As we travel around, we see the additional pony guards taking up posts of their own, usually opposite of their honourguard counterparts. Those strange bat ponies were nowhere to be seen now, however: it was now all the ‘normal’ winged and horned ones, with the odd wingless and hornless pony in attendance. This close, I can clearly see the details of their racial trimorphism: the ones without appendages were quite muscular and noticeably larger; similarly, the winged ones were lithe and agile, with the horned ones left with comparatively little physical advantage. In a way, it was a strange parallel to the imperial, plains, and mountain zebra tribes, respectively. It certainly was far more stark of a difference than the zebra tribes, at any rate! I don’t see any evidence of hybridization, though. Are these guards purpose-bred? Purpose-selected? Is hybridization even possible for them? No, it must be; those royal ponies clearly had all of their race’s extra appendages! But then, why were none of those types of ponies in the crowds from before? Are they the ones purpose-bred? If so, do they cull outliers like the Princes cull Gifted outliers? Is such a thing even feasible, even with the benefit of sorcery? Or...