//------------------------------// // Day 8: Part 4 // Story: Prototype: Black Rain // by Fuberrari //------------------------------// "How did ya do that?" asked Applejack shortly after she and Pinkie Pie, disguised as Dr. Gallow and Dr. Vlad respectively, left the break room and headed for the high security section of the laboratory wing. "Did what?" asked Pinkie Pie without stopping. "What you did in there." clarified Applejack. "Eating all the griffins without anyone noticing." "It's my Pinkie sense..." said Pinkie Pie with a note of uncertainty. "... I think. I just know when someone's watching." "Ah guess... that makes some sense." said Applejack. "But what about those memories?" "What about them?" "How can you... go through their memories without it bothering you?" asked Applejack. She shuddered as she recalled the horrible memories. With her eyes downcast, she continued. "All those horrible things they did..." "I don't! I have somepony else go through them for me!" answered Pinkie Pie. "Huh?" Applejack blinked. Her eyebrows raised at the strange revelation. "What? Who?" "Shh... quiet." whispered Pinkie Pie as they approached a heavy metal door with a sign that says Authorized Griffins Only. "Time to get our acts together." I guess if it didn't... bother her... thought Applejack as she shut her beaks together. At the same time, she glanced at Pinkie Pie with a slight uncertainty. Is she really okay with it? Pinkie Pie, or Dr. Vlad as she's disguised as, stopped in front of the bulky looking door and gave it a few sharp raps. Seconds later, a small viewing slot set in the door slid open, revealing a pair of grayish red griffin eyes. "Who's there?" asked the griffin from behind the door. "Hi Pierce! It's me! Vlad! And this is Gallow!" answered Vlad cheerily. Upon hearing the guard's name, Applejack suddenly had a sickening feeling in her stomach. She quickly forced down the emerging memories and maintained her neutral composure. "Yes, I know." There was a long pause as the griffin guard eyed the two of them with a slight note of suspicion. "Password?" "Oh! Right!" Pinkie Pie tapped her lower beak with her talon a few times. "Let's see..." ===================================================================== Pinkamena sat in her reclining chair with her forelegs crossed in front of her. The chair was identical to the one Rarity used for her over-the-top dramatic fainting, except it was a dark shade of pink instead of red. A small round table stood next to the chair, covered in a table cloth of a similar shade of dark pink with a bowl of popcorn resting on top. That's one of the perk of being, well, Pinkie Pie's subconscious. Everything she could possibly imagine, she could create in here. Her former sofa, to its credit, was adequate for the most part. But sitting on it for too long gave her tushy and back a nasty cramp. Considering her current... job of going through all the memories her alter-ego, Pinkie Pie, had acquired, she needed something that's more comfortable, hence the reclining chair. The setup to view those memories, however, had stayed mostly same. The memories were projected like a movie on the white screen situated between two large oval windows. Said windows showed what Pinkie Pie's eyes were seeing at the time. The only change being the projector. It had been moved from the projection booth in the back to a wooden table to her left. "Wow... that one is just... sickest thing I've ever seen." commented Pinkamena as the screen turned into a simple mass of white. A soft, rhythmic clicking noise echoed around her as the dangling bit of film spun around on the reel. "At least this one won't hurt another pony again." Pinkamena poked her head out to see the owner of said voice past the projector. Fluttershy, or Flutter as Pinkamena came to call her, was sitting in a reclining chair similar to the one Pinkamena presently occupied. The only difference was the color scheme, which was a shade of reddish brown that looked suspiciously like dried blood. This pegasus was a great mystery to Pinkamena. Ever since they first met, Pinkamena knew that this pegasus, like her, was a facet of Pinkie Pie's unique psyche. How she was created, Pinkamena had no idea, although she suspected that it has something to do with Pinkie Pie's... new found abilities. It's a good theory, considering her knowledge on how all this... memory things worked. In fact, it was Flutters who set up this whole system to allow Pinkamena to process those absorbed memories without subjecting Pinkie Pie to their horrors. Another mystery was why this personality decided to take on the exact form of Fluttershy. This caused some minor headaches, considering that for a while Pinkamena didn't know how to refer to this facet of Pinkie's mind other than "Whoever or whatever you are" and calling her Fluttershy just seemed... wrong. However, the pegasus seems okay with the name Flutter, so Pinkamena stuck with that. It also got a bit easier for Pinkamena to not call her "Fluttershy" on reflex when she had her mane cut short. According to Flutter, she had to cut it due to some... accidents with the projector back