There were many names for it: The theater, the slaughterhouse, the fun place, or that room where all the screaming came from. At first glance, it's but a simple operating room with all the equipment one would expect: A table to operate on, a ring of lanterns for lighting, and various instruments of surgery organized in shelves and trays around the room.
A quick second glance would suggest a more sinister purpose to the room. Jars of organs and body parts, submerged in preservatives and blood, decorated the shelves around the room. Strange, malevolent looking contraptions, covered in dried blood, sat alongside the comparatively normal looking surgical instruments.
It was in rooms just like this one where many of the cruelest experiments were conducted, where ponies and griffins alike met their ends in ghastly ways. Their wails could be heard many tunnels away as the merciless doctors, with their barbaric contraptions, performed tests and procedures of unimaginable sadism on them. The "decorative" jars of organs were all that's left of Blackwing's victim.
Given that, the unicorn residing within this very room should have been terrified out of her mind, if it wasn't for the fact that she was unconscious. Twilight Sparkle was lying on the operating table, lit up by the lanterns above her with leather straps holding her down. Her side moved up and down in a steady pace. Her eyes were closed, giving all indication the pony was soundly asleep. At least, she was.
"... hng..." Twilight Sparkle out a faint, nearly imperceptible groaned. Her eyelids twitched, struggling to open with no success. The nearly inaudible noise prompted a griffin nearby to get up from his resting place with a malicious grin on him.
Drip was one of the many researchers working under Doctor Oliver. Despite still being quite imposing when compared to griffins from other tribe, he was considered relatively scrawny when compared to his fellow tribe-mate. His weaker stature meant that he was rarely, if ever, chosen to participate in a raiding mission against other tribes. However, that suited him just fine. The physical brutality never appealed to him. Instead, he craved controls, more specifically the power that came with that control. The kind of control that came not from physical force, but something more fundamental, something far more... irresistible. Something that became his specialty.
Drugs.
The power of controlling his victim against their will appealed to him, and he had made numerous progress on that front. With the right chemical cocktails, he could make his victim beg for death that was slow in coming. He had drugs that caused its victim's heart race until it inevitably burst. Paralytic that kept its victims fully conscious as they were operated on, only able to scream through their terrified eyes. Hallucinogenic that gave its victim nightmarish vision. Most of the time, he just enjoyed giving his victims random combinations of chemicals, just to see what happened.
However, to his chagrin, he was not allowed to experiment on this unicorn. Doctor Oliver had some interest in the pony, and apparently did not want anyone else perform any experiments that would... contaminate her. The only reason he was called in was due to the unicorn's magic. Which, if rumors were to be believed, was powerful and dangerous enough to require her being kept under constant sedation.
Despite the heavy restriction on what he could do to the unicorn, he still have ways to have some fun with her.
"Trying to wake up now, my dear?" said Drip in sickly sweet cooing tone as he approached the unicorn, picking up a fluid-filled syringe from the nearby tray as he did so. "Now, now, we can't have that."
He jabbed the needle into Twilight's flank, just below her cutie-mark. Her body twitched a bit in response and her breath grew rapid.
"... no..." moaned Twilight Sparkle, her eyelids twitched once more as she struggled to wake. Beneath her, her right hoof made a weak, digging motion as she tried to move herself. But the leather straps held her in place. A hint of worried crossed Drip's face as the unicorn horn released a few sparks, and relaxed when the sparkling stopped just as soon as it started. That's always part of the excitement in his little... game to keep the unicorn as close to the edge of consciousness as possible. It's like drowning the pony, to give her a brief moment of consciousness where she knew she was still alive, before plunging her into the unknown from whence she may never wake from. As usual, he always loved to provide a small, parting gift to her trip down into unconsciousness.
"You know." spoke Drip as he yanked the now empty syringe out. "I just had a talk with Gallow, and she..." Drip gave the unicorn's horn a few sharp flick with the tip of his claw, eliciting another groan from her. "... is very, VERY interested in that horn of yours."
He leaned in to Twilight's ear.
"More specifically, she wanted to chop your pretty horn into tiny little pieces... " said Drip, earning him a fearful gasp and twitch from the unicorn. "Alas, Dr. Oliver had plans for you..." Drip dropped his voice to a whisper as the unicorn's futile struggle weakened as the drug took its effect "... and knowing him, you probably won't survive... but if you do... well... he might just let Gallow have her fun." Twilight Sparkle made a noise that sounded like "no", but made no other movement. Her breathing returned to normal as she descended back into oblivion.
"See you in two hours." said Drip with a smirk. He made his way back to his makeshift bed, musing about the kind of nightmare the pony would be having. He was just about to lie back down when three sharp clangs rang from the metal door.
Who the hell would be here? thought Drip with a grumble. He had kept the door locked for some privacy, not wanting to risk anyone needlessly disturb him when he was in the process of drugging the pony. He wondered who could be at the door. It couldn't have been his boss, Dr. Oliver, considering that he was supposed to be busy doing... something for Lord Seth this morning. Plus, Dr. Oliver had the master key to all the locks in the laboratory wing, no reason why he would bother knocking.
Another series of three sharp clang prompted Drip to get off his bed in annoyance.
"... better have a good reason for disturbing me..." muttered Drip as he made his way to the door. Thoughts of tortures he would use on the idiot that dared to disturb him ran through his mind. He was just settling on the idea of using said idiot for his experiment on acute pain when another clang echoed through the room. Except this time, it was much louder, sounding like someone took a hammer to the door. He froze and paid attention to the metal gateway. It was bowed in, with a suspiciously hoof-like bulge in the center of it.
"Who..." uttered Drip out of surprise. Before the words left his beak, two more hoof-shaped bulges appeared on the door in rapid succession, prompting Drip to step back. Shortly thereafter, the door exploded inward, flying past and missing him by mere inches before crashing into the far wall. Drip, his attention temporarily drawn to the embedded slab of metal in the wall, turned to see who, or what, had caused such destruction.
