tells us," Rainbow said spitting.

"True. With Discord being Discord, we can only surmise what this is about," Twilight admitted. "However, even Celestia mentioned that she had developed disturbing concerns about them when they spoke in Cloudsdale."

"Well, I was kind of there to see some of that," Rainbow reminded her. "I still don't see what the big deal is. Trevar actually stopped Gustav from going to war over whatever they were arguing over."

"At first, Celestia had nothing more than suspicions, but with Discord getting involved, this looks like it's going to be a serious matter. Especially as the Griffon Empire wants Trevar and the shadowcats to breed with them in the hopes of improving their bloodlines. Can you imagine a griffon that can do Mach Eight?"

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Can they even do that?

"Maybe not right off the bat," Twilight admitted. "But with shadowcat genes, they may be able to break Mach Three, maybe even reach Mach Five on their first generation! Also, remember, Ambassador Gustav employed six griffons to mate with Trevar and Pardus, and one of whom is Gilda! So, if they're successful, we may have between three to six hens laying eggs of griffons that will be half-shadowcat, each of whom might be able to match, or even surpass you, in speed, Rainbow!"

"Whoa—!" Rainbow whispered, finally understanding the implications.

"Hey! There's that weird griffon and one of the shadowcats now," Rainbow pointed out below.

"Mittens," Twilight said, recalling her name. "Unfortunately, I can't tell which shadowcat that is."

"Panthera," Rainbow replied.

"Wait! How can you tell?" Twilight demanded.

"Really, Twilight? Do I havta spell it out to you?" Rainbow snapped at her.

"I think we should follow them and see where they're going," Twilight said, ignoring the jibe.

"I think they're goin' to the castle," Rainbow muttered.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because a few minutes ago while we wuz talkin' up here, they left the mayor's office and went to Sugarcube Corners," Rainbow explained deadpan. "Then, while they were talkin' with Pinkie Pie, she pointed straight to the castle and they're on the road straight to it."

"Oh," Twilight sighed, unable to argue with that logic. Leave it to Rainbow to remain so observant of their environment even as they hovered. "Well, we'd better go down and see what they want."

A young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, but with no cutie mark, knocked at the door of the unassuming cottage and sat to await an answer. In a few moments, the door was opened by a mare with pale, light gold eyes, a raspberry coat, light amber with pale amber highlights in her mane, and three white lilies as a cutie mark. The mare simply handed the pinto colt a crystal which the colt put into a small saddle bag. He then turned to leave.

"Wait," the mare hissed. The colt turned back to her.

"Last night. Did you feel it?" she asked in a hissing voice.

"Who didn't!?" the colt hissed back. The mare sighed relieved.

"Be sure to report that, too. It overflew this location on its way toward the forest and I was able to visually sight it. It was a dragon," she hissed at him before closing the door.

The small young colt left the house to meander about town to throw off any suspicions of his movements. When he was satisfied no pony was paying attention, he quietly began walking toward the dark forest bordering one side of the pony village.

But just as he reached the tree line, he sensed the presence of three others rapidly approaching. He turned to look to see a yellow earth filly with a red bowtie tied in her bright pink mane along with a light gray unicorn filly with a two-tone mane and tail of mulberry and gray. They were in a wagon being pulled by a scooter being driven by an orange pegasus filly with a dark pink mane and tail. None of them had cutie marks. All three were on an intercept course hurriedly trying to catch him and all of them were calling out at him.

His mission did not allow for this interruption, so the small young colt bolted for the trees trying to escape.

"So do Twilight!" Rainbow Dash gleefully exclaimed.

"Really?" Panthera snarled back at the hovering pegasus. "Too simple! At least doing a full prismatic rainbow effect gives me something of a challenge. I've at least got to decide on a pattern that won't interfere with itself."

Ever since the azure pegasus and violet Equestrian princess descended upon them, Mittens let Panthera deal with keeping them from learning why they were looking for the zebra known as Zecora.

"Hey, I just realized something. We're all winged, here! Why are you the only one hovering?" Panthera suddenly demanded of Rainbow Dash.

Everypony suddenly looked at each other, evidently also wondering. Certainly Mittens was now considering the question, but only because Panthera had raised the issue.

"I—I like to exercise my wings!" Rainbow Dash finally answered defensively. "What's wrong with that?"

"Oh," Panthera responded with a shrug of her wings. "Just wondering."

"Wait! There's gotta be something that bugging you about it!" the pegasus shouted after several moments of nothing more forthcoming.

"Hmm? No, nothing. I was just wondering. That was all," Panthera quietly remarked as she licked her lips.

"No! There's gotta be something bothering you about why I'm up here!" the pegasus angrily challenged. "So, spit it out, already!"

"Well, you say you're exercising them, right?" Panthera asked. Mittens was puzzled as to why the shadowcat sounded so innocent yet must have had some ulterior motive in the subject.

"Yeah! I do it so that I can be the fastest pegasus in Equestria!" she angrily replied, getting in the shadowcat's face.

"But it didn't help you racing against me earlier," Panthera purred as she gave the pony a lick on her nose. The Equestrian's eyes suddenly went to dots while the purple princess facehoofed.

"Oh! It looks like we're here," Panthera happily announced, looking at the hut Mittens almost didn't see.

"You guys say she's a zebra? Let's see how this works," the shadowcat said as her fur developed innumerable black and white stripes all over her body while walking up to the hut's door and knocked on it.

"Now who could it be knocking on my door on this lovely—GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!" the zebra exclaimed when she opened the door.

"Now where'd Pip get off to?" Apple Bloom yelled, frustrated that they lost him. He was only a few seconds ahead of them when he rushed into the Everfree forest. But those few seconds was all he needed for them to lose sight of him and then they could find no trace of the pinto colt.

"C'mon, Pip!" Sweetie Belle called out. "We shouldn't even BE in the Everfree Forest! And this itn't even the so-called 'safe trail' to Zecora's!"

"No way we're gonna find him in all this!" Scootaloo grumbled. "We should go back and get somepony to help us find him!" She suddenly stopped and the three fillies all looked at each other at the same instant. "Or not!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: LOST FOAL FINDERS! YAY!" they all suddenly screamed together. And immediately they ran deeper into the jungle with Scootaloo driving her scooter that was pulling the wagon, over the roots, rocks and through the foliage.

A small changeling watched as the three pony fillies charged past where he had hid after he immediately dropped his disguise the moment he was concealed by the foliage, letting his natural coloration blend into the dark shadows.

I don't have time for this spit! he thought to himself as he lost sight of them, but could still hear them. He waited until he could no longer hear them before moving again. Thank the Queen they weren't wandering in the direction of the Hive.

"Are you okay, Zecora?" Twilight urgently asked the hyperventilating zebra, trying to calm her down. When Zecora's breathing seemed to get back under control, she angrily glared at Twilight, making the princess wince, knowing what was coming.

"Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, I swear! What in Celestia's name are you doing bringing a shadowcat here?" Zecora demanded. "A griffon friend of yours I can bear, but are you going out of your way to kill me with fear?"

