Shining Wings looked out the train window. He could've saved some time by flying, but it was rare for a griffon to get a chance to go to Equestria, and he wanted to see as much of the country as he could.
As the trees passed by, Shining Wings couldn't help but think about how beautiful the country it was. It was very unlike the arid Griffon Kingdom. Here, it seemed everything was green. Every tree burst with life. Every branch carried secrets.
It was hard to believe that this was the site of such a horrible crime.
– – – –
There was a village next to the castle—the scene of the massacre. It was right on the edge of a mountainside plateau, so depending on what direction you were facing, you either got one of the most complete views of Equestria the world offered, or a steep, ugly cliff face.
The environment was harsher than most of Equestria, so for the average pony, it was difficult to reach. The town was almost completely surrounded with thick, hard to travel brush, and it was frequently buffeted by strong winds that made consistent pegasus travel impossible. It was no problem, however, for a griffon. Shining Wings flew over the area a couple of times, scoping it out. When he saw a decent clearing in the forest, he landed and started towards the village on foot. He figured walking in would be less intimidating.
As he walked down the rough path to the village, Shining Wings thought about the last investigation team. None of them had returned. They had just disappeared into that castle like everyone else.
Except for one.
The one griffon on the team had been found on a path much like this one, utterly mangled. Next to him was a note. It was a small, damaged piece of scroll with only two words on it:
"Lavender Alicorn"
No one was quite sure what it meant. The handwriting didn't look like any of the team members', and the only lavender alicorn anyone could think of was an old pony princess, Twilight Sparkle. She had disappeared years ago, though, and would be long dead by now. Shining Wings, along with many other griffons, did not buy that alicorns were immortal. He had even, during his many studies into pony culture, published a paper theorizing the princess titles were passed down. Among griffons, at least, it was generally accepted as truth. He smiled, thinking about it. It was his finest work, and had more than made up for his last failure. He humbly said he was still an amateur at pony culture, but was happy to continue his grandmother's work.
At that point, Shining Wings noticed he was getting close to the town and slowed down. He hoped to make a good impression, but unfortunately, Equestria's infamous xenophobia spread even to this remote village, and by time Shining Wings had reached town everyone was already cowering in their houses. Only a handful remained, conspicuously minding their daily business and pretending not to ogle him. He was, sadly, prepared for this. He knew it was near impossible for a non-pony to reap Equestria's benefits.
One of the ponies dropped their bag, making the contents roll down a hill. Shining Wings sensed an opening, and caught and brought back the items to the mare.
"Here you go," he said.
"Thanks," she replied.
The wind ruffled a yellow bandanna in her hair. It was magenta, suiting her red body. Her eyes looked like they used to be piercing, but now they just looked tired. She had been through enough that the mere appearance of a griffon didn't scare her, but Shining Wings was too busy trying not to make a bad impression to notice that. He tried to steal a glance at her cutie mark. It was something… gray, with yellow marks?
"I work in metallurgy. That's a bar of steel being welded," she said. She leaned in a bit closer. "I know what the guidebooks say, but don't stare at ponies' cutie marks as soon as you meet them. It may do wonders for conversation starters, but it also does wonders for creeping people out."
"Sorry," Shining Wings said.
"Nah, it's fine. You've done your research, which is more than I can say for some other tourists," she said. "But what are you doing all the way out here? Ponies barely want to come to this dump."
He glanced at the other townspeople. "Just passing through," he said.
She looked incredulous.
"There's some politics involved. I can explain," he said while pulling a bit out of his satchel, "over lunch, if you want."
She stared at him for a couple of seconds, then started laughing. "Smooth," she giggled. "Real smooth. There aren't even any restaurants in this town. Here, come with me, I'll treat you to lunch with the groceries you rescued."
Shining Wings mentally hit himself for laying it on too thick and went along. In the end, though, he was glad. If anyone could tell him useful information about the incident, it was her.
As soon as he was out of sight, the rest of the townspeople collectively sighed. Now they didn't have to worry about being eaten by the scary griffon.
