Twilight and Matthias were led into a big banqueting hall. Carrion birds sat around a long table, loaded high with fish and flesh cooked in every possible manner and brimming cups of beer and wine. Enormous white rugs made out of the skins of polar bears were strewn about the floor. Stuffed animal heads hung on the walls, ponies and dragons and yaks and also the heads of a couple of animals Twilight had never seen before.
A raven sat at the head of the table on a big throne made out of bones. This was General Ironbeak, the most feared fighting bird in all the northlands.
When Ironbeak saw the two prisoners he croaked, "Well, Grubclaw, what have we got here?"
Grubclaw, one of the rooks who had answered the door, replied, "Lord, these two earthcrawlers were caught within the bounds of your lands, a mouse and a horse."
"Actually, I prefer to be called a pony," said Twilight.
Ironbeak looked the captives over. "It is against my law to trespass upon my domain."
Two crows held Matthias by the arms. He struggled against them, shouting out in a loud, angry voice, "We didn't know it was your land! Tell your birds to take their claws off and release me. You have no right to imprison freeborn creatures."
"Well, we have to keep our borders secure," Ironbeak said.
Twilight swallowed hard and stood her ground. "We didn't come here to harm you. It's the Flowers of Icetor we're after. They're needed by our friend Pinkie Pie, who's been bitten by a snake."
The raven general clacked his beak together like steel striking rock. "Why should I give ye my flowers?"
"Because our friend's goin' to die if you don't!" Matthias cried.
Ironbeak made a noise like a buzzer. "Wrong answer. I care not a whit for beasts that don't live in my mountains." He turned his attention to his soldiers. "Lock them up. We'll execute them in the morning."
"Lock them up! Lock them up!" the birds chanted as they swarmed Twilight and Matthias. The two friends tried to fight back, but they were outnumbered. The birds pushed them into a cage in the corner and locked it with a key. Then they calmly sat back down at the table.
Twilight slumped over. "There's no saving Pinkie now. There may be no saving us."
"I wouldn't say that," said Matthias. "Look!"
A glass case stood on the opposite wall of the room. It was filled with small delicate white star-like flowers that had blue tinged petals. A plaque on the side of the case read, "Flowers of Icetor."
"We've just gotta get out of this cage somehow, get one of those flowers somehow, and get back to Ponyville before ten in the morning tomorrow somehow," Matthias said excitedly.
"That's a lot of somehows," said Twilight.
"We can do it," Matthias said. "Together, the two of us can do anything."