"I just wanted to make you feel at ease," Panthera said as her hide and feathers resumed their customary midnight coloration. "But I guess the zebra stripes didn't help, huh?"

"Not the slightest bit, shadowcat!" Zecora responded with considerably more of her normal demeanor. "I'm surprised you'd somehow think like that!"

"Meh, it was worth a shot," Panthera said with a shrug. "Sorry about not being able to give you prior warning, but Mittens and I are in need of your services. We asked Twilight to escort us to you as we'd be sure to get lost trying to find this place on our own. As we understand it, you are familiar with a vendor in Ponyville by the name of Filthy Rich?"

"I'm acquainted with many ponies, this is true. I supply several of them with items I locate and brew," Zecora admitted. "Of the pony called Filthy Rich, I am assuredly aware. He is a pony who knows how to make money that several would make many envy. What he charges for what I bring him, few would call it fair."

"Can I have your names, so that I may know with whom I am speaking?" Zecora asked. "Shadowcats are extremely rare creatures, never before has one come to me seeking. It is very rude of me to converse with guests without having the proper address. And please forgive me my surprise at seeing strangers. This forest enjoys sending me little reminders of its many dangers."

"Of course, Zecora," Twilight spoke up. "This is Panthera," she said, indicating the shadowcat. "She and her brother, Pardus, are passing through Equestria. And this is Mittens. She and several griffons are here to help provide escort to a visiting diplomat currently staying in Ponyville."

"Pardus and I are in negotiations with that visiting diplomat and the griffons, whom Princess Twilight Sparkle spoke of," Panthera explained. "It is for those negotiations that we need—well—more of the items we bought from your merchant friend yesterday."

"Of course, I do all the dangerous and hard work to acquire them. However, the fruits cannot last so long," she explained. "But he knows those couples who are desperate to have children, and helps to fulfill that for which they long."

"Unfortunately, he had only a limited supply, yesterday," Mittens told the zebra mare. "We got the three that he had in stock, but we find we need substantially more. Nine, by our current estimate."

"I know the item of which you speak, but the agreement I have with him is exclusively supplied," Zecora interrupted. "As a result, I cannot help you find what you seek, as doing so would cause me to suffer legal fees I cannot abide."

"Yes, he made us aware of your agreement with him," Panthera replied. "That's why we agreed to pay him the same rate for whatever you can supply us." Mittens brought forth a scroll and handed it to Zecora.

"Wait!" Twilight spoke up, suddenly understanding what it was they were speaking of but had been trying to keep concealed from her. Her mind had finally pieced together the clues they inadvertently dropped. There was only one fruit that grew in the Everfree that could help couples with getting children, especially couples that were of mixed races! "You're speaking of passionfruit!"

Twilight cursed herself for being the fool. This was the very thing that had Celestia worried, and she had to stupidly facilitate getting it for them! And now there was nothing she could do to stop it. All creatures had a legitimate right to love whom they wished and passionfruit was perfectly legal, if not exorbitantly expensive. The only thing that might save this situation was….

"Indeed your mind is quite clever, Twilight, my friend," Zecora replied. "This contract seems to be legitimate. And I do wish a hoof I could lend. But a manticore guards the trees where the passionfruit propagate."

Twilight began to sigh in relief.

"A manticore doesn't sound too awfully difficult," Panthera said shrugging her wings. "Between a griffon, a speed demon pegasus, an alicorn, and myself, we should perhaps be able to handle a few dozen of them."

Twilight's eyes snapped back open in panic.

"I know you must be a skilled and stealthy hunter, but pardon me for asking, Panthera, what can you try?" Zecora asked. "Manticores have a roar to stun their prey, claws to rend, a deadly sting, and they can fly."

"Add to that that our friend, Fluttershy, won't want us to harm it," Twilight tossed in.

"Well, all four of us can fly, so it doesn't have any sort of advantage for that," Panthera mildly boasted. "While I'm sure that Mittens is no slouch where it comes to a fight, I have to say I'm a hell of a lot stronger and tougher than she is. Plus, I'm every bit as fast as Rainbow Dash. Now while I can't toss a moon or a sun at it like perhaps the princess here can, I do have this…"

A sound of ripping preceded a rather large tree smoothly rising up from the ground, huge chunks of dirt still clumping to its roots and it hovered there as Panthera smiled at Zecora. Twilight felt sorry for the zebra as her pupils and irises went to dots.

"I found it can be quite difficult for anything to try to harm you if it can't get close enough to reach you or get any leverage to make an impact," Panthera calmly muttered.

"Also," Panthera added, turning her head to fire off a pair of orange beams from her eyes at the floating tree. "That level was merely a heavy stun setting, but it can become lethal if needed. So, yet another useful, and wholly non-lethal means by which to restrain the creature while we're collecting. This should be perfectly acceptable even to your pegasus friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle," the shadowcat finished as the hovering tree settled back into the ground.

I guess there's no delaying this harvest, Twilight mournfully thought.

"Ooookkaaaayy!" Zecora suddenly exclaimed. "We be on our way!"

"Jimmy Olson here to deliver the report from Chyornaya Vdova," hissed the young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark as he calmly walked toward the entrance of heavily concealed cavern. Even he knew there were several dozen changelings scattered about, some of which, he had no doubt already passed by, he had only sighted four or five as he walked toward the Hive. And three of those were supposed to be visible.

A changeling who was not a guard stepped out from the cavern that led to the Hive proper to meet him. He was well known to the colt.

"Any problems?" the changeling known as John Drake hissed at him as he took possession of the crystal.

"Three fillies from the town tried to follow me when I was about to enter the confines of the forest," the colt hissed back. "They may be a complication for me after I return. They are classmates of the one whose form I'm currently using. They all are in frequent contact as their purpose is attending the ponies' indoctrination program."

"Unavoidable," the elder changeling hissed.

"One more thing," the colt hissed before the other could finish turning away. "Chyornaya Vdova asked me to speak of an unusual incident that occurred at the start of last night. She sighted a dragon of immense emotional power. All of us in the ponies' town felt it. It was like looking at the sun, it was so powerful!"

"We felt it, too, although not visually sighted," John Drake hissed back at him. "She no doubt must be worried that we would not believe her if she mentioned it in her report. Indeed, had we not experienced it, we probably would not," he finished as he departed, leaving the small colt no choice but to return the way he came.

"This doesn't look so bad," Twilight Sparkle observed when they arrived at the clearing Zecora said contained the passionfruit trees.

"What the hay?" Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed. "Where's Panthera?"

"I'm here," a disembodied voice spoke up before Rainbow could cause panic to spread among everypony.

"Oh, right! Invisible!" Twilight said, remembering that shadowcats could do that.

"In Cervidaea, shadowcats are almost never perceived," Zecora commented. "Their ability to be invisible almost cannot be believed."

"So why go invisible?" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"So the bloody manticore won't know I'm here," the invisible shadowcat softly growled. "So, shut up!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Rainbow exclaimed, chagrinned.

"We'd better get the passionfruit while the manticore is not here," Zecora said. "We won't have much time to gather before he'll reappear."

