A Clump Of Stumps

Fluttershy could hear the griffins discussing her. Her leg hurt, oh so much.

She was familiar with predator traps, but she felt betrayed.  After all, the Cutie Map had sent them here. It had always worked out before.

The griffons saluted, and one flew away. The other came over to her. With a grunt and a chirp, he pulled the heavy iron stake from the ground. Then he started flapping his wings.

She had to fly to keep up with his pace. The chain holding the metal jaws to her left foreleg was long, but she wouldn't want to fall behind, or she would be dragged by the wound.  It was broken. Already she could see swelling and bruising under her coat. It hurt worse than that time she lost half her tail to an escaped tiger, and needed tail extensions to hide the scarred stump.

In the cell where she woke up, there were other ponies asleep. Many were chained, some were cuffed instead of trap-bitten, and most were quite shabby.

It only took her a day to see the worst.

The laughing guards took them a few at a time. The ones sick from compound fractures becoming infected were taken right away. Most of them weren't returned.

One came back that night, a lovely sea-green filly with freckles and an orange mane. She was shaking with fever, and Fluttershy could feel the heat coming off her.

Her right hind leg was cut short and bandaged poorly. When Fluttershy asked her name, the sea-green balanced against a wall and with a free hoof pointed at her throat, then opened her mouth.

Her orange tongue had black sutures where it had been trimmed to half its length.

Through pantomime, sea-green Mossy Fire explained that they were being eaten one by one by the griffons.

Fluttershy was nervous. She didn't want to be eaten. But her useless leg held her in place. What could she do?

She gulped, and then nibbled at her leg. The iron taste as she broke the skin was almost as unbearable as the pain.

Fluttershy mused as she chewed her flesh. She tasted like banana taffy.

She'd already eaten her forehooves, so she curled up and started nibbling on her hinds. A lick confirmed her cutie mark tasted like strawberry. She took a huge chomp, and it pulled away in taffy strings.

Pinkie Pie came into the room (she could swear she'd been in her cottage, but this was Poinkie's above Sugarcane Corner) and started licking her other mark. Owlowiscious asked her how many licks it would take to get to her creamy center, and Fluttershy felt like she was going to burst with pleasure, and then

She woke up.

She was wrapped in blankets, and could hear the wind howlig outside. Briefly, she struggled to untangle herself, and then she felt the wetness in the bed. "Oh dear."

Her remaining forehoof was sticky, and so she sighed and got out of bed. Flapping gently, she flitted into her bathroom and started the hot water. She'd had these dreams before, but none so vivid. At least the dreams didn't taste like she did in real life. It had taken her six months to get the taste out of her mind, the taste of her own blood and flesh. She stepped around the tub on her three legs, and placed the shampoo bottle in the crook of her elbow.

She closed her eyes as she bathed. The floating sensation freed her, and she could flex the phantom limb as if her hoof were still there, flexing with its twin.

Her fellow prisoner, Mossy Fire, had joined in when the pain was too much and the progress was too slow. Together, they had bitten through muscle and tendon, had clamped the arteries closed with their molars, and finally succeeded in freeing Fluttershy from her trap.

With one silent glance backward at her hoof, she flew faster than ever before. The night aided her escape, with the stealth she'd gained from her Flutterbat experience, and she headed for the palace.

Oh, the scene she caused. Twilight later filled her in on the details: she and Rarity were dining with the King of the Pride. Rarity had just finished a second helping of a hearty, delicious stew, and Twilight, with her alicorn appetite, was on her third.

"Might I ask for the recipe of this delectable soup?" asked Rarity.

The King chuckled, and said, "it's a national favorite, and relies on ingredients you may need to import. I doubt you have a market in your land that sells it."

It was at that moment Fluttershy had burst in. "They're eating ponies!" she cried out, fear and panic in her eyes. It was the implications of the blood in the fur around her muzzle, Rarity later told her, rather than the chewed-off foreleg she held to her chest in pain, which caused Rarity to faint.

Twilight, when asked about the ensuring battle, always got a faraway look in her eyes, and muttered, "The job of a Princess is to protect her herd. I did what I must."

After her bath, Fluttershy changed her sheets. It was not as difficult now as it had been at first, upon her return. Usually, Mossy would do this. Mossy lived with Discord in his pocket dimension, now. She claimed (through mouthwritten notes) that it was the only place she felt safe to sleep.

Fluttershy returned to her bed, and dreamed of grassy fields and good friends. She slept through the night comfortably while the winter storm raged outside.

Finally.