Written by tomer3392
proofread by rhinotaz

As Rafael waited for all the ponies to get their luggage, he started to think about the conversation he overheard the day before ‘What if I am really stuck like that? Not even a month has passed and I'm already one foot in the grave, this trip has to work! It just haves to!!!’ Rafael thought to himself, as Pinkie started to head his way with a glass of water and a pill.

"Here you go!!!" Pinkie watched as Rafael swallowed the pills and before the effect started to surface she wanted to say something to him "Oh and this pill is weaker, the effect will start to weaken in four to five hours, so don't worry. When we reach the castle talking to the princesses will not be a problem, okay?" Pinkie said as Rafael started to drool all over the floor with a goofy smile 'I’ll take that as a yes', she thought.

Pinkie returned to the group, discussing the plan for that day.

"So the pill’s effect will wear off in four hours, and we can't take the carriage because it's dangerous to Rafael" Pinkie said as all of her friend stared at her, this was one of those rare times Pinkie actually acted rationally, almost as much as the lavender member of the group.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's move out of here and find a cure for Rafael" Rainbow’s brash voice was heard, as she and the rest started to move, Rafael’s chair being pushed along by Applejack.

Not known to them, six figures watched from the shadows of an alley near the train station forming a sinister plan "Seems like it will be easier than I thought" the voice came from a bipedal form, to the agreement of five large wolf like shapes, that waited in the shadows for their right time to strike.

"ggggrrrrrr!" one of the figures started to snarl and growl as he saw a guard and a little Pegasus colt walking beside her, coming close to a point they could spot them, and instantly all the five did the same.

"I agree, we haven’t had the chance to enjoy the succulent flesh of a pony in a long time, so what are you waiting for my friends? Dig in". Said the creature as he watched as his five companions got out from the shadows onto the empty streets.

It was a fine day to spend time with the kids, seldom do a guardspony get a day off, but she had finally gotten one, and she couldn't be happier, Flavor Happy and her son Chocolate Happy, decided to visit the community park, while her husband stayed at home in the kitchen making her a sandwich.

"So mom, can I go to Loving Book’s party tomorrow? I heard her mom got her a clown for her birthday!" the excited colt happily bounced around his mother, as she wore a kind smile just happy to spend some time with her precious son.

"Of course not" Flavor happily said as her son stopped bouncing with a heart broken face, and tears already starting to well up in his eyes, only for the look to turn into one of confusion at seeing his mother start laughing like a mad mare "N-not without a present of course"

It took Chocolate a couple of seconds to figure out that his mother was only messing with him, but when he understood he and his mother started to laugh together, until out of nowhere a dark and sinister voice was heard from the shadows "mind if my friends share the moment?" as noises that oddly were like of a wolf were heard.

"Chocolate, stay back!!" the mother shouted at her son as she drew her sword and flexed her earth pony muscles, as her son used his wings to get to a fair distance from the ground.

"Oh, how rude of me I didn't introduce them, you know what I'll let them introduce themselves, you can come out now!!!" the voice said, as moments later five wolves came out of the shadows, as Flavor started to feel herself tense and sweat as she looked upon her attackers.

"What kind of unholy creation are you?" she said, as she looked upon the features of the wolves, all five of them were as big as an alpha and rose one head taller than her, their wood was blacker than the night, and their fangs not like the rest of their kind was out of sharp rocks, as their drool was like acid and melted everything the substance landed upon, but their most terrifying and shocking feature was their eyes, not like the rest of their kind they had normal pony eyes, and the only thing she could read from them was rage and hatred.

It was like time had stopped, neither the opposing parties moved from their place waiting until the others would make the first move, the Timber wolves just stared with a sadistic look in their faces, while Flavor started to think of a plan, barely breathing as the standoff continued for a couple of moment's.

Suddenly the alley was filled with the whistling of the train, a couple of blocks behind them, and in a blink of an eye both sides engage one another in battle, the five wolves moved as a group while Flavor used all her experience from the royal guard and her natural earth pony strength to cause a miniature tremor by slamming her hooves at the ground, which caused three Timberwolves to lose balance and fall to the ground.

"Good, now follow the birdy!" Flavored taunted them, as she started to run from alley to alley to a place she knew she could have an advantage, and also to separate the wolves to a smaller group so the battle would go easier for her, as she went near the place that would turn into the battle ground, she started to form a smile 'good, almost there' she thought as she entered a construction site and entered a half-finished building as two of the Timber wolves were snarling and howling to pinpoint their location to the other three.

The inside of the building was filled with pipes that were meant for sewage and drinking water, and in the four corners of the building and in the middle, stood pillars that were meant to hold the structure, and cans of paint were spread everywhere.