She, the griffon, and Rainbow Dash went over to the tree while Twilight hovered above the center of the clearing, keeping a watchful eye out. Part of her hoped the manticore would show up to disrupt the harvesting, but if that were to happen, two of her friends would be in grave danger.

The search to find ripened fruits was the longest portion of the job, but the three were making good progress. However, they were only halfway done with gathering their selection when disaster struck.

A loud roar that sounded like it was right next to her ear was the only warning Twilight got before there was a palpable impact nearby, immediately followed by a roar of substantially less volume from Panthera as she fell from the air. As the shadowcat struggled with fighting something, the manticore became visible just before the both of them hit the ground.

"What!? Manticores can turn invisible, too?" Twilight exclaimed. "I didn't know they could do that!"

"I cannot lie, neither did I!" Zecora screamed.

"Keep harvesting! I've got this!" Panthera called out, sounding more annoyed than hurt.

As she wrestled with the manticore, her eyes flared and twin orange beams shot out to strike at point blank range, but it evidently had no effect on the creature. Continuing to roar in a volume that Twilight was convinced that Luna would admire as rivalling her Canterlot Voice, the manticore struck several times with his claws and bit at Panthera before nailing the shadowcat with his scorpion-stinger tail.

Twilight gasped in horror. His strike was solid into her belly just below the ribs! If she didn't get treated right away, she'd die in hours, if not minutes!

The two creatures broke apart, both stalking each other, as two cats might, looking for an advantage to resume their fight.

Then, with another roar, the manticore went invisible again!

"That might work with biologics," Panthera yelled as she dodged to the side and then rushed in and her opponent was forced to become visible once more. "But not me!"

They scrapped for a few seconds with claws, teeth, scorpion tail and wings furiously mixing up, and then they broke apart again. Then suddenly, the manticore was up in the air. However, it didn't seem to be of his own will as he struggled as though in some sort of confinement too small for him and loudly roaring in clear panic rather than anger.

"Oh, do shut up, already!" Panthera snarled as she fired those orange eyebeams once more. However, they still seemed to have no effect on him. "Huh! Still resistant, eh? Well, only one thing to do about this, then," she said also lifting up into the air. And it surprised Twilight as Panthera hardly seemed to be using her wings to fly.

She was trying to puzzle that out, as Panthera maneuvered to hover closely behind the manticore's back. But then, Twilight saw something that completely unnerved her: a shimmering bubble suddenly formed about them both. For a while, nothing seemed to be going on with it, but after a few minutes, the manticore's struggles definitely lessened and became sluggish, and shortly after that, they ceased altogether.

Then the shimmering bubble vanished and the manticore began gasping for breath. She's been suffocating him! Twilight horribly realized. Immediately, the manticore began to roar and struggle again, only for the bubble to reappear and the cycle repeated.

"STOP IT!" Twilight screamed. "YOU'RE HURTING HIM!"

The bubble vanished once more, but not before he had almost lost consciousness. And then the manticore was once again gasping for breath. However, this time, before he could resume his roars and struggles, his hovering body was spun about to face Panthera.

"I haven't begun to hurt him yet," she snarled as she hauled off and delivered a resounding blow to his face with her paw. Then SHE roared! Right into his face! And it was far louder than any of his had been!

Twilight's ears were ringing for several minutes after that. All she could do was watch as the manticore cringed as something Panthera was telling him. But Twilight couldn't hear any of it.

Mercifully, Panthera set the creature down. She evidently released him from her magic as he used his feet to crawl a short distance away from where she sat and glared at him, as if daring him to move.

"WOW! THAT FIGHT WAS SIMPLY AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled from beside Twilight.

"We've got what we came for!" Mittens called out.

"Madam Panthera, please, we must get you quickly to my hut!" Zecora exclaimed. "Before you die, I must treat that sting you took to the gut!"

"There's no need, Zecora," Twilight announced, eliciting a shocked expression from the zebra mare. "At first, I was concerned, too. But then I remembered: you're made of equustite. You knew that poison wouldn't affect you!"

"Twilight Sparkle, why do you think she is made of stone?" Zecora asked. "Shadowcats are like you and I, made of flesh and bone!"

"Not Panthera," Twilight replied, for once knowing something that the zebra did not. Although she was now very curious about those other shadowcats the zebra knew. "Nor, apparently, her brother, Pardus, either."

"Yeah, wasted effort on his part," Panthera admitted, turning to give them an amused look. "He's stronger than he looks, but still no match for me. His invisibility was quite the surprise, though. It's as good as mine."

"But I saw you while you were fighting him!" Twilight protested. "I saw you dodge his attack and counterattacked with him invisible! How could you see where he was?"

"I didn't," Panthera admitted, turning back to resume her furious glare at the manticore. "There are other ways of detecting cloaked individuals, however. He was counting on his roars to disrupt that, by the way. But that was another wasted effort on his part."

She stood up and the manticore cringed again.

"You stay right the fuck there! And you don't move until we're gone!" Panthera growled at him. "Let's get the hell out of here, girls!" she finished speaking to the rest of them.

The small young-looking pinto pony with dark brown eyes, sporting a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark trudged through a fairly large clearing in the middle of the Everfree, alert to the dangers about him. But being able to feed off of emotions came with the perk of being able to easily sense the same and this gave him the means by which to track and avoid many hazards that were trying to hunt or ambush him. It forced him to make a very complex and convoluted path back to the ponies' village, but that too had its advantages. A direct route between the Hive and the prey's location could potentially reveal the Hive and the hunters would find themselves the hunted.

He still had about a quarter of a day's worth of travel remaining when he got the strangest sensation, one that raised the furred hackles of his disguise. He was hearing music—except there was no sound. Indeed, the entire forest about him had suddenly gone quiet as he could tell many of the dangers surrounding him were going into hiding, rushing to get the mulch out of the way of—of whatever was coming….

It was somewhat oddly cheerful sounding music but there was a weird mix of sorrow, longing, joy, power, and freedom carried in the notes—as well as—whatever was causing him to "hear" it. Worse, he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He stopped, trying to figure out the direction of this new threat; it would do no good whatsoever to go rushing blindly straight into its jaws while trying to hide from it. Hiding in a monster's belly was generally considered THE Bad Choice of bad choices and it would NOT be his first preferred option.

Unfortunately, it took him more than three minutes of hearing it before he was able to finally identify its source, and he cursed himself when he realized he had encountered this thing before!

"Oh, spit!" he hissed as he started to run.

But before he got more than a few trots, the foliage in front of him suddenly burst apart, and for an instant, he considered he might have indeed chosen to try hiding in the monster's belly as his first selection. Instead, he barely had time to realize three figures were barreling down upon him before the impact.

"PIP! WE FOUND YOU!" screamed the one that held him.

It was a yellow earth filly with a red bowtie tied in her bright pink mane that had spoken and she pulled him into a wagon that was violently bouncing to remain airborne half the time. Along with them rode a light gray unicorn filly with a two-tone mane and tail of mulberry and gray. The wagon was being pulled by a scooter being driven by an orange pegasus filly with a dark pink mane and tail. None of them had cutie marks.

