Harmony on the Winds

Chapter 3 - Danger

written by Fire Soul and Samantha Sprocket

Happiness and joy permeated the air in Sugarcube Corner, the six mares all seated at one of the larger tables inside. Voices ran all around them, various ponies talking about this or that, what they did last week, how things have been at work....you know, the usual banter, and the girls were no different.

Applejack talked about the farm, Rainbow Dash spoke of her stunts and her work on the weather, and Rarity got them all nice and updated on all the local gossip, of which there was a lot concerning Spike and him having emergency surgery performed.

The talk of 'hideous' injuries to his body were more and more exaggerated as word spread. Rarity had even heard a few ponies talking about how Spike had lost both of his arms! This wasn't true, of course, but the fact that the rumors had gotten so far was surprising to them, to say the least.

Then of course there were rumors about Twilight as well! Guards posted around the library all night and day long, a spontaneous and personal visit from the Princess, of course rumors began to spread about her involvement, but any such rumors were entirely unfounded.

By the time they all left, several hours had passed and they were all full of delicious baked goods courtesy of the Cakes. The only reason they all left at that point was because Applejack's necessity of being on the farm stopped her from being kept away for too long, thus the others decided to leave at the same time.

Rainbow Dash was out the door first, followed by Applejack, then the others. Fluttershy was the last one out, the normally grounded pegasus fluttering just behind Rarity, the proud and pristine fashionista walking in a manner that flaunted her best assets and her glamour for all to see.

Twilight walked mostly right in the middle of them all, watching with amusement as Rainbow and Applejack started to speak rather heatedly about Rainbow always seeming to rush around anywhere, no matter how short the actual distance.

Suddenly, Pinkie yelped, the others all looking in her direction, only to find that Pinkie's tail was twitching away. Not just the normal kind of twitch though. Her tail was twitching almost violently fast, almost to the point of making it look like she was trying to shake her rump at the ponies back behind her in Sugarcube Corner.

"G-g-girls! S-something's wrong!"

The sound of metal straining and then snapping struck Twilight to her very core, filling her with absolute terror, not for herself but for her friends. The sound of splintering wood right after the metal spurred her into action.

Just as the other girls looked up, Twilight's magic engulfed all five of them and flung them as hard as she could away from Sugarcube Corner's front entrance. She felt as if things were moving in slow-motion, her hooves scraping hard against the cobblestone pathway as she desperately tried to run towards where she'd thrown her friends.

They hit the pavement with resounding thuds just as Twilight made a final dive forward, the fury of Celestia herself sounding as if it were crashing down just behind her, the sound of bending metal and splintering wood on a huge scale filling her ears just before she landed.

She hit the pavement chest-first, knocking the wind out of herself and forcing her to curl inward on reflex, rolling over twice before coming to a stop on her side. She coughed several times while pressing a hoof against her chest, a sharp pain there making it slightly harder for her to breathe at the moment.

Her friends were on her almost instantly. She heard all of them around her, a flurry of activity and hooves picking her up and setting her on her already wobbly legs.

"Oop! Whoa there sugarcube, ah gotcha!"

She began to fall over just as a warm body pressed against her side, holding up her comparatively meager weight. She recognized the voice, but a quick shift of her slightly spinning vision told her for sure that it was Applejack.

It didn't take her long to recover from her disorientation. She spun around to look at the object that had almost fatally taken her and her dearest friends out.

The majority of the decoration surrounding the sign of Sugarcube Corner, the cupcake decorations and everything....right over where they were walking just after exiting the store.

Twilight teleported away instantly, re-appearing atop the store, rapidly turning around and peering down at the other ponies all around. Unfortunately, she felt nothing, not even a trace of magical residue aside from her own.

She teleported back down to her friends, all of them looking to her with confusion and concern, Pinkie in particular seeming upset. Her hair had flattened out and her colors seemed to become more dark and dull, the younger mare appearing nervous as she moved to speak to all of them.

"I-I'm so sorry girls....I was supposed to check on the bolts and nails and integrity of the sign and decorations and stuff, but I just didn't get around to it on time and, well....!"

Twilight's eyes went wide. It seemed way, way too convenient timing for the sign to almost wipe all six of them out in a single motion just as they were all walking out the door, just as they were all in the exact perfect position to all be killed by it all at once, right around the time when Pinkie had slacked off on checking up on the integrity of the materials holding the signs and decorations in place!

But....could that have been all it was? A simple coincidence? Just plain old bad, even horrible timing?

Until she could prove otherwise, she refused to jump to the conclusion that another assassination attempt had just been performed against all of them. If she accepted that, she'd have to accept that she was no longer the only target. If that was the case....

She jumped to her hooves and rushed over to the collapsed sign, all of the parts in mangled pieces, splinters and wood pieces littering the ground. If this was planned, there would be signs of tampering. It was just too convenient in her mind, too much of a coincidence for her to believe without solid proof that it was an accident and nothing more.

She looked for the metal bolt sections and nails, any part of it that would've secured the decorative wooden sculptures to the building. On each one she found, there was a large amount of rust consuming all the metal, not a single part of the metal frame left un-rusted. Okay, no signs there, no cuts in the bolts, it doesn't even look like they'd been changed in years!

Okay, nothing she could find there. Now she just-

"Whoa there, Twi!"

