The Nightbringer Saga

Den of Wolves

Twilight Sparkle and her friends waited near the edge of Ponyville where Gambler had said to meet him. When he arrived he was wearing a simple brown jacket and a white scarf. He had a single pack strapped to his back as opposed to the saddle bags that the other ponies wore. The brown pony looked at the others, as though examining their worthiness until some confetti popped out of one of Pinkie Pie’s bags.

“Oopsies,” she said with a smile making Gambler sigh out of disappointment and frustration.

“So where are we off to first mister?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Gambler shot the pegasus an angry glare and answered. “Why don’t you just follow me and find out.”

The pony friends reluctantly followed, trying to tolerate their new companion for Twilight’s sake. It was not long before they arrived at the edge of the Everfree Forest. A dark air floated around the forest which went unnoticed by Twilight’s friends.

“It has ta be the Everfree Forest. We seem ta be dealing with this place a lot,” said Applejack standing ready despite the repetitiveness of entering the dark forest.

“Well we’ve been here before, let’s go somewhere else for our adventure like a nice meadow,” Fluttershy said in her own frightened way.

“But one of the Elements of Harmony is in there. You wouldn’t want to let your friend down by not going now would you?” Gambler asked, goading and terrifying the yellow pegasus.

“No,” Fluttershy whispered, now full of guilt as well as fear of Gambler.

The other friends looked at the brown pony with contempt holding their retorts when they saw Twilight simply staring at the forest. The last time the young princess had seen the Everfree Forest was when she was in the Dream Realm and met Nightbringer. The memories of those events and those following sent chills up her spine. Gambler grinned with pride, enjoying the torment that Twilight was going through.

The group made their way through the dark forest, wary of the numerous creatures and other dangers that lurked about. As they wandered, a strange and slightly familiar sensation came over Twilight. She looked around to see herself still in the Everfree Forest but now she was once again alone. Taking a closer look at her surroundings, the young princess recognized the familiar surroundings. She looked ahead to see the Tree of Harmony as well as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna staring at the tree.

Twilight’s thrill at seeing the princesses was muted as she noticed something different about them. Celestia’s mane and tail were a soft, unmoving pink while Luna had a short mane of blue and a blue tail. Along with the difference in their hair, the two princesses seemed younger somehow. Another strange thing was that Luna hardly looked at her sister. Scorn and resentment covered the younger sister’s face.

“I’m very sorry for what happened my sister,” Celestia said at last, hardly getting a reaction from Luna. “I wish I could fix everything-”

“Then let him out and help him!” Luna interrupted as tears began to build.

“You know I cannot do that. Anyways, we need to put the Elements of Harmony back where they belong. This is the only way to maintain the balance of magic without…Nova…”

Luna dropped two stone orbs with the symbols of the elements onto the ground in front of Celestia and stormed off. Sadness, rather than anger, filled her very being as she left the cavern. Celestia used her magic to place the two orbs along with four others into their place in the Tree of Harmony. Each orb changed into a gem as it moved into place. When the act was done Twilight felt the same pulling sensation she had felt during her last visions as this new vision ended.

“Hey! Equestria to Twilight are you there?” Hearing Gambler shouting snapped Twilight back to reality as she reeled from her vision.

“Are you alright darling?” asked Rarity pushing Gambler out of the way to help inciting anger to him.

“You spaced out for like five minutes,” said Rainbow.

“I’m okay, really. I’ll be fine don’t worry,” the young princess answered, unable to convince herself.

Though her friends seemed satisfied with her answer they kept close in a blatant effort to show their support for their friend. Gambler cared little and kept back. As he looked at the young princess, however, he noticed that she was simply putting on a brave face to avoid worrying her friends. The brown pony was able to see the worry and confusion that betrayed her bravery. Gambler knew these feelings himself all too well.

The group continued on until they came to the entrance to a large cavern. A foul smell emanated from the dark and dank place. Fluttershy once again gave into fear but was held back by Pinkie Pie.

“Ladies,” Gambler said with a devious smile, “welcome to the home of the most fearsome creatures in the Everfree Forest. The Den of the Timber Wolves.”

As the ponies made their way into the den, the foul smell hit them with a near physical blow. They forced themselves to continue on though only Gambler seemed unaffected by the pungent fumes. They moved farther through the expansive cavern as the noxious fumes created a disorienting smog. They struggled to stay together to avoid getting separated and lost in the smog. The entrance to the cavern was now no longer visible and all was dark save for Twilight’s light from her magic.