The colt was having a difficult time maintaining his disguise due to the initial impact, as was all the bouncing this vehicle was smashing him with. And those violent impacts also made it hard for him to appreciate the fact the three—now four—of them were being chased by several dozen creatures made of wood. Timberwolves!

"Do we have our cutie marks for foal finding yet?" the unicorn yelled.

"'Fraid not," the first one hollered back.

"Bloody—" the pegasus began to yell. "Well, hopefully we can get cutie marks for Timberwolf evading!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: TIMBERWOLF EVADERS! YA—ROADAPPLES!" they all began to cheer, but were interrupted by a particularly violent impact with a buried root which caused them to exclaim.

All this fear is not good for the digestion! the colt was thinking morosely. But I might not have to worry too much longer about that, considering the couple score of timberwolves chasing us.

"Yipe! End of the road, girls!" the pegasus cried out as she brought them to a stop alongside a cliff rising above the clearing.

The three ponies were watching the advancing pack of timberwolves, but the colt was looking up. The sensation overwhelming his emotional receptors had accelerated in their direction.

Which is going to get here first? he wondered. That walking pile of kindling? Or the dragon, whose emotions outshined the sun, and would likely light up the entire forest as spit on us all? Either way, looks like I'm dead.

He watched as the dragon burst upon the open sky above them. It pulled up in a stall, doing a backflip, before dropping into the clearing feet-first, smashing a couple of the timberwolves to pieces in the process. Then shit was happening too fast to follow it all.

The colt was aware of the dragon's tail whipping overhead, smashing one timberwolf that had been advancing on their left, then snapped over them to obliterate another on their right in the same manner. At the same time, the dragon's arms were swiping and smashing those in his reach of his forward sweeping claws and backhanding fists. And even his wings came into play to shatter even more. In less time than it took to blink, there were a dozen fewer timberwolves surrounding them.

The pack was certainly surprised. The alpha paused to consider the creature it now faced. But after a few seconds to regard the dragon, they began advancing again. Evidently, despite it being a dragon, the alpha must have decided that they still had a large enough pack to take him down.

'You've just witnessed what my claws, wings, and tail can do,' the dragon spoke. 'You guys really want to see how well you're going to handle a bit of flame?'

The pack stopped and then turned as one to run off.

Then the dragon stepped away from standing over them, allowing the colt to see him properly. He was a fair sized gold dragon, about fifty foot long, of which half his length was a thin whip-like tail. His confirmation indicated he was a young adult, perhaps fifty years or so, just reaching breeding age. His limbs were long, thin, and well-defined musculature, with five claws on each hand and foot. His wings, likewise, had four frames holding the thick opaque membranes unmarked from scars or rips of old wounds along with a prominent dew claw at the forward wing joint. His three-foot long head sat at the end of a yard-long neck, the skull vaguely crocodilian in shape. The end of his snout sported two sets of interlocking ivory tusks, the upward pointing set about half the length of the downward set immediately behind them. And his head was topped by triangular eyes of crimson with silvery slitted pupils and eyelids that slid up from his cheeks when he blinked.

Despite his apparent agitation, the dragon was quite calm. Yet his emotions were a barely contained tempest of every feeling imaginable, each one competing and yet fluctuating, like the surface of an immense disturbed ocean, each individual surging wave a unique feeling, any one of them ready to explode to overwhelming levels. Still, the colt could feel the dragon was completely calm. The incongruity was as puzzling as the intensity and combination of all those emotions being felt all at the same time—such should be impossible! No creature can do what this dragon was doing.

Moreover, there was one emotion he just couldn't identify! Or perhaps it wasn't an emotion? It wasn't related to intellect, as that suppressed emotions. But it interfaced with both the dragon's emotions and his intellect, which was something else he had never heard of before.

'You kids shouldn't be out here. You should be at home,' the dragon said to them.

"We're not goats, Mister Dragon!" the unicorn angrily exclaimed. The dragon blinked in amusement. The fact that he could sense the dragon's emotions was the only thing that kept the colt from having a heart attack at what the insane unicorn had yelled.

'Would you like to be goats?' the dragon asked.

"Uh—no," the unicorn replied, confused.

'Then shut up!' the dragon snorted in continued humor. This of course confused and frightened the pony fillies.

'Hold onto your wagon,' the dragon told them as he scooped them all up into his grasp, one hand holding the pegasus and her scooter, the other holding the wagon with the three of them. 'I'll carry you back to your home.'

With that, the dragon lifted up out of the clearing.

As they flew, the colt once more heard music. But this was different from what he had heard before.

"Hey! Where's tha' music comin' from?" the earth pony demanded. It played on until it finished. Only then, did the dragon look down at her.

'That is just one of number of tunes I like to hum to myself as I fly,' he explained. 'This one's part of a story that comes from far away, about the Mother of Dragons.'

The music repeated, but this time, they all had visual images accompanying it forming in their minds. The scene showed hundreds, if not thousands of bipedal creatures like those the Queen ordered the team to gather intel on. They were all dressed in dark, close-fitting armor, carrying spears. The troops began stomping the butts of their spears in rhythm. Then the scene changed to a couple of the creatures wearing different armor looking at each other. A female biped was riding a white pony and they all started moving among the massed troops who were standing in military squares. The scene changed again, showing them all leaving a fortified city. Several bipedal creatures rode ponies with the mass of armored troops marching out behind and beside them.

The female threw down a whip, and for a moment, the scene focused on it sitting in the dirt. The troops continued to march, their feet trampling the fallen whip. Then the scene changes once more. This time, it was from high above. Three wyverns could be seen flying above the army still pouring from the walled city. One of the dragons gave a couple shrill calls as it slid across their vision before the scene went completely black, leaving the music to continue to play for several more minutes.

When the music finished, the dragon was dropping to land beyond the Everfree just outside the ponies' village.

"Wow, Mister Dragon! What were those creatures?" the pegasus asked when he set them all down.

'The woman's name is Daenerys,' the dragon told them. 'She is the Mother of Dragons. The other humans were her allies and soldiers.'

"How can she be th' Mother of Dragons?" the earth pony exclaimed. "She ain't no dragon!"

'You have an alicorn in that castle who's the brother of a dragon, do you not?' the gold beast asked.

"Is that where those humans are from?" the unicorn asked.

'No, that is not their home. That is completely different world,' the dragon explained. 'That is a world from where I enjoyed the story of Daenerys' struggles to reclaim her father's kingdoms. Any dragon would appreciate that saga. There is much of that story to fuel the flames of hope and despair.'

'Now, I have to leave,' the dragon told them as he launched himself into the sky to fly back over the Everfree.

Rainbow Dash was somewhat bored on the way back to Zecora's. Although, far from ideal, it was better than being completely bored. The griffon and presumably the shadowcat were in good spirits. She had to amend her assessment to just "presumably" with the shadowcat.

Panthera was a hard one to pin down. There were times that the shadowcat clearly relaxed. But there were other moments that that winged panther could give lessons to Pinkie Pie's sister, Maud, in not showing how she felt. In many ways, she almost had to think of Zecora when considering what sort of personality the shadowcat had. Zecora was an enigma hidden in a puzzle wrapped in an igneous and the shadowcats had that sort of nature to them, too.