Before she could teleport up to where the decorations normally stayed mounted to check for any tampering up there, her friends were around her with Applejack grabbing at her withers, spinning her around so they could speak face-to-face.

"Twi, whatcha doin' there?"

"What does it look like?" she asked, motioning to the wreckage. "I'm looking for signs of tampering! Whoever tried to kill me with poison might've left behind evidence that they're after all of us, not just me!"

"Now c'mon there Twi, Pinkie already toldja what's up. This here was a big ol' accident, nothin' more! Don't start gittin' all paranoid on us again like ya did that one time, y'know, when ya fergot yer friendship report to Princess Celestia?"

Twilight absolutely hated being reminded of that incident. Even some of the townsfolk didn't leave her alone about her horrendous social faux pas, the Want-It-Need-It spell now permanently on her Do Not Cast mental list of spells she no longer trusted herself with. Making the majority of Ponyville fall in love with her Smartypants doll wasn't something she was proud of, though she and Big Macintosh at least talked enough to the point that he gave her the doll back once the spell was cancelled out by the Princess.

"How could I ever forget...." Twilight grumbled, hanging her head a bit.

Applejack just sighed and shook her head. "Look, ah'm sorry fer bringin' it up, but ya gotta admit, it'd really be a bit of a stretch to think that anyone'd wanna kill all of us, instead of just focusin' on someone as important as Celestia's personal student, y'know?"

"Gee AJ, that makes me feel soooo much better!"

"Ah'm just bein' honest, sugarcube....it makes ya sound like yer really jumpin' ta conclusions."

"And yet, what if I'm right?"

"If ya are, then we got th' Royal Guard hoverin' 'round Ponyville now, watchin' over the place! Look, they're comin' this way already!"

"What?"

Sure enough, when Twilight looked away from the wreckage, she saw a group of six Royal Guardsponies coming their way, in quite a bit of a rush. Twilight frantically scanned over the rest of the debris, looking over as many of the bolts and rusted metals as she could, but by the time the guards ordered her away along with her friends and cordoned off the area, she'd found nothing to lead her to suspect foul play. For all intents and purposes, it really did just look like a bad accident.

Pinkie seemed absolutely devastated. She felt like she was to blame for what had almost happened, and said little to nothing to anyone the entire day, until Twilight got the others to get together and group-hug The Pink Menace and forgive her for, well....almost killing or gravely injuring all of them.

It worked, for the most part. Pinkie was her usual cheery self, save for being fairly subdued. She was still upset at herself for letting something like that happen, and vowed to be more punctual in getting important jobs like that one done on time, instead of putting them off in favor of playing with the twins or going out to spend time with her friends.

By the time the day was over, they'd all spent time relaxing in the park, and had gone their separate ways with Twilight heading back to the library while AJ and RD went off to Sweet Apple Acres, having another game of Shoes to play. Rarity and Fluttershy headed back to the Boutique, Fluttershy following next to Rarity and a little behind her, the two conversing as if nothing had happened all the way to the shop.

Twilight, however, couldn't rest easy. She tried to convince herself that she was being paranoid. She tried to convince herself that it really was just a big coincidence and there was little to worry about.

She just couldn't bring herself to dismiss the possibility though. No matter how much the guards in her library reassured her, she refused to believe that those decorations falling on them was a mere accident.

The guards gave up when Twilight just got frustrated with their weak attempts to persuade her, simply sticking with restricting her to staying in the library and nowhere else once the evening rolled around. As irritating as this was for her, she knew it was necessary, even if it made her feel like a little filly with a bedtime.

"I really hope I am just being paranoid...." she muttered to herself, flipping through the two books she had sitting in front of herself.

Unlike her usual choices in reading material, she had chosen two books that, before now, had never held much interest to her. Now though?

"Self-Defense: Physical Edition and Magic Edition...."

Fluttershy had enjoyed her time at Rarity's greatly! Then again, how could she not? Rarity was her closest of close friends and more, and time spent together with her left Fluttershy often feeling sore, tired, and very, very satisfied.

She winced as she moved to sit down on her couch, a fresh pot of tea sitting on her coffee table while Angel sat on the cushion next to hers on the couch, the rabbit quirking a brow when she flinched and slowly, carefully sat down after her second attempt.

He looked to her flanks and noticed some red marks that were barely visible near her rump, causing him to frown and look up to with an expression that said 'Okay, what's that all about?'

Fluttershy blushed profusely and rubbed her cheek with a hoof, lifting up her tea with the other hoof to take a sip from it.

"O-oh! That. Don't you worry about that Angel, you won't even be able to notice it by tomorrow morning." she said, hoping to be able to wave it off and leave it at that.

Angel didn't get it. Wasn't he supposed to be her pet, or something like that? Not even questioning the fact that a female was the one calling mostly all the shots in his household, how could he be the pet of a pet?

Plus, if she was constantly out spending time with the Prissy One, how could she be here making him sandwiches?!

Still, he sighed and just shook it off. Even he, in all his arrogance and ability to push his caretaker around, knew that this was 'one of those things'. The things that lacked any opportunity to debate their importance in comparison to her showering him with attention and affection like she should be. She'd never allow it. She'd just glare at him until he inevitably fell to pieces under that demonic Stare of hers.