when it was in the projection booth, which did explain why it looked like some dragon had taken a bite out of it. So far, Flutter had been more than helpful to her and Pinkie Pie, so Pinkamena wasn't particularly worried about those mysteries. Plus, she kind of enjoyed having somepony beside Pinkie Pie to spend time with. The fact that said somepony else was a lot quieter was just an added bonus. "I guess you're right... any more of those?" asked Pinkamena. Flutter glanced down at the pile of film reels beside her chair and another glance back before simply shook her head. "Good, I think I've seen enough... slasher films to last me a lifetime." "Nuts! I need password! What's the password?" came Pinkie Pie's echoing voice. Pinkamena looked to the oval, and recognize where Pinkie Pie was. "Swordfish!" yelled Pinkamena to the ceiling, which seems to be the only way for her alter ego to hear her. "Thank!" ===================================================================== "It's swordfish!" answered Vlad in a chippy manner. "Did I get it?" "Hold on." the guard slid the viewing slot close. Moments passed, and there was no response. Did we get it wrong? thought Applejack. A few more moments passed before the something happened. A series of clicks and clang sounded from the door. With a metallic creaking moan, the door swung open. "Come in." said Pierce as he held the door open. "Sorry for the wait, just got to check the password log." "No problem!" answered Vlad as he trotted in. In the time it would normally take for Applejack to blink, Vlad had wrapped his tongue at the griffin by the door, dragged said griffin into his mouth, swallowed him whole, transformed into the consumed griffin, and kept on walking after a mere moment of pause as Pinkie Pie adjusted to the new body. "Alright, let's go get Twilight." said Pinkie Pie, now disguised as Pierce. At that moment, there was a distance blare of a horn. Applejack quickly realize that it was the warning sound of a prison break. Which meant that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were on the move. "Ah guess we best hurry then." said Applejack, prompting the two of them to break into a gallop. ===================================================================== Pinkamena looked back as another film reel came rolling out of the darkness toward before clattering to the ground. Flutter floated off her chair and picked it up between her front legs. "If I remember correctly... this is Pierce the Plower, right?" asked Pinkamena as Flutter loaded the film into the project. Flutter merely nodded, to which Pinkamena responded with a sigh. "Alright, it's not like there's such a thing as too much slasher films." With a click and a whirl, the projector started up once more. While Pinkamena worked her way through the memories of a demented, and arguable perverted griffin, she noted an interesting pattern. "Um... Flutter, did you notice..." started Pinkamena. "Hmm?" voiced Flutter with a puzzled look. "... that beside all the... nasty things they did." continued Pinkamena as the a cloud of glittering red dust covered the screen. "They all had memories of snorting this... red powdery thingy." ===================================================================== Butcher is going to like this. In fact, Butcher was sure that he was going to enjoy this. That was the thought on Butcher's mind as the griffin lead his squad of twelve griffins, consisting his best and most bloodthirsty warriors, toward the prison. He, like many other griffins who were not part of Lord Seth's... prized warriors, had the unfortunate pleasure of being part of the pool of guard duties. The mind-numbing task was bad enough, but he had the further misfortune of drawing the early morning shift... in the prison section, far from the comfort of the barracks. At least he's made the leader of the prison section, something that took quite a lot of effort, mostly involving beating down other griffins who dared to challenge his claim to authority. With said title, he had the luxury of assigning himself to the choke-point between the prison and barrack. It is about the only guard post that's closest to the barrack, which had the advantage that if he wanted, he could just send his underling to get him some refreshments. Plus, he got to send some his least favorites in more isolated and mind numbing area of the prison. Still, guarding the prison was mind-numbing work. But this morning, it looked like fate had decided to smile upon him in the form of a prison break. It wasn't just a small prison break, if the cowardly guard that came running was telling the truth. How the breakout happened, Butcher had no idea. Although he guessed that the previous guards, like him, got bored and decided to orchestrate a prison break for fun. Obviously, it got way out of control, which was perfect! It gave him a solid excuse to go on a slaughter-fest despite Lord Seth's order to keep them alive! He reckoned that he could kill a few dozen griffins before those weaklings gave up on their dreams of freedom, then execute a few more to make "examples" out of them before locking them back up. He