– – – –
Her house was messy, putting it lightly. Utterly random objects lied around everywhere. Shining Wings was almost irritated at the disorder until he noticed the walls. Almost every square inch was covered in sketches of fascinating designs. He heard the mare start emptying her groceries behind him, and decided to pass the time looking at the sketches. He could've sworn he had seen some of these sculptures in Canterlot, but he couldn't be sure.
"I'm Sparkling Steel," she said while frying some vegetables. "What's your name?"
"Shining Wings," he replied, preoccupied.
She stifled laughter. "What? Seriously? That sounds like a pony name! You must've caught hell for that in the Griffon Kingdom."
Shining Wings turned back. "How do you even know that!?" he said, amazed.
"I was friends with a griffon once," Sparkling Steel said. "He was really confused by pony names. He said, ‘How do you just happen to be named what you're good at? And why do only some of you have family names?'" She laughed at her bad baritone. "But I remember most of all that he said no one would be caught dead with names like ours in the Griffon Kingdom. So what gives? Your parents must've been masochists!"
"No, there's a reason," Shining Wings replied. He settled into a chair near the kitchen. "It took me a while to understand, though."
"Really? Do tell." She smiled.
"My grandmother was one of the first griffon exchange students," Shining Wings said. "But she squandered her chance. She ended up alienating her pony friends, and had to go back early. She came to regret that, especially when she found out her friends were national heroes, and her actions might've been responsible for all the anti-griffon sentiment today. Since then, she dedicated her life to improve pony griffon relations, and it's been a tradition to give griffons pony names in our family."
"Wow," was all Sparkling Steel could say. "Does that mean your grandmother is—"
"Gilda, yes."
"Oh my Celestia! It's like I'm talking to a piece of history!" Sparkling Steel said. "This is amazing!"
"Not really."
"No, really, it is!"
"Whatever you say," he replied, hoping she wouldn't make the second connection. "Anyways, the reason—"
Sparkling Steel thought. "Wait, if your grandmother is Gilda, does that mean you're that guy that tried to make ‘anygriffon' a word?"
Oh god.
"That look on your face! You totally are!" she laughed. "Ha, I knew it!"
"Not one of my finest moments."
"We all have them," Sparkling Steel said. She finally turned off the grill, and served up what, at that point, Shining Wings was reasonably sure were completely scorched vegetables. She sat opposite him with her own plate. "Dig in. Sorry, can't offer any meat, but this is the best I got."
"Trust me, no one goes to Equestria expecting a nice steak," Shining Wings said, taking a bite. "And this is quite good."
"Thanks."
"Not many ponies think to cook their food."
"I've always had a weakness for cooked food after I met my griffon friend," she said, which raised many more questions than it answered. "So, what's someone like you doing all the way down here, anyways? You made it sound all secret and stuff."
"It is," Shining Wings said. "You have to promise not to tell this to anyone you don't think can handle it."
"You have my word."
"Apparently, a couple of months ago there was a massacre in a castle next to this town."
Sparkling Steel, for the first time, looked scared. "I remember that. I've been around a bit more than the average pony, but I've never, ever seen anything quite like that before," she said. "Don't tell me you're—"
"Yes, I've been sent here to investigate it."
"Now what're you doing a thing like that for!?" she yelled. "Don't just throw your life away like that! Don't you know what happened to the last team?"
"None of them returned. And one of them was a griffon. I know," Shining Wings said. "That's why I'm here alone. Neither side wants to lose any more lives. After the loss of the last team, they opened it up to volunteers. I volunteered. If you're familiar with my work, you know that I'll stand up for ponies whenever possible, even if it happens to be dangerous. I have to do this."
Sparkling Steel was silent. "I just don't want to lose anyone else."
"Sorry, you know I have to do this."
"I know," she replied. "A griffon died too. It's personal. I'd do the same thing, and you probably couldn't stop me."
"Try me."
They laughed. They stared at their food.
"You have some questions for me, don't you?" she said.
"Yes."