"HI THERE!" Drip found himself staring at a pink pony with a pair of brilliant turquoise eyes. His view was quickly replaced by a nightmarish blood red maw shortly before everything turned black.
=====================================================================
"Twilight! Twilight!" called out Applejack, following Pinkie Pie into the operating room after regaining her balance from bucking down the door. She had dropped her disguise in order to use her tough as steel hooves breakdown the door. Upon entering, she found their unicorn friend lying motionless on the table at the center of the room.
"Twilight!" Applejack as she made her way to the unicorn. As far as she could tell, Twilight was sleeping. She gave the unicorn a shake with her right hoof. "Twilight?"
When Twilight didn't respond, Applejack got a bit worried.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Applejack as she watched Pinkie Pie, in her griffin disguise, rummaged through the drawers.
"Oh! They have her... um... what's that word again... sea... date... it... sedated!"
"Is she going to be alright?" Applejack transformed into her griffin disguise just so she got claws to undo the leather straps tying Twilight down.
"Yep! Give her a few hours and she should wake up... AHA!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie in triumph as she pulled out a jar of clear liquid. "Or we can give her this!"
"Give her what?" asked Applejack as she finished untying the straps and looked up. Pinkie Pie had sat down, the clear jar in one claw and a syringe in another. She jabbed the needle into the jar and drew out a syringe full of the clear liquid. After flicking the syringe a few times with her talon and squeezing out a few drops of the clear fluid, Pinkie Pie held the syringe between her beaks and trotted over.
"Whoa! Hold up there! What are ya doing?"
"Waking her up! What else?" said Pinkie Pie, taking the syringe out of her beak. Before Applejack could say anything otherwise, Pinkie Pie stuck the syringe into Twilight Sparkle's flank and emptied it.
"What... are ya sure that's safe!?" exclaimed Applejack as Pinkie Pie pulled the syringe out.
"Yes!... I think..."
"Ya THINK!" shouted Applejack, grabbing Pinkie Pie by the shoulder with her talons. "What if you kill her!?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that..."
"AH!!!" the scream caused both disguised ponies to snap their attention to the center of the room. Twilight Sparkle was screaming while she scrambled to her hoof. Her head darted around like a bird as she panted rapidly. It took her but a few seconds to notice the two of them. The look of surprise and shock on her face quickly morphed into that of pure rage. "YOU!"
"Er..." Applejack stared at the royally pissed off Twilight Sparkle, wondering what was it they did. Only when the unicorn's horn flared up in purple flame did Applejack remembered a few important details: One, they were still disguised as griffins. Two, Twilight didn't know that.
"Wai..." before the words could leave Applejack's mouth, a powerful blast picked her off the floor and flung her into the wall.
"YOU! YOU!" stuttered Twilight Sparkle as her horn glowed almost as bright as the sun itself. Her eyes had turned into two circle of pure white light as expanding spheres of magical energy spread out around her in pulses. The unicorn began to levitate in the air as Applejack felt a tremendous pressure kept her pinned to the wall. A pressure that seems to grew heavier by the seconds, accompanied by an ever growing hum in her ears. "YOU DEGENERATE!"
"Twi..." Applejack heard Pinkie Pie, in her disguise's voice, struggling to speak next to her. "... light..."
"I WILL NOT... LET YOU... CHOP MY HORN TO PIECES!" screamed Twilight Sparkle. Applejack could hear the wall crackling behind her as the pressure increased. At least she thought it was the wall. Behind Twilight, the various cabinet began to splinter and crumble against the walls they were mounted on.
"Twi..." Applejack tried to speak, but the pressure on her chest made it difficult to draw breath to finish even a single word.
"I WILL NOT BE BUTCHERED LIKE... LIKE... LIKE WHATEVER IT IS THAT GET BUTCHERED!" Applejack winced when sharp pains jolted from her griffin wings with an accompanied sound of snapping bones. She felt the rest of the bones in her body straining and cracking under the increasing force. Through the now deafening ringing in her ear, she could hear Pinkie Pie whimpering beside her from fear, or pain, or a combination of both.
She's gonna kill us! the thought screamed through Applejack's mind, followed by several pops and jolts of pain as more of her bones snapped under the ever relentless assault from Twilight. Transform back ya dummy!
Applejack closed her eyes and focused, which was difficult considering that her eyes felt like they were about to pop out from their sockets. Waves of pain washed through her as her form struggled to revert back to that of an earth pony.
"I WON'T... LET ANYONE... RENT ME OUT... LIKE... LIKE..."
Applejack felt her broken wing crawled back into her body. Her form began to shrink, which seems to lessen the pressure placed on her ever so slightly. She took the chance to drew in a deep breath.
"TWILIGHT! STOP!" shouted Applejack. To her great relief, the oppressive force pushing against her began to let up.
"Apple... jack?" The unicorn's eyes stopped glowing, reverting back to a pair of violet eyes that regarded them with mild confusion. A few blinks brought forth a look of recognition. "Applejack!"
The pressure went away in an instant as Twilight dropped back to the floor. With the painful force gone, Applejack tipped forward out of the griffin-shaped for in the wall and crashed painfully to the ground. While she couldn't see anything on account of having her face flat on the ground, she could hear a thud next to her followed by a weak "Ow..."
"Applejack!" came Twilight voice, breathing heavily. "I'm... so sorry! Are... you okay?"
Applejack didn't respond immediately. While it was by no mean painful, the healing process was fairly uncomfortable. She felt her bones mending themselves as her joints popped back into place. Pretty soon, she regained enough strength to push herself upright.
"Yeah... I'm fine..." answered Applejack. Sound of cracking and creaking continued for a few seconds as her remaining broken bones finished setting themselves. "... a few more seconds of that... maybe not..."
"Me too..." came Pinkie Pie's answer, who was likewise back in pony form and was in the process of peeling herself off the ground.
