A Hoof-full Of Bits
Fido gulped as he prepared to break the bad news to his leader. Fiddling with the diamond studded collar around his neck, he knocked on the door. Each time his fist hit the door, it sounded to him like the knelling of a church bell. A cold chill settled around him, causing him to sweat. After a few seconds, he could hear an indisinct growl come from the other side. Knowing this was the order to enter, he braced himself.
He had never set foot in his master's office, not even after his promotion, but now he wished he never did. The room was lit in a dim light, casting twisted shadows of indescribable statures on walls. Maps and diagrams of underground tunnels and mining devices were pasted all over the room in a chaotic fashion.The room stank of rotting earth and other matter, which offended even his senses. As he squinted in the darkness, he could just make out a large, hunched creature sitting behind a desk in the corner.
"What is it, Fido?" it said to him, sounding totally uninterested in him. "Make it quick, I'm busy."
"Aha... well, Miss Gilda, there is a problem with a pony. Not working, she is- er, isn't!" He backed away towards the door, expecting a screaming lecture on his incompetence. Instead, the griffon just gave him a piercing glare.
"Look, I promoted you because I thought you could deal with discipline issues!" She reached under her desk, pulling out a short, vicious looking whip with several ends. She threw it at Fido's feet, causing him to jump. "Use it. That'll keep those fools in line."
"That was not what I meant by what I said when I said that the pony was 'not working', Miss Gilda." The dog laughed nervously, but the griffon was hardly impressed. She rose from her seat and advanced towards him, causing him to break to into a cold sweat.
"Is there something funny about wasting my time, Fido?" She started to flex her claws.
"No! I-I-I meant that... that one of them has escaped!"
Gilda stopped and formed a fist. "Escaped? Is that all?" She relaxed her claw and walked back towards the desk. "An escapee is hardly worth reporting. Anyone that tries to flee will find themselves running through a five mile maze of pitch black tunnels. If they manage to evade our grasp, the lack of food or water will bring them crawling back or finish them off-"
"Ah, but Miss Gilda! That is not the problem!" Fido tiptoed towards the door, watching the griffon very carefully.
"Then what is it?!"
"The one who escaped... the blue unicorn! The one with the scar-"
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