Fairydale was nothing special in the region of Faerie. Just another village populated by, you guessed it, fairies. It was not the capital. No, that was Fae. Nor was it of any particular importance economically or militarily. Though, to be fair, fairies really weren't known for their militaries anyways.
To put it simply, Twinkle's hometown was just a simple farming village.
Which is why it was so surprising to find it in ruins when Silver Moonbeam and Twinkle arrived. The unicorn and her fairy friend came from the south on a crest overlooking the village below. There were embers and smoke emanating in various spots.
Twinkle gasped. "W-what?! What happened?!"
Twinkle, who had always been so happy as long as Silver Moonbeam had known her (which admittedly wasn't very long), looked devastated.
"I'm not sure...let's go take a closer look," Silver said and quietly cantered towards the smoldering village.
The closer they got, the more strange it got. With all the fire damage one might think it was a dragon, but with only the houses being on fire and not the surrounding landscape, it was too calculated. Twinkle motioned for Silver to stop as she heard voices.
"Think we got all of 'em?" a male voice said from around the bend. It sounded scratchy and raspy, like someone who smoked too often.
"Definitely," another male voice replied. "I got them all caged up. Tania made sure they couldn't leave with one of her spells."
"Where is she anyways?" a third male voice asked, to which the 2nd replied.
"She's waiting outside. Said she saw a unicorn and was gonna try catching it."
Silver stumbled back a bit, hearing that. Was she being watched?
Unfortunately, her hoofsteps alerted the three, who quickly rushed out of the building they were in.