"Fire away. I'll help any way I can."
Shining Wings thought about what to ask. He decided to start with the basics. "What do you know about the incident?"
"I remember I first caught wind of it when the mailmare went up to deliver some mail to the castle and never came back," she said. "A bunch of us from town went up to see what was up, thinking they were holding her for some tax violation or something. We realized something was wrong as soon as we opened the door."
"What did you do?"
"Ran back to town and reported it, of course! The carnage in there was unlike anything we'd seen. There was no way she'd survived. I tried to talk some people out of looking for her, but they didn't listen, and we never heard from them either."
"I'm sorry," Shining Wings said. "You wouldn't happen to know what the first victim was delivering?"
"No. It couldn't have been much more than stationary, though. They mainly dealt with paperwork there. Just between you and me, it seemed like that's where Canterlot dumped their flunkies."
"Why would you say that?"
"I'd been down there once or twice. I remember everyone seemed…" Sparkling Steel grasped for the word. "I don't know, just bored. Like they didn't want to be there. But you could tell they came from class. I used to live in Canterlot, so I just noticed it right away. And then there was that one time…"
"That one time?"
"When I first moved here, they transported something real secret to the castle," she said, getting excited. "I remember the Royal Guard came by and told us to stay in our houses, but me being me, of course, I snuck out and stole a peek. I remember I was hiding behind some thick trees near the castle when I saw her. Now, I'll admit I was pretty far away, and I didn't have that good of a view, but trust me, you can tell. She was a princess, I'm sure of it. They just… move differently from the rest of us. There's no confusing it. And she walked into the castle, slowly, like it was the biggest shame in the world, and then," she made a "poof" gesture with her hooves, "it was done. Never heard anything about it since."
Shining Wings twitched. "And by princess you mean… alicorn?"
"Yeah. They start meaning the same thing after a while. I never got a good look at her, so I'm not sure which one, but she must've been old. At least 200 years. Not that I have any way of knowing. Just I don't think any mortal could work up that much shame."
Shining Wings let out a scoff. "You don't really believe they're immortal?"
"Oh, you're one of those," Sparkling Steel said, smirking. "Let me tell you, you meet Princess Celestia face-to-face and tell me you still believe in that doppelgänger army or whatever the latest conspiracy theory is. You meet her, she's the real deal. It'll scare the crap out of you, but you'll know. She can read you and the whole world like a book, and you don't get that kind of knowledge by reading."
"Alright, alright, I believe you! It's just a bit hard to swallow."
Sparkling Steel laughed. "Well yeah, it must drive you nuts that ponies cracked immortality first!"
Shining Wings decided to drop it. "Well, sort of." He went over everything in his head again. "That's a lot of good information. You think you got anything else? Anything suspicious going on around town?"
"Nothing compared to the alicorn delivery. But that was years ago. All that's been going on lately is stories about people hearing things near the castle. Moaning, footsteps, you know, the works. And before the incident…" She searched back. "I can't think of anything. I mean, I think one guy threatened the castle after they raised taxes a bit, but he was just as scared as the rest of us when this happened. And let's be honest, do you think a pony could gut a castle like that?"
That was new. "What? You think it's a foreign attack?"
"No," Sparkling Steel blurted out, then decided to be honest. "Well, maybe. But not a pony, that's for sure. That massacre was done with brute strength, I saw that much." She decided to backtrack. "Maybe a manticore got loose."
"But that means the town is in danger too, right?"
"Yeah, I guess. But for some reason I just feel… safe here. Like it wouldn't touch us. Don't ask me to explain it. I can't."
"No, that's fine," Shining Wings said. "This is more than enough information. I'll probably check out the castle tomorrow." He saw the look of worry on Sparkling Steel's face. "Just a preliminary run to get a feel for the layout. Nothing big. But if I don't come back by nighttime, report right away, you hear? I don't want my death to be in vain."
"Don't talk like that."
"Sorry. I should get going."
"Where are you staying?"
Shining Wings looked at nothing in particular. "I don't know. Around. I might sleep in the forest."