A small shudder worked its way through his tiny body at the memory of the last time she used it on him. He'd wanted that really, really awesome salad, but she insisted on either getting it wrong or force-feeding him a big bowl of oh-so-tasty leaves. Ah well, it wasn't like it didn't taste good, it just....wasn't what he wanted. How could she not see that giving him what he wanted was her job?!

He took solace in reminding himself that she was a very, very silly pony that needed more cautious males like him around to watch her back for her. Females like her were just so hopeless, after all!

Still, he couldn't deny his affection for the mare. She'd taken him in after almost getting killed saving him from Timberwolves, and they'd been really intent on him! He'd been running off and on for at least ten or twenty minutes, and the whole time they gave chase, passing up far more filling animals along the way.

It wasn't his fault he accidentally chewed through a vine that dropped a decaying tree on their Alpha! Not that he wasn't proud of the unfortunate accident, but....she did wind up getting really torn up because of it.

He left it alone and finished his carrot, just shrugging to Fluttershy and ignoring the marks on her flanks, even the ones covering her cutie marks. He figured that sort of thing probably wasn't really his business, not to mention he just didn't get it, so worrying about it would just give him a metaphorical headache.

The day continued to drone on beyond that, with Fluttershy milling around the house, conversing with the animals in her house and outside. She even treated Mr. Grizzly's chronic shoulder ache, as she usually did whenever he stopped in. One quick chiropractic session and he seemed to be good as new with a proper massage to his shoulder.

By the time the night rolled around, Angel had been fed his dinner, dessert and nightly snack that he was holding onto for later in the late evening, and Fluttershy was exhausted from tending to the needs of the animals. Some problems had been small, some problems had been large, but they were all quickly solved as was the usual case due to Fluttershy's extensive experience with her specific field of work.

With the evening winding down and her eyes getting heavy, her animals began to give her the hint that maybe it was time for bed, seeing how most of them were enjoying their dinners in the comfort of their homes within her home and around it.

With all her dishes washed thanks to the assistance of some of her animal friends, as well as having cleaned up the bathroom after a nasty little spill by a recently-born litter of kittens, she made her way upstairs to her room and got nice and tucked in for bed, fluffing her pillows before lazily flopping down on her side and fwumping her head down atop the feather down pillow.

Meanwhile....

A lone pony in a plain brown robe stood in the shadows next to Fluttershy's cottage, peeking in here and there to see what she was up to. The lavender fabric lining the outer edges of her robe made it obvious that she was one of the Harmony cultists hiding around the town. Her horn constantly fluctuated with a dim glow of magic that seemed to ripple up and down the length of it.

At the same time, deep within the Everfree Forest, a robed stallion, this time with pink-colored fabric lining the outer edges of his robe, walked purposefully through the underbrush, actively checking the trees above and the ground below, stopping whenever he found some form of animal tracks.

Hours had ticked by through the afternoon as the robed pony searched for a specific kind of track, but Timberwolves weren't known to be active unless prey wandered near. Without any biological need outside of feeding the trees in the Everfree around their dens so they had fresh wood and plant life to add to their bodies with over the years by letting bodies decompose while partially buried under the soil, they rarely had any reason to go hunting.

Rarely. But they still went hunting. They still occasionally needed corpses to bury around the trees surrounding their dens, and if they had been active in the last few days, the ground combined with the damp air thanks to the intermittent showers over the forest the last few days, should have made their tracks extremely easy to find and follow, what few there would actually be.

He stopped when he started to reach the crest of a hill he'd been climbing, far off the beaten paths that made their way through the Everfree Forest. As he stepped up next to one of the trees at the top of the hill, he felt a dull crunch under his hoof, feeling like it came from underneath the dirt he was standing on.

Taking a moment to dig up whatever it was, he gasped when he found animal bones, small bones of what seemed like a bird scattered around in the dirt.

He looked up quickly when he heard movement near the bottom of the hill he'd walked up, his eyes catching sight of movement amongst what seemed to be a large pile of old and even new wood, branches and twigs all gathered up down below like a stockpile. Then he saw them.

One, two, all the way up to ten Timberwolves formed from smaller batches of wood around the large stockpile. He thought he had the perfect, though surprising opportunity, a smile lifting the corners of her muzzle. 'Found a pack.'

The pony watching Fluttershy's house perked up suddenly, her eyes becoming alert once again. 'You finally found some?'

'Yeah. I think I'm in trouble though. There were no tracks around the den or anywhere for that matter. That means it's been a while since they've gone hunting. They need fresh nutrition for the trees around their den.'

'....How close are you to my location?'

He chuckled, lowering down into a more threatening stance as three Timberwolves approached behind him. He was the one being hunted this entire time, it seemed, and he'd had his eyes down towards the ground too much to even notice them stalking him.

'You'd never make it in time. I just need to find some kind of opening....!'

Her muscles were tense while she was hunkered down low underneath one of the windows in Fluttershy's kitchen, listening to his thoughts as he puzzled out how he would get out of the shrinking circle of Timberwolves that had taken him by surprise.

He eased his way a little to the left, then back some....and leapt as high as he could over the timberwolf furthest below him on the small hill's incline. He felt wooden teeth nip at the harder metal shoe he had on the bottom of his left forehoof, the spikes on the shoe giving it all the extra grip the physically streamlined stallion needed to bolt away from the ambush.

