The griffons had only just arrived and Twilight already didn't like where this situation was going.

She suddenly felt as though she had made a grave mistake in not seeking out the leader of the village first, but it couldn't be helped -- not at the time. She had been worried about her friends after all, and everything else just kind of seemed... not as important.

Nevertheless, Twilight swallowed her nervousness and answered the expectant griffon leader.

"By all means, Mister Grim Talon," Twilight said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt, "that's what this party was for. If you have any questions about where we came from, or about ponies in general, we'd be happy to answer them for you," she turned to her friends seated next to her, "right, girls?"

They all made various gestures of agreement, including Pinkie who had returned to her seat at some point. Twilight nodded in response and turned back to the griffon with a winning smile.

"So please, ask away and we'll be sure to answer what we can."

Ingmar stared at them with an unreadable expression for a few moments before slowly nodding once.

"Very well then," he finally replied before turning to the crowd of nervous and wary griffons behind him, "Svanhild!"

At his call, the griffon in question pushed through the crowd and stepped forth to stand next to Ingmar. Twilight noticed that the griffon looked rather nervous, shifting her weight from claw to paw and her eyes looking anywhere but at the girls themselves.

"Heya, Svanny!" Pinkie happily cried with a wave, "it's me, Pinkie! Remember? Hey, remember me, Svanny? Hey, Svan--"

"Don't call me that!" Svanhild hissed before sighing and rubbing the back of her neck, "look, I'm sorry, but just... don't alright?"

Pinkie slowly lowered her hoof and frowned slightly before nodding with an understanding smile.

"So what's up, Svan?" Rainbow chimed in with a small smirk. She leaned forward with a hoof on the table in front of her, "you here to find out how awesome ponies are? Or more specifically, how awesome I am?"

Svanhild went to answer when Ingmar cut her off.

"Svanhild would like to know exactly how you came to be here in this rather secluded mountain range," Ingmar said before briefly sweeping his gaze over the crowd, "as would we all I'd imagine."

Ignoring Svanhild's glare, Ingmar stepped forward and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"from what I know, Equestria is quite a ways away from even the nearest port city in Griffonia."

"Well, it's like ah told Svanhild," Applejack replied before turning to her lavender friend, "Twi here teleported us all to the--"

"Yes, yes I know that already," Ingmar interrupted with an impatient wave of his claw, "what we want to know is why you Teleported here in the first place. Svanhild mentioned that you were in some kind of trouble before you got here," he gave each of them a pointed look, "exactly what kind of trouble were you in?"

That stopped Applejack short and she faltered.

"Ah... uh, well... ya see..."

Applejack felt a hoof rest on her shoulder and she turned to see Rarity giving her a kind smile.

"Allow me, darling," Rarity whispered before turning to the grimacing griffon, "what Applejack means to say is that the events leading up to our arrival in this rather stunning mountain range are a bit of a... sore subject as it were."

"Oh?" Ingmar replied with another raise of his brow, "and you are?"

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, dear," Rarity replied, rasing her own brows and putting a hoof to her chest, "I am Rarity Belle, Ponyville's premiere fashionista and..." she frowned, "well I was Ponyville's premiere fashionista, but now I wonder if that's still the case..."

Rarity shook her head and her cordial smile returned as she continued.

"My own worries aside, I believe we owe you some kind of explanation for our sudden appearance."

"Indeed you do," Ingmar readily agreed with a nod, "you six may look harmless, but you're still an unknown. I may be a leader in name only, but it's the job of myself and the Town Guard to protect this village from any potential threats.

Ingmar looked back to the crowd of griffons with a hint of pride in his eyes before turning back to the girls at the table.

"With a town so small and out of the way all the way out here in the mountains, we can't very well rely on the aid of the Empire to help us in times of need. We've had to fend for ourselves against wild animals, mountain bandits, and the elements.

"This is something we've managed to do fairly well for generations, and it's made us wary out of necessity, so I hope you understand our caution. You may have your... issues about whatever happened before you came here, but I'm afraid that if you want to continue staying in Squawken, you're going to have to give us something we can work with."