"Stay here."
"What?"
"Don't sleep in the forest. That's pathetic," Sparkling Steel said as she looked for bed materials. "I can make an extra bed. Just stay here."
"No, really, I don't mind. I've never been in a forest before, and I wouldn't want to imp—"
"Please stay. For me."
Shining Wings looked into her desperate eyes. He couldn't say no.
"Alright. Just for tonight."
– – – –
Shining Wings stood in front of the castle. From the front, it was impossible to tell anything was wrong. The only odd thing was how quiet it was. No one was inside, obviously, but the wildlife around the castle also appeared to be gone. Maybe whatever did this was sustaining itself on the local animals. After gathering his composure, he pushed open the front door.
The stench of death overwhelmed him immediately. The inside was completely destroyed. All that remained of the occupants were skeletons. Some were intact, some were ripped apart, and some were even half eaten. There was less blood than he thought, but that was a small saving grace. Whatever did this was obviously incredibly strong, yet there were scorch marks on the walls that were obviously caused by magic. There were few species that had such strength at both. The best Shining had was that, somehow, a dragon got in, but a dragon of this strength would be too big to fit in the castle's hallways.
Shining Wings opened his satchel and got out a map of the castle. Equestrian castles frequently used space bending magic to deter intruders, so being without a map was deadly. Doors could lead to different rooms depending on what direction you entered them, hallways could be hidden in cabinets… anything was possible. Canterlot castle had its own lore surrounding it, and every once in a while he heard they found thieves that had been lost for decades. This castle was probably no different.
He started wandering the castle. It seemed bigger on the inside than the outside. For all he knew, it was bigger on the inside than outside. Whatever had done this clearly knew which. It had touched every inch of the castle, even secret rooms hidden behind convoluted space tricks. Some victims tried to hide in them to no avail.
It became increasingly clear that whatever did this was intelligent. Brutal, but intelligent. Every exit had remains of being blocked thoroughly. Magic residue hung in the air everywhere, as if it casted spells to confuse its victims. Sometimes, the skeletons were lined up, as if it made the ponies watch their comrade's fate. It was sickening.
After unproductively finding yet more corpses, Shining Wings sat against a wall and ate some of the vegetables Sparkling Steel had left him. Then he heard it. It was incredibly quiet, but he heard something that sounded like sobbing.
Could someone have survived?
He rewrapped his food and pulled out his map. It sounded like it was coming from the next floor. He found a staircase and flew up. Sure enough, it was louder. He checked his map. There was only one room in that direction.
The library.
Cautiously, he entered it. The sound was coming from somewhere in the library, he was sure of it. He started searching for it, but as soon as he took a step the sobbing stopped. They were holding their breath.
"Don't worry, I'm a friend," Shining Wings said. "I won't hurt you. I'm here to help."
The voice started breathing again. They paused. "I'm… I'm over here."
He followed the sound to a dark corner. He could see the silhouette of a pony, but before he could get any closer the figure stopped him.
"Stop! Don't get any closer! Please, just… I can't…"
"No, it's fine," Shining Wings said. "I can't imagine what you've been through." He sat on the floor. "See? I won't get any closer."
"Thank you."
There was a moment of silence.
"I'm Shining Wings," he said. "What's your name?"
Silence.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
The figure seemed to be thinking. "Are you… that Shining Wings?"
"What?"
"The one that tried to get ‘anygriffon' turned into a word?" The figure started giggling. Then laughing harder. It was a mare, Shining Wings could tell now.
Shining Wings laughed awkwardly. "Oh god. Is that what I'm going to be remembered for around here?"
"No, no, don't take it badly. I think it's great," she said. "I knew your grandmother."
"What?"
"Bit of a short griffon, long eyelashes, had a thing for Rainbow Dash…" She stopped when she noticed the look of utter horror on Shining Wings' face. "Okay, maybe she didn't tell you about that part. I remember not liking her at all. I thought she was a stuck up bitch." She laughed a bit, then became serious. "I judged her too quick. We all judged her too quick. She became a fine griffon. A fine person."