He didn't run at his fastest, however. No, his wings stayed right where they belonged, hidden away beneath his robe, his speed remaining just a little faster than the timberwolves to make up for their seemingly immaculate knowledge of the surrounding forest: while he had to take the time to figure out a path through the underbrush as the obstacles came to him, the timberwolves seemed to move over and around them as if they'd done so numerous times previous, giving them small chances to close the gap between him and them bit by tiny bit.

Every time he felt them right at his hindlegs, he lunged forward and ran far faster than he normally could, sprinting hard and digging his hooves into the dirt with every rapid step he took. Every breath he took was deep and purposeful, meant for nothing more than keeping his energy up as he led the timberwolves on a wild, weaving chase through the Everfree Forest.

He couldn't help but smile when he spotted the edge of the forest. This was both the moment of relief and the moment of truth for their plan: if the timberwolves refused to leave the security of the forest, their plan will have fallen apart and the entire day will be wasted.

Fortunately, these wolves proved tenacious.

The moment he made a dive over yet another dead log, the timberwolves paused for only a valuable, brief moment, before making the jump themselves and bursting out of the underbrush behind him. The large group of timberwolves rushed for the fleeing pony that constantly kept just out of their grasp.

'Nopony's around and she's asleep. Do it!'

He hopped over the fence separating Fluttershy's house from the Everfree, as well as indicating her property line, bolting straight for the front door with the timberwolves hot on his tail.

With a heaving slam of his shoulder, he bashed his way through the front door, the animals in the living room of the house going wild from the sudden disruption, Angel most of all. The bunny was awake and on the stallion's case instantly, even as he slammed the front door behind himself, locked and bolted it, then proceeded to close all of the windows he could reach.

The front door rattled and claws scraped at it wildly while he finished closing off access points, making sure the timberwolves couldn't get in and would have to force their way through the front door. It was when he stepped back into the living room that he spotted the yellow pegasus coming down the stairs, concern etched onto her features as well as fear when she spotted him.

"Ohmygoodness!" she squeaked out while lowering down closer to the floor, hiding herself behind the railing. "Wh-who are you?! Why are you in my house pleasedon'thurtme!"

The young mare's plea sent a jolt of emotional ache straight through his heart, but he knew it had to be done. This had to look like as much of an accident as possible.

He rushed towards the staircase, making Fluttershy backpedal up the stairs rapidly, her entire form trembling as he approached. "Please, you have to get upstairs with me! I-I'm being chased by timberwolves-"

A loud howl from outside the front door silenced him for only a moment, the howling making Fluttershy quiver in terror. She didn't ask anymore questions, instantly turning and running for her bedroom down the hall, past her guest bedroom.

He followed quickly and slammed the door shut and leaned his weight against it, listening for the wolves as they attacked and bashed at the front door, the animals downstairs going wild and making a cacophony of noise. Fluttershy was in the corner, trembling and cowering, her eyes wide in fear for her life.

That stab of guilt and shame hit him again right in his heart. Sometimes he was just too soft for his own good, but he knew that this was necessary. It had to be done. For the good of the entire world, not just Equestria, she and the other Elements had to die so that the world could have yet another chance at being unified through the power of the Elements of Harmony.

With a heavy heart, he took a deep breath to steel himself against his emotions.

"Come on, I can hear them breaking through the front door, I need you to help me hold the door shut!"

She stared at him, frozen in her spot, unable to move for a moment before a loud growl from down the hallway startled her into trembling action. She rushed over next to him, looking between him and the rest of the room.

"Wh-whuh-what should I do?!"

That was the last thing she said before the world instantly began to spin and grow cloudy around her, the hard and sharp pain in the side of her head along with the sudden impact of the stallion's hindhooves against her face sending her partially flying across the room.

Fluttershy crashed against the side of her bed, dazed and almost knocked unconscious. Her head didn't hurt at first, but the world spun and blurred in and out repeatedly, a wet warmth running down the side of her head.

Then the intense pain came.

Every time she tried to look around with her eyes, a sharp stabbing pain sent her vision reeling. She struggled to locate the stranger in the plain-looking robe, but she didn't see him anywhere, or any moving blurry blobs shaped like him. All she felt was the breeze of her open window.

A loud crash from downstairs made her blood run cold. They would find her. They were going to find her and they were going to kill her, tear her to pieces and drag her body back into the Everfree Forest so they could bury her at the foot of a tree!

Well....maybe that last part wouldn't be such a bad way for her body to be used. But, what about her animal friends? Would Angel be okay? Who would take care of them once she was gone? For that matter, were her animals still okay with timberwolves moving through the floor downstairs?!

She struggled to get to her hooves, using her bed as a brace to help herself at least to a sitting position. She could barely think with the world spinning and swirling around her. Her neck felt like a wet noodle, weak and wobbling her head around, swinging her vision every which-way against her will. A sudden intense feeling of nausea built in her stomach, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins forced it back down, her survival at the forefront of her thoughts.

She knew that if the timberwolves were attacking her animals, there was nothing she could do....and it made her heart ache even worse than her head did. She could barely hear her little friends downstairs, crying out from their little cages and bird homes for her, confused and utterly terrified from the huge magical predators stalking through the house, eyeing them with the murderous intent of a hungry predator.

