A Twisted Mare Tale (Ugly Truths and Pretty Lies)by The Young and Free DragonChaptersChapter One: Idle ThoughtsChapter Two: Rescued, PerhapsCyclopsChapter One: Idle ThoughtsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER ONE: IDLE THOUGHTS Your stomach is turning. You can't steady the thrashing beasts inside of your abdomen. Can you feel the worms kicking around in your gut? Every last weasel you have within you was not put there by me, I merely helped them grow. You're so full of tainted soil, I injected worms and a seed to fertilize you. Your garden is quite rotten, but it grows well inside you. Twilight Sparkle blinked her eyes and glanced out the window at the cold winter outside. She imagined for a long few moments, the bloody stained snow just outside of Equestria. This would not be much of a Hearth's Warming Eve without Spike here. And what of Rainbow Dash? No longer diving through the skies in her carefree manner, but now diving and ducking to avoid arrows, bolts of magic, fire, and other deadly projectiles that were launched at her by the enemy. The enemy.... Applejack was out trying to squeeze nothing out of dead winter soil, trying to supply an endless demand for food by soldiers you were dropping like flies. Food that was wasted on them as they died seconds after eating it. Fluttershy was forced to raise her animal friends to help in the war effort. The poor creature had yet to be alerted of the high death rates of the animals she parted with. Pinkie Pie was kept from having fun, and simply planned small parties for the very few soldiers who returned. Rarity built armor, working her hooves to the bone everyday. And Twilight? Twilight did nothing. What use did they have for her? A librarian, and an artisan of peaceful magic. Of course she had found spells that could be used to harm others, but it went against what she felt was the point of her studies and her harmony with other creatures. She didn't agree at all with the war, but Equestria had not launched the first assault. They merely reacted. Your eyes are bleeding. I cannot tell whether it's make up or blood, perhaps both. I do, however, know it is mixed and made runny by your tears, and I can only taste them as I lick them off your face. After such a long time, it surprise me that you have such a supply of that beautiful drink. You do not drink the water that I give you. Where does it come from? Just like your garden. It is always wet when I arrive.... Twilight Sparkle had objected endlessly to Spike joining the armed forces and fight in a war that she didn't even support but...in the end it had not been her decision of his. Enlistment had been changed due to his species. Dragons were a dangerous factory of the opposite powers and in the end, pressure drove Celestia to demand he become a part of the fight. I saw so much blood and tears during my time fighting, I learned it belongs at home with me. I learned my place and yours beside me. Swimming among our own. Now she awaited his return, every letter, every sign that would prove that he was still alive and not lying among the bones and bile. She could only imagine the horrors he faced, having to take lives of his own kind, as well as others. Spike wasn't capable of hurting a soul.... Are you listening? Meet my eyes when I'm talking to you. I want you to remember every second we spend staring at each other, lying inside of each other, bleeding into one another. Twilight sincerely hoped that this war would not change Spike too drastically. But his appearance and mindset were guaranteed to change. She'd come to understand that dragons matured due to carrying out the traditions of their ancestors. And that was fighting, battling, hurting one another and everyone else, pillaging, killing, raping...everything Spike was not. And his mind. So innocent and untouched by the darkness of the world. It could have stayed that way, couldn't it? No, she couldn't fool herself. He would have grown to know it eventually as every filly and colt did, but why did it have to be this way? No one else had to be baptized by blood and fire like he had to. It was gradual and easy for most. And yet he had to be shown the true way of things this way. Wow... Twilight thought to herself. When did I become so cynical? War does that to you. She supposed. That was life. Maybe she was relating this whole idea of Spike learning the true misery in the world to her own. She really was just learning how miserable life could be without someone she loved, especially one that she loved this way. The nights could only get darker from this point on. With the battles so close and the ones she knew falling into the snow and dirt nearby, she felt that life would improve quite a lot with Spike back but how could things ever be pleasant after this? Spike would heal her wounds for the most part, but the scars would stay of course. Hold on tight.... Twilight was rocked out of bed by an explosion and the groaning of tree branches. A few seconds later, a large, flaming limb of the tree fell past her window, shattering the glass all over her. She let out a cry as it cut into her, but quickly recovered and rushed to the now-open window. Ponyville was lighting up with flames. She looked up into the dark sky where snow fell and fire rained down from. Dragons, clad in wicked armor, flew overhead, spewing fireballs into the town. The cries of ponies