The following morning another body was found. And with it, more questions. Above all was the condition and whereabouts of Rainbow Dash.

Twilight and her friends sat at a table with her friends as she looked over the new stacks of reports. Her friends went back and forth as they talked about what they found. Or more importantly, What they did not find.

"I told you not to interfere." The stallion snapped. "Why did you two go there?"

"We were following a hunch. And a good thing too. Because we found new leads." Applejack retorted.

"And what about looking into the guards?" He asked turning to the other mares a slightly less annoyed. "Did that have as much useful information?"

"The guards are cleared of suspension." Rarity replied. "The only ones that seemed to be hiding something admitted that they only did so under orders."

"I take it they aren't permitted to say anything under orders?" He asked. Seeing her nod, he sighed. "So. You suspect a noble?" He asked, closing his eyes in thought. "I see… that would make a lot of sense." He turned and looked at Twilight. "Any suspects you think would want to harm ponies?"

Twilight sighed. "With the information we have about the attacks… Sadly none of the ponies you brought me information on matches any of the information we have." She turned to him and sighed. "Why didn't you include unicorns?"

He huffed and sat back. "Because I didn't think of all the ponies in Canterlot, the noble unicorns would be involved." With a sigh, he pulled out a stack of papers from his saddlebag. "Luckily, I was able to get a copy before coming over."

Twilight took the stack and looked them over. With a sigh, she looked at the group. "This is going to take a few days to figure out."

Rainbow woke the following morning and at the feel of the thing licking her. "What are you doing?" She asked as she went to pull away. At the feel of it pull her pack onto the makeshift bed with a growl she huffed and let it continue licking her.

It didn't take long after for her to realize that it was giving her a bath. At first she was cool with it considering that this was a better alternative to being covered in dirt till her friends found her. Or till her body got better.

Her limit was reached as it started licking her lower half. "He'll no!" She snapped and kicked him away. "I don't care if you think that's being helpful. You are not going near there."

It growled softly before huffing and moving to get yet another new basket from the corner of the room. Rainbow huffed and sat as she worked to fix her wrappings. Once the food was placed in front of her, Rainbow started to suspect that he was either trying to fatten her up or worm its way under her tail. "You're going to have to work a lot harder to get on my good side after kidnapping me." She huffed as she ate an apple. "That tongue bath was payment for the medical help. That's it."

The thing turned and sat at the mouth of the cave. Did she just see it grumble?

The dark stallion sighed as he sat with a mare who was changed up and milked like a cow. "Well. How is our favorite cow doing?" He laughed. "Don't worry. I have a special show prepared for you. A stallion that you mentioned took your daughter away. So sorry about her by the way." He turned and hit a switch that pulled back a curtain to reveal a gagged stallion hanging by his front hoofs. "My baby's need to eat. And I thought letting you enjoy seeing him suffer would be a nice treat."

As he walked away, several dog-like shadows charged at the stallion. Within seconds his cries of fear turned to pain as they bit clawed and ripped into him. Some even pull off limbs and organs to eat at the side and in full view of the mare.

The dark stallion watched in amusement before going to an orb. "Let's see who should be next…well… maybe a bit of culture is needed in this pack. And daddy is nice and plump… let's see how useful they really are."

Author's Note

The next few chapters will likely be a time-lapse between the different groups as they rush to accomplish their goals. Hope you enjoyed the grim view of how sick the dark stallion is. And please share with me your thoughts and hypothesis on what's going on.