They wanted the pony that had mockingly kept in pace with them, though really any pony would do. No matter how fast they had run, he had made sure to stay either in pace with them, letting them get close, or he ran as hard as he could to put some distance between them before slowing down again. The Alpha didn't just want to hunt, he wanted blood.

They were sniffing around, knocking things over in the kitchen, nudging chairs around in the process of locating their prey. Slowly, they began to pick up her scent,and their focus began to change when they realized that the house was permeated with her unique signature, right alongside the scent of so many animals.

Angel cowered inside of his doghouse-like home within a home, only peeking his head out from under the blanket folded up inside to see if the timberwolves were close by. When they were all in the kitchen, he bolted upstairs and darted into a small cubby hole in the wall. He made his way through the tiny passage, weaving around the small obstructions that didn't bother the mice that made the tunnel in the least before coming out underneath his owner's bed.

He almost jumped out of his skin in alarm when he heard and saw Fluttershy fall flat on her face. The house was deathly quiet now, not even movement from downstairs could be heard. Had they heard her fall? Oh, he could only pray that they didn't.

She just couldn't center her equilibrium. That stallion had bucked her so hard upside the head, she was afraid that the reason she couldn't walk straight could've been because of brain damage! She wasn't counting it out as a possible factor for her current confusion, dizziness and severe lack of balance.

There was also the fact that she was actively fighting the urge to just stay down and pass out. Her head hurt so much....was that stallion really that strong?

Angel bolted over to her when he heard claws clacking against the stairs leading up the stairs, the house so deathly quiet from the animals currently hiding in fear that every step the timberwolves took sounded thunderous in comparison. He quickly started chittering away and urging her to stand up, doing everything he could to get her moving.

'Shy was infinitely grateful that Angel had come to her. She likely would've passed out on the floor right there if he weren't so urgently pushing and pulling at her ears and fur, trying to get her attention. She struggled to her hooves, her voice shaky as a weak groan left her.

The timberwolves heard her moving around, and stalked down the hall, pushing and clawing at the guest room door on the way, searching the spare bedroom a mere three hooflengths away from her door.

"A-Angel....guide me to the w-w-window." she told him in a voice just barely below a whisper.

He stood on her aching head, quietly pulling her ears and using his voice to work her over to the window while the timberwolves tore up her spare bedroom. She reached out to the window and firmly slid it upwards, almost instantly getting the attention of the predators in the other room.

She pulled herself over the window's edge, leaning her weight forward just enough to send her plummeting side-first into the ground right as the abominations bashed the door to her room open. She whimpered in pain when she tried to get up, having easily broken a few ribs and who knew what else upon impact. She struggled, but ultimately, she couldn't manage to fight through the pain. She stayed down.

Angel didn't know what to do now. Having only suffered a few scrapes, he was on his feet immediately, but his owner wasn't getting up. The timberwolves didn't know where they were yet, but all one of them would have to do is follow the scent of the blood leaking from a gash on her head to find them, vulnerable and unable to escape outside of the house. It would be all over then.

"Ah-Angel...." she managed to breathe out, her eyes barely open. "Guh-guh geh....Mr. Bear....helped him relax yesterday, should be sleeping in the small cave near the chicken coop...." she mumbled to her pet rabbit, barely able to speak coherently through the dark haze that was rapidly taking away her vision.

He bolted for the chicken coop like he'd taken Speed, his little body jumping and weaving through the grass and leaves and broken twigs and sticks. Adrenaline fueled his dash as he rapidly passed the chicken coop and went for the larger cave-like building that had been put together by Applejack at Fluttershy's request.

He jumped on top of the sleeping bear's belly, bouncing on the softest part of the huge predator's body as much as he could to try to wake him up.

Once he started smacking at the bear's nose, he managed to rouse the creature.

He suddenly found the air squeezed out of his lungs by a powerful paw pinning him to the ground, and a loud, ear-splitting roar surrounding him on all sides. The only reason he didn't faint from the sudden surprise barrage of terror was because his mind didn't entirely fathom what was in front of him until after the initial shock was over.

Rows upon rows of big, huge, razor-sharp, nasty-looking bear teeth. His eyes were wide as saucers and he could've sworn he saw his family one more time in that moment of grim acceptance that, yes, he was about to die. He could only hope it would happen quickly, in one single, devastating chomp.

A shriek from him when it all settled in gave the bear pause. He knew that little tiny voice. He backed up from the little thing that dared to wake him from his slumber and noticed the little bunny practically paralyzed with fear in his grasp.

The bear let go of him when he realized who Angel was. He quickly tried to apologize while the trembling rabbit desperately tried to get his brain to work again.

It didn't take as long as Angel felt it did. The bear tilted his head as Angel rapidly explained in that unfathomable animal language what was going on. The large predator immediately ran out of the cave, roaring as loud as he could while charging the house. Angel quickly climbed up onto his back for safety, guiding him to where Fluttershy was while the timberwolves began to rush back out of the house upon hearing his bestial war-cry.

The timberwolves made their way outside just as the bear approached the front door, two of them lunging at the massive creature only to be easily swatted away when the bear rose up onto his hindlegs. He made himself look massive, Angel standing on his shoulder with a smug smirk, watching the group of wolves whimper after a moment of contending wills, the Alpha among them the only one not backing away.