would be rewarded for stopping a prison break without being the responsible party of starting one! Butcher could feel the anticipation building up within him. With each step he felt his trusty machete bouncing against him just under his left wing. A goofy grin was plastered on his face as he recalled the feeling of his blade cutting through griffin flesh. "Huh..." the sudden utterance from one of his squad as they turn a corner snapped him out of his daydreaming. He stopped, and found himself looking at a yellow winged pony a few yards down the tunnel. She was walking toward them at a slow and deliberate pace. Her head was low, letting her pastel mane fell over her face and concealed her eyes. "Well, well, well... what do we have here?" commented Butcher as he flew ahead, drawing the machete out of its sheath before landing right in front of the pegasus. "A lost little pony? Or should I say... a lost little snack?" Butcher chuckled a bit as his own joke as did his squad behind him. A strange muttering sound came from the pegasus. "What was that?" Butcher leaned in, trying to catch what this pathetic looking pony was babbling about. "... you... pay..." was all he could understand. He snorted a looked back over his shoulder. "This pony wants us to pay her for having her for snack!" called out Butcher to his squad, which earned him a hearty laugh from them. "How much do you think we should pay her?" Butcher snickered as the griffins threw out one wild idea after another. However, the chatter rapidly died away as Butcher noticed the look of growing terrors on their faces. Their collective eyes seems to be locked toward the pegasus. That was when Butcher felt an impact in his chest. "Wha..." he looked down at his chest. To his bewilderment, he saw a black, pink, and organic looking pole stuck in his chest. He followed the pole with his eyes, and found it attached to the yellow pegasus' head. Then, he saw the eyes that belonged to said pegasus. The last emotion he had, was a terror greater than anything he had felt before. ===================================================================== "So... what do you think is happening in there?" asked a griffin guard, who's leaning on the barricade in front of him with his foreleg folded underneath his beak. Flake threw a sideways glance at his squad-mate. "I don't know, probably getting slaughtered." he answered in snark. "You think so?" asked the same guard. Flake rolled his eyes. "Of course not!" said Flake in exacerbation. "They're probably having fun in there, hunting and tracking the escaped prisoners while we're stuck here." "Well, some of them might slip through..." his squad mate watched the empty corridor just in front of the barricade with envy. "Yeah... I wish..." said Flake dejectedly. "Quiet you two!" barked Captain Sharp from behind from on top of a head-high rock. The reason his captain gave for being on said rock was because it gave him a better vantage point. Although Flake suspect the real reason being that said captain wasn't that imposing looking in the first place. "I hear something." Flake shut up. True enough, a steady rhythm of clip-clop echoed from the hallway they're guarding. The two dozen griffins scattered around the cavern all heard it, and as one pointed their crossbow at the entrance. "See! Think positive." said Flake's squad-mate in excitement. However, Flake was a bit puzzled. The footstep sounded nothing like the clicking sound griffins make when they walk. Instead, it sounded like... hooves? Flake squinted toward the tunnel, but the downward curve in the tunnel just a few dozen steps in meant that he could only see the ceiling. However, the flickering shadow on the ceiling was enough to tell him that something is there. "Someone's coming." muttered Flake, readying his crossbow. The echoing footsteps grew louder as the shadow expanded. Then, a shape emerged. "Hey..." voiced his squad mate, who lowered his crossbow just a fraction at the sight. "... isn't that... one of those winged pony?" Likewise, Flake was a bit surprised. Within the tunnel, making its way toward them, was a pegasus. Flake would have no way of knowing, nor would he have cared, that the pegasus' name was Fluttershy. What he did know, or thought, was that this pony must have a death wish. Despite having no less than a dozen crossbows aimed at her, the pegasus showed no sign of stopping. Perhaps she didn't see them, due to her pastel mane covering her eyes. A small murmur of conversation spread through the griffin rank at the strange sight. "I've heard that Lord Seth captured some ponies for... experiments." commented Flake. He had heard rumors about it, but nothing else beyond that. "I guess that's one of them." "No matter." said Captain Sharp. "Our order is to stop anyone from leaving, and it's been a LONG time since I had myself some pegasus meat." Captain Sharp leveled his crossbow at the approaching pegasus. With a savage grin, he squeezed the trigger of the crossbow and let loose a foot long metal bolt. It whistled over Flake's head and... *THUD* "Good shot, boss." commented Flake's squad-mate. The bolt had entered the pegasus's