Timber

by Wafflicious

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Other, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Zecora
Length: 3802

Derpy is saved by a timberwolf who is determined to bring her home.

When Derpy is attacked by a cockatrice mid flight and crashes, she expects her life to end when she realizes she hit a timberwolf. Rather than that, however, the timberwolf does it's very best to keep her safe from the dangers of the Everfree forest.

My first story, yay!

Published 2015-06-11 04:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-24 14:56:18 UTC

Chapter One

It was a good day to be Derpy.

The sun was shining over the Everfree Forest as she flew through the trees and landed onto the ground, humming to herself. Derpy didn't understand why nopony else wanted to deliver this package to Zecora. Sure, she was creepy, and the Everfree Forest was creepy, and there were plenty of horrifying monsters and beasts that wanted nothing more than to devour and eat you alive, but the weather was nice. Derpy calmly and happily trotted through the forest and came to a large, wooden house that had many things in common with a tree. In fact, Derpy was certain that it at least used to be a tree. Still humming to herself, she knocked on the door of the cottage with one of her forelegs.

"I'm coming to get the door," a foreign voice said, "you will not have to wait anymore." The door was opened by a zebra who was about the same size as Derpy. She looked rather friendly as she smiled and greeted, "Hello there, my friendly mailmare, I welcome you to enter my lair." Derpy walked into the building. On the walls were multiple potions and masks from Zecora's homeland. The place looked awfully homey.

Derpy trotted towards a table, then pulled a small package out of her mailmare suit. "Special delivery for Zecora!" she said. Her right eye rebeliously strayed towards a large cauldron filled with a bubbling purple liquid.

"What's this?" Derpy asked as she walked over and reached out her hoof to touch it. Before she did, however, Zecora gently pushed Derpy away from the potion.

"I would recommend not touching my brew," she warned, "it would not go very well for you." Taking that as a warning, Derpy shyly moved away.

"No need to fret," Zecora said soothingly, "that's not a threat. This potion would cause pain on contact, I'm afraid that that is just a fact." Derpy gave a sigh of relief, which caused Zecora to chuckle.

"You are acting rather queer," Zecora observed, "I trust that there is nothing to fear?"

"Of course not!" Derpy over enthusiastically shouted, "you just... well..." Derpy shrugged. "I guess I'm just being weird." Zecora shrugged and got back to her work.

Derpy watched with her left eye as Zecora opened her package, a sweet smell filling the air as a bunch of exotic green bell flowers were revealed. Zecora dumped them all into the cauldron. "You'll have to thank Twilight Sparkle for me," she started as the concoction turned blue, "but I trust you do not work for free?" Not sure if it was the right thing to do, Derpy slowly nodded. Zecora tossed Derpy a bit, which Derpy did not manage to catch. Which is not easy when you have hooves. "Here's a bit to ease your strife, the extra luck may save your life." Derpy shrugged off the fact that that was the most cryptic and threatening thing she had heard all day as she grabbed the bit off the floor and put it in her pocket.

"Oh thank you!" Derpy said cheerfully. "I'm gonna have to go now though, so I guess I'll see you next time!" As Derpy left Zecora's tree cottage, she saw Zecora waving to her goodbye. Doing so was probably easier than thinking of another rhyme.

As she flew above the treetops, she heard a sound. It sounded like a chicken, but louder with a distinctly spiteful tone added to it. It sent a shiver down Derpy's spine as she looked around. Finally, however, she found the source. A large creature with the head of a chicken and a long, scaly body and two immense wings rose from the treetops and gave out another screech. A cockatrice. Derpy turned around and started to fly in a different direction. She could hear the cockatrice screeching from behind her again as she flew as fast as she could. She felt a sudden force slam into her side. She could only guess it was the cockatrice that had started trying to push her out of the air. Derpy continued to look away from it. She had heard that this creature had the ability to turn ponies to stone if you looked into it's eyes. Fluttershy was awfully informative.

Again the cockatrice rammed into Derpy. This time, however, Derpy was knocked out of the sky. She fell down and, crashing through the canopy, eventually hit the ground of the Everfree forest. She was sitting on a sharp piece of wood. She tried to stand up, but a stunning pain in her leg made her fall back down on another sharp piece of wood. A similar pain was in one of her wings. Derpy considered the fact that her wing and foreleg may be broken, which was a bad sign. If she couldn't get up, then she couldn't go back to ponyville, and then the cockatrice would eat-