She noted that Twilight was not happy.

Not. At. All.

Boy, she could use a dose of Pinkie Pie right about now.

Whatever was bugging Twilight had something to do with those passionfruits the griffon and shadowcat were toting. Not that any of that really mattered to Rainbow. That was "mushy stuff". Totally not her thing.

What's the big deal? Rainbow wondered. So long as they get their own room and aren't sticking it in everypony's face, who cares what they do? Especially so long as they get their own room. There are some things that just cannot be unseen!

But apparently, the princesses care, Rainbow had to recall. At least Princess Celestia did. And whenever Princess Celestia so much as expressed an interest in something, Twilight was sure to worry her mane into a frazzle over it. And that's never good news for anypony!

But if Twilight was so worried about them doing the "mushy stuff", why didn't she just forbid them the passionfruit? Rainbow wondered. She's a princess, right? And we have to do what the princesses say, right? So if it's an issue, why not stop them from getting it?

But Twilight didn't stop it, Rainbow considered. And now she looks like she did when she thought she failed the Princess. Not a good sign.

And for some weird reason, she suddenly began hearing music. Music that made her feel really, really, really good about flying….

…the stretch of the membranes … the feel of wind upon one's wings….

"rainbow!"

…by Celestia, such joy and sadness … the love of flying….

"Rainbow!"

…the feel of shifting the center of gravity … the marvelous wonder of it all….

"Rainbow Dash!"

…oh, how can anypony not want to feel this … she felt the tears flowing down her cheeks, but she didn't care….

"RAINBOW!"

"Tw—Twi—Twilight?" she asked the purple alicorn who was holding her face, a look of shock and concern in the princess' face.

"You zoned out there, Rainbow! You started—you started giving us a show that would make any pole dancing pony proud!"

"D-didn't you hear it?" Rainbow hoarsely whispered. "D-didn't y-you feel it?"

"I heard something, like music," Twilight confirmed. "And it felt weird!"

"We all heard and felt something strange," Zecora said. "It is good to know I'm not alone in being deranged."

"Oh, Twilight! There's somepony out there!" Rainbow sighed in awe. "Somepony with as much love for flying as me!"

"There could be a danger!" Pardus grimly spoke up. "Mittens! Take the passionfruit to Pardus! Stop for nothing! Anything gets in your way, kill it!" she said, passing the saddlebags she had been carrying to the griffon.

"Twilight Sparkle! Get your friend back to the safety of your town! NOW!"

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Just do it!" Panthera snarled, flaring her wings. "Zecora, you'd better take shelter, too!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" the zebra said, rushing off. "I'll be home in a trice!"

"What will you be doing?" Twilight asked as she pulled Rainbow after her, gaining altitude.

"Seeking answers," the shadowcat replied as she stalked off, fading from sight in a ripple of distortion. When she was completely invisible, Rainbow Dash couldn't see any trace of her, not even a disturbance in the foliage or jungle floor.

When it came to matters that could be cured or affected by chemistry or trickery, Zecora was your go-to mare. But when it came to matters of pure magic, she preferred to leave that to the professionals, like Twilight Sparkle. This, on the other hoof, was perhaps outside everypony's league—and if that shadowcat thought she was the expert to deal with it, Zecora wasn't about to argue.

Still, she regretted not being able to spend more time with the shadowcat. As a species, they were graceful, mysterious, and deadly, but still quite civilized in their own fashion. The ones she met in her homeland had taught her many secrets as she grew into her shamanistic training. And this Panthera was mysterious in ways that even the ones back home could not match.

Hopefully, this emergency would not deprive her any opportunities to meet with Panthera again in the future. But they both would have to survive this danger for that to happen. And despite her assurance that she could reach her hut in jiffy, they had been all a long ways away from her home….

Mittens rocketed up into the air with both sets of full saddlebags weighing her down. The space above the Everfree was clear for the most part. A few birds and other small flying animals. Nothing that would constitute a threat. Except for that dragon launching from the forest up ahead.

Fortunately, it was headed away from her and seemed intent to going toward one side of Ponytown, while she was headed for the other side. She idly wondered if he might be the dragon the Cat-Lord was trying to hook up with. And there was the purple princess and her pegasus friend. They might find out what that dragon was about, as they were headed in roughly the same direction.

Then something began bugging her as she flew closer to the Cat-Lord's house, but she was having trouble putting a claw on it. Ponytown? she thought. Was that the name of the village? She shrugged her wings, dismissing the matter from her mind. Still, she couldn't think of exactly what it was that was bugging her….

"Let's get you home, Rainbow," Twilight told her distraught friend as she guided the pegasus above the trees. She was still weeping from the experience that had hit them all. And it had certainly hit Rainbow the hardest. "Whatever danger is lurking in this forest, you're in no shape to deal with it!"

"Hey! He matches the description of the dragon they saw last night!" Twilight muttered as they cleared the treetops. "Why is he back here if he was going to the Dragon Migration site?"

She glanced over to see Mittens going off on her own vector and Twilight sighed in relief. She wasn't going in the same direction as the dragon, so they shouldn't have to fight. A dragon vs a griffon? Those are encounters that never end well for anypony!

But Twilight was concerned. Mittens wasn't headed in the same direction as the dragon, but she and Rainbow were. And she could see the beast was descending beyond the edge of the forest near the crystal castle. And Rainbow was still out of it….

The young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark stepped out of the wagons and began to walk away.

He couldn't believe the dragon had just let them all go. That one was a very unusual dragon. He was a full telepath! Whenever he spoke, the voice was entirely in their minds! Those were the deadliest types of dragons!

And yet, he didn't appear to pick up on the young and very small colt with dark brown eyes, a mottled white coat with tan splotches, and two-toned brown mane and tail, and no cutie mark was in fact a changeling.

Now, he understood some of what was going on with that great beast.

Whatever the dragon felt, we all felt! he realized. That is, until the dragon stops broadcasting! When that happens, you're totally and thoroughly frelled! It means the dragon was now reading your mind and there was nothing you could think of or try that would keep you from….

"Hey! PIP! What were ya doin' out in the Everfree Forest?" the earth pony yelled, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah! We were running about the forest all day looking for you!" the pegasus screamed at him. "Then we came across a sea serpent!"

"Don't forget about that cockatrice!" the unicorn spoke up.

"Then we ran inta those timberwolves!" the earth pony finished.

"Don't you know how dangerous that place is?" the pegasus demanded.

"If it's so dangerous, then what were you doing out there?" the colt countered.

The question brought the three foals up as they thought about it. That gave the colt the opportunity to take a couple steps back away from them.

"We wuz lookin' fer you!" the earth foal suddenly answered.

"So what were you doing out there?" the unicorn demanded. "Playing hide-and-seek?"

"Yes," the colt quickly replied. "I was playing hide-and-seek. I hid. You seek. You didn't find me."