cheek, and had apparently traveled through her head as Flake noted several inches of the metal bolt sticking out the back of her head. The pegasus had stopped, and... that's pretty much all she did. "Huh?" voiced Flake in confusion. No one, not especially a pony, should've survived that. Yet this pegasus simply stood there instead of dropping dead on the spot. Then, the pegasus' jaw started to move. A dead silence descended upon the cavern as a strange sound of grinding metal echoed through it. *CLANG* The sharp noise startled Flake, but that's nothing compared to what the pegasus did next. Casually, the pegasus spat out a severed section of the bolt. The piece of the bolt slammed into ground, embedded itself into it. The pegasus craned her neck, and the remaining bolt that was stuck to the back of her head slide out effortlessly and clattered to the ground. With the offending ammunition now cleared from her head, the pegasus looked up and revealed her eyes to them. A primordial fear grabbed hold of Flake's entire being at that moment. Flake thought it was impossible, but glaring back out of this tiny, weak looking pegasus' cyan eyes was the embodiment of pure rage. It was a look of concentrated fury. It was a look of pure wrath that echoed just one meaning to him: You... Are... Going... To... DIE. "... fi... fir..." in his terrified state, Flake almost missed the stuttering of his captain. "... fire... FIRE! Someone SHOOT IT!" The panicked order snapped every griffin out of their trance. Flake quickly leveled his crossbow and squeezed the trigger. The crossbow jolted in his claws as the bolt lurched forward. The volley of sharpened metal descended on the pegasus. Some missed their marks completely, bouncing off the floor and walls before flying uselessly down the corridor. Most did find their mark and embedded themselves in the pegasus, turning her into a pony-shaped pincushion. For one very brief second, Flake thought it had worked. But to his horror, the barrage of steel had about as much as effect as pelting her with wadded up paper. The pegasus just kept on walking as the crossbow bolts slid out of her one by one. At the same time, her mane morphed into a blackened pastel whip that began to twist itself into a tightly wound coil. 'Fire! Fire again!" shouted Captain Sharp. Flake lowered his crossbow and pulled the bow string in place. With claws shaking out of panic, he fished out a new bolt out of his satchel, fumbling a few in the process. After what felt like an eternity, he got his crossbow loaded and took aim at the still approaching pegasus. Before he could even squeeze the trigger, a strange sensation washed over him. He was flying, which was strange considering that Flake didn't remember jumping or flapping his wings. Everything seems to be moving in slow motion as he tumbled through the air. The ground spun into view, and he was greeted by a strange sight. Nearly a dozen statues of headless griffins were scattered around the cavern floor. The statues were remarkably life-like, disregarding the missing heads. In fact, one of them looked just like him, with coat and feather of the same hue. A loaded crossbow rested in its claws, looking as if it was about fire. As he continued to slowly spin through the air, an odd shape caught the corner of his eyes. To his horror, he found himself staring at his squad-mate. Or to be precise, the floating head of his partner who had this look of shock and incomprehension carved into it. It was at that moment the realization dawned on Flake. The statues on the ground were of him and the rest of his squad, all being decapitated. Time sped back up, and Flake found himself crashing to the ground next to his still standing, but headless, body. His head continued to bounced and roll for a short while before coming to a stop near the cavern wall. How he was still alive and conscious, he didn't know. Although he suspected it was the result of their... enhancements. But one thing he was sure was that the last moments of his life would be spend witnessing the slaughter of his squad-mates. "Ah! My legs! My legs!" cried Captain Sharp from the ground beside the rock he was perched on. Three of his four legs were sliced off, leaving just three useless stumps as he writhed around on his back. His only remaining limb, his right claw, still clutched onto the crossbow. One of his wings was crooked, likely broken when he fell off from his perch. Digging against the ground with his only useless wing, Sharp tried to drag himself away from the pegasus, who had just advanced past his useless barricade with a glare that could, and in retrospect did, kill. "Shoot it! Shoot it!" Several griffins took to the air, probably for what little advantage it might have offered, and opened fire once again. The bolts found their marks in the pegasus' body, and just as before, the pegasus shrugged off what would've killed a griffin many times over. The pegasus, who appeared to be slightly annoyed by the bolts, turned her glare to the airborne griffins as her whip-like mane rapidly coiled itself once more. It was then Flake finally saw what did him in. The