“Here Spike, I got you some deer this time.” Twilight used her magic to lower a platter of meat to the floor of Spike’s cell. Large green eyes glowed in the back of the slowly shrinking cell. The large creature lunged at the bars, its teeth clattering against the steel and its tongue slobbering all over the metal. Twilight didn’t flinch, she was used to his reaction by now.

“I’m sorry Spike, but I-we need you big.” Twilight explained in a whisper. The dragon growled and backed up into the cell to access his food. He began messily eating the raw, bloody meat, still glaring at the much smaller purple pony. He growled when they made eye contact, and Twilight quickly looked away.

“Get the GEMS.” Grumbled a low voice in Twilight’s head. Twilight sighed at her master’s rude demands. She walked down the stairs to the ground floor of the cavern and retrieved several precious stones from a chest. She made her way back upstairs to stand in front of the large dragon’s cage. The beast looked up at her, his eyes widening at the sight of the shiny loot the pony had in her magical grasp.

“Here Spike, for you.” Twilight smiled and levitated the gems into the enclosure. The dragon screeched in joy and quickly gathered up the gems. He turned tail and placed the stones onto his growing hoard. His claws began to scrape at the ground as he grew larger in the cell.

“He can’t stay in there for very much longer, master, he’ll be crushed.” Twilight whispered to her shadow.

“We’ll move him after the ritual, when I am stronger.” Her shadow whispered. A roar slowly became audible in the cold cave corridor. My soldiers are hungry my princess. Twilight tried to hide a smile at his words. She walked away from the dragon’s cage and down the long stone hall until she reached a large black door, engraved with silver filigree. The cries and screeches of the creatures within were loud enough to permeate through the door. Twilight used her magic to grasp the handle and pushed the door open. She entered the cave, the miasma of terror thick in the air. The stench of dung and urine clung to the walls, and the abandoned skins of several creatures littered the floor. The cries became deafening. Twilight walked to the edge of a large boulder and looked down at the creatures hissing below her. She tried to hide her quivering lip.

“My king, I can’t control them, please help me.” Twilight whispered to her shadow. The darkness of her shadow rose up from the ground and surrounded her briefly before disappearing into her body. Twilight’s eyes became bright green and red, purple haze trailed from the corners of her eyes as her master took over her body. Twilight, no longer herself, smiled and stomped her hoof on the stone floor, grabbing the attention of the creatures below her.

Twilight’s voice echoed in the large, humid cavern. “Don your skins, creatures of death, it is time to hunt.”

“Excuse me miss, do you think you could help me out?” A light blue pony looked up from her garden to see an orange pony smiling shyly down at her.

“Oh, sure, what seems to be the problem?” The blue pony asked with a smile.

“Well my cart got stuck on a stone back down the road and I can’t seem to move it on my own. I hurt my leg trying.” The orange pony raised his hind left leg to display a bloody gash.

“Oh my! Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” The blue mare smiled. “I’m Winter Gust by the way, what’s your name?” She smiled.

“I’m Dapper Dash, my cart is over this way.” Dapper smiled back and limped towards the road with Winter following close behind. The two walked down the empty road until they came upon Dapper’s cart, stuck behind a stone just as he described.

“I see the problem.” Spoke winter as she examined the cart’s wheels. “Your front right wheel is twisted in the mud. If we lift the cart together we can straighten the wheel.” Winter smiled brightly at Dapper who nodded happily. The two crawled under the cart and began lifting it up and moving it out of the way, but Dapper suddenly ducked and moved away from the cart, leaving Winter to bare its full weight.

“Oof!” The mare huffed and gasped as the heavy cart weighed down on her. “What are you doing?” Asked Winter as she struggled to lift the cart. Dapper walked to stand a few feet in front of her, his smile gone. Winter finally let the cart fall as she lowered herself to the ground, no longer able to bear the weight. “Dapper?” She asked, worried.

“Don’t scream.” Instructed Dapper with a low voice. Winter looked in horror as pale, skinny creatures emerged from the trees, suddenly surrounding her. She had read the papers, she knew what these creatures were. She knew she was outnumbered. She could only close her eyes and hope her death was quick.

That day, five ponies went missing in the rural outskirts of the crystal empire. No bodies were found.