As she looked behind she saw the howling wolves and started forming a plan 'this is bad, if the rest of the pack catches up I'm done for' so she started running head first toward one of the howling wolves and screamed "Come get some!" With her blade, being held from her mouth, and with one thrust she cut one of the surprised wolf’s head right off while dodging the other.

The second wolf was enraged to say the least, how dare a puny pony hurt his pack member, the wolf like a shark started circling her in the shadows and attacked Flavor in surprise attacks, by ramming in to her with the intention to get a bite, and when she moved he reentered to the circle of shadows, but none would hit because she blocked him, and most of the times she dodged in the last second hoping to do the same and cut his head too, every time as she stood in the middle of the room.

Suddenly she heard howls coming closer with every second and Flavor knew she had to finish the wolf before he got his backup, so this time when he ran at her she started to run straight at him while using her sword thrusting the sword downwards as she was close enough cutting the wolf in half, and running through him, as splinters and blood red gunk was splattered everywhere.

Flavor started to get tired, she needed to catch her breath and in the short time she had to form a plan on how to get out of that mess "Damn, seems like I'm not as young anymore" Flavor talked to no one but to herself, to cool her nerves as she started to look at her surroundings.

'That's weird, usually Timberwolves revive themselves by now, and this is not the only thing that stinks here, their appearance and size is all wrong. And what about this goo?' she thought as she saw the remains of the Timberwolves start to slowly reform.

Suddenly she started to hear angry growls from behind her and in a split second she got knocked to the ground while one of the Timberwolves sank his jaws on her neck, making her scream in pain.

With all of her remaining strength she pushed the wolf from her back making him return to his pack, while the other two already revived and stood with the rest.

"So this is the end? At least Chocolate is ok" Flavor said as the rest of her strength left her looking at the open ceiling at the open sky.

"I'm afraid that little Chocolate wasn't so lucky" said the dark voice from above as the rest of the wolves went quiet letting their master speak.

Suddenly Flavor started to see a form standing from the calling, he was bipedal wearing dark clothes, long dark leather gloves he wore with robes on the rest of the body and a hood that cast a shadow that was black as the night on his face, and the only feature she could recognize from him were his dark red eyes, holding something in his hands.

Suddenly she heard a sickening crack hit the ground and when she looked to where the noise came, she just broke "No, no, noooooo!!!" before her was the severed head of her son painting the ground in red, as his face expression also told her how he felt in his last moments, a face full of pain as the mouth was open like he was screaming and his lifeless eyes were full of dry tears.

As Flavor heard the creature maniac-like laughter she was filled with rage and as a last act of defiance, like the time before, she stomped the ground with all her strength hoping to bring the building down with the creature and his minions, only to see that nothing happened.

"tch tch tch, is that all? I'm really disappointed, well if you finished it seems like it's my turn" and in a flash his voice changed to a more sinister kind and said "finish her".

Suddenly the wolves started to jump on her starting to devour her alive, reaping her limbs, eating her inwards, and she didn't even blink as the wolves enjoyed their meal, the only thing that her dying body was concentrated on was what was left of her son.

When the deed was done the wolves waited for guidance from their master, and instantly his eyes sparkled showing his sadistic nature even more "You probably ask yourselves what now, right?" what followed next was a nod of agreement from the wolves "Well, now we howl, howl to the wind, so that everypony will hear"

What came next was a like the wind itself obeyed the creature as he rose his hands to the air and in a couple of seconds everypony in the city heard a terrible screech that sounded like somepony screaming and everypony felt like the wind is taking them away like an invisible hurricane guiding them to a goal, and when they reach the screaming really start as thousands of ponies saw the most horrifying thing they ever saw, a half-eaten carcass lying on the ground and near it the head of a foal.

While in the meantime, six shadows jumped from rooftop to rooftop towards the castle, and as the guards in the city searched for the culprit in the area they were already halfway to their finish line.

----------Rafael and the gang, estimate arrival one hour, 14:00 pm---------

The trip took longer than they thought, mainly because of the terrible noise they all heard in the morning, and because they needed to be careful when moving Rafael. Rafael was already beginning to wake up and they still didn't reach the castle.

"Pinkie, how long until we get to the castle? This is boring. A snail is faster than us" Rainbow whined as Pinkie and the rest just continued on their way already tired from explaining to her that they were supposed to be careful because of Rafael.

But Pinkie knew exactly how to stop Rainbow from asking the same question again and again "I am hilarious, and you will quote everything I say"

After she said that and left Rainbow confused, the only thing she could do that resembled a proper reaction to that was "Wut?" and for the first time in an hour all was quiet, that until everypony's stomach growled in protest from lack of nourishment.