pegasus' whip-like mane lashed out with speed that was beyond imagination. So swift that it was a mere faint black and pastel blur through the air. So fast that it distorted the air behind it. Its passage through the air created a sharp crack that echoed through the cavern. Its effect was devastating. Of the nearly a dozen griffins that took the air, only three were alive. The rest had their fate sealed before they hit the ground. Some were decapitated, while others were cleaved cleanly in half along varying lines through their body. The sudden devastation of the remaining griffins was the last straw. The three still living and unharmed griffins frantically scrambled their way toward the exit. "Wait! Stop!" cried out Captain Sharp. But the fleeing griffins paid no heed and continued their mad dash back down the corridor back to the barracks. The captain, realizing the futility of his calls, turned back to the approaching pegasus while trying to shuffle away from her. There was a cold, merciless fury in the pegasus glare as she fixed her gaze on the grievously wounded griffin. "Stay back! Stay back!" shouted Sharp. When the pegasus kept on closing, Captain Sharp took a shaky aim with his crossbow and squeezed off a desperate shot. The bolt flew wide, slamming itself into the cavern wall before clattering to the ground. With his crossbow spent, Sharp threw the now useless weapon away and used his free claw to try, and fail, to pull himself away from the pegasus. "Please... don't kill me..." pleaded the captain as the pegasus wound up her mane once more. "Plea..." Captain Sharp suddenly went silent. A lingering crack echoed in the cavern as a narrow, deep gouge appeared in the ground between the pegasus and the griffin captain. Slowly, a thin line of red ran up from his tail, up his stomach, passed between his eyes before stopping at the top of his head, where it joined a similar line of red running up his back. Then, like a watermelon chopped in half, the captain split apart along the line with a sickening squelch. The pegasus stopped, turned her head around and made a silent gesture to someone in the tunnel she emerged from. Seconds later, a multitude of griffins emerged from the tunnel. A look of shock and awe were present on all their faces before they dispersed across the cavern in short order to collect the weapons off the dead. Flake felt his consciousness began to fade, and before death finally claimed him, he watched as a griffin pried the crossbow out of the claws of his headless body. ==================================================================== Deep within the obsidian fortress, down a secluded side-path, two burly griffins guided a long and narrow cage down the tunnel. The mobile prison held a small pack of griffins. Among them was the Lord of the Whitetail, Leo. He was tired, slumped against the cage bars as they rattled down the corridor. ... end of the road... the depressing ran through his head. Leo had no idea what fate had in store for him, but he had a guess that soon, it would no longer matter. Looking around at the dozen of griffins around him, he was convinced that they all shared his thought. Illuminated by the burning braziers spaced along the obsidian walls, Leo could see that all had resigned to whatever fate that's waiting for them. A few even had a faint smile on them, likely from the thought that at least the nightmare would be over. Like the griffins he was with, the imprisonment was not kind to him. Made worse by his status as the Lord of Whitetail, the guards amused themselves by taunting, and sometimes using him as a punching bag. He would, in his rashness, fight back with words or claws, and all he had accomplished was earning himself a more severe beating. The only reason he had lived through that was his daughter, Gilda, and the thought of one day seeing his wife and the rest of his tribe back in Featherhorn. Each morning, when they get their only meal of the day, was the brightest moment of his dark days. Even if each reunion lasted mere seconds, Gilda's smile and her voices were enough to keep him going. Each day, his thoughts were occupied by what he could say to his daughter during those brief moments. Sometimes, they were jokes that ranged from light-heart-ed to a bit morbid, with the rest filled with reminiscence of things from happier times. But impending death had quite the effect of prompting one's priority. As he noticed the recent disappearance of masses of griffins, he sensed that soon, he would be one of them. Worries plagued him in the last few days, none of which was for himself. Instead, he worried about Gilda, of his wife, and the rest of his tribe that's still free. In addition to the worries, there were the guilt. Guilt of the pain he caused Gilda, guilt of having Gilda lose her freedom because of him, and the guilt that he couldn't protect her from the forsaken place. He had wanted to ask her forgiveness for all his shortcoming, but found it difficult to do so. In part, because there was so much he wanted to say in so little time. Another reason, perhaps somewhat selfish on his part, was that he didn't want to tarnish