She shook that though out of her head and looked around. Her mailmare suit was a mess for starters. She noticed that there were many different oddly shaped pieces of wood surrounding her. She saw the cockatrice flying through the air and landing on the ground a good distance away, before letting out another screech searching the ground. It must have not seen where Derpy crashed. However, if Derpy didn't find cover, it would find her. She tried to pull herself up again, but failed. Then, much to her horror, one of the pieces of wood started to move. All of the wood surrounding Derpy, included the one that Derpy was on top of, slowly moved into a pile, which then, slowly, arranged itself into the shape of a timberwolf. Derpy's jaw dropped when she realized that she hit a timberwolf when she fell. She looked up at the creature with her left eye, the only one she had control of. The timberwolf snarled, and stalked over to her, and, raising it's paw, got ready to strike. Derpy closed her eyes and waited for it to kill her. The blow never came. Cautiously, Derpy looked again. What Derpy was expecting to see was a timberwolf about to come in for the kill. What she didn't expect to see, however, was said timberwolf staring at her with two eyes that almost seemed... caring. She did not believe that this was normal timberwolf behavior.

A few minutes of silence passed. Or was it hours? Time seemed to move slower as Derpy stared into the timberwolf's eyes. Eventually, another screech was heard nearby. The timberwolf's ears perked up at this sound. Immediately, it bit the collar of Derpy's mailmare suit and pulled her into a bush. Then, with Derpy hidden, it laid down next to the bush and pretended to be sleeping.

It was only a few panicked moments later before the cockatrice ran by the bush. But it ran back and looked when it saw the timberwolf, which still pretended to be asleep. The cockatrice made another screech which caused the timberwolf to 'wake up'. It stretched out it's front legs and faked a yawn before staring at the cockatrice like a disappointed mother does to her child. The cockatrice simply stared right back at the timberwolf for a while before walking off with less urgency than shown before. It was only then that Derpy realized she had been holding her breath in fear of the beast that wanted her dead.

Author's Note

Feel free to point out any flaws in the comments. I may have good ideas, but my writing isn't the best in many areas. Or maybe I'm unoptimistic :trollestia:
Anyway, new chapter coming soon if you liked this? What do you guys think about it so far? Should I add the comedy tag? Or possibly the dark tag? I dunno, I'm still an FIMfiction noob.

Chapter Two

When the cockatrice left, Derpy started to breath again. She cautiously stuck her head out of the bush and looked towards the direction where the cockatrice went. It was gone. Probably nearby, but still gone. She made an attempt to stand up and get out of the bush, which ended with Derpy landing on the ground outside the bush gasping in pain. Finally, she looked at the timberwolf. It was still laying down in a lax pose, but it was looking at Derpy in a curious fashion.

"You don't see many pegasi in here, do you?" Derpy couldn't help but ask. The timberwolf only continued to stare. It probably didn't speak pony. After another moment of awkward staring, the timberwolf finally stood and walked closer to the bush.

"So..." Derpy started, "now what?" Derpy wasn't quite sure what to do next, and the timberwolf probably had the same feeling.

"Please tell me that you have some idea of what--Woah!" Derpy was interrupted by the timberwolf sticking it's head under Derpy and heaving her over it shoulders. Admittedly, it was not entirely comfortable to be on the back of a creature made of many sharp pieces of wood. Derpy groaned and rolled into a more comfortable position on top of the timberwolf.

Then, the timberwolf began walking.

Derpy didn't know where it was walking to, but she assumed it had a good idea of what it was doing. Hopefully. After a long period of time, Derpy broke the silence.

"Are you a male timberwolf or a female timberwolf?" The timberwolf stopped for a moment, but then continued walking.

"Do you even understand pony?" The timberwolf continued to ignore Derpy.

"I'm essentially just talking to myself here, aren't I?" No response.

"Okay. If you understand what I'm saying, growl." The timberwolf actually started to move slightly faster at this, like it wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Am I annoying you?" The timberwolf actually growled at this. Derpy didn't take a hint.

"And now you growl. And here I was thinking that you didn't speak pony. Or maybe you're just growling because I'm annoying you." The timberwolf kept silent.

"You need a name. I'm done calling you 'that timberwolf.' So... how about I call you Timber?" The timberwolf didn't respond, which led Derpy to believe it had no objections. "All right. Timber it is."

After another ten minutes of walking in silence, Derpy gave an apologetic sigh. "Thank you. For helping me." Timber stopped walking and stood still.

"If you didn't come to rescue me, I'd be dead. I don't care that you don't understand me. I don't care that you're probably-"

Derpy never finished that sentence, for she was interrupted by barking. The barking of other timberwolves. Ones that probably weren't nice. Derpy remained silent as she started to hold her breath again. Timber looked around to see if it could find the source. Although she couldn't tell where the noise was coming from, she could hear it getting closer. The barking came to a sudden stop.