"Pinkie Pie! How... When... That was you? I'm so sorry!"
"No harm no foul, right?" said Pinkie Pie before she winced a bit. By the sounds her body was making, Applejack was sure that Pinkie Pie was still putting herself together. "... maybe just a little ouchie..."
"I'm really sorry..." repeated Twilight.
"Ya didn't kill us, that's all that mattered." said Applejack. "So don't ya worry about it."
"Oh, and don't worry about those horrible, horrible thing Drip said he did. None of it happened." added Pinkie Pie.
"Drip?" asked Twilight with a puzzled look.
"The griffin that made you sleepy?" said Pinkie Pie, to which Twilight responded with a slowly dawning look of realization. "The one that kept telling you about all those nasty things he going to do to you?"
"So... it wasn't a dream?" Twilight looked around at the wrecked operating room around her. The cabinets were squashed flat against the walls. Blood, fluid, and pulverized pieces of flesh dripped down through the cracks. The operating table behind her was gone, smashed into unrecognizable collection of splinters and twisted metal embedded in the wall.
"Where... am I? What is this place!?" the questions came in a rapid-fire from Twilight Sparkle. "Who are those griffins that took us!? How did you..." Twilight pointed to Pinkie Pie with her shaking hoof. "... get like this!? And WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I JUST SPRINTED THROUGH THE RUNNING OF THE LEAVES!?"
"That's last one is me." said Pinkie Pie, back to her chipper self. "This Drip guy gave you a lot of sleeping drug. So I gave you lots and lots of stimulants to wake you up."
"For the rest... it's a long story." continued Applejack. "But in short, you were kidnapped by some really bad griffins, we are in their home, and..."
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!?"
The three ponies turned to the recently mangled gateway and saw two surprised griffins staring at them. A quick flash of something thin, long, and pinkish black later, just one griffin remained. Applejack glanced sideways and saw Pinkie Pie transforming into the griffin that had just disappeared.
"HOLY SHI...!" cried out the remaining griffin before he bolted back down the corridor.
"Why didn't you get that last one?" asked Pinkie Pie with a mildly irritated tone.
"Ya coulda warned me first!" cried Applejack in indignation.
"I thought it was obvious!"
"Doesn't matter." declared Applejack as she stomped her hoof. "We're going to have to fight our way out one way or another! Now is a good a time as any!"
"Wee! LET'S GO KICK SOME GRIFFIN BUTTS!" added Pinkie Pie as she started skipping.
=====================================================================
Rainbow Dash's hooves thundered against the obsidian floor as she pursued the griffin ahead in a full gallop. His lab coat fluttering against his back, Dr. Oliver took a glance backward as he continued his manic sprint.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER!" yelled the griffin, a cry he repeated for countless times already as he continued to run. To give Dr. Oliver some credit, he's fast. Fast enough for the doctor to elude Rainbow Dash's grasp for a good minute or two. But with Rainbow Dash within nipping distance of his tail, it would seem that the chase was about to end.
GOTCHA! thought Rainbow Dash with a scowl. With a powerful kick of her hind-legs, Rainbow Dash launched herself forward and into the fleeing griffin. She slammed into the griffin's back at full force, sending the two of the skidding and tumbling along the solid ground. When the two came to a stop, Rainbow Dash found Oliver on his back, with her sitting on the dazed griffin's stomach.
"This ends NOW!" yelled Rainbow Dash as reared up, ready to smashed the griffin's head in with her hooves. Without wasting another second, she brought her hooves down, right into...
*THUD*
"Eh?" uttered Rainbow Dash in surprise when she found her hooves planted firmly against Dr. Oliver's open claws instead of deep within his head. Her moments of surprise was all the griffin needed. He drove his back-legs into Rainbow Dash's stomach, causing her to let out an "Oomph" and launching her off the griffin. Stars burst in her eyes as she landed roughly against the hard stone floor. Freed from her weight, the doctor scrambled to his legs and resumed his escape.
"Dammit... that egghead is strong..." swore Rainbow Dash as she picked herself up off the ground, watching with annoyance as the doctor disappeared down yet another bend further down the tunnel. With a frustrated snort, Rainbow Dash gather her hooves together and broke off after the griffin once more. For a second, Rainbow Dash wondered just why was that egghead so strong. But a second thought quickly answered that question, or at least told her how to get that answer.
Find the doctor, kill him, eat him.
Rainbow Dash trailed behind Dr. Oliver as he lead her through more twisted tunnels. Soon, she found herself emerging from the narrow passage into a wide open hallway. It was at that moment she skidded to a halt.
So... that's where all those bear-sized griffins went. was her thought as she stared agape at the wall of humongous griffins in front of her. It was one thing to know these... things exist, it was another to see this many of them with her own eyes. Their muscles bulged just beneath their skin, straining against them as if they're about to burst. Their heads looked about the same size as a normal griffin, which made them comically small in comparison to the rest of the body. Their wings suffered a similar fate, looking liked two tiny wings grafted on top of a misshapen back. The only other part of their body that scaled to their bulky mass was their legs, and the claws at the end of them. Each of their limbs were likewise bulging with muscular mass, with their forelegs ending in two sets of long, metal clad, claws.
"Dr. Oliver, I hoped that you didn't come running like a scared chick because of a... pony."
Rainbow Dash focused her attention on the griffin that just spoke as the rest broke out in laughter. It took her but a second to recognize him by the metallic mask covering half his face.
Lord Seth, father of Damian, Lord of the Blackwing.
"My lord, this one is no ordinary pony." spoke Dr. Oliver with trembling voice, bowing before his leader who stood a full head taller than the doctor was.
"Hm... I can see that..." mused Seth as he appraised the pegasus from a distance. Rainbow Dash didn't have to guess to see that the griffin was interest in her clawed wings. Lord Seth made a waving gesture with his claws at one of the hulking griffin nearby.
