The revelation of who their foes actually were caught all of the mares off-guard, as both Applejack and Pinkie took a noticeable step back from Twilight as soon as she'd told then. As for the unicorn herself, she glanced back over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes and returning to her previous position. She knew she had to do her best not to let herself be seen, for who knew what these bandits might do to them if they were discovered. As she watched, she continued to hear them speak amongst themselves, talking in-between bites of large pieces of meat they'd caught for their evening meal.

"Seriously! These raids are just too easy!" one stated.

"Still good sport though, right?" another added.

The first chuckled.

"Yeah! Especially since we caught ourselves a nice little prize last time."

Twilight's eyes widened upon hearing that, and she scoured the cave for the one she knew they were speaking of. But, for the time being, she couldn't find anybody else there. That is, until the largest of the three griffons, who was presumably their leader, got up from his sitting position. And when he did so, and started to move aside, it was revealed that there was, in fact, somebody just behind him. Twilight took on a look of shock to see who it was. Just as she thought, it was a buffalo, but one far smaller and younger than the ones she'd seen back in Appleoosa. This had to be Little Strongheart, the Chief's daughter, but it was obvious that she was in a bad way right now. Not only was she tied up and gaggled, but there were a few scratches and bruises all along her body. prompting Twilight to frown.

"Twi?" Applejack spoke from behind her.

The young unicorn backed away, looking to her earth pony friend.

"It's her, AJ. Little Strongheart."

A look of concern crossed the faces of the other mares, and as they stayed silent, Twilight got back to looking to the captive buffalo. It was here that the presumed leader of the griffons moved closer, kneeling down and grabbing her face unceremoniously with one claw.

"I guess we should start thinking of what to do with her, eh?"

Another of the griffons laughed darkly as he turned to his leader.

"No mystery there, Boss. There's plenty out there who'd pay a pretty penny for a pretty face, right?"

There was a lot of laughter over this remark, while Strongheart herself merely laid there, tears forming in her eyes. Gritting her teeth, Twilight took a few steps backwards, turning to look to her companions yet again.

"We have to help her!"

Pinkie's eyes widened at that.

"What?! But...but we were only supposed to find these guys!"

Twilight looked to her with some indignity, but before she had a chance to speak, Pinkie interrupted her.

"Look, I know she's in a bad state, but those are some seriously big griffons in there! And we're not exactly fighters, Twi!"

Twilight closed her mouth again, thinking hard on that. Her friend had the right of it, as combat was not exactly something they were known for. But, looking over her shoulder to the helpless captive on the other side, Twilight knew she could not simply stand aside here. So, she paused, looking as if she was thinking hard on this situation they'd found themselves in, all while her friends stood beside her and waited. Then, the young unicorn's eyes widened, and a smile started to creep upon her face.

"I think...we might not have to fight them."

Naturally, a remark like that caught the other mares' interest, and so they leaned in closer. Twilight briefly checking to make sure they weren't being watched, leaning closer herself, before starting to whisper to the two of them. They stayed in this position for some time, hearing everything Twilight had to say, and when it was finally done, Twilight smiled, looking quite pleased with herself. As for the others, they looked to each other, then back to her, before Pinkie finally broke the silence.

"You're sure this is going to work?"

Twilight nodded.

"Trust me...they can't go further than that."

Pinkie sighed, raising a hoof and rubbing her temples slightly.

"How did I ever get mixed up in this?"

Taking on a more determined look, Pinkie took in a deep breath, frowned slightly, then started marching forward. Applejack and Twilight watched her, staying completely silent as they did so, and Pinkie herself just kept going on and on. The griffons, for their part, just kept on eating and laughing, never noticing the pink pony that now suddenly walked around the corner from them. She just waltzed on in there, looking as if she didn't have a care in the world, and before long, she was there, standing right opposite them from the fire. They were still eating, so they failed to see her to start off with. But, after waiting a few moments, Pinkie brought her hoof to her mouth and let out a deliberate cough.

"Ahem?"

Still no reaction, which, naturally, caused some measure of annoyance from the party-lover, prompting her to try even harder.

"AHEM?!"

That one got it, and all three sets of griffon eyes were suddenly upon her, looking at least a little bit surprised to find their cave was no longer secret.

"Is that...a pony?!" one of them asked.

Pinkie cleared her throat a little bit, took in another deep breath, then, to the surprise of the three griffons, her mane poofed up. Before the three could even react, she did something even more unexpected. She sang.

"This is your singing telegram, I hope it finds you well!"

Sadly, it was a short-lived performance, as the leader got up from his seat and pointed angrily at her.

"GET HER!!!"

Pinkie, for her part, seemed surprised by this turn of events, but stayed quiet as all three of the very large griffons suddenly pounced on her. They struck, causing a feathery dog-pile on top of her, and they chuckled to themselves as they remained under the impression that they'd got her.

"Hehe! You're not goin anywhere, little pony!" one said.

"You sure about that?"

Immediately, the three still-piled-up griffons turned, only to find a smiling pink pony right beside their pile, happily waving to them. Naturally, this caused quite a bit of confusion amongst the feathered fiends.

"Wha...but...how?!"

Pinkie shrugged her shoulders.

"It's just what I do."

Again, the griffons attacked, though remained as out-of-their-depth with her as they were before. No matter how many times they struck, or tried to restrain her, Pinkie always seemed to be able to just not be there when they did so. Of course, in time, this led to great frustration on the part of their leader.

"Get her, you idiots! We can't let the ponies know we were here!"

Hearing that, Pinkie chuckled.

"Wow, then you're really gonna be upset when my friends and I get out."

As soon as the griffons had heard that, they regained their earlier looks of confusion, and soon afterwards, they started to turn around. Sure enough, they spotted Twilight and Applejack, not because the latter two had failed to hide, but because they stood defiantly against them, right in the main chamber of the cave. But, as shocking as this was, what surprised the griffons even more was that Little Strongheart was amongst them, having been untied, and now stood tall, glaring at them angrily as Twilight and Applejack stood on either side of her. However, before the griffons had a chance to even open their beaks to comment on this, Pinkie walked into view, taking her place right beside Applejack.

"What the...?!" the griffon leader exclaimed.

He turned back to the spot where Pinkie had been, then glanced over to where she was, just in time to see her smirk slightly.

"Sorry, boys, but this is what you get for interrupting one of my songs!"

The leader's eyes widened, and he saw Twilight's horn lighting up. Perhaps suspecting what was about to happen, he leapt forward, claws outstretched, ready to strike at his foes. But Twilight's spell soon reached its apex, and a blinding light engulfed both her and her companions. So, instead of hitting a few ponies and the young buffalo, the griffon leader instead slammed hard into the cave wall. When he recovered, he darted his head around the cave, seeing no sight of the now-teleported herbivores. All he saw was the dumbfounded looks on his colleagues, and in the silence that followed, his rage grew, until finally, he flung back his head and let out an almighty roar.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!"

He collapsed to his knees, and as he snorted angrily, one of his followers came to him, nervously poking his claws against each other.

"So...does this mean we're not getting paid, Boss?"