After wandering for several minutes, Gambler held out a hoof to halt the group. “Hold up,” he whispered.

“What is it?” Twilight asked. “We need to keep moving before any Timber Wolves show up.”

“That’s the problem,” the brown pony explained, “their already here.”

The friends looked around as several red-eyed Timber Wolves moved in, surrounding the ponies and blocking any escape. In a split second, all of the wolves attacked at once scattering the ponies. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity screamed as they desperately sought an escape while Rainbow Dash and Applejack struggled to fight them. Twilight ran and flew all over to escape but only ran into more wolves and got pushed deeper into the cavern. In the midst of the conflict Gambler was lost from sight.

While Twilight was being pushed farther in, her friends were being pushed back to the entrance. The friends ran out and ducked behind trees and rocks for cover. When they looked back for their pursuers they found the Timber Wolves simply standing guard at the entrance.

“Now why do ya suppose they stopped chasing us?” Applejack questioned.

“And what’s the deal with those freaky red eyes? I’ve never known those guys to have red eyes before,” Rainbow said.

“Something very strange is going on here,” Rarity said after composing herself.

Back in the cavern, Twilight ducked behind a rock to hide and catch her breath. She managed to lose the wolves pursuing her but now was deeper in the cavern than before, and alone. Gambler had quickly vanished during the commotion and her friends had run off leaving the young princess to fend for herself. Why would her friends leave her like that, and where did Gambler go? One thing she did notice was the dark power that seemed to be emanating from the wolves. It was different from the normal magic that flowed through them. Were they being controlled?

Twilight pushed the thought aside for now to focus on finding her friends, or Gambler for that matter. She would need some help if she was going to find the Element of Harmony that was here. Twilight continued her search and it was not long after that she heard the snarling of more Timber Wolves. She looked around to find those crimson red eyes staring at her from all directions. She charged off as several wolves leapt at her giving off a deafening roar. They quickly began to close in on the young princess.

In the haste of her escape Twilight’s hoof caught a rock and she stumbled. She struggled to right herself before she fell by using her wings but to no avail. She hit the ground and rolled slamming into a wall. She looked up at the pursuing wolves assured of her fate.

Instead of the wolves tearing her apart, she saw a flash of red as the lead wolf exploded into forest debris. The others halted their attack to focus on the new target. Twilight squinted to try and get a better look at her savior to see Gambler charging across the cavern. Believing she had hit her head harder than she thought, she watched as the wolves exploded in bright red flashes. Once the wolves had be shattered into little more than sticks and moss, Gambler stopped in front of Twilight. A red aura surrounded Gambler and the surrounding area before dissipating. Believing it to be the residual magic from the wolves, Twilight ignored it.

“Are you alright?” Gambler asked with little concern.

“Yes, thanks for that,” Twilight said relieved to see some pony.

“Good. Now let’s move before these guys get up or more show up.”

“Wait, have you seen the others?”

“No,” he snapped, “now let’s hurry and find this element and get out of here.”

The two left the pile of wolf remains heading deeper into the cavern. Now able to gather her thoughts, Twilight wondered why Gambler had saved her back there. It was more than obvious that he did not like her and he showed little concern when he made sure she was okay. So why did he help her instead of saving himself?

“Why did you help me back there?” she asked, determined to figure this out.

Gambler was quite for a moment as thought asking himself the same question before he answered. “I don’t know. I just reacted. Those things were after you and there was no time to think.”

It was obvious he hardly believed himself but Twilight could tell something was different. She tried to be grateful for his help, seeing as how her journey would be far shorter if he had not have jumped in and saved her. But she still found it hard to deal with his attitude. He openly despised her but, given his recent actions, was more than capable of acting selflessly. This mysterious brown pony was now more of an enigma than before. As they ventured deeper, red-eyed Timber Wolves watched from the shadows.

As Twilight and Gambler wandered deeper into the cavern, the young princess once again smelled the horrid stench of the den. The recent excitement had fueled her with adrenaline, helping her ignore the foul smell. Despite the foul odor that wafted through the air, only getting worse as they went deeper, Gambler still managed to ignore it. Aside from his apparent lack of smell, Twilight could not help but notice the lack of seething anger towards her from her companion. Ever since the rescue, the brown pony’s attitude towards the young princess has been one of neutrality.

Hoping that he had a change of heart Twilight decided to talk to him. “Thanks again for saving me from those Timber Wolves.”