"What, here? But… that was over 100 years ago."
Silence.
"Did you ever go to the Griffon Kingdom?"
Silence.
"Hello?"
"I mean, I read about her," she said. "Yeah, that's it. I read about her." She held back an awful sob.
"What? What is it?"
"No, no, it's nothing, it's nothing," she cried. "It's just been so long since I've laughed."
Shining Wings was lost for words.
"Everyone I know is dead," she said. "Every last person. And this time… this time, oh god, this time it's all my…"
"There, there, it's—"
"No, don't get any closer!" she screamed. "I don't want you to die too!"
Shining Wings stopped.
"Sorry, I just… I just…"
"It's… it's okay," Shining Wings said, shaken up. He felt he had to say something. "You can't blame yourself for this. I've looked around the castle. I'm investigating what happened here. Whatever did this couldn't have been a pony. You couldn't have done this, and you couldn't have stopped it. Okay?"
Silence.
"I could have prevented this. If I was careful enough, if I had prepared myself, if I had a steady…"
"You couldn't have done anything—"
"Shut up and listen! I've got to tell you this, because you have to know and I can't keep lying," she yelled. "I can say no one told me as much as I want, but I know that won't change anything. It wouldn't change anything for their families. I know she did this on purpose, but I can't prove it and I can't fight it and all I can do is make sure you get out alive so this never happens again, so you're going to listen to me!"
Shining Wings was silent.
"If you've been investigating, you know that no animal did this. It's too planned. The exits were sealed, spells kept the victims in place, they were found even in the most secret rooms in the castle. So what do you think happened?"
"I don't know," Shining Wings said. "Either the castle staff was in on it or there's a new type of magical creature we don't know about, but—"
"Define we."
Shining Wings grumbled. "Griffons, I guess, since you ponies know more about magic. Why?"
"What was the one clue that the last investigative team left behind? A frayed piece of scroll with two words in someone else's handwriting," she said. "Lavender alicorn."
"How do you know that?"
"Now, you've got to promise to not be scared."
"How do you know that!?"
"I wrote it."
"Why?"
"I did this."
Shining Wings grew pale. "What?"
She rose. In the darkness, she had looked like a normal pony, but that was only because she was sitting. In reality, she was quite tall. Only slightly more so than Shining Wings, but what she lacked in size she easily made up for in presence. She was thin, and almost looked emaciated, but held a strange elegance. She slowly approached Shining Wings with careful, calculated grace, as if with every step she had to hold back to avoid crushing him. She took a couple deep, controlled breaths, and stepped out into the light.
The light hit her face first. It looked manic. Her eyes were wide, and she didn't blink, as if she was afraid closing them would break her concentration. Her unkempt hair covered most of her face and stuck to her purple body. Once her mouth was visible, she closed it and started breathing through her nose. Shining Wings realized why there was so little blood.
He backed away, terrified.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle," she said. "I'm the lavender alicorn."
"You're dead! You can't be alive!"
"Not dead. Just hiding."
"But no one can live that long!"
"Oh, you're one of those," Twilight said. "You see that blade over there? On the suit of armor?"
"Yeah."
"Take it. Stab me."
"What?"
"Stab me. Make it lethal."
"Are you crazy? I'm not—"
Twilight levitated the blade over and quickly slashed her neck with it. Shining Wings looked on in shock. "You see?" she said as her head reattached itself, "I can't even die if I want to, and trust me, I want to. If you think that was sleight-of-hand or something, take a stab yourself, preferably the heart."
"No, I believe you," Shining Wings stuttered.
"Now onto business," Twilight said, clearly calmer. "We need to get you out of here alive as soon as possible. I'll lead you to the nearest exit. Now, listen. Don't make any sudden moves, and whatever you do, don't bleed. Not a single drop. You be careful to not get cut on a single thing, you hear me? Not even a paper cut. I know it's been two months, but I still can't control myself."
"What are you talking about?"