"Seize her." ordered Seth. The giant griffin nodded and turned to her with a sadistic grin. Rainbow Dash quickly flared out her wing claws and dropped into a defensive crouch as the griffin charged at her.
Think you can take me on? Either he's that brave... thought Rainbow Dash as she licked her lips. Her eyes focused on the approaching griffin. A few steps ahead of her, the griffin spread his wings and jumped into a glide. His forearm extended forward, pointing the metal-clad claws toward her.
... or that stupid. Rainbow Dash took a small step to the left, letting the griffin sailed right past her. With a hard flap of her clawed wing, she drove her claws into the griffin side, leaving behind three long gashes. Rainbow Dash didn't bother to look back as the griffin crashed into the ground behind her with a thud.
"Is that all you got?" taunted Rainbow Dash at the wall of griffin in front of her. However, instead of the fear she expected from that awesome display of power, the assembled griffin merely looked interested.
"Why... you... BITCH!" came the roar behind Rainbow Dash. She turned around, and was surprised to see the griffin she just slashed getting up. To her surprise, the griffin was standing up. The three wounds in the griffin's side were deep enough for her to see the muscle beneath. Yet, despite the serious looking wound, there's but a mere trickle of blood dripping out of them. The wounds itself also appeared to be slowly closing up.
Okay... this is not going to be a walk in the park. Rainbow Dash readied herself once more as the griffin charged straight at her again. On the other hoof... not that bright.
This time the griffin apparently decided not to use his claw but instead tried to ram her directly. Rainbow Dash side-stepped to the right this time, and dug her claw into the griffin's side once more. This time, instead of just letting the griffin pass, Rainbow Dash used her claw as an anchor and swung onto the griffin's back.
"GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!" screamed the griffin as he scrambled around, trying to buck the pegasus off him. But with one of her clawed wing embedded in the griffin's back, Rainbow Dash didn't have to worry about getting bucked off. At the same time, she took the chance to slash at the griffin's back, opening up one set of gaping wound after another.
Her impromptu ride didn't last for long. With her attention focused on griffin beneath her, she didn't notice the second griffin coming up until he slammed into her and tackled her to the ground. The two of them tumbled a short distance along the obsidian floor. When they finally came to a stop, Rainbow Dash was on her back, staring up and one victorious looking griffin who had both her wing claws pinned to the ground with his own metal-clad talons.
"I got you you little ARGH!" Rainbow Dash didn't let the griffin finish before driving her back hooves into the griffin, which just happened to hit him in a more... sensitive spot. Rainbow Dash could swear that the griffin went cross-eyed before her second kick knocked him to his side.
A quick twist of her body set her upright again, both her wing claws high in the air, ready to gut the prone griffin beside her. But before she could even get a single swipe in, another griffin jumped on her back and wrapped his foreleg around her neck.
"I've got her! I've got her!" cried the griffin on her back. Rainbow Dash was tried to buck him off while several more griffins piled on. The sudden increase in weight caused Rainbow Dash to lose her footing as she found herself pinned underneath the mass of griffins.
"You know... I was expecting more out of this pony..." came Seth's voice. Rainbow Dash struggled to push herself up and the griffins off, but the jolt of each additional griffins adding their own weight to the pile kept her down.
"Sir... about the escaping... subjects." came Oliver's voice.
"Of course. The rest of you! Capture the escapees!"
Gilda! the thought of Gilda in danger ignited a fire in Rainbow Dash. With an explosion of strength, Rainbow Dash flared her wings out, tossing the collective mass of griffins above her out like they were made of foam. She looked down the corridor toward where she knew the exit was, and saw the retreating back of the mass of griffins. Rainbow Dash glanced back at Dr. Oliver and Lord Seth, the former had a look of fear while the latter had a look of intense interest.
Those two will have to wait. thought Rainbow Dash as she chased after the griffins heading toward the exit.
=====================================================================
They didn't stand a chance... Twilight Sparkle grimaced as she ran. Several mutilated remains of Blackwing griffins scattered in her path, the result of Applejack and Pinkie Pie's rampage as they led Twilight through the unfamiliar corridors.
As much as she hated the feeling, she was getting a bit scared of her two friends. It wasn't the brutality with which Applejack and Pinkie Pie treat griffin that scared her, it was the fact that how merciless the two ponies were. For far too many times, she would find her two friends viciously rip apart or crush flat griffins who were begging for their life. Most of those griffins were already injured and crippled to the point such that they were no longer a threat to them. Worst still, some of the griffins killed did not looked like a fighter. In fact, many of them looked like they're just researchers judging by their lab coats.
The latter of which prompted a small argument between Applejack and Twilight when Applejack gutted an unarmed, pleading griffin before stomping him to death.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle.
"What do you think?" snarled Applejack while she continued to turn a lab-coat wearing griffin beneath her into a fine paste.
"He didn't have any weapon! He didn't even attack us! You don't have to..."
"You don't know what he did!" snapped Applejack, turning to face Twilight, who swore she could see raging fire burning behind the earth pony's eyes. "You don't SEE what he stinking did!"
That last response bothered her a bit. She remembered, back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash's ability to assimilate the memories of her... victims. Apparently, Applejack shared that ability, and Twilight suspected that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were the same in that regards. She had once asked Applejack what she... saw. Applejack never did answer her, but the look of pain on Applejack at the questioning convinced her not to press the issues.
Just... what did they do? wondered Twilight. She wanted to trust Applejack that what those griffin did warranted her... violent response. But Twilight couldn't help the nagging doubts that tugged at her at the back of her mind. What horror did you see to make you like... like...
"Twilight! Stop!" Applejack's outburst was accompanied by a painful jerk on her tail, pulling her back. Twilight turned around with a mixture of pain and bewilderment, finding Applejack holding her tail in her mouth.
"That hurts!" cried Twilight. "Why did you..."