those happier moments between them with his regrets and guilt. But as more and more griffins disappeared, the reality sank in. He didn't have much time left. If he was to have any chance of giving Gilda his apology, he must do it soon. Yesterday morning, he was determined to do so, but... "I have to finish the round." said Gilda. Leo nodded with understanding as Gilda resumed her route. But before she could make a few steps away... "Gilda! Wait..." called out Leo, prompting Gilda to stop and turn around. "Yes?" asked Gilda with mild surprise. Leo opened his mouth, but couldn't get the words out. "I... nothing." said Leo. "Take care of yourself." "I will." said Gilda with a faint smile before continued on her route. "I'm... sorry..." was all Leo could breath out as Gilda made her way further and further down the corridor. And now, he would never get another chance to do so. His mulling was interrupted when the cage jolted as it slammed into a double door and pushed it open. As the cage made its way through the door, Leo saw what's likely to be their final destination. Within a fairly large room were two large cages. While each was about as tall as the cages he had lived in, the two cages looked spacious enough to hold close to a hundred griffins. Judging by how crowded it looks, Leo guessed that's about how many griffins were detained here. Another violent jolt in the cage nearly threw him to the ground. "Get in there!" barked a hulking griffin guard standing above their cage. It took Leo a few seconds to realize that the door on their cage was opened and lined up to the door into the enclosure. "Move it!" Reluctantly, but obediently, Leo followed the griffins out of the cage and into the massed enclosure. As he did so, he noted that there were griffins pulling a white tarp over the other enclosure. At least he believed those were griffins, the strange yellow suit that covered their body and the reflective fishbowl on their head made it difficult to tell, so he could only go by their shape. As he watched the tarp slide over the roof, he noticed bronze pipes running over the top of the enclosure. He glanced up and found the same set of pipes above his cage. Spaced evenly along the pipes were nozzles pointed down at them. Tracing along the pipes with his eyes, he saw that they all lead to a large metal container near the back of the room. Poison? the thought crossed Leo's mind. The fearful murmur around him suddenly raised in volume as the griffins in suits began to pull the white tarp over their enclosure. "What are they doing to us?" asked a voice from the crowd. As their new prison was completely enclosed in the sinister white tarp, a singular thought ran through Leo. Gilda... I'm sorry... For a few seconds, nothing seems to be happening, and then... *CRASH* "Damien!" cried a griffin from outside the tarp. "What are... HURK!" There were sound a wet squelches followed by a thud. "OH HELL!" came another cry. "STOP IT! SOMEONE KILL IT!" A series of loud crashes followed. "HELP! HELAHHHH!" "KILL IT! KILL IT!" Several twang of crossbow firing rang through the air, then another squelch and wet thud. "IT'S NOT DYING!" "YOU COWARDS! FIGHT IT!" There were sounds of blades being drawn. Soon followed by sound of metal clashing against metal. Then, something shaped like a griffin slammed into the side of their cage, startling the nearby griffins within. As the imprisoned griffins backed away, a copious spray of blood appeared on the tarp. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! GET SOME HEIGHT AND KEEP SHOOTING!" Sound of wings flapping were followed by more sharp twang of crossbows. "No way! How's that..." Another griffin crashed on top of their cage with tremendous force, rattling the whole cage and denting the cage roof. "Please no! Please no!" the griffin on the cage cried."Please HURK!" The cry turned to gurgles as three bloody black blades stabbed through the griffin and into the tarp. The blades impaled the griffins a few more times before the griffin went silent. "IT'S NOT WORKING!" The cage jolted again as Leo noticed a shape flew off the presumably dead griffin. "RUN! EVERYONE R..." that scream was silent by the sound of cracking bones and rock. "Please don't kill me! Please don't..." that one was muted by the flurry of whistling steel and another splatter of blood on the tarp. Less than a minute later, the panicked cries and blood-curdling screams went away. In their place was silence, which was slowly being replaced by fearful murmurs of the griffins around him. Without warning, the same black claws that he saw before started tearing away at the tarp in front of the cage door. Leo blinked in confusion as the shredded tarp fell away. Behind the jagged hole in the tarp was a pony, a cyan colored pony with vibrant rainbow colored tail and mane. She looked like a pegasus, except instead of feathers for her wings, it was two set of blade like claws. "Everyone okay?" asked the pegasus. A second figure walked into view, and it took Leo just a fraction of a second to recognize who it was. "Gilda?" asked Leo in disbelief. The griffin ears' shot up as her eyes locked to