A Hero's 'Tail'

“Oh mommy! Can I go out to play with Rocky and my other pals?” young Brutus, a cute brown young earth pony colt, asked.

“Of course darling,” his mother said, ruffling his mane. “Just be back by dark.”

“I know Mom! I know! How many times have you told me?” Brutus quipped crossly.

“Not enough after last Thursday’s incident.” Mom replied. “Go have fun.”

Brutus grinned, recalling THAT little mishap. He always was a little mischievous, but single-handedly flooding a field? Oh, that just made him proud. The young colt nudged the door open, trotting to his friends.

Brutus cantered through a lush, green meadow with his buddies Rocky and Rudolph, oblivious to the danger surrounding them.
Off in the distance a unicorn in a lab coat was spying on the three young colts with a pair of binoculars, perched on the ridge of a hill. The unicorn made a motion to a nearby Griffon aide, and soon a cadre of the beasts had stealthily surrounded the colts.
The horned pony said to her aide in a nervous but excited voice, “Relay the command to kill the two youngest ones. I want the brown speckled one alive. He’ll make an excellent guinea pig, don’t you think, Beaker?”
The Griffon, Beaker, nodded silently, ruffling his feathers in a strange pattern. The other birds in the distance nodded, indicating that they understood the silent order, and began creeping through the brushes surrounding the clearing.
The unicorn brought a clipboard out from one of her saddlebags and began feverishly taking notes as her minions descended on the poor colts.
With hardly a rustle, the Griffons leapt from the trees, assualting the foals. Rudolph had been pounced on, neck snapped in twain, bleeding out onto the lemongrass. Brutus and Rocky were now back-to-back, bucking as if their lives depended on it. For all THEY knew, their lives DID depend on it. Rocky managed to incapacitate a griffon before he too, was slain by the heartless birds. A large net descended over Brutus, and he neighed loudly in dismay and confusion as the griffons cudgeled him unconscious. The unicorn, notes forgotten, was jumping with delight.
“Oh what a wonderful spectacle! I’ve never seen colts fight that hard in all my years of working in R&D! It’ll be a positive joy to do tests on this one. He’s special, I can just tell.” she said, laying a hoof on Brutus’ head just below his dilated, adrenaline pumped eye, and gently stroking it down to his cheek. “Now, we don’t want any reports reaching her. Burn the town. Slaughter everyone.”
The griffons saluted and took to the sky towards the distant hamlet. Dusk was beginning to fall. The unicorn hoisted her catch with a levitation spell, and began heading back to the hell from which she came. As she strolled back to her armored car a large pillar of smoke rose over the hills, darkening the setting sun.