Day one, Time, 8:25 AM

“A flower!” Twilight exclaimed. The forest was soon met with the howls and whimpers of defeat from the Granous. They had asked her twelve questions already, and still the unicorn hadn’t gotten a single one wrong. They cursed her in their minds and stamped the ground in frustration. No creature had ever lasted this long against them without fumbling. The lead Granous brought his long, bony fingers to his chin and pondered. He was going to need the most challenging riddles at his disposal to trump this one. After a moment he turned to his captive and smiled.

“Well unicorn, I must congratulate you. You have lasted longer than any of our previous captives. I’ll be sure to tell the other packs about your intelligence. That is, after we’ve picked you clean.” The other Granous cackled with delight. They knew well what their leader was planning. He approached the unicorn and spoke the next question.

I cannot be other than what I am
Until the women who made me dies
Power and glory will fall to me finally
Only when she last closes her eyes

Twilight stared right at the leader without fear. If she had lasted this long, she could beat these creatures. All she had to do was hold out a bit longer. The leader moved away from Twilight just as the others began counting. “Twenty...Nineteen...Eighteen...Seventeen”

Twilight concentrated hard on her memories in the library. She was sure that she’d stumbled upon a book of riddles somewhere. This one sounded so familiar. “Sixteen...Fifteen...Fourteen...Thirteen”

Was it the Ponyville library? No, Pinkie ruined our copy.

“Twelve...Eleven...Ten...Nine”

It must have been during my stays with the-“Princess!”

Twilight was rewarded with another round of whimpers and moans. The leader approached her, his black eyes alive with pure fury! Had it not been for their sworn rules he would have torn her throat out then and there. So he expelled his rage by biting a thick log in half without any effort. “Your luck will only get you so far, and when it runs out you will suffer!”

Twilight knew that now the time was right. She looked at the leader and smiled. “Sorry boys, but I don’t think so.” Her horn then illuminated with magic, and all eight Granous were pinned to individual trees. Effortlessly she instructed her magic to untie the vines around her legs and turned the tables on her captors. Her head still stung a little from her capture, but at least she was free. She trotted over to their leader, whose face was now the epitome of rage! “I thank you for your hospitalities, but I must be going now.”

“Not so sorceress!”

Suddenly the ground behind Twilight exploded in a shower of earth and grass. Two more Granous emerged from a hidden tunnel and lunged for the unicorn mare! Swiftly Twilight dodged their grasping hands and delivered a powerful kick to the closest ones head. This broke her concentration sadly, freeing the other eight. They all turned towards the unicorn with fury in their eyes.

Not wanting to waste any time Twilight took off immediately through the trees. She could tell form the howls of rage that her pursuers were easily keeping pace with her. She swerved around a fallen tree, narrowly avoiding the teeth of a waiting Granous, before leaping away from the arms of three others. Using her magic she lifted up several large stones and used them to barricade the pathway. Her pursuers howled with frustration and cursed at the unicorn with all their might. Knowing that this would only be a temporary setback, Twilight made sure to put as much distance from herself and the pack as possible. She didn’t make it far however, before she discovered two more of the grey furred devils crawl from the ground and block the path in front of her.

Twilight made a hard left as the Granous finished pulling themselves from the earth. She tore through the foliage until it simply vanished. Looking around, Twilight was shocked to discover that the chase had led her to a rare un-forested patch of the valley. All other ways out were either to steep to climb, or offered no room to maneuver. Without another option available to her, Twilight illuminated her horn and turned towards the forest. Sure enough, all ten Granous came bounding out of the trees, yellow teeth gnashing and eyes blazing with triumph.

Lowering her head, Twilight fired beam of purple magic at the pack. They quickly dodged the blast, but weren’t so fortunate with the second. With one shot Twilight was able to knock one Granous into two others, sending them sprawling in a furry grey heap. As she was about to fire again her head throbbed with pain, causing her to miss. The lead Granous then charged forward and clamped his fingers around her throat. “Die now creature!”

Twilight looked towards the sky, gagging for what precious air she could swallow. The Granous then brought her to face him and opened its mouth wide, his yellow teeth gleaming off of dripping black gums. Suddenly, all the birds in the trees scattered without warning. The sky darkened, and there was a thunderous roar as something huge shot down from the sky.

The Granous dropped Twilight and screamed in fear at the heavens. The rest of the pack tore back towards the woods with their hands over their heads. She caught a glimpse of something gold as thunderous winds pinned her to the ground. And she watched as the lead Granous was plucked screaming into the sky.

Author's Note

Sorry this one is so short. I’ll be releasing another Twilight chapter after this to make up.