"Hey! Waitaminute! We DID find you!" the pegasus suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah! Does that mean we got our cutie marks in hide-'n'-seek?" the earth filly asked.

The three ponies all looked to their flanks. That let the colt step back three more steps. A few more and I'll be able to escape, he thought. And I better make it quick. There's a new threat coming….

"Awww!" the three ponies exclaimed in abject disappointment at their rumps remaining bare.

"LOOK! A DISTRACTION!" the colt suddenly yelled, pointing to where the dragon had flown. All the ponies turned to look and the colt was bolting away.

I can't believe that worked…. he thought as he sensed the eminent arrival of the purple alicorn.

Twilight continued to guide Rainbow Dash toward the crystal castle, but the fact she had seen a large dragon descend near there made her nervous. That dragon had been spotted last night, claiming to be late getting to the Dragon Migration site. Now it was here? Why?

Before she could wonder too much about it, the dragon had launched back into the air again, this time coming back over the Everfree.

It made her nervous. If he attacked her while she was shepherding Rainbow Dash….

The dragon momentarily glared at her, but then turned to fly off in another direction, much to Twilight's relief.

Soon, she reached the boundaries of the forest and angled to land by her castle. And then she spotted the Cutie Mark Crusaders….

"Oh, bronking road apples! It's Princess Twilight the-Bucking-Magical Sparkle!" Scootaloo groaned when she and Rainbow Dash flew out from over the jungle's treetops.

"Well, make sure nopony don't say nonethin' 'bout bein' in th' Everfree," Applebloom said. "Ya'll know how much trouble we'll get in with our sisters!"

"Hey! Where'd Pip get off to?" Sweetie Belle yelled. The others turned to look, and sure enough, the colt was gone.

"Girls! What are you doing here?" Twilight exclaimed just as she and Rainbow Dash were landing, recapturing their attention. "Are you okay? That dragon didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Oh? Mister Dragon?" Sweetie Belle chimed in helpfully. "No, he didn't hurt anypony! In fact, he saved us!" Applebloom and Scootaloo both groaned and facehoofed.

"Saved you!? From what, exactly!?" Twilight demanded.

"From the—um—uh—er—timberwolves chasing us in the Everfree Forest," Sweetie Belle stammered, only just realizing there was no escaping her slipup.

"I didn't catch that. The what now?" Twilight angrily demanded again.

"The Everfree," the three fillies all replied in monotone. Sweetie Belle wisely didn't mention the timberwolves again this time.

"GIRLS!" Twilight exclaimed. "You know how dangerous that place is! I'm going to have to tell your sisters…."

"Hey! What were you and Rainbow Dash doing in the Everfree?" Scootaloo suddenly demanded. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at her in stunned amazement.

"What?" Twilight asked, blinking in surprise.

"Don't deny it! We just saw you coming from there!" Scootaloo yelled, pressing her advantage. Twilight actually had to take a step back.

"Yeah! Yeah! Don't ya know how dangerous that place is?" Applebloom chimed in. Hey, if it worked for Pip, maybe it'll work for us.

"Yes, we DO know how dangerous that place is!" Twilight countered, trying to get off the defensive.

"Yeah, sure looks like it!" Scootaloo yelled. "My sister don't look to be in such good shape! What'd you all do in there!?"

"So—so—beautiful…." Rainbow was muttering with a glazed look in her eye.

"Uh—well—" Twilight tried to think of what to say, suddenly back on the defensive. She had to take another step back.

"You both need to be grounded!" Sweetie Belle hollered.

"…" Twilight just looked at them.

Oh, buck! There goes her ears, the three fillies thought in unison. When they get set in just that angle, we're done for! But we had her for a moment. What just went wrong?

Zecora was out of breath, but she finally spotted her hut and it gave her such a sense of relief. She slowed down to a trot to give herself time to cool down from the run.

"That was such a long run! I can't understand how any pony could think this is fun," Zecora muttered to herself in exhaustion.

But before she could proceed any further, she felt as though her blood froze when a screaming bellow blasted from the sky and a large gold dragon dropped into the clearing in front of her hut.

Instantly, she ducked behind some bushes and held perfectly still as the dragon nosed about the door to her home. Then he raised his head and turned around, as though looking for something. As the dragon's furled wings twitched and his tail swayed back and forth, the dragon's gaze continued to search. And from the fact he had investigated her hut, Zecora knew he was looking for her! But for what reason, she did not know.

She continued to watch him, fearful that any second, he'd be able to make out her black and white stripes behind the bushes. A deep rumble came from his throat as his search slowly focused on her location.

Then an intense, sudden blinding flash momentarily robbed her of sight and she cried out in shock and pain, fearful that it was the last thing she would ever do.

But a few moments of silence puzzled her. She opened her eyes, having to blink several times to wash away the spots clouding her vision. And when she could see again, there was no sign of the dragon.

Mittens paused in the window frame when she arrived at Trevar's home, and took in the sight of the fully contented Screaming Eagle and Pardus. A shiver of jealousy went down her spine seeing them sleeping together and the scents in the air informed her of how effective the passionfruit had been for them.

"Welcome back, Mittens," Pardus softly murmured, not raising his head to speak to her. "I see you were successful."

"Yes, Panthera and I were able to collect nine more of the fruits," she softly replied as she stepped on into the bedroom, trying to not startle the other griffon.

"As was I," Panthera said as her form rippled into view as she stepped from the window frame right behind Mittens. On her back, Trevar was nude as he rode her, straddled along her back.

"Good evening," Trevar greeted them.

"Lord Trevar!" Mittens and Screaming Eagle both exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Will you two try to keep it down, please!" Trevar hissed at them. "Scream any louder, and they'll be able to hear you in Cloudsdale! And I just pray they don't know your native language!" The griffons at least had the decency to show how abashed they were.

"Oh, and I so appreciate how you opened up my skull this morning, Mittens!" he growled at her. "Thank you! I'll be sure to sleep well away from you the next time we're finished mating!"

"What is he talking about?" Screaming Eagle suddenly demanded.

"I created an illusion of Trevar waking up with them this morning," Pardus told them. "It was supposed to keep you unaware of his departure last night and maintain the idea that he was still here so the horses below wouldn't know he was gone. Except Mittens saw through the deception and 'killed' Trevar just before you arrived. She probably would've alerted the Equestrians outside, too, had she not been screaming in your native language at the time."

"I thought some demon had stolen Lord Trevar," Mittens explained.

Zecora didn't like traveling the jungle at night. No sane creature did. But she braved the forest to seek help, not knowing what happened to the dragon that had arrived at her hut or if it was still searching for her. She didn't risk going into her home and despite the dangers of the forest at night, she hoped that thick foliage would keep her concealed and prevent the dragon from following her.

Fortunately, she reached the edge of the Everfree less than half-an-hour after sunset, nearly a full hour after the encounter at her hut.

Here, she paused, trying to decide which way to go.

Fluttershy? Her home was closer. However, it was less secure than her own hut. In addition, the lemon yellow pegasus was terrified of dragons—ironic, given that two of her best friends were dragons. Well, Spike was. The jury was still out on Discord. And the dragon hunting her would have to deal with the Lord of Chaos should he risk harming Fluttershy. On the other hoof, there was no guarantee that Discord would arrive before it was too late.