A sudden flurry of clinks behind her prompted her to turn back. She saw that Applejack had pulled her back from a side tunnel to her left. On the wall to her right, there were dozens of metal bolts embedded in it. Twilight quickly realized that those bolts had traveled through the space that she would've occupied seconds earlier if Applejack didn't pull her back. Applejack spat Twilight's tail back out.
"Ya gotta be more careful!" said Applejack. "Ya can't space out on us like that!"
"Um... sorry..." said Twilight.
"Okay, if I remember correctly, there's a guard station not too far down. So... same plan. Twilight you stay here, we'll come get you once we're done. Pinkie, let's go."
"Let go get them!" shouted Pinkie Pie as she followed Applejack down the side-tunnel. What followed was a succession of griffin screams and panicked shouting interspersed by sickening crunches and squelches of griffins dying. The sound of fighting receded as her two friends slaughtered their way through the ranks of griffin until they were just muted echoes in the distance.
Twilight didn't like the waiting. She understood Applejack's insistence that she stay behind. After all, unlike her friends, she can't survive being turned into a pincushion. Still, that didn't mean she liked it.
Ten minutes... give or take... thought Twilight as she got up and paced around, scanning her eyes through the corridor she's in. She guessed that this was where the offices were, judging by the wooden doors with what appeared to be griffin names on them, along with their title. As she went by the doors one by one, a name caught her attention.
Dr. Oliver Green, Head of Research. Twilight studied the name a bit more before she realized why the name sounded familiar. That... creepy griffin mentioned him... something about a plan... for me?
With the curiosity getting to her, Twilight reached out with her right hoof and pushed down against the door handle. The handle didn't budge. That's when Twilight noticed the keyhole below.
"Locked, obviously." muttered Twilight to herself as she examined the lock. "Not a problem!"
She took a step back, point her horn at the keyhole a shot a burst of magic into it. The keyhole glowed violet for a second before making a few clicking sounds. The door swung open with a faint creak. The light from the corridor spilled into the darkened room, casting a pony-shaped shadow from Twilight to about a couple of steps into the room. With her horn lit to provide some illumination, Twilight Sparkle entered.
The first thing she did was to look around for a light. It took her no time, as it turned out the light switch was just right next to the door, in the form of a valve with the label "Light" behind it. Twilight followed the pipe the valve was connected to and noticed that it extend up to the top of the wall, where she noticed several faint flickering dot that seems to be gas lamps. With another flare of magic, Twilight twisted the valve open. In response, the gas lamps brighten and lit up the room. "There, much better."
With the room now lit, Twilight looked around in more detail. It was fairly clean, well organized, and fairly sparse. There's a single desk in the middle, just about a right height for a griffin sitting on the ground to write on. Two bookshelves flanked the desk. Both of which held... well, books, while the other seems to be filled with file folders.
Twilight Sparkle made a beeline to the folders and scanned through it. It looked like reports of sorts, many of whom had names she didn't recognize. Despite a nagging feeling of unease, the curiosity of what they contained got to her. One by one, Twilight Sparkle pulled the folders out with her magic and parade them in front of her. It took her no time to regret that decision.
"Sweet mother of Celestia..." breathed Twilight Sparkle as she stared at the horrors in front of her. Each report documented a series of experiments that, arguably, were done out of pure cruelty instead of any legitimate scientific reason. Twilight couldn't decide which report was the worst, as with each report she read that sickened her to the core, the next few would trump that.
... Dr. Cassius, On the Comparative Cranial Integrity of Ponies and Griffins...
... they're just crushing ponies and griffins heads!
... Dr. Powers, On the Effect of Electricity on Animals...
... they're just shocking ponies and griffins until they die!
... Dr. Gallow, On the Study of Unicorn Horns...
Twilight opened the folder and froze. Her eyes blinked a few times before her brain finally made sense of what she saw.
There were photos. Photos of various unicorns, all of whom had their head strapped into some sort of metal contraptions. All of them have the look of a mixture of intense fear and pain, some even had spittle and foam around their mouth, and the reason was obvious.
Their horns, one of the most sensitive organ on a unicorn, were sliced off at various point while they're still fully conscious.
It was then Twilight proceed to lose the content of her stomach, dropping the folders around her. For more than a minute, she continued to heave despite emptying out the entire content of her stomach.
"Twi... Twilight?"
Twilight Sparkle looked up, and found Applejack and Pinkie Pie by the door watching her with looks of concern.
"Are ya okay?" asked Applejack.
"... I'm... okay now..." said Twilight, wiping the acrid muck from her mouth with her foreleg. "... are all those griffins... like... this?"
Applejack took a glance at the scattered folders and reports around Twilight and nodded grimly.
"Yeah, more or less."
"How can they all be this... this... evil?" asked Twilight, still trying to come to term with what she saw.
"Ooh, I know! I know!" chimed Pinkie Pie. "They're not nice griffins before, but they all turned really, REALLY nasty after something called..." Pinkie Pie tapped her chin a few times, trying to recall the words. "... Red Star! Don't know why they call it that, I mean I don't remember seeing any star that's red..."
"Red Star?" Twilight Sparkle looked at the report surrounding her, and soon found a fairly bulky looking folder labeled Dr. Oliver, Project Red Star. She levitated the report out of the pile and hover it in front of her.
"Hate tah say this, but ah don't think we got time for reading." said Applejack.
"Yep! There's still more evil griffin butts to kick! Oh wait!" Pinkie Pie zoomed out the door and backed in in under a second with something in her mouth. With a flick of her head, she sent the object flying toward Twilight. "Here you go!"
Twilight Sparkle stopped the item in midair with her magic. It was a satchel, likely from one of the griffins they killed recently judging by the spots of still moist blood on it.
"You can read it after we're get out of here." added Pinkie Pie. Twilight took another glance at the report in front of her.
I guess it will take awhile to go through this... reasoned Twilight Sparkle. She shoved the folder into the satchel and slung it over her back. "Alright, let's go."