At that, the six mares could see a few griffons in the crowd nodding or murmuring in agreement. Many of the other griffons simply glared or gave them distrustful looks, which did nothing to staunch Twilight's worry.

The mares looked at each other, trying to decide what to say next. Twilight, who had been fidgeting with her hooves, yelped in surprise as Rainbow Dash elbowed her in the side.

She glared at the cyan pegasus who jerked her head towards the waiting griffons.

"You're the egghead leader here," Rainbow whispered, "you say something!"

Twilight went to argue, but stopped and glanced at the tall griffon leader who was now tapping one of his talons on the floor impatiently. Seeing this, Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

Come on, Twilight, you can do this... just... focus.

Focus on the griffon.

Focus on the situation.

Focus on the lie.

She took a deep breath and open her eyes once more before locking eyes with Ingmar. Her friends looked at her with varying expressions of surprise, confusion, worry, and -- in Pinkie's case -- sad understanding.

Twilight ignored all of this as she spoke to the griffon in a calmer and much more collected tone than before -- her gaze even and calculating.

"I apologize for all the secrecy, Ingmar," Twilight explained, "as my friend Rarity said, our prior situation is a rather difficult subject to talk about," she gestured to the other five mares, "you see, a long time ago back in Equestria we were all considered... somewhat famous.

"A vicious group of thugs decided it would be a good idea to take us hostage in exchange for a hefty sum of bits. We were all more or less taken against our will and held in captivity for a prolonged period of time..."

Twilight visibly shuddered and looked away, fresh tears welling up in her eyes as she continued.

"I... won't go into detail, but it... it wasn't a pleasant experience... for any of us."

Catching onto the act, Rarity reached over to comfort Twilight, a few tears rolling down her own face as she looked at the griffon and nodded in agreement. The other played along with their own different reactions save for Rainbow Dash who just looked confused.

"What? What are you all -- oof!"

Rainbow rubbed her hind leg and glared at the cowpony who had just kicked her under the table. Applejack herself showed no sign that she had done anything. After a moment of silence in which some of the griffons suspicious looks turned to looks of pity and understanding, Twilight sniffed and wiped her eyes before addressing Ingmar once more.

"Rainbow Dash managed to break free from our captors and rescue me," Twilight said, nodding in Rainbow's direction with a grateful smile, "together we helped the others, though Rarity was knocked out trying to protect us and Fluttershy fainted from the shock of the situation.

"I myself barely managed to get us all out via a blind Long Range Teleportation spell, and as you could probably tell, the effort left me drained and unconscious. I can't tell you where we were before, as we never found out, but I can tell you that we ended up here by complete chance and nothing more."

Ingmar silently mulled over what Twilight had said and after a moment, turned to Svanhild with a questioning look.

"That... more or less seems to match up with what little the orange and pink one told me back outside the village," Svanhild said with a shrug, "I've got nothing else to add honestly."

This seemed to satisfy the griffon leader and he nodded before turning his attention back to Twilight.

"Very well, I'll take your word for it... for now."

The six mares visibly relaxed and gave each other relieved smiles.

"However..."

Twilight froze and looked back to a frowning Ingmar with an uncertain expression. The griffon turned to the crowd and jerked his head forward, motioning for a younger looking black and silver griffon to step forward.

The small griffon looked from Ingmar to the girls sitting at the table with a nervous expression. Twilight looked at the griffon in confusion and turned to her friends just in time to see Rarity's eyes widen briefly before settling back into a patient frown.

The lavender mare didn't miss the surprise she saw in Rarity's eyes, nor did she miss the small hint of trepidation in her otherwise stoic expression. Ingmar spoke again, drawing Twilight's attention away from Rarity and back to him.

"There is one other question I'd personally like to ask you before we move on to the festivities," he gestured to the uncomfortable young griffon, "this is Om Grim Talon, Squawken Town Guard trainee and my son."