The Alpha lunged, and was quickly put in his place by the much larger predator. With their Alpha shattered for the moment, they all took off towards the forest once again. Angel and the bear both watched as the Alpha pulled himself together a moment later, then took off towards the forest when he spotted the bear standing over him, his stance and body language threatening a repeat if the timberwolf dared to stick around.

Angel quickly told the bear where Fluttershy was, the two rushing around to the other side of the house. She laid there unconscious, but when Angel hopped onto her chest, he was thankful that she was still breathing.

Mr. Bear quickly picked her up and eased her onto his back, before Angel hopped up and they ran down the walkways to get to the nearest ponies that could help: Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack was by far not a light sleeper. In fact, waking her up before she woke herself up was often close to impossible, short of bucking her in the gut or throwing a bucket of ice water on her head. Yes, she was a young mare that really needed her rest, but unlike Rainbow Dash, she rarely found an opportunity to so much as get an hour's nap, let alone a standard eight hours' sleep over a single night.

Farm work was tough and exhausting work, tending to fields upon fields of crops, watering them by hoof and tilling soil, bucking apple trees that made up seventy-five percent of the farm's income, not to mention all of the fees, budgeting and haggling she had to do when selling her crops for an optimal price. Then of course there was dealing with boundary issues and neighbor farmers arguing over where the property lines started and ended, just to try to get one more row of seeds planted to eke out just a slightly better profit for that year.

By the time her head found its way to her pillow at the end of the day, her bed was easily the most comfortable, most magnificent gift from Celestia herself that AJ had ever felt. It was easily the greatest double-whammy of bliss, to take a hot, relaxing bath, and then follow that up by flopping down onto a comfortable, soothing bed, no covers or anything, window wide open, and just....pass out.

So when she heard something heavy beating at her front door, it took her a few minutes to finally get halfway awake. She awoke the rest of the way when she heard Granny Smith shouting from down the hall outside of her room.

"Applejack, git on downstairs and answer the door! Dang ponies not knowin' what time it is, swear ta Celestia...."

Grumbling to herself, thoroughly irritated by her sleep being so roughly interrupted, AJ stalked slowly downstairs even as the beating on the door became more urgent.

"Ah'm comin', ah'm comin'!" she called out, reaching for the knob and pulling the top half of the door open. "Land sakes, what's-BEAR?!"

Right in front of her, the face of a huge, terrifying, yet somehow sad-looking bear was looking directly at her. Frozen in momentary fear from being mere inches away from such a hulking predator, she gave the bear enough time to back up a little and let Angel hop down from atop his head to stand on top of the bottom half of Applejack's front door.

The farmpony just barely managed to acknowledge Angel's presence before she wound up slamming the front door in the bear's face.

"A-Angel?! That you?"

The small rabbit nodded quickly, then pointed to the bear, the huge predator lowering down and turning a little to let AJ see Fluttershy's wounded and unconscious form more clearly, a kind of growling whimper heard from the bear, as if he were trying to get across what happened.

"Oh mah stars, what happ-nevermind, y'all can't speak mah language. Just, lemme take 'er inside and fix 'er up, hold on!"

AJ hefted Fluttershy onto her back after easing her down from the large predator's back, still nervous about touching the massive creature. Still, if Angel trusted him enough to let him carry Fluttershy all the way over here, she supposed she could trust the bear not to make a fuss as well.

She walked inside quickly, flicking the lights on and making a fuss of digging around for the first aid kit they kept in the house, waking up the rest of the Apples in the process, though most of them were still pretty much up and just trying to get back to sleep when she started making more noise.

Apple Bloom, being the energetic and curious filly that she was, was the first one downstairs, with Big Macintosh coming down right afterwards.

"Mmn, sis....? What's goin' on?"

"Eeyup."

"Somethin' happened to Fluttershy. Mac, help me hunt down our first aid kit!" she ordered them quickly, the stallion snapping awake almost instantly when he realized somepony had been harmed.

"Apple Bloom, y'all are familiar with the animals down at 'Shy's cottage, right?" she asked, her sister quickly nodding, becoming more aware as time went on. "A'right, well, 'Shy was brought here by a bear that she takes care of or somethin' like that. Angel's out there with 'im, but he'll probably wanna come on in, so bring the little varmint in when ya come back, an' then start preparin' th' guest bed."

It was at this point that Granny Smith started shouting from upstairs while hobbling her way down the hallway. She carefully made her way down the stairs, just in time to see Apple Bloom head out the front door in the middle of the night.

To say that that upset Granny was an understatement. Once she realized Apple Bloom was outside, her anger reached thoroughly livid proportions.

"AJ, what'd I tell ya 'bout lettin' that lil' filly wander 'round outside without no supervision at night?!"

She paid her Granny no mind, instead grabbing the first aid kit from Big Macintosh when he came back into the room and quickly getting some gauze out. Macintosh went to get a wet rag filled with hot water while AJ carefully tilted her head left and right in her hooves, checking out the damage to her head more closely.

"Applejack Jenna Apple!! You git yer flank on out there an'-....Is that Fluttershy? What's she doin' here? Is she bleedin'?"

