Three hours after Phisa’s escape from Pona Rosa…

“Goddess dammit,” Thunderstruck murmured to himself before taking a bite of his cooked squirrel. Occasionally he would look out into the sky, and grit his teeth in frustration.

When he finally spotted a familiar cloaked griffon flying in the sky, Thunder shouted, “Finally! Took you long enough tah git back!”

Thunderstruck took notice of Vena’s condition when she landed near him. The griffon panted heavily, and her cloak and baseball bat were soaked with blood.

Thunder couldn’t help but grin. “See ya had a lotta fun. Shame I had tah miss it all.”

He blinked and tilted his head. “Hey, where’s Buzz? Ya didn’t ditch him back at Pona Rosa?”

Vena didn’t answer, and sat down against the stone bridge’s wall. A chuckle escaped from her as she glanced at the cooked squirrel Thunderstruck had.

A chill crept through his skin, and after grumbling for a moment, Thunderstruck tossed his meal toward Vena, who began to consume what was left of it.

Thunderstruck growled. “Ya gonna answer?”

She swallowed, then said “He’s coming.”

“Really? Well hot damn, we can finally meet up with the others.” The pegasus groaned. “That striped bitch better not have done anything with Four while I was with you.”

Vena merely laughed, her talons tensing up to the point that they impaled her cooked squirrel. Eventually she calmed down, and resumed her meal.

Thunder clicked his tongue. “So… Any reason you decided to start a murder spree back at the Cage?”

Vena tilted her head, giving Thunder a confused look.

“Aah mean, we’re friends, ain’t we? So, Aah’m jus’ a little curious is all. Did ya have something that made you ‘feel like it’, or were ya jus’ that bored?”

Vena almost choked on her food due to her laugh, and took deep breaths before saying, “You know why.”

Thunder pffted. “Real funny Vena. But Aah’m serious. Why’d ya do it?”

“... Phisa,” Vena finally said with a huff. “She can’t die.”

Thunderstuck couldn’t help but snicker. “What, that washed up has been? Ya do fucking realize that striped attention whore was part of Sunfuck’s matchfixing scheme, don’tcha? If she’s that desperate for caps, then she ain’t worth being part of our family.”

Vena remained silent for a full minute, her breathing beginning to intensify.

Thunderstruck blinked and said, “Uh… Ya doin’ alright Ve-”

Vena swiftly gripped Thunderstruck’s neck with a talon. The pegasus gasped and had his eyes widen in terror as his companion’s face got close enough for him to catch a glimpse at Vena’s full face. He could never get used to it, the shock was always fresh and stomach churning.

Vena let out a single high pitched cackle, as her talons tightened ever so slightly.

“HeHEH, You don’t know her?” Vena said ominously.

Thunder grit his teeth and panted. “Yes aah know who she is! She used to be the Gravestones number two, but now she ain’t! Aah don’t git what this is all about!”

“... You really don’t know? ha-HAhaha...” Vena said, before tossing Thunderstruck to the ground,

“You really. Don’t. Know.” She leaned against the bridge, and began to madly giggle.

Thunder felt around his neck with his wings as he stared at Vena continuing to laugh. “Fuck… Ya laughing for reals this time…”

He forced a smile on his face, seething through his teeth, “Really had me scared there…”

“Ummm,” a timid voice spoke out, catching Thunderstruck by surprise.

It’s owner appeared to be a pink earth pony stallion with a green and yellow mane, carrying a saddle bag, and a pink Pipbuck with a pink screen on his left forehoof.

Slowly, he trotted over to the two familiar faces. “I-Is this a bad time? I could… You know, go somewhere else while you two… sort things out.”

Thunderstruck groaned, “Nah, aah think we’ve settled things out, Buzzkill.”

Vena cackled again, “We haven’t, but whatever. I can’t wait to get back,”

She grinned at Thunderstruck for a moment before turning back to Buzzkill. “You alright, Buzz?”

Buzz nodded and smiled. “Y-y-yeah. Things got hectic, but I got out fine…”

He frowned when he looked at the blood on Vena’s cloak and weapon. “W-what about you? Do you need any… help, with that?”

Vena shook her head. “No, hehe. I’m fine.”

Thunderstruck sighed and looked at Buzzkill’s back. “Really? Ya jus’ had tah walk here? Could’ve saved time.”

Buzzkill glanced away. “I-I know. But… well…”

Thunder shrugged. “Eh, whatever. Did ya at least finish ya job?”

Buzzkill nodded and took out a notebook from his bag, presenting them to the pegasus, “Yeah! Finished mapping out all the important places before Vena started… fighting.”

Thunderstruck began to skim through the notebook, and slowly began to grin. “Not bad, Buzz, not bad at all.” He blinked when he reached the last page. “Ya can’t be serious.”

“Oh!” Buzz nodded. “Yeah, I was just scouting around the outside, you know, just to double check on if I missed something. That gate wasn’t open before, a-a-and it seems none of the guards station around it.”

Thunderstruck hummed to himself. “Mah oh mah, this is a serious security breach for Pona Rosa…”

A sinister grin grew on his face. “A shame if somepony exploited it.”