"What do you think I'm talking about? Saving your life!" Twilight snapped.
"You want to save my life after you did all this!?" Shining Wings yelled. "Why would I believe that!?"
Twilight paused, clearly not willing to wait another moment but acknowledging she had to. "I didn't do this because I wanted to, I swear," she said. "I know you have no reason to believe me, but let me explain what happened."
Shining Wings sat. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Twilight thought of where to begin. She decided to start close. "I know more about your work than the ‘anygriffon' thing. I remember reading a paper you wrote theorizing that the princesses weren't immortal, it was simply a title passed down," Twilight said. "It struck me because… from the bottom of my heart, I wish it was true."
"You what?"
"Your race is lucky they haven't cracked immortality," Twilight said. "For the first 100 years or so, you can live a pretty normal life, but once you go past the lifespan of a normal pony, things start getting strange. The process changes your body more than you think. This is probably only one of many surprises."
"What is?"
"Alicorns are carnivores."
Shining Wings shuddered. Before, that statement wouldn't have shocked him at all, but now, confronted with the repercussions of it…
"I've seen Celestia and Luna eat vegetables before, so maybe they're omnivores, or it's possible to build an immunity, but all I know is for the last year I've been able to eat nothing but meat," Twilight said. "So I did. Equestria has some meat import for foreigners, and the people in this castle were nice enough to keep it under wraps, so I got by. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Not nearly. And I was too stupid to realize you can't become a carnivore without hunting instincts. It started growing. The hunger. The hunger." She became manic. "And one day, two months ago, someone came in the room, and next thing I knew I was standing over his corpse. I told myself he'd be the only one, but then some people saw, and three more couldn't hurt, could it? And then two more, and three more, and five more, six more, and… you get the idea. Imagine if you went on a hunt, and you could never get your fill, and you had infinite strength, and you didn't die. That's what happened here. You saw it. Even operating on my basest instincts, I locked them in here. I made them suffer. I controlled them. But I couldn't control myself."
Shining Wings was silent.
"And that's why you need to escape," she said. "If you could just get out there and get some food brought here, I could control myself! I want to pay for my actions more than anyone, but I don't have a choice. I can't die, so I have to reintegrate with society or I'll become a worse monster. Do you understand?"
"There's," Shining Wings said, "one thing I don't understand."
"What?"
"The princesses must know about this. Why didn't they prepare you for it? They must control themselves."
"That's just it," Twilight said. "She did this on purpose. I'm sure of it."
"She?"
Twilight paused. "Celestia didn't make me a princess as a reward. It was a punishment."
Shining Wings was shocked. "What? Why would anyone do that?"
"Once, a long time ago," Twilight said, "I tried to take her throne."
Shining Wings was silent.
"I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought she had become corrupt." She looked around. "And, I mean, look around here and tell me I was wrong!" she yelled. She took a couple seconds to compose herself. "I'm still not sure if I did the right thing."
They were both silent.
"Come on, follow me. Every second you spend in here you're risking your life."
Twilight started walking off slowly. Shining Wings followed, making sure not to get cut on anything. She stopped at a blank wall.
"This… this doesn't look like an exit," Shining Wings stuttered.
"Not now it doesn't," Twilight said. Her horn glowed and she blew a hole in the wall. "Now fly out! Fly out! Now!"
Shining Wings didn't hesitate. He flew out as fast as he could. He could hear Twilight relax as he left the castle. Maybe one day, she could finally get her redemption. He could only hope. He looked back at the castle to get one last look. What he didn't expect to see was Twilight horrified. He wondered why.
That's when it happened.
Since he wasn't looking forward, he didn't see the tree branch. It scratched his face.
All it took was one drop of blood.
He heard a snap.
Author's Note
"Aldrovanda" is, according to Wikipedia, a smaller, more lethal version of the Venus Flytrap.
Why? Because a story about cannibal ponies needs as much class as it can get.
If you want to point out typos or edit the story, feel free. Since I wrote this for a flash fiction event, I'm sure there's tons of problems lying around.