within the town began to fill the air, and Twilight could see shadows among the dancing flames of ponies running and screaming. Gryphons began landing and rampaging through the town, crashing through houses and public buildings, running the ponies out and trampling them and everything inside. The town had a small militia that was to gather if this were to occur, but for an attack on Hearth's Warming Eve...it was sacrilege! But as the ponies in the town struggled to gain their wits, and glass cut deeply into Twilight's hooves, she was distracted by another being who was all too familiar, leading the fight. Chapter Two: Rescued, PerhapsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER TWO: RESCUED, PERHAPS I've turned all your friends against you. They won't believe a word you say. No one is on your side. In fact, you do not have a side. You are on my side. Rainbow Dash dove with a wing partner, Gilda, as they crashed through the streets of Ponyville, destroying what lay before them. “Dash!” Was the only word that escaped Twilight's mouth as she charged toward the center of chaos. Her call fell on deaf ears as the Pegasus kicked and stomped wooden structures into the dirt. Gilda used her sharp talons to shred curtains and other soft objects, such as the flesh of the ponies that were in her way. Twilight had to use all of her strength to leave the bleeding ponies around her in the snow. Twilight levitated a large piece of wood that was cast aside in the destruction and tossed it as hard as her magic allowed at Gilda. The griffon let out an eagle shriek before falling into a pile of rubble. Rainbow Dash did not falter as she kicked an elderly stallion in the side. His old brittle rubs let out an audible crack like a large carrot snapping, and the stallion groaned as he fell into a large snow drift. Dash put her muscular back legs into a violent kick. The buck smashed into the stallion's head, burying it in the snow. As Rainbow Dash pulled her hooves out of the hole, nothing of the elder's head was visible. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight screamed, finding her voice. The rainbow-maned Pegasus turned and stared at her, her eyes strangely empty as they gazed out through the holes in her visor. Twilight stared back at her friend, not sure whether their eyes were communicating anything or she was simply staring at a brick wall. As she stood almost hypnotized, the brick wall decided to prove that it was not completely devoid of thought by racing forward and grabbing Twilight up before she could even register what had happened. Twilight opened her eyes, as she had shut them tight upon seeing Dash charging at her. She felt air rippling through her tail and mane and as she glanced around, she found that she was well above the ground, being carried by Rainbow Dash. She had no idea what to think at this point or how to react. Rainbow Dash had attacked the town with an old foe and being an obvious traitor to the ponies, but was now carrying Twilight away from danger (hopefully)? She wasn't sure whether this was an act of friendship or ill will. Suppose she dropped her? As this thought flashed through her head, a sudden force hit Rainbow Dash hard in the side, causing her to lose her momentum and plummet toward the ground. The Pegasus and unicorn crashed through a tree, which broke their fall slightly, but added a different a layer of pain before they hit the ground. Twilight groaned and rolled over in the dirt, opening her eyes again and coughing, her lungs feeling like they had exploded and were in capable of holding any air. Rainbow Dash had quickly recovered, but as she turned, her left side looked injured, although by what, Twilight couldn't tell. She showed no signs of pain and Twilight's eyes drifted to what she was looking at. Five royal guards were galloping toward them, their horns glowing brightly, preparing to shoot deadly bolts of magic. Twilight sat up, wondering what royal guards were doing here, though she didn't have much time to think about it as they came within ten feet. Gilda crash landed on top of one of them, almost crushing him completely. His armor bent inward with her weight, and he lay on the ground, still, either dead or completely incapacitated. He was the one in the middle, leading the charge, and so this gave Gilda a vantage point as she lashed out with her claws, slicing the closest guard on the right's muzzle almost cleanly into two halves. He fell to the ground and, in a swift motion, Gilda crushed his head into the snow as Rainbow Dash had done to the defenseless old stallion earlier. Rainbow Dash charged the guard on the farthest left, pushing him into the snow and delivering two hits with her fore-hooves to his face before delivering a shattering head butt, her helmet crushing his inward and leaving a steady stream of blood dribbling out of the bottom of his visor as he fell on his back in to the snow. One guard managed to fire one magical bolt that missed Gilda as she charged him, grabbing him by the neck and pushing him to the ground and delivering several strikes that left not moving. The other guard lay dead or defeated at Rainbow Dash's hooves by the time Twilight looked over. Twilight was amazed by the brute efficiency of the pair. The royal guards were adept in many different types of deadly magic to protect Princess Celestia at any cost. Yet five had