As Twilight followed Applejack and Pinkie Pie past more dead and mutilated griffins, her doubt about her two friends' violent response evaporated. In its place was a singular thought.
Payback!
=====================================================================
"I think that's everyone." commented Leo as the final group of ragged griffins made their way under the hanging steel gate. Gilda confirmed that with a look over the now empty stone bridge over the bubbling lava lake.
Behind her, the escaped griffins gathered in the much cooler cavern. Many of them, like the other prisoners Gilda saw everyday, bore varying degrees of injuries and old wounds. Some were so weakened by such mistreatment that they could barely stand, let alone walk and had to be helped by other griffins. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash had wiped out every guard station on their way in. It meant that their escape thus far, while slow, was totally unhindered.
Gilda looked toward the slope in the side of the cavern that led to the tunnel toward freedom. They're still less than halfway there. More than half of the Blackwing tribe still stood between them and freedom. That number was probably smaller now depending on how well Rainbow Dash's friends were doing, but Gilda didn't want to count on that. She noted the few able bodied griffins scattered around the escapees, carrying weapons scavenged from the dead Blackwing guards. With such a small number of them capable of fighting, an encounter with even a small group of Blackwing warriors would be disastrous. Having Rainbow Dash with them would be a tremendous advantage after Gilda saw what the pegasus was capable of. Plus, it didn't feel right leaving her friend behind to fend for herself.
"I say we wait for your friend." said Leo, who seemed to recognize what Gilda was thinking. "A lot of griffins are too exhausted to move anyway."
"I guess so." no sooner when she said that, her ears perked up when distant sound of shouting reached her. Gilda turned to the fortress, where the commotion seems to be coming. Her eyes fixed on the closed fortress door. Trepidation grew as the noise grew louder and louder until she recognized the thundering of claws and paws.
Oh no... her fear was realized when the fortress gate burst open and a flood of griffins of monstrous size came pouring out.
=====================================================================
Oh no... the thought flashed through Rainbow's mind as horde of griffin ahead of her burst through the fortress door. From the vantage point above a griffin she was stabbing, she could see over the bridge that spanned the lava lake. At the end of it, was Gilda, along with the escaped griffins.
They won't make it! Rainbow Dash jumped up, dodging another griffin that tried to tackle her off. She landed on top of another griffin, who howled as she dug her clawed wing into him. Think! Rainbow Dash! Think!
Almost instantly, as if answering her wish, several memories flashed through her. First was the massive steel slab that hung over the entrance to the caldera. Followed by the chains that ran from the wall about said steel slab. Before ending in the room filled with mechanisms above the fortress gate.
That's it! Rainbow Dash looked around, and found the stairwell leading up to her destination.
"Excuse me! Pardon me!" snarked Rainbow Dash as she used the griffin horde around her like stepping stones. She skipped from one griffin to another, stepping on them as hard as she could while nimbly avoiding the grasping claws. Occasionally, she would dig her wing claw on the griffin she landed to steady herself. "Oops! I hope that hurts."
Once she reached the stairwell, she darted up it and crashed through the door at the top. The room she found herself in was just as her memories showed her.
"The gate control..." muttered Rainbow Dash. Four wooden hamster wheel line the back of the room, each large enough for a full grown griffin to walk in. From the memories she acquired, Rainbow Dash knew that these wheels were used to lift the steel slab at the entrance into and out of the caldera. She took a closer look and found a lever between the center two wheels.
That will do it! Rainbow Dash galloped over and pushed the lever over. The moment she did that, there were sounds of gears shifting and clicking followed by the rattling of chains. Looking out the windows, Rainbow Dash could see that steel slab inching lower and lower.
Several griffins stumbled through the door that Rainbow Dash had broke down. One of them shouted "STOP HER!" upon seeing her.
"Oops, gotta go!" Rainbow Dash bucked at the lever, snapping it off at the base to guarantee that no one will be able to stop the gate from closing. Before the griffins could get to her, Rainbow Dash broke off into a gallop toward the window and launched herself out of it. She spread her wings wide and settled into a steady flight high above the bridge. She turned around, watching the griffins took to the air behind her. She was a bit surprised that they could fly with those laughably small wings of their. However, as Rainbow Dash pick up speed, she could see that they would have a lot of difficulty catching up to her. "See ya suckers!"
She blew a raspberry at them before turning her attention to the bridge. Rainbow Dash could make out flickers of bolts flying from the opening in the cavern, where the escaping griffins had taken position and were firing their crossbow at the horde. However, their efforts were useless as the Blackwing griffins continue charge ahead, with the bolts appeared to at best caused some minor annoyance. In addition, Rainbow Dash quickly realized that the agonizing slow descent of the gate meant that a large number of griffins would've made it through.
Gotta slow them down. Rainbow Dash pulled herself into a climb toward the cavern ceiling, ignoring the griffins chasing behind her. Once she was nearly to the ceiling, Rainbow Dash pitched down and began to dive. Her wings beat fast and hard against the air as she made small adjustments to line herself up with the head of the griffin crowd below. She gritted her teeth as the wind whipped against her face and whistled past her ears. The air in front of her outstretched hooves began to compress and form into a cone around her as she gained more and more speed. It was the same trick she used against the infected buffalo on their train ride to Appleloosa. While the low ceiling limited the distance she could accelerate, her more powerful wings removed of that issue. A couple dozen yards above the bridge surface, she broke the sound barrier.
A couple dozen yards above the bridge surface, she broke the sound barrier. Flash of rainbow colored light bathed the bridge itself as Rainbow Dash streaked toward it. Several griffins looked up. One of them, near the lead of the pack, stared directly at her. Just moments before impact, Rainbow Dash could see her own reflection in the griffin's eyes. His eyes were filled with confusion. The griffin they belonged to was still trying to comprehend what was happening. It was something that he will never had a chance to do before Rainbow Dash slammed into him.