Twilight Sparkle? Her home was a freaking castle—granted, made of crystal, which might make it a literal ginger-bread house where it comes to holding up to dragons. With any luck, the Tree of Harmony made it out of something too tough for a dragon to chew on, however, this theory was untested. But at least she was an alicorn, which put her in a league on par with any dragon that might rear his ugly head.

Twilight it was, then!

And she was off and running.

…

A short while later, she was pounding on the castle doors. And pounding. And nervously pounding on the doors, concerned that the creature was about to land behind her….

"Zecora!" Twilight exclaimed when she finally opened the door. "Whatever brings you here at this time?"

After admitting the zebra mare and bringing her to the throne room, she asked Spike fix them all some tea. As they sipped, Zecora explained what happened.

"It was a dragon of gold, with a wicked looking eye I've not seen formerly, perhaps fifty years old, I was sure I was going to die had I not hid categorically," Zecora explained to them.

"A dragon?" Twilight asked, astonished. "Wait! Was he a little less than seventeen trots long? Two sets of tusks, and long tail?"

"It was as you derived," Zecora replied, "the same dragon that arrived."

"I'm sorry, Zecora!" Twilight exclaimed. "I was so concerned about taking care of Rainbow Dash, and then I had to deal with the CMC fillies, and I got distracted. I should've realized he was headed toward your home."

"My trust in you is well founded and true. So how is our mare in blue?"

"She's upstairs resting in one of the guest rooms," Twilight replied. "But what happened when the dragon arrived at your hut?"

"He landed near my hut that was clearly plain, and then vanished in a flash that I cannot explain."

"Really? That sounds almost like a teleport! But I didn't know dragons could do that level of magic," Twilight pondered. "There are a few other types of spells that could cause a flash like that, but they're even more unlikely for a dragon to possess. Are you certain that he used some sort of spell?"

"Of what spell he may have used, I cannot speak yea or nay. Only of his evident fury can I honestly say. I've met many a dragon in the past so I can say this of him, anypony meeting this dragon, their fate is sure to be grim," she warned them.

"He may seem quite young as dragons go, but something about him warns do not make him a foe. There is a power in this one that has not been seen since the ancients. Challenge this one not, for if you do, you may well witness his dominance!"

"And so my encounter with the dragon was rather disappointing. I was making my way back here when I ran into Panthera and she ferried me home," Trevar said as he finished his account.

"At least you're safe and sound," Screaming Eagle said. "Gustav would have us all plucked and tarred if anything happens to you." She got up to stretch. "And we have lots of passionfruit to keep us going—"

"Uh, can we put that off tonight?" Trevar asked, interrupting her. "It's been two long days in a row, and even a Cat-Lord has to get some sleep sometime.

"I promise we'll get working on your little breeding program as soon as feasibly possible," he told her, forestalling the hurt look she developed. "In addition to sleep, I need to make some changes to this house to make it secure. But I promise that at the end of the day, I'll devote sufficient time and energy to you guys. Will that suffice?"

"If—if you say so, Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle sighed.

"And it's not like you can complain much," Trevar added. "You had a go with Pardus, at least." Then Trevar stepped closer to the two of them and swatted the shadowcat across his ear. "Bitch!" he snarled at the winged panther.

"See? I told you he wouldn't mind," Pardus purred to her, leaving the griffon to cock her head in confusion at the exchange.

Wyld Phighyur stared with trepidation at the column of fire he had left behind, watching it burn.

Not since the ancients has a dragon's flame ever done more than merely be an annoyance. She was so tempted to stick her hand in, but having witnessed how his flame had actually eaten away his scales and flesh, she was understandably reluctant. Moreover, he had somehow healed himself! That was something which she would be unable to do, if his flame did the same to her.

Finally deciding on a course of action, she pulled a few scales from her side and threw them into the inferno. Then she sat, watching, waiting for the fire to go out.

When the Sun rose, the two griffons and Trevar awoke.

"I trust we're not going to have a repeat of yesterday morning?" Trevar cautiously asked, glaring at Mittens.

"Of—of course not, Lord Trevar!" Mittens cheeped.

"Good," he muttered as he got up from the bed. "For your information, I'm going to be out again, and we can't have the ponies learning of my activities. One of the shadowcats will be with me, to assist. The other will be in and out pretty much all morning. I should be back this afternoon, if all goes well. But I need you two to hold down the fort while I'm out. No one gets in while I'm gone. Not the ponies, not any other griffon, including your fellow guards. Can I count on you two to follow my instructions?"

"We-we'll do our best, Lord Trevar," Screaming Eagle agreed. "We all made arrangements to have you mate with each of us for two days before changing the guard. So none of the others should bother us today."

"Good," Trevar said.

Just then, both griffons had to blink as they watched first Panthera, then Pardus walk by the open door, each with what looked like a steel plate close to three by six griffon shaku in size.

"Wh-wh-what are they doing?" Screaming Eagle exclaimed.

"Getting some of the material that we need to help secure this house," Trevar replied.

Curious, she got up and followed the shadowcats, while Trevar looked bemused. They led her to one of the storerooms in the basement, where they were carefully stacking the plates on top of each other, with a few thin cloths between each plate. They pretty much ignored her as they went back up the stairs, leaving the griffon to puzzle out their purpose.

On closer inspection, each plate was actually two thin layers of steel sandwiching a wooden layer. The entire plate was about one griffon cun thick, with each of the individual layers of steel and wood about equal.

In addition, this room was just partially full of the sets of plates. There were three other storerooms that were jammed packed full of them, from floor to nearly the ceiling. Added to that, in another storeroom, there were several dozen steel I-beams neatly stacked, each just over nine shaku long, as well as a large stack of innumerable wooden blocks measuring two by two by four cun.

Totally baffled by what was going on, Screaming Eagle climbed up the stairs to join Mittens and Trevar at breakfast.

"Wh-wh-when did they do all that?" she asked.

"Last night, while we slept," Trevar replied as he ate his oatmeal with raisins and milk while his bacon and eggs cooled on a plate beside his bowl. Mittens was just serving their plates of grilled ham slabs for the both of them.

"Do you have any idea of what's down there?" Screaming Eagle asked, incredulously.

"Three and a half rooms filled with those plates and another room with a couple score of I-beams and a nice pile of insulator blocks," Trevar muttered between bites. "And how do I know this?" he added just as she was going to question it. "Magic. I ain't gotta 'splain shit," he said, smirking.

The griffons ate their meals in silence until Trevar finished his breakfast and wiped his lips with a napkin.

"As I mentioned, they're getting materials needed for securing this house from intrusion," Trevar spoke up. "That's why I need you guys to hold the fort down while I'm out with Panthera. Pardus will keep hauling in shit until he's done this afternoon."

"How are they getting it all in here without Celestia and Luna beating down the door demanding to know what's going on?" Screaming Eagle finally asked.