AJ stayed silent for the moment while Granny hobbled over, her anger-ridden features softening into a genuine expression of concern for the young mare who was clearly unconscious.

Her breathing was labored, it seemed, and every breath she took had a kind of wheezing, rasping sound to it. When Granny pressed her ear to the right side of her friend's chest, she cringed when she heard a resounding crackle, the clear sound of broken ribs that managed to shatter into multiple small pieces. Suddenly, Fluttershy's wheezing and rasping breaths were explained, and she knew she had to get this young mare to a hospital pronto. She was still able to breathe okay for now, but who knew how long that would remain the status quo?

"Oh no. Big Mac, ah think she had bone fragments in 'er right lung!"

The big stallion visibly became alarmed, his pupils dilating and his entire being emanating a mix of fear and despairing rage.

"If ah ever git mah hooves on whatever or whoever hurt 'er like this....!!"

Applejack quickly asked Granny Smith to head back upstairs, since they had everything under control thus far.

"Well if'n ya wanna help, ah need ya to carry her fast as ya can go to the hospital. Jus' don't jostle her around too much, she's in a lot o' pain, an' ah can't give 'er nothin' since she's unconsc-"

Just as she began to say that, Fluttershy whimpered semi-loudly, though it quickly dropped to a pitiful whine of agony, reaching with her left hoof to try to rub at the burning pain in her chest, but that only made it feel infinitely worse.

AJ quickly patted Fluttershy's right forehoof, the mare appearing to be utterly confused and dazed, her eyes appearing to float in their sockets while she attempted to take in her surroundings.

"Now look here 'Shy, yer breathin's really got me worried, so ah'm gonna have Big Macintosh rush ya into town, so ya can git those busted ribs looked at."

Fluttershy didn't fully comprehend what the mare looming over her was saying, her hearing almost as impaired as her vision. She knew she had to say something, anything to try to relay what happened. The last thing she wanted was for somepony to be wrongly accused.

"Stuh....strange stallion...." she mumbled, her words sounding slightly slurred.

"....What?" Applejack said, lowering her head closer to her friend. "What was that about a stallion, 'Shy?"

"Stallion buh-broke....broke into house, was....being chased," she mumbled, barely able to keep herself awake by keeping her eyes open, the spinning world making her nauseous. Still, she was afraid if she fell asleep, there'd be a chance that she wouldn't wake up again. "Tuhn-timberwolves....!"

Applejack just barely made out what she was saying, and it set off alarm bells in her head.

"....What'd that stallion do to ya, sugarcube?"

The edge in AJ's voice made Big Mac go on full alert. When his sister started thinking about things like that, she could make very rash decisions. The last thing he needed her to do was to storm off after he left, going on a hunt for this random unknown stallion's head .

"Locked out the wolves, by....my bedroom. Then he tried, to-to knock me out, but I....managed to fall out of my wih-win....dow, before the timberwolves sniffed me out. Theh-then Angel ran and got Mr. Bear, but I....I passed out I think, before they came back."

Before AJ could inquire further, Angel appeared next to Fluttershy's head in a bolt of movement, the small rabbit squeaking noisily and rapidly to the dazed mare. Fluttershy seemed to be barely comprehending what Angel was actually saying to her, but when he quieted down, she smiled and gently patted the top of his head with a hoof as best she could.

"Mama's okay now, Angel...." she breathed out quietly. "No need to worry. Applejack's very trustworthy. You just stay here tonight....oh. Oh my."

Angel's eyes bulged when she looked so suddenly panicked. Applejack and Big Mac approached her, looking slightly concerned.

"What? What's wrong Fluttershy?"

"M-my animal friends....I have to go help them! They're in my house, all alone and sc-scared....!" she said, trying to pick herself up from where she was laid down.

Big Mac looked to his sister, then back to Fluttershy. Without saying anything, he lowered himself down, and Applejack helped ease the timid mare up onto his back, much to the large stallion's slight embarrassment.

Applejack sighed. "'Shy, ah'll go get the girls, and we'll go check up on yer cottage, make sure yer animals are doin' alright n' whatnot. You just git on over to the hospital an' get checked in so they can fix ya right up!"

Fluttershy whined, appearing to protest for a moment, but with one look into AJ's stern gaze, she softened and let out a deep sigh, nodding just slightly and going silent.

Big Mac wasted no time rushing Fluttershy to the hospital, the large stallion keeping to a constant jog all the way there.

Applejack, meanwhile, moved with even more urgency towards Ponyville, Fluttershy's state of being putting her thoroughly on edge. She thought back to what Twilight tried to tell them, about that incident earlier not being an accident possibly, and a shiver ran through her body.

A timberwolf attack, now of all times, the same day they all almost got crushed to death, or at the very least seriously injured? Something wasn't right. Despite the fact that Rarity's house was closer, she rushed to the library and asked the guards if she could speak to Twilight. She refused to leave until they went in to wake her up

Upon knocking on Twilight's bedroom door, they found that she'd never planned on going to sleep. She'd been up in her room all evening studying and, unfortunately, developing a nervous twitch that involved her looking out of her bedroom window for fear of some unseen killer leaping through her window and slamming a blade through her face.

AJ quickly explained the situation to Twilight, and the look on the lavender mare's face was easily one of anger, confusion and deep concern.