"Well darling I think I speak for all of us when I say that we need to stop and find something to eat for a moment" Rarity said as the four other equines voiced their agreement while Rafael had a different idea.

"For fuck sake you are worse than children! Can't you ponies wait one hour until we get to the castle!? God d-”, a big growl was heard before he could finish and he let off a sigh “never mind" Rafael said as all the ponies started to laugh while Rafael just waited for them to calm down.

But what Rafael didn't take into consideration was that everypony liked something different and a fight broke because of that, it continued until only two ponies argued while the others became too tired to keep arguing, the ones that still fought for supremacy were Pinkie and Rainbow.

"I want to go to a donut shop!!!" Pinkie yelled at Rainbow as her friend responded back in the same manner.

"And I said we go for organic, it's healthier and beside I can't risk losing my shape, I need to always be at my best!!!" Rainbow said as she pressed her muzzle against Pinkie's and they both gave to each other glares full with determination.

That's until Pinkie had an idea "Hey, why not let Rafael decide what we should go for?" Pinkie said as she and Rainbow started to give reasons why he should pick their preferred food.

"Sweets give smiles to everypony and ones, even to Rainbow he-mares" Pinkie said with a smile, as Rainbow held herself as best as she could not to rip Pinkie another hole.

"Organic is good for you and it cleans the body from toxins and gives you energy, not that random bundle of ADD needed that" Rainbow said as a short pause came from lack of response.

Rafael was hungry, tired and grumpy, he wanted nothing more than to give them both the middle finger but because of his condition didn't allow it he did the second best thing "Where can I get some chicken wings?" he said as all the five and the rest of the street stopped and looked at him like he grew a second head.

"What? I saw a few griffons and minotaurs here, so meat shouldn't be too much of a problem" Rafael said as he felt like he would get lynched if he kept talking, that until he felt a hand that gently ruffled his hair.

"Kid if you want meat I know where you can find some" Rafael heard a happy voice that could have rivaled Pinkie’s say behind him, Applejack quickly turned the chair so Rafael could look at who was talking to him and what he saw made him swallow the words from his mouth, a mountain of a minotaur stood in front of him, he had flame red long mane, black eyes and gray fur.

“Of course the information will come with a price" said the walking mountain to Rafael.

"Name it" Rafael said, wanting some meat no matter what the price was, even if it's something little Rafael would fight tooth and nail for something that would remind him of his home, and for a few seconds to forget that he was living in a bad trip.

The rest of the group looked at him like he said the sky was green, even Applejack stopped being depressed for a second from the shock, right then Rafael trusted a total stranger and agreed to do him a favor without even one of his usual grunts or some sort of a smart ass retort.

"Well handsome, I want to hear about you, where you came from, what are you and a little of your origin, in all of my travels I never met a being such as yourself", the group minus Rafael were still in a state of shock from the strangers first words, while Rafael could only think about one thing and that was his precious meat.

"Come kid, we have a lot to discuss" the minotaur said as he started to move from the main street to the alleys, and from there to the commercial district.

As Rafael rolled after him he started to notice that the group was unusually quiet and when he looked back to see who was pushing the chair for him he saw a zebra that had a great bow on his back with the same carvings and two jewels at the tips that held the string of the arrow, the jewels themselves were circular with the same carvings of the minotaur, the only difference was that the zebra's were blue while the minotaur's were brown.

"Who are you, and what happened to the others?" the zebra’s only reply was a bored grunt as he gave Rafael a pink letter with a big happy smiling face with balloons surrounding it in the back.

'Dear Rafael, me and the girls found an awesome-duper-fun place that sells sweets and yucky healthy food to wait until you finish your business with your new friend. Also did you know that if you pick your nose and then put the booger in a glass of soda it tastes like…) at that instant Rafael throw the letter in disgust while for some reason the zebra stopped moving the chair.

And when he strained his neck to look straight he found the most beautiful thing he saw since he got to Equis, a big restaurant with a big sign in shape of a burger that read, "no industrial fat chicks, only quality meat".

"Hey! Over here!" Rafael heard the stranger calling him from the inside, and as Rafael entered he still didn't understand that the meeting with the stranger would change his life in a direction he never dreamed of walking.

Author's Note

I'm not dead is the first thing I want to say, and the second is that I'm sorry for the big wait I had a lot of stuff going in my life that I needed to give priority, like finishing high school, enlisting to the army and the war against Hamas the terrorist group, that shooting rockets at us day and night. (God Blass the Iron dome) I promise that I will try to post quicker.

And please comment, like and favorite, so I know what you think of my story.