"They're in and out under cloak," Trevar said. "The ponies don't know anything's going on right now. And we intend to keep it that way. And when I leave on Panthera, I'll go out the same way they're bringing in the stuff—the same way I came in last night."

"Here we are, my Spikey Wikey!" Rarity called as she came to a halt in their march to the rocky plains. "I'm sure to find some high quality gems out here for my next line of accessories!"

"I can't wait to see them!" Spike said, practically drooling. Then he must have realized how he looked and sounded. "Oh, I mean—your designs!"

"Oh, my little Spikey Wikey! You're such the gentlecolt! You know just the thing to say to a lady!" she said, nuzzling him, knowing that was just the thing to tell the infatuated dragon. He'd be so gobsmacked that he'd dig for hours to get the gems she hoped to find, and the wagon they had brought would be overflowing in no time.

And she was sure there would be a few gems that would be unusable for her inspirations that she could use to reward the little tyke for his hard work. Although, doing so would necessitate reducing the refinements she had worked so hard to develop to ensure her talents weren't wasted finding just any old cluster of crystals. But she would have to remember she should take the time for such.

And best of all, this was well away from those dreadful diamond dogs' territory.

A couple hours of hard work had resulted in the wagon's floor covered in a layer of various high quality gems a couple hooves' deep. Watching the dragon digging and tearing through the stony ground was exhausting, and she remembered how far along the day it had gotten. It was time for them to take a break.

So she dialed back the refinement quality of her spell to seek for a less desirable cluster of the crystals, mostly of the sapphire and amethyst variety. But the new cluster she instantly located under her very hooves, and she could now tell there were lots of the lower quality samples about the field where they were, she knew to be emeralds. Spike's favorite, if she recalled correctly. He claimed they tasted better than any of the other quartz.

It was so amusing how, when Twilight once asked him what emeralds tasted like and how different they were from, say rubies, or sapphires, Spike had replied with, "They taste like emerald." As if that should be enough explanation for anypony to understand. Of course, his comments only drove her up the wall for about three weeks trying to understand how a dragon's sense of taste worked. It was almost another "Smarty Pants" event.

"Oh, Spike!" she happily announced. "I think you'll like what you'll find if you dig right here," she told him, pointing to where the gems were buried.

However, Spike wasn't looking at her. He looked like he was staring fearfully at something behind her and above them both.

"R-R-Rarity—?" Spike stammered low and nervously. "Y-y-you'd better not point out any more gems! In fact, I think you'd better get behind me! Quickly!"

"What's wro—" she began, taking a glance behind her, and her heart leapt into her throat.

Not far away, approaching surprisingly silent for such huge creatures, where two nearly identical gold dragons. The first features of them that registered with Rarity were the interlocking tusks at the front of their long reptilian snouts, and their matching set of blood red triangular eyes with silvery pupils sitting above their half-trot long snouts. Their necks were long, a trot or a bit longer and very flexible, attached to powerful-looking torsos both draped with large folded leathery wings. They each were over sixteen trots long, about half of their lengths being a long whip-like tail, and walking on long, thin limbs.

She was able to tell the difference between them because the one on her right was slightly darker than the other, and the one with the lighter, purer gold sheen to his scales was noticeably twitching his wings and his tail was smoothly and slowly swaying widely back and forth.

"Rarity!" Spike whispered, pulling at her shoulder. "Get behind me! That one guy is seriously pissed!"

"Oh? Which one?" she asked, momentarily glancing down at her friend.

"The one on the left!" Spike whispered, stepping around her to stand in front. But Spike then used his own back to press into Rarity's chest and she noticed how he was pushing back hard against her. She was forced to take a step back. And so did, Spike, continuing to push her back while keeping himself between her and the other dragons.

The two stopped when they reached the wagon, but they didn't seem interested in it. Instead, they were each looking out over the rocky plains.

"Yes. This should nicely meet our needs," the one on the right said.

'Agreed,' they heard a voice in their head, and Rarity had the distinct feeling that it was the one on the left doing the talking.

"C-ca-can we help you, gentle po—er—uh—gentle dragons?" Rarity called out, eliciting a squeak from Spike.

The two blinked and looked down at her, reacting as if they were surprised at seeing her and Spike standing there. Then, as one, they resumed ignoring her, although the one on the right looked at the wagon beside him and the gems it held. He picked up one, one of the few rubies Rarity had located, and held it up to his eye and looked toward the Sun, as if to evaluate it.

"Hmm, pretty good quality," the dragon muttered before returning the gem to the wagon, much to the pony's relief.

'Wait here. And call the others,' said the dragon that Spike had warned was pissed, and he continued to walk forward, past Rarity and Spike standing there.

Wyld Phighyur waited an hour after the fire finally went out before searching the burned patch of rock.

His flame had burned a pitted bowl out of the granite and the rock had a glassy feel to it. But more disturbing: her three scales were nowhere to be found. They had been utterly consumed.

She nervously gulped.

"No dragon since the ancients…." she whispered to herself.

He come to her, asking to mate. Per their agreement, they fought. And had beaten her. But he had not taken her while she was in her coma. Instead, he told her he wished to mate with her when she woke.

So that she could feel it along with him, he had told her. What a perverted idea!

And his speech was entirely from his mind

She nervously gulped again.

"No dragon since the ancients…."

She looked up to where he had flown, wondering if the error had been hers and not his.

"No dragon since the ancients," she muttered.

Glancing back to the glassy bowl melted into the ground, she made up her mind.

"NO DRAGON SINCE THE ANCIENTS!" she roared.

Spreading her wings, Wyld Phighyur launched into the sky.

Rarity burst into Sugarcube corners, ridden by Spike. Both of them looked to be greatly distressed.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, seeing the fashionista's state. She would never let herself get so frazzled looking, no matter the provocation. That was always Twilight's purview.

"We only just got away!" Spike hoarsely exclaimed before falling off the unicorn in a dead faint.

"Take it easy, Sugarcube!" Applejack said, jumping up to help the unicorn, guiding her to take Applejack's seat. "Yer safe now."

"It—it—it was horrible!" Rarity sobbed.

"Wow! Never seen you so messed up, Rares!" Rainbow Dash said as she hovered over the comatose dragon. She glanced down at the baby dragon, then back up to the unicorn.

"Calm down, Rarity," Twilight told her. "Take a breath and then you can tell us all about it."

"D-dr-dragons!" Rarity stammered. "A flock—or a flight—or a murder—or a—whatever does one call a group of dragon, anyhow?" she demanded.

"A storm."

All of them turned to stare at Panthera, who hadn't been sitting there a moment ago. She was sitting on the floor next to Spike.

"A group of dragons is called a storm of dragons," she repeated.

The mares all nervously gulped.

Twilight thought about what the shadowcat had said. A "storm" would be a most appropriate word for a group of dragons going on a rampage. There'd be very little left of whatever they attacked.

"These dragons—they all got into a fight!" Rarity began. "There were five dragons in all. One dragon was taking on three at a time while the last one stood by us!"

"Three 'gainst one?" Applejack muttered. "Don' sound fair 't'all."

"Not at first," Rarity explained. "At first, he was losing. And losing bad! But then—"