easily been dispatched by a Pegasus and Griffon without a scratch on them. How would they stand against the coming forces...? “Why did you leave?” Gilda asked Rainbow Dash. “The town hall was still standing!” “Destroying the town was the secondary objective,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Besides, the royal guards were coming!” “So what, they were easy,” Gilda scoffed kicking one on to his stomach. “You know Clavus doesn't want us alerting the royal guards just yet. The dragons aren't ready to take them on yet.” “Why are we even following that scrawny dragon anyway?” Gilda spat. “You know why,” Rainbow Dash hissed before glancing over at Twilight Sparkle. “Clavus?” Twilight asked in confusion. Rainbow Dash moved slowly towards Twilight until she was within touching distance. “You of all ponies should know what that means,” She whispered before stroking Twilight hard across the head. CyclopsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER THREE: CYCLOPS Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes slowly to find a large fire burning in front of her. She tried to turn over, away from the flames and found her hooves were chained. She did manage to put the fire to her back though. When she moved, she found that her head was throbbing, blood pounding in her temples. Her vision blurred as her blood flow changed and she felt herself passing out. However, before she did, she could see a familiar rainbow figure and a griffon-like creature. “Clavus is not going to be happy if she's not healthy when he gets her. Just give her some of your rations.” “I'm not giving her anything! Clavus be damned, I'm not going hungry because of that stupid unicorn,” The griffon said. “Ugh, fine. Why do I even work with you...!” You're awake. Welcome back to the land of the dead. Twilight opened her eyes again. Three dry and very small baby cut carrots lay in front of her with a small tin saucer of water. Do you remember when you connected our minds? Twilight glanced around quickly, wondering who had said that, and then regretted it as her head began hurting again. Of course not. I don't want you to.... “Rainbow Dash...?” Twilight called groggily. She wasn't sure what was happening. Rainbow Dash couldn't have-- wouldn't have --hit her hard enough to cause this sickly feeling in her head and stomach. Had they given her something to subdue her? I subdue you. You're getting closer to me and you know it.... “Dash! Where are you?” Twilight groaned, rolling over again, and finding herself in warm embers. The fire. It had been put out a little while ago. She rolled back out of the ash and rested her head for a moment, trying to resist the urge to pass out again. Nopony had answered her. Had they left her to die? No, they had left her some food, probably some of Dash's rations. But where were they? And who was this Clavus they kept talking about? Was he the leader of the Griffons? If it was, Gilda certainly showed no loyalty to him. Suddenly, a hoof fell over her mouth. She looked up to see a royal guard, clad in some sort of suit made to hide him among the brush. “They're coming back soon, Miss Sparkle,” he whispered. “We have to get you out of here.” He took his hoof off her mouth and moved to start breaking the chains that held her as quietly as possible. Twilight looked up and spoke, “What are royal guards doing here?” “Celestia sent us to protect you, and bring you to Canterlot if it was in best interest of your safety,” he said using his magic to work a set of lock picking tools. “She knew they were coming to Ponyville?” “She knew they were coming for you,” he corrected. “The destruction of Ponyville was an unfortunate side-effect.” “But Pinkie Pie! Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy! What happened to the other elements?” “Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are M.I.A. Rarity was captured and Applejack is in Canterlot,” he replied. “We have to save Rarity then!” Twilight cried. “Mrs. Sparkle, please,” The soldier shushed “You are our first priority,” He unlocked the chain and Twilight stood up shakily. “Let's make sure that we both get out alive.” “But Clavus! He's leading the Griffons! I have to give Celestia vital information on--” “The princess already knows all about Clavus. He is leading the dragons.” Twilight was quiet for a moment, before saying; “For how long has she known?” “Weeks.” “And she didn't tell me?” “I'm sure she had a good reason.” She's a liar! Twilight fell to the ground, groaning loudly as the voice echoed through her and caused her head to feel as though it might explode. “Miss Sparkle!” Dead bitch! Twilight shook, letting out a squeal as the words rattled her bones. She opened her eyes, squirming in pain as she looked at the confused guard. Didn't he hear it? Come to me.... “Miss....” The guard began but suddenly a yellow talon pulled quickly across his throat from behind. Blood squirted out, spattering on Twilight's face and then her hooves as she tried to wipe her eyes clean. The guard stood stunned for a moment, only a whistle through his torn throat marked his breathing until he collapsed. Twilight payed no attention the Griffon that roughly grabbed her and began beating her into blackness, as a Pegasus yelled for her to stop. Clavus...? What did it mean? Think Sparkle, think. Think Latin...Clavus is... nail? Rivet? Spike? Wait...Spike?
