Meanwhile, oblivious to what was about to happen in Jungle Herd, Ravensong was flying with the Mountain Herd captives, Echodance and Sagefrost. Moonstone was with her of course. It seemed to Ravensong that wherever Sagefrost went, Moonstone went also.

“So what was it like in your herd?” Ravensong asked finally breaking the awkward silence.

“We lived life the exact same way you live it here,” Sagefrost answered. “Right Echodance?” But she didn’t answer. In fact she had barely said a word since she had arrived in Sky Meadow.

“Do you like it here?” Moonstone asked the twins. But she was really asking Sagefrost since she was staring straight at him.

But to her surprise, it was not Sagefrost who answered her question. Echodance’s reply fired as if out of a cannon. “Why in the entire land of Anok would we like it here? Your herdmates came and ripped us out of our home and everything we knew!! We didn’t even get to say goodbye to our family!! If our herd had done that to you would you like us?” She didn’t bother to wait for an answer. “Of course you wouldn’t!! You wouldn’t be able to stand it!!” She turned towards Ravensong and thrust her nosse out towards her. “And you! Your brother was the one who grabbed me by my wings and ripped me into the sky to bring me back to this place. Why in the world should I like it here when it has such horrible pegasi living in it? I know that you will become the destroyer if you survive.”

With that last remark, Echodance dived from the clouds into the forest leaving the other three pegasi in stunned silence.

Ravensong dived after her hoping that she hadn’t ruined her opportunity to be a friend to the poor filly. She saw flashes of periwinkle through the leaves every so often, but she couldn’t fly through the forest because her wings were much too large.

Unlike most black foals, Ravensong could fly, but her wings wings were ginormous, so it wasn’t that easy to fly because they were heavy. It was especially difficult in tight places, so she didn’t attempt it very often.

Suddenly, Ravensong heard a scream of terror from inside the forest that sounded like Echodance. She swooped down in between the trees hoping that she would be in time to save Echodance and not caring if she hurt her wings in the process. When she landed, she saw the source of terror. It was a mountain lion.

She galloped up to where it was standing toying with Echodance in its paws. Ravensong kicked it as hard as she could with her front hoof hoping that the sharpness of her hoof would help dull the monster’s senses.

Her friends all thought that it was outrageous that she had sharpened her hooves, but she defended herself by saying that she had to protect herself from predators somehow.

As she had hoped, the lion went unconscious. “Run!!!!” She screamed to the injured filly and they both took off dodging trees and bushes. When they reached Sky Meadow, Ravensong saw that Echodance’s left wing was ripped to shreds and covered in her own blood.

The captive filly looked graciously at the black filly. “You saved me.”