"So....let me get this straight: a stallion in a plain robe led timberwolves to her home, ran upstairs to hide in her bedroom with her, and when she got close enough after asking how she could help, he tried to knock her out before escaping out of her bedroom window to leave her to die??"

Applejack frowned and nodded to her friend, the two of them sharing a moment of silence while Twilight fell into a deep thought process.

For her, this was the final piece, to tip the scale. They were trying to make these deaths look like freak accidents now, unlike the attempt on her life and Spike's with the supposedly really rare poison....unless they were going to slip into the library afterwards to replace all the food. That seemed really troublesome though, so....maybe that's why they altered their strategy?

The falling of the large wooden structure on the outside of Sugarcube Corner, now timberwolves attacking Fluttershy in her own cottage....even that would've looked like a tragic accident because they never would've known about the stallion, Ponyville's Finest likely would've blamed the timberwolves for any and all of her wounds....if her body was even found.

The thought sent a chill up her spine. It was happening again. It was happening again and they were sitting ducks. Even if they got the Royal Guard involved, it only took one slip-up, one moment of unattentiveness, or one guard of low moral fiber that they could bribe, and the next day, she'd find out one of her friends had become a corpse.

She felt a tear run down her cheek when she looked at AJ, and saw a large slice across her throat, the mare's lifeless eyes staring off into the distance while her blood poured out across the floor. Then she pictured the others. Pinkie Pie crushed at the front door of her workplace. Fluttershy torn apart by timberwolves in her own bedroom.

No. No, this wasn't happening to her, to them! This just couldn't be happening again! Well, not exactly the same, but still....damn it! Not again, not ever again, the Princess promised she wouldn't allow something like this....but she couldn't blame the Princess for this. This wasn't, this couldn't have been something she could've stopped or even predicted.

Okay, that last part wasn't true. Celestia was beyond sneaky, and she could read ponies like open books, sometimes.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when AJ firmly shook her wither, getting the mare out of her daze.

"Hey, Twilight! Twi, what's wrong? Ya just up n' started cryin' on me here!"

When Twilight's eyes focused on her friend, a sudden and very serious look overtook her, the lavender mare wiping her eyes clean with her hooves before motioning to the front door.

"Applejack, please go tell my friends to meet me in Fluttershy's hospital room. I need to speak to all of you and it can't wait."

"But Twilight, ah just-"

Twilight grabbed her friend firmly, glaring into her eyes.

"I'm not playing around here, AJ. This is too serious. We've been attacked by a Goddess, a God of Chaos and even a tyrant King unicorn that managed to curse an entire country, but Princess Celestia and my experiences in life taught me a long, long time ago that when ponies bear ill will in their hearts towards you, you should fear them like you fear the fury of the Sun!" she almost shouted at her friend, Applejack visibly unnerved by the grim aura her friend was giving off.

"Now please AJ, just go get Pinkie and have her help you round up the others and wait for me at the hospital! Besides, I need you all to stick together to keep an eye out in case they plan on doing something horrible there while Fluttershy can't defend herself."

"But Twi, what about yo-oh, right." she said, her gaze locking on one of the guards in the room.

"Exactly. So go, please!"

One of the guards cleared their throat. "I can accompany her if you so desire, Lady Sparkle."

"Please do. You don't mind, right AJ?"

She seemed to think about it for all of a few seconds before nodding to her friend.

"Can't argue with a helpin' hoof," AJ said, adjusting her Stetson atop her head while walking past the guard, who turned to follow. "C'mon then. Hope yer cardio's fine in that armor, we're makin' a dash for Carousel Boutique, then Sugarcube Corner!"

Twilight waited until they left to let the tears fall anew, the remaining guards looking unsure about the current situation. So, they did what they were trained and ordered to do: they went back to their posts.

Twilight quickly rushed up to her room, grabbing her saddlebags and moving rapidly around the room, her hooves digging through drawers while her magic collected papers from other locations they'd been hidden away in, along with a lot of personal items from under her bed.

She grabbed her Royal Pass for the train, and several personal documents pertaining to her own personal royal bank account, something she hadn't touched in years. She already had a plan that was as outrageous as it was necessary, all of her calculations demanded a course of action this extreme. She didn't know how she was going to convince her friends to go along with it, especially Applejack given her obligations more than anyone else's rested in Ponyville, but it had to be done.

That wasn't what was making her cry though. For a good long while, a lavender mare curled up on the floor of her room and had herself a good old-fashioned breakdown as her situation assaulted her with memories of a time long past that she'd much rather have never revisited.

This was all happening so fast. Too fast! Too fast for her to be able to deal with this sensibly, if sensibility even had a place in a situation like this.

She didn't have enough time to let it pass though, she'd just have to deal with it. A quick look at the clock told her only ten minutes had ticked by, the young mare pulling herself up from the floor as a feeling of urgency and a deep desire to keep her friends safe brought her mind into an intense focus.

"Not again....it's not going to happen again. I can do something about it this time!"

She quickly threw the stuffed saddlebags over her back and tied them around her barrel, and rushed downstairs, the guards moving in formation at her sides to the hospital. This plan would work. It had to work, she would do anything to make this work.

'Just please, for the love of Celestia, let me make it work in time!!'