Chapter One: Idle ThoughtsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER ONE: IDLE THOUGHTS Your stomach is turning. You can't steady the thrashing beasts inside of your abdomen. Can you feel the worms kicking around in your gut? Every last weasel you have within you was not put there by me, I merely helped them grow. You're so full of tainted soil, I injected worms and a seed to fertilize you. Your garden is quite rotten, but it grows well inside you. Twilight Sparkle blinked her eyes and glanced out the window at the cold winter outside. She imagined for a long few moments, the bloody stained snow just outside of Equestria. This would not be much of a Hearth's Warming Eve without Spike here. And what of Rainbow Dash? No longer diving through the skies in her carefree manner, but now diving and ducking to avoid arrows, bolts of magic, fire, and other deadly projectiles that were launched at her by the enemy. The enemy.... Applejack was out trying to squeeze nothing out of dead winter soil, trying to supply an endless demand for food by soldiers you were dropping like flies. Food that was wasted on them as they died seconds after eating it. Fluttershy was forced to raise her animal friends to help in the war effort. The poor creature had yet to be alerted of the high death rates of the animals she parted with. Pinkie Pie was kept from having fun, and simply planned small parties for the very few soldiers who returned. Rarity built armor, working her hooves to the bone everyday. And Twilight? Twilight did nothing. What use did they have for her? A librarian, and an artisan of peaceful magic. Of course she had found spells that could be used to harm others, but it went against what she felt was the point of her studies and her harmony with other creatures. She didn't agree at all with the war, but Equestria had not launched the first assault. They merely reacted. Your eyes are bleeding. I cannot tell whether it's make up or blood, perhaps both. I do, however, know it is mixed and made runny by your tears, and I can only taste them as I lick them off your face. After such a long time, it surprise me that you have such a supply of that beautiful drink. You do not drink the water that I give you. Where does it come from? Just like your garden. It is always wet when I arrive.... Twilight Sparkle had objected endlessly to Spike joining the armed forces and fight in a war that she didn't even support but...in the end it had not been her decision of his. Enlistment had been changed due to his species. Dragons were a dangerous factory of the opposite powers and in the end, pressure drove Celestia to demand he become a part of the fight. I saw so much blood and tears during my time fighting, I learned it belongs at home with me. I learned my place and yours beside me. Swimming among our own. Now she awaited his return, every letter, every sign that would prove that he was still alive and not lying among the bones and bile. She could only imagine the horrors he faced, having to take lives of his own kind, as well as others. Spike wasn't capable of hurting a soul.... Are you listening? Meet my eyes when I'm talking to you. I want you to remember every second we spend staring at each other, lying inside of each other, bleeding into one another. Twilight sincerely hoped that this war would not change Spike too drastically. But his appearance and mindset were guaranteed to change. She'd come to understand that dragons matured due to carrying out the traditions of their ancestors. And that was fighting, battling, hurting one another and everyone else, pillaging, killing, raping...everything Spike was not. And his mind. So innocent and untouched by the darkness of the world. It could have stayed that way, couldn't it? No, she couldn't fool herself. He would have grown to know it eventually as every filly and colt did, but why did it have to be this way? No one else had to be baptized by blood and fire like he had to. It was gradual and easy for most. And yet he had to be shown the true way of things this way. Wow... Twilight thought to herself. When did I become so cynical? War does that to you. She supposed. That was life. Maybe she was relating this whole idea of Spike learning the true misery in the world to her own. She really was just learning how miserable life could be without someone she loved, especially one that she loved this way. The nights could only get darker from this point on. With the battles so close and the ones she knew falling into the snow and dirt nearby, she felt that life would improve quite a lot with Spike back but how could things ever be pleasant after this? Spike would heal her wounds for the most part, but the scars would stay of course. Hold on tight.... Twilight was rocked out of bed by an explosion and the groaning of tree branches. A few seconds later, a large, flaming limb of the tree fell past her window, shattering the glass all over her. She let out a cry as it cut into her, but quickly recovered and rushed to the now-open window. Ponyville was lighting up with flames. She looked up into the dark sky where snow fell and fire rained down from. Dragons, clad in wicked armor, flew overhead, spewing fireballs into the town. The cries of ponies within the town began to fill the air, and Twilight could see shadows among the dancing flames of ponies running and screaming. Gryphons began landing and rampaging through the town, crashing through houses and public buildings, running the ponies out and trampling them and everything inside. The town had a small militia that was to gather if this were to occur, but for an attack on Hearth's Warming Eve...it was sacrilege! But as the ponies in the town struggled to gain their wits, and glass cut deeply into Twilight's hooves, she was distracted by another being who was all too familiar, leading the fight.