In an instant, the griffin's body vaporized as if he wasn't even there as Rainbow Dash continued on to hit the ground beneath him. Shockwave traveled out from the point of impact as rings, shattering solid stones and tossing griffins into the air. Some griffins crashed back into the ground, some into the bridge parapet, while others flew right over. Seconds later, Rainbow Dash could hear splashes and screams beneath the bridge as griffins who did not recover in time fell into the fiery lake.
Rainbow Dash surveyed the aftermath around her through the settling dusts. All around her, griffins laid motionless on the ground. Some griffins further out were moving, stumbling around in a dazed fashion. Behind her, the griffins that were charging toward the entrance had all stopped, likely trying to figure out what just happened in front of them.
"Rainbow Dash!" came Gilda's voice through the dust clouds. On hearing her, Rainbow Dash galloped ahead. Once she ran out of the dust cloud, she got a clear sight of the slowly descending metal gate and Gilda just beyond the entrance. "Hurry!"
This is going to be close! Her hooves thundered against the stone floor as Rainbow Dash broke into a full sprint toward the gate. Judging by the steady pace with which the gate was dropping, Rainbow Dash guessed that she would make it past with just a few seconds to spare. As she got close to the gate, the more she was sure that she would make it. With just a few pony lengths away from the gate, Rainbow Dash noticed a sudden movement to the left.
"What the...!" next thing she knew, something sharp dug into her sides. There was a slight twinge of pain as she was lifted bodily into the air. The ground beneath her shifted away until she found herself hovering high above the magma sea.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash saw Gilda being held back by what appeared to be her father shortly before the gate fell into place with a resounding thunk. Looking up, a pair of leering griffin eyes glared at her.
"Got ya you little..." Rainbow Dash decided not to let him finish. Her wings morphed into claws, and before he knew what she was going to do, stabbed them into his side. "GAH!"
The jolt of pain forced the griffin to let go of Rainbow Dash. She tore out of her left wing out of the griffin. Using her still anchored right wing, Rainbow Dash swung herself over on top of the griffin's back.
"Who's got who now?" snarled Rainbow Dash.
"What are you... AH!" the griffin screamed again when Rainbow Dash drove her left wing back into the griffin. Using her two wing claws as an improvised rein, she steered the screaming griffin back toward the bridge. Once they're nearly over the bridge, several griffins flew up to meet them.
"STOP IT! STOP IT!"
"Okay!" answered Rainbow Dash, yanking both her claws out from the griffin. He seemed surprised, turning his head around to see the pegasus raising both her wing claws high above her head.
"Wait! NO!"
Rainbow Dash ignored the griffin and brought bother her wing claws down. With one slash, her claws sliced off both of griffin's wings effortlessly. His screams raised to a new pitch as Rainbow Dash planted her hooves into the griffin back. Her claws morphed back into wings as she pushed the griffin down toward the bridge. Using the now wingless griffin as a sort of shield, she plowed through several Blackwings that were trying to get to her. The bridge surface rapidly rose to meet them as they descended. Any griffins that were still on the bridge quickly scattered away from area she was aiming toward.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! N..." the griffin's panicked cried was silenced by a sharp crunch when Rainbow Dash slammed him into the ground. The impact was a lot less powerful than the dive bombing she did before, but for the griffin involved, it was just as devastating. His back caved in completely as his stomach popped like a popped balloon, spraying blood and gore out in all directions. Almost by reflex, black tendrils shot out from her body and buried themselves into dead griffin. The tendrils proceeded to disassemble the griffin's body, pulling bits and pieces of it into her. Within seconds, the griffin body disappeared, leaving behind a pool of blood.
Standing within the circle of blood, Rainbow Dash turned to face the still living griffin. They have formed a fairly uniform wall at a respectable distance. Their gaze, once savage and vicious, was replaced by fear. Grinning, she morphed her wings into claws and spread them open. "Alright, who's next?"
There's silence as the griffins appeared unsure on what they should do. They looked at each other, none seems to want to make the first move. A few even started to back away from her. At the same time, Rainbow Dash glanced around her, trying to figure out how she's going to get out of this place since the only exit she knew of was no longer available.
"Bravo, bravo." a voice cut through the silence, interrupting Rainbow Dash's search. The crowd of griffins parted down the middle, revealing a griffin with a metal mask covering half of his face.
Seth!
=====================================================================
Rainbow Dash glared at the masked griffin as he came to a stop just in front of the griffins, who closed rank once more, forming a solid wall behind their leader. Rainbow Dash felt that there's something... wrong with this half-masked griffin. Part of that was his mismatched eyes, the one on his left, the masked side, was yellow, while his unmasked right eye was blue. But beyond that, there's something else, something she couldn't quite put her hooves on. So she kept her wing claws raised at the ready while watching his every movement.
"I'm impressed..." said Seth as he appraised the pegasus in front of him. "... no one had managed to make it this far. Let alone take out some of my..." he glanced at the griffins behind him with a hint of disapproval. "...best warriors..." ended Seth with a tone of deep disappointment, prompting several griffins to shirk back out of shame.
"Although... such power..." commented Seth as he turned to Dr. Oliver, who was apparently hiding behind Seth and regarded her with curious and fearful eyes. "... what do you think, doctor?"
"Perhaps... she came in contact with the red star?"
The red star? What is he... wait...
"The meteor..." muttered Rainbow Dash out loud. Everything came together at that point: The strange ritual involving the red powder in all the griffin's memory she acquired, and the reddish mist that turned the griffin prisoners into monster. "... you... you were using those meteor..."
"Ah! So it is true then."
"Are you... ARE YOU CRAZY?" sputtered Rainbow Dash. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
"What, exactly, am I doing that's crazy? I, well, the good doctor here," Lord Seth gestured to Dr. Oliver. "... discovered the gift of the red star. We..." he motioned to the rest of the bear-sized griffins behind him. "... willing received that gift."