his. "Dad!" Leo pushed his way through the confused crowd toward the cage door. "Gilda! What are you doing here?" asked Leo. His joy of seeing his daughter was mixed with surprise at the fact that she's here. "And who is... this?" "This is Rainbow Dash." said Gilda. "And we're going to get your out!" said the pegasus as she brandished her bladed wing. "Stay back!" ===================================================================== Rainbow Dash hacked away at the cage door near the lock. Although the progress was a bit slower than she liked, considering the cage was much more solidly built than she expected. Applejack would've made short work of this... idly thought Rainbow Dash. Her persistent did pay off fairly quickly. Less than a minute worth of continuous assault successfully mangled the lock enough for her to just buck the gate right open. "Alright Gilda, you take care of getting them out, I'll get the other." said Rainbow Dash before she made her way toward the second cage, where she could hear cries for help. She skidded to a stop in front of it. With her blade wings, she took a swipe at the tarp. "WHAT THE..." exclaimed Rainbow Dash. The moment she cut through the tarp a red fog came rolling out. She took a quick peek through the tear and saw the nozzles lining the top of the cage releasing a fine spray of red mist. "Help!" one of the griffin within choked out. "Hang in there!" said Rainbow Dash before she backed away and jumped on top of the cage. She had no idea what that red mist was, but she had a feeling that it wasn't something good. In a small gallop, she followed the pipes to the back of the cage. There, she found the bronze pipe that ran from the metal tank to the pipes at the top of the cage. With one hard stomp, she flattened a section of the bronze pipe and the hiss of the nozzle spraying went away in seconds. Rainbow Dash lifted the tarp and looked in. The nozzle had stopped spraying, but the griffins within were already drenched in the reddish liquid. "... help..." came another forced cry. "I'll let you out. Just... hang on a bit." said Rainbow Dash. She quickly galloped back to the front of the cage and proceed to shred the section of the tarp covering the gate to pieces. However, before she went to work on breaking the gate-lock, a odd, strangled cry from within the cage stopped her. "... hel... elp... gr... RAGH!" one of the griffin let loose a gurgling scream that was quickly joined by others. Rainbow Dash watched, wide-eyed with shock, as the griffins within began to transform. Their muscles seems to ripple and bulge, stretching and tearing the skin as they grew. Tiny shark like teeth forced their way out of the griffin's beak until their teeth resembles two sets of saws. Their talons grew at a frightening rate until each was as long as a scythe. The final transformation was in the griffins' eyes, as red veins spread out from the corners and covered the whites of their eyes as their iris turned to yellow. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash thought back to the monstrous griffins that attacked their cave just two days ago, and part of the puzzle clicked together in Rainbow's mind. They... They MADE those griffins that attacked us! "Rainbow Dash! What's going on..." Gilda's voice trailed off into silence as she stopped next to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were just as wide as Rainbow Dash's as she watched the mutated griffins within. The griffins screams had died down as their transformations were completed, replaced by a rumbling growl. Several griffins turned their gaze to the two of them, and as one, they let out an ear-splitting screech. "What... WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?" cried of Gilda. She and Rainbow Dash both backed away from the cage as the monstrous griffins lounged themselves at the bars, their beak snapping and their talons swiping through the air trying to get to them. In the commotion, Rainbow Dash almost didn't hear the double door click and swing open. "Alright, Lord Seth was satisfied with that last batch." Rainbow Dash turned to the entrance as a lab-coat wearing griffin came walking in through the door. "Keep using the same procedure for... the... rest..." The newly arrived griffin stopped. His eyes blinked in confusion as they darted between the crowd of freed griffins in front of the cage, the various dead griffin bodies around the room, and her, a pegasus with claws for wings. Dr. Oliver, head scientist of Blackwing. the name and title showed up in her mind as she noticed the grayish green hair that covered his exposed rear. "Oh... SHIT!" the griffin cursed before backing out the doors in a hurry. "Gilda! Get your family out!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she bolted after the griffin scientist. "I'll meet you outside!" "Oh... Okay!" came Gilda's response before Rainbow Dash crashed through the double door and landed in the corridor. She looked around, and saw a greenish blur disappeared down the end of the corridor. "GET BACK HERE!" she yelled before tearing after the escaping griffin. He'll know what in Tartarus is going on here!