Chapter Two: Rescued, PerhapsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER TWO: RESCUED, PERHAPS I've turned all your friends against you. They won't believe a word you say. No one is on your side. In fact, you do not have a side. You are on my side. Rainbow Dash dove with a wing partner, Gilda, as they crashed through the streets of Ponyville, destroying what lay before them. “Dash!” Was the only word that escaped Twilight's mouth as she charged toward the center of chaos. Her call fell on deaf ears as the Pegasus kicked and stomped wooden structures into the dirt. Gilda used her sharp talons to shred curtains and other soft objects, such as the flesh of the ponies that were in her way. Twilight had to use all of her strength to leave the bleeding ponies around her in the snow. Twilight levitated a large piece of wood that was cast aside in the destruction and tossed it as hard as her magic allowed at Gilda. The griffon let out an eagle shriek before falling into a pile of rubble. Rainbow Dash did not falter as she kicked an elderly stallion in the side. His old brittle rubs let out an audible crack like a large carrot snapping, and the stallion groaned as he fell into a large snow drift. Dash put her muscular back legs into a violent kick. The buck smashed into the stallion's head, burying it in the snow. As Rainbow Dash pulled her hooves out of the hole, nothing of the elder's head was visible. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight screamed, finding her voice. The rainbow-maned Pegasus turned and stared at her, her eyes strangely empty as they gazed out through the holes in her visor. Twilight stared back at her friend, not sure whether their eyes were communicating anything or she was simply staring at a brick wall. As she stood almost hypnotized, the brick wall decided to prove that it was not completely devoid of thought by racing forward and grabbing Twilight up before she could even register what had happened. Twilight opened her eyes, as she had shut them tight upon seeing Dash charging at her. She felt air rippling through her tail and mane and as she glanced around, she found that she was well above the ground, being carried by Rainbow Dash. She had no idea what to think at this point or how to react. Rainbow Dash had attacked the town with an old foe and being an obvious traitor to the ponies, but was now carrying Twilight away from danger (hopefully)? She wasn't sure whether this was an act of friendship or ill will. Suppose she dropped her? As this thought flashed through her head, a sudden force hit Rainbow Dash hard in the side, causing her to lose her momentum and plummet toward the ground. The Pegasus and unicorn crashed through a tree, which broke their fall slightly, but added a different a layer of pain before they hit the ground. Twilight groaned and rolled over in the dirt, opening her eyes again and coughing, her lungs feeling like they had exploded and were in capable of holding any air. Rainbow Dash had quickly recovered, but as she turned, her left side looked injured, although by what, Twilight couldn't tell. She showed no signs of pain and Twilight's eyes drifted to what she was looking at. Five royal guards were galloping toward them, their horns glowing brightly, preparing to shoot deadly bolts of magic. Twilight sat up, wondering what royal guards were doing here, though she didn't have much time to think about it as they came within ten feet. Gilda crash landed on top of one of them, almost crushing him completely. His armor bent inward with her weight, and he lay on the ground, still, either dead or completely incapacitated. He was the one in the middle, leading the charge, and so this gave Gilda a vantage point as she lashed out with her claws, slicing the closest guard on the right's muzzle almost cleanly into two halves. He fell to the ground and, in a swift motion, Gilda crushed his head into the snow as Rainbow Dash had done to the defenseless old stallion earlier. Rainbow Dash charged the guard on the farthest left, pushing him into the snow and delivering two hits with her fore-hooves to his face before delivering a shattering head butt, her helmet crushing his inward and leaving a steady stream of blood dribbling out of the bottom of his visor as he fell on his back in to the snow. One guard managed to fire one magical bolt that missed Gilda as she charged him, grabbing him by the neck and pushing him to the ground and delivering several strikes that left not moving. The other guard lay dead or defeated at Rainbow Dash's hooves by the time Twilight looked over. Twilight was amazed by the brute efficiency of the pair. The royal guards were adept in many different types of deadly magic to protect Princess Celestia at any cost. Yet five had easily been dispatched by a Pegasus and Griffon without a scratch on them. How would they stand against the coming forces...? “Why did you leave?” Gilda asked Rainbow Dash. “The town hall was still standing!” “Destroying the town was the secondary objective,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Besides, the royal guards were coming!” “So what, they were easy,” Gilda scoffed kicking one on to his stomach. “You know Clavus doesn't want us alerting the royal guards just yet. The dragons aren't ready to take them on yet.” “Why are we even following that scrawny dragon anyway?” Gilda spat. “You know why,” Rainbow Dash hissed before glancing over at Twilight Sparkle. “Clavus?” Twilight asked in confusion. Rainbow Dash moved slowly towards Twilight until she was within touching distance. “You of all ponies should know what that means,” She whispered before stroking Twilight hard across the head.
