Dawn looked at her mother's sorrowful eyes. "W-Wow..." was all she could say.

Raven padded over to Dawn. "Hey, Dawn? So... that bad wolf you were talking about... He's your dad?"

Dawn nodded.

Raven said nothing, but nuzzled Dawn's leg, almost as if in sympathy. The white she-wolf let out a small smile.

"Now..." Alberta looked up, despite how many tears were still coming. "Answer me. Why are you here?"

Summer growled. "Your 'home' decided to nearly kill us."

"Let me guess... Rita got some of the Cripps to change their minds," Alberta replied, smirking and glancing between the wooden branches of the cell.

"That... brown, curly-furred Cripp?" Dawn asked, tilting her head.

"You got it!" a peppy voice appeared from the outside of the cell, causing all of the she-wolves except Alberta to jump a little in surprise. "I'm Rita, head guard of the Pack of Shimmering Snow."

Star grinned and looked between the branches. "Thank you, Rita. You saved our lives."

The pups nodded and murmured their thanks shyly.

Dawn peered through the branches, seeing Rita, her curly-furred tail wagging back and forth. "No problem!"

"But what are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be out there with your Packmates hunting?" Dawn asked, concerned.

"Oh, I'm usually the jail guard, actually. I'm called to hunt every few days or so, but I'd rather be down here with Alberta and Boulder!" Rita chirped, nearly bursting with optimism.

"You'd rather be in here? With two Cripps put behind bars? Oh, no offense, Mom," Summer said.

"None taken," Alberta replied, merely shrugging it off.

"Well, yeah," Rita replied. "It's unfair what they did to Alberta and Boulder. They should've given them a second chance. Oh well, I'm not the Alpha. I don't make the decisions."

Dawn marveled at Rita's bubbling optimism. Where did her own constant happiness go?

"Well, since we have new prisoners, I guess it's my duty as the prison guard to tell you how things work around here. You'll get taken out of your cells twice a day-- once in the morning and again in the evening-- to do your business and stretch your limbs. Two other wolves and myself will supervise you then. And if you try to run or fly off and escape, you will be killed in an instant. Got it?" she asked, a smile still on her face.

The winged wolves nodded.

"Good. Now, the rest of your time will be spent in your cells. Again, you escape, you die. You are allowed to talk amongst yourselves, which I see you were doing already. Other wolves will usually mind talking, but I'm always down for a conversation! Any questions?"

Nova raised her paw. "When do we get food?"

"Great question, pupper!" Rita chirped. "You'll be fed whatever is left on the Pack's prey pile after sunset."

"Which, in the winter, isn't much," a gruff, male voice mumbled from the other cell.

"We're lucky to get it, though," Alberta replied. "I'm surprised with what we've done, they haven't had us starve yet."

"Way to be positive, Alberta!" Rita said.

The voice from the cell let out a groan of annoyance.

"Grandma Alberta? Who was that?" Jinx asked, a bit spooked from the voice.

"That was Boulder, the male prisoner," Alberta explained.

"What did he do?" she asked.

"He did something that caused harm to him and someone else he loved," Alberta said simply.

"But what did--"

"If you want the details, you'd have to ask him. I've forgotten some of the tale myself, so he's the only one who'd be able to answer your question."

Jinx was about to ask something else, but then silenced herself.

Dawn watched Rita returned to her position next to the prison entrance, leaving the prisoners be.

The rest of the day went on quite slowly.

During a small, swift break, Rita had snuck a shred of rabbit skin from her meal for the pups to play tug-o-war with. They wasted no time in getting the most out of their new toy, spending almost a full hour and a half playing around with it before it finally gave out and ripped in two during an intense Raven vs. Jinx and Nova match.

Alberta had curled up into a dark corner of the cell, sleeping soundly, and judging by the sound of loud, deep snoring, Boulder was asleep as well.

All of the adult winged wolves were crowded along the cell walls, talking back and forth about what might happen in the next week.

"I don't care what happens to us this week. As long as we all wind up safe in the end, I'll endure anything," Twilight said, reaching out through the branches of the cell toward Star's paw.

"Agreed," Star replied, reaching toward him and just barely touching paws.

Dawn and Evan smiled at each other, both thankful that everyone was still alive and well.

Soon, the little sunlight that was in the room had dimmed. Rita pulled away some of the branches of the cells, allowing the prisoners to get out. "Alright, guys! Stretch-out time!"