Focused on the bay stallion, Aryel had not seen the lion-tailed mare when she walked up. It was her soft gasp that drew her attention, causing her to turn her head to gaze incredulously at Athena. She gave her a slight smile. "Long time no see." She truly hadn't seen the palomino mare since her first days in Helovia, seasons ago. Had she been here this entire time? If she had had hackles, the thought would have caused them to rise. Keeping not one, but two Throat horses prisoner? Unforgiveable.

She looked back at D'artagan and scoffed. "Deaths? With all due respect, which isn't much, by the way, your soldiers would not even be a match for ours. Horns will only get you so far." Her brow furrowed as he mentioned a Throat horse with armor. As far as she knew, only one stallion in their lands had a suit of armor, and that was General Midas. She scowled at the stallion, wondering what he had done. "Have you ever met my friend Gaucho?" she asked, tilting her head. "He's not burdened by such pesky things as morals. All the excuse he needs to kill someone, anyone, slowly and painfully is an order from his higher-ups. Pity he isn't here." His rewording of his previous sentence confused her briefly, but she was prepared to take it. She looked back at Athena and Lana, nodding for them to go home. She would be right behind them.

And then the real trouble started.

A voice caused her to turn from D'artagan to a new mare, this one bearing a passing resemblance to the bay in her soulless blue eyes. She was accompanied by a strange fog that sent an explainable shiver down Aryel's spine. She drew breath to respond to her, when the fog suddenly seemed to lunge towards her. Before she could react, it was everywhere, going into her, through her nose, her ears, her mouth. She gave a short whinny of fear and shook her head back and forth, the whites of her terrified eyes showing as a cold sensation invaded every part of her body from hooves to wingtips.

Those that got to know Aryel would know her as a very proud, independent horse. She prided herself on being free-willed, only following the orders of a worthy leader. This was precisely why the sensation of loosing control over her own body was the most terrifying thing she had ever felt in her four years of life. It was all she could do to not beg pitifully for the mare to stop as her front half bent, leaving her kneeling with one foreleg folded beneath her and the other stretched in front. Her neck was arched and her ears flat against her head as she gasped for breath, eyes wide and blank. The fog was slowly cutting off her connection to Java, her connection to her magic, her own mind. It would be so easy just to give in and-

Chomp!

Aryel jerked, snorting in pain. Java, feeling their connection growing weak, had cast about desperately for something he could do, and settled for clamping his sharp little teeth into the skin where her neck met her back. The bite had jolted her back to consciousness, but she was still rendered immobile. She managed to turn her head a few degrees to look at the two prisoners. "Go on." she gritted out. "I'm...I'm fine." She pulled her gaze back to the two unicorns and fixed them with a look of pure loathing, fear still running through her body at the sight of the mare's horn leveled towards her. But they had had their fun and would let her go now, since they were also letting the other pegasi go. Wouldn't they?

(This is now very interesting.)

Walk walk walk walk.
"Talk talk talk talk."