“Whatever,” he responded, going back to his previous negative attitude, “that wasn’t the last of them.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Twilight demanded as she came to a stop. “Since we met in Ponyville you have been nothing but mean to me and my friends! I am sorry if I can’t remember who you are, but that is no reason to treat me or my friends the way you have!”

Gambler stopped. He readied a response but backed down before speaking. Sadness and pain flooded him as he struggled to cover them with more anger. “I don’t want to talk about it. It brings up too many bad memories.”

Seeing the pain that came with the memories of his past, Twilight backed down sorry for bringing up something so troubling. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been like that.”

The young princess realized that her anger was partly due to her worry for her friends. They have been wandering so far and still had not seen any sign of them. Her spirit lifted and sank at the same time when she noticed that they had reached the end of the den. The wide open space was littered with sticks and foliage which formed bedding for the wolves. Twilight looked over at Gambler who was rather shocked and disappointed.

“Nothing,” he said as frustration built inside of him. “There’s nothing here. Every time! I do so much, try so hard and always get nothing!”

The brown pony slammed his hoof against the ground breaking a stick in two. Tears of anger and frustration built up in his eyes as he fumed. Twilight wondered even more about what he had gone through in his life. She tried to comfort him somehow.

“It’s okay-”

“OKAY?!” he yelled cutting her off. “Do you see your Element of Harmony anywhere?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. We will find it. Maybe it’s buried around here or something.”

“Every single time, I try so hard only to get nothing,” he continued his rant, now speaking to himself. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair!”

Twilight could not help but hate seeing Gambler in this condition. Despite the way he had acted, no pony deserved to feel this way. He was feeling like nothing and she had to help him. She walked over to him and placed a hoof around him, despite his disapproval.

“You tried your best. You saved me from those Timber Wolves back there and made it this far. That is the most I could have asked for from any pony else. You don’t have to be perfect.”

Gambler was silent for a moment. He had been so mean to Twilight and yet she was still being kind towards him. He stood for a moment almost trying to keep hating her, frustrated at himself. Finally, he sighed, releasing whatever anger he tried to muster.

“Thanks,” he said even though frustration still ate away at him.

A second later a bright light appeared in front of the two ponies. They each covered their eyes until it dissipated, revealing the Element of Kindness floating between them. Excitement overwhelmed Twilight while Gambler was able to push aside his frustration at himself. Twilight grabbed the element while Gambler reached into his pack and withdrew a simple box.

“You can put it in here for safe keeping,” the brown pony said.

Curiosity and distrust arose in Twilight. “In there?”

“It may not look like much but it is designed to hold magical items.”

Twilight placed the element in the box wary of this new development. “So why do you get to hold it.”

Gambler’s dislike of Twilight began to come back as he responded. “One, it’s my box. Two, you can keep it safer if I hold it. No pony will think that I would be carrying it. And three, we don’t have time to argue this right now.”

He pointed to the cavern walls which were now covered in snarling, red-eyed Timber Wolves. The two ponies ran off as the wolves attacked, roaring and snapping. It seemed to take a fraction of the time to reach the exit than it did to reach the center. The pursuing wolves provided more than enough motivation to move faster. When they finally reached the cave entrance, Twilight saw her friends and charged faster to meet them. The two stopped once they reached the others and looked back for their pursuers only to see the cave entrance with no sign of any Timber Wolves.

“What happened to you?!” Twilight and her friends said in a near perfect chorus.

“You guys left me back there!” Twilight began her complaining.

“We got chased all the way to the entrance and couldn’t get back in on account of some Timber Wolves blocking the entrance,” said Applejack, intent on justifying her and the others’ absence.

“What happened to you?” Rainbow Dash demanded of Gambler.

“He helped me and we managed to find one of the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight said in Gambler’s defense before he responded with more anger.

The brown pony’s earlier foul attitude had returned and he ignored the group of friends. Although he still did not get along with the others, Twilight realized that it was part due to him trying to maintain the image he had built in the beginning, intentional or not. But Gambler was starting to lose the layers of hate towards Twilight. She still hoped she could understand why he had such an attitude towards her in the first place.

As for her friends, Twilight would forgive them for abandoning her seeing as how the Timber Wolves had seemed to deliberately separate them from her. With one Element of Harmony in their possession, the group started off to find the rest as well as the books containing Nightbringer’s power.

As they headed off, a single red-eyed Timber Wolf watched from the shadows. When the ponies had gotten out of sight, a shadow moved from the wolf and off into the forest. The wolf’s eyes returned to the eerie green typical of the Timber Wolves and it wandered back into the den.