Om, not knowing what else to do, waved at the mares with an awkward smile. The girls waved back just as awkwardly with the exception of Pinkie, who waved at the griffon with her usual brand of enthusiasm.

When Om's eyes met Rarity's the griffon quickly lowered his claw and looked away with a slight wince. Rarity frowned and slowly lowered her hoof in turn, much to the other's confusion.

"Now then," Ingmar continued, addressing the group of mares, "my son here told me about something he had seen earlier while on his way back from patrolling outside the town," he snapped his gaze over to Rarity who leaned back in her seat slightly, "something I find very interesting."

"Rarity..." Twilight whispered in a worried tone, "what's he talking about?"

"I'm so sorry, darling," Rarity whispered back with a resigned sigh, "I think I may have... slipped up during the task you assigned me."

Before Twilight could press any further, Ingmar spoke again -- this time with much more accusation in his voice.

"You see, Om told me he had spotted one of you -- Rarity if I remember correctly -- in a rather inconspicuous spot just outside the village, burning some rather large and heavy looking bags to cinders," he narrowed his eyes at the mare in question, "now what could that have been about?"

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie cried, waving a hoof, "there was this huuuge accident while we were preparing the party and we had to throw a buncha stuff out which was sad because we worked really hard on getting the decorations just right. That's why I had to go back to the store and get more supplies!"

"I see..." Ingmar said shifting his suspicious gaze from Rarity to Pinkie, "it's funny you should mention that store... Pinkie Pie, was it?"

Pinkie nodded, her bright smile slipping a little.

"Yes, very funny indeed," Ingmar continued, taking another step closer to the table, "you know, that shop is one of the only shops in the village that sells anything besides what's absolutely necessary for the town. I'm actually a good friend of the couple that runs the place..."

Ingmar's features suddenly grew cold as he eyed the pink mare.

"...or rather I was."

Pinkie's smile completely disappeared.

"As I said before, we're a very small community," Ingmar continued as he paced back and forth -- never taking his eyes off of Pinkie, "the kind of community where everyone knows everyone else."

Twilight and the others watched with growing dread as Pinkie's expression became unreadable.

"Now normally, in a community as small as this, were one to commit any kind of crime, word would spread quickly and the culprit wouldn't be too hard to find," Ingmar stopped pacing and his frown deepened, "imagine my surprise when one of the townsfolk comes banging on my door saying the kind old couple that run the only miscellaneous supply shop in town has gone missing.

"Generally, the couple that run the shop don't get a lot of customers because most folk around here don't have a use for the things they sell, so as you could imagine it took a bit of time before anyone realized they were both gone."

"Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy whispered, giving the blank faced party pony a horrified look, "please tell me you didn't..."

"At first I didn't think much of it," Ingmar said, his expression growing darker as he spoke, "I thought 'maybe they went out of town to get more supplies... at least, that's what I thought before another griffon showed up not half an hour later saying there was evidence of a struggle in the shop.

"Naturally, I and a few other griffons searched that shop, and sure enough, one of the back rooms were a mess. Boxes and bags of food and other items strewn all over the place, shelves and tables knocked over... and that's to say nothing of all the blood."

"Oh, Pinkie," Twilight quietly groaned in dismay, "why?"

"...I had no money to pay for the party supplies."

"And you couldn't have at least gotten rid of the evidence properly?!"

Twilight winced and held a hoof to her head. She clenched her black eyes shut for a moment and shook her head before opening them again, revealing her normal amethyst colored irises once more.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie, I--"

She snapped her mouth shut at the look her friends were giving her. For a moment, Twilight looked back at them in confusion before it finally dawned on her that she had spoken loud enough for every griffon in the room to hear.

With a look of dread, Twilight slowly turned to the crowd of horrified griffons before her. Her eyes met Svanhild's and she tried to say something, but the terrified griffon slowly shook her head and took a step back.

"By our Great Emperor, you killed them... you really did kill them..."

I am one hundred percent certain everything will be fine.