"And how about them? How about others of your kind!?" Rainbow Dash stabbed her right wing claw behind her, toward the metal slab sealing the entrance. "You're trying to turn them into monsters!"
"Monsters? No! I'm doing them a favor! I'm granting them the honor to be useful members of the Blackwings army." said Lord Seth flippantly.
Favor? Honor? Rainbow Dash blinked at the way Lord Seth answered her.
"You... you're sick..." sputtered Rainbow Dash.
"Sick?" chuckled Lord Seth. "That's rich, coming from the pony who received the blessing of the red star herself."
"Blessing? You call this..." Rainbow Dash flicked his wing claws out. "... a blessing? I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS! I NEVER WANTED THIS!"
"But you must admit, you enjoyed that power." stated Seth. "You enjoyed the killing."
"I..." Rainbow Dash was about to retort, but stopped herself. Her eyes drifted to the ground as her wings sagged a bit as her thoughts turned inward.
He's right... I do like this power... thought Rainbow Dash. ... and the killings...
"I'm right, aren't I?" said Seth with a condescending sneer.
... but...
"... unlike you..." said Rainbow Dash, glaring at Lord Seth once more with renewed flame. "... I enjoy this power because I let me help my friend..." her wing claws flared out. "... I enjoy killing you all, because you're all assholes and YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"
Lord Seth watched the fired up pegasus with indifference.
"Harrumph!" snorted Seth. "Well! Not sure how you're going to help your friends now that you're trapped in here."
"I'm not the only one here." said Rainbow Dash with a grin. "I've friends back out there. And if I have to guess, they're tearing up the place right now."
"I see... in that case. I guess we'll just have to kill you and then deal with your friends." Seth motioned at the griffins behind him. "Kill her."
Rainbow Dash tensed up at the ready. No one moved. The wall of griffins remained where they were. Each looked around them, all appeared to be waiting for someone else to make the first move. Rainbow Dash could almost smell their collective fear. She could definitely hear the nervous shuffling of griffin paws and claws over the rumbling hum of the lava sea.
"Looks like your 'best' warriors are too scared to fight." Rainbow Dash said with a grin. Lord Seth looked over his shoulder at the cowardly griffins behind him.
"Yes.. that appeared to be the case..." said Lord Seth. "... quite disappointing, really..." He turned back to Rainbow Dash. "It looks like if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."
Did he just say he wants to fight me?
"Sir?" Doctor Oliver looked just as confused as she was as he blinked at his boss.
"Of course." said Seth while taking off his mask. "I'm going to need some... help."
"Sir?" repeated the griffin doctor in alarm. Rainbow Dash immediately noticed something was wrong. The dark red veins around Seth's yellow eye begun to pulse. The griffin lord began to writhe, apparently in pain, as the blood red tendrils rippled and swarmed all over him.
What the hell!? alarm bells rang in Rainbow Dash mind as she backed up a few steps. The rest of the griffins, including Dr. Oliver, begun to back away in shock and fear. However, whatever distance they put between them and their leader soon proved to be useless.
"Hn... RAGH!" with an ear piercing roar, masses of tendrils shot out from Lord Seth. All of them aimed toward the griffins around him, weaving their way through the masses. Their screams of terror echoed through the cavern as the blood red tendrils twisted itself around each griffin
"Mi-lord! No!" Their pleas fell on deaf ears as the tendrils continued to wrap around them. Others struggled to escape, but their futile attempt merely bought them seconds before tendrils enveloped them inside a cocoon of flesh.
Within seconds, Rainbow Dash could no longer recognize any individual griffins. All that's left was a massive, blood red heap behind Lord Seth, still connected to the mass with hundreds of tendrils. Then, the tendrils began the retreat, pulling the amorphous mass into him, and Lord Seth screamed.
"Whoa..." mouthed Rainbow Dash as as she begun to back away, watching as the griffin lord underwent terrifying transformations.
His body ballooned out as his various muscles thickened to the point of nearly ripping through his skin. In fact, Rainbow Dash could see that his skin was tearing apart and only remained in one piece due to his rapid healing, judging by the mass of writhing blood red tendrils where the skin had torn.
The talons on each of his claws elongated until each were twice the length of a full grown pony, and about just as thick. Despite the massive size, each talons looked as sharp as a dagger with a slight metallic sheen to it.
His wings grew alongside the rest of his body. Even the individual feathers underwent their own malicious transformation. Their central shaft extended into long and bony needles, giving his wings a rake like appearance.
His tail lengthened and bulked, seemingly to accommodate another addition to his already deadly arsenals. The tuft at the end of his tail had morphed to resemble a porcupine, a pony-sized mass covered in sharp spines.
In the final bit of transformation, shark like teeth grew from the edge of his enormous beak. A beak that looked strong enough to chop through a tree, or a pony, in one bite.
When Lord Seth finally stopped screaming and the writhing mass of blood red tendrils finally receded, Rainbow Dash found herself facing up to a griffin that had grew to as big as the biggest dragon she knew of. Lord Seth seems to ignore her presence, instead focused on checking out his new body.
"Impressive..." said Lord Seth, his voice a full octave lower and rumbled through the cavern. "... she promised a taste... and this..." he brought his right claw up to his face and examined it with amazement. "... is beyond anything..."
"Wait... she?" muttered Rainbow Dash. "You're working for someone else?" she shouted. Lord Seth looked down at her with his yellow, beady eyes while lowering his raise claw back to the ground. Rainbow Dash noticed that his formerly blue right eye had turned the matching shade of yellow in his left.
"Close..." chuckled Lord Seth. "... I'm working WITH someone, not FOR..."
"WHO?" demanded Rainbow Dash.
"It doesn't matter!" boomed Lord Seth as he advanced on Rainbow Dash. His spine covered tail swished behind him. "You will die here!"
Rainbow Dash growled as she readied herself for a fight, "then I guess I'll just have to eat you to find out!"