CyclopsA TWISTED MARE TALE BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON As I rape your soul of virtue I am god of lust and sin Cold black, as I slay your soul of virtue You are a slave of flesh and sin CHAPTER THREE: CYCLOPS Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes slowly to find a large fire burning in front of her. She tried to turn over, away from the flames and found her hooves were chained. She did manage to put the fire to her back though. When she moved, she found that her head was throbbing, blood pounding in her temples. Her vision blurred as her blood flow changed and she felt herself passing out. However, before she did, she could see a familiar rainbow figure and a griffon-like creature. “Clavus is not going to be happy if she's not healthy when he gets her. Just give her some of your rations.” “I'm not giving her anything! Clavus be damned, I'm not going hungry because of that stupid unicorn,” The griffon said. “Ugh, fine. Why do I even work with you...!” You're awake. Welcome back to the land of the dead. Twilight opened her eyes again. Three dry and very small baby cut carrots lay in front of her with a small tin saucer of water. Do you remember when you connected our minds? Twilight glanced around quickly, wondering who had said that, and then regretted it as her head began hurting again. Of course not. I don't want you to.... “Rainbow Dash...?” Twilight called groggily. She wasn't sure what was happening. Rainbow Dash couldn't have-- wouldn't have --hit her hard enough to cause this sickly feeling in her head and stomach. Had they given her something to subdue her? I subdue you. You're getting closer to me and you know it.... “Dash! Where are you?” Twilight groaned, rolling over again, and finding herself in warm embers. The fire. It had been put out a little while ago. She rolled back out of the ash and rested her head for a moment, trying to resist the urge to pass out again. Nopony had answered her. Had they left her to die? No, they had left her some food, probably some of Dash's rations. But where were they? And who was this Clavus they kept talking about? Was he the leader of the Griffons? If it was, Gilda certainly showed no loyalty to him. Suddenly, a hoof fell over her mouth. She looked up to see a royal guard, clad in some sort of suit made to hide him among the brush. “They're coming back soon, Miss Sparkle,” he whispered. “We have to get you out of here.” He took his hoof off her mouth and moved to start breaking the chains that held her as quietly as possible. Twilight looked up and spoke, “What are royal guards doing here?” “Celestia sent us to protect you, and bring you to Canterlot if it was in best interest of your safety,” he said using his magic to work a set of lock picking tools. “She knew they were coming to Ponyville?” “She knew they were coming for you,” he corrected. “The destruction of Ponyville was an unfortunate side-effect.” “But Pinkie Pie! Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy! What happened to the other elements?” “Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are M.I.A. Rarity was captured and Applejack is in Canterlot,” he replied. “We have to save Rarity then!” Twilight cried. “Mrs. Sparkle, please,” The soldier shushed “You are our first priority,” He unlocked the chain and Twilight stood up shakily. “Let's make sure that we both get out alive.” “But Clavus! He's leading the Griffons! I have to give Celestia vital information on--” “The princess already knows all about Clavus. He is leading the dragons.” Twilight was quiet for a moment, before saying; “For how long has she known?” “Weeks.” “And she didn't tell me?” “I'm sure she had a good reason.” She's a liar! Twilight fell to the ground, groaning loudly as the voice echoed through her and caused her head to feel as though it might explode. “Miss Sparkle!” Dead bitch! Twilight shook, letting out a squeal as the words rattled her bones. She opened her eyes, squirming in pain as she looked at the confused guard. Didn't he hear it? Come to me.... “Miss....” The guard began but suddenly a yellow talon pulled quickly across his throat from behind. Blood squirted out, spattering on Twilight's face and then her hooves as she tried to wipe her eyes clean. The guard stood stunned for a moment, only a whistle through his torn throat marked his breathing until he collapsed. Twilight payed no attention the Griffon that roughly grabbed her and began beating her into blackness, as a Pegasus yelled for her to stop. Clavus...? What did it mean? Think Sparkle, think. Think Latin...Clavus is... nail? Rivet? Spike? Wait...Spike?