"Is it-" Derpy was interrupted by Timber growling in an attempt to keep her quiet. Everything that happened next happened in an instant.

First, the barking started again, except that it couldn't be more than a few meters away. Next, a rustling in a bush behind Derpy indicated that the other timberwolves were moving towards them. Lastly, Timber started running at breakneck speeds in the opposite direction of the bush.

The sudden speed nearly caused Derpy to fall, but she managed to latch onto Timber with both hooves just in time. Barely. Although her good foreleg held on pretty well, her injured one barely held on at all, and certainly wouldn't keep her from falling off all on it's own. It started hurting way worse, but Derpy ignored the pain and looked behind her. There were a lot of timberwolves chasing them. Derpy counted eight.

Derpy brought her attention back to Timber. It was moving fast. Real fast. It seemed determined. Determined to get away. Derpy then pulled her left eye away from Timber to look in front of her to see what was up ahead. A rather large and thorny bush was. Derpy flinched and prepared to go through it when Timber jumped over the bush, evading it completely as if it was a small stone. Derpy heard a yelp from one of the timberwolves as it crashed into the bush head on. Although they were now lagging behind, the timberwolves were still chasing. Derpy gave a soft whimper and closed her eyes while taking deep breaths.

She felt a jolt go through her body as Timber jumped over... something again. She heard a splash nearby, indicating that a timberwolf probably fell in a river. That was probably what Timber jumped over. She could hear their barking getting closer as the timberwolves began to gain on Timber. She felt another lurch as Timber changed directions. Derpy finally risked a peak behind her. Six timberwolves. She didn't argue with the fact that two were missing. They probably lost one at the bush and one at the stream. If only Timber could lose the rest of them, things would be much-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Timber tripping over an unseen branch and rolling across the ground. Everything was a daze as Derpy was thrown off it's back by the sudden change of momentum. Stunned, Derpy once again expected to see a bloodthirsty timberwolf looming over her, getting ready for the kill. Instead, she saw all six timberwolves looming over Timber, who was in the process of reforming it's leg, which must have broken when Timber tripped. Derpy's mind raced for a solution to why they weren't trying to kill her. Maybe they weren't hungry? Maybe they wanted to try out cannibalism? Maybe they-

Derpy mentally slapped herself for her ridiculous train of thoughts. Although she didn't know why, the timberwolves were after Timber, not Derpy. But that was not what mattered at the moment. What mattered was that Timber was in danger and she could save it.

"Hey!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. All timberwolf eyes, including Timber's, were on Derpy. "Leave Timber alone!" Derpy then, clumsily, but somehow successfully, stood up. Although standing up with a broken foreleg was hard, it was not impossible. Although it was impossible to put any pressure on it at all. She ended up leaning to the side slightly in her effort to avoid touching the ground with her hoof. She leaned over and took hold of a large broken branch that was laying on the ground with her jaws. She scowled as threateningly as one could with a broken leg, wing, and a lazy eye. Only one of the timberwolves seemed swayed by her unintimidating glare. But even that one started to walk towards Derpy in annoyance and anger for distracting them. They all growled as they prepared to charge.

But they were promptly interrupted by the sound of somepony triumphantly clanking metal.

Author's Note

Okay! Another chapter! I'm not sure what I'm planning to happen next, but I do have a plot sketched out in my head. In other words, I'm not making this up as I go along :trollestia:
A few announcements:
I am adding the comedy tag to this.
Someone sent me a PM indicating that they would like to do cover art. This guy did my avatar, so yeah. Just letting you know.

Chapter Three

The timberwolves' reactions were immediate.

As soon as the sound of clanking metal started, they all freaked out, Timber included. They started whining like an upset dog does and putting their paws over their ears, one of them even going so far as to bury it's head in dirt to block out the noise. As quickly as they came, the timberwolves began to run off. But of course, that simply wasn't going to be the end of it.

Quick as a rainboom, Zecora lept from the underbrush with multiple metal pots tied to her sides, as well as a collar in her mouth. Derpy couldn't believe her lazy eyes as Zecora tackled a fleeing timberwolf and wrestled it to the ground. In a matter of moments, she had the timberwolf pinned to the ground with one hoof, the other hoof firmly tightening the collar around the timberwolf's neck. And then there was silence. Derpy's jaw dropped to the floor and she sat down. Timber didn't know if it should wait or make a break for it while it still had the chance. And the other timberwolves were already gone. The imprisoned timberwolf was struggling under Zecora's iron grip. And Zecora was smiling, looking very pleased with herself. Reasonably so, because she just wrestled a timberwolf.

"Zecora," Derpy stated, "you're a badrump." Zecora laughed. Timber's leg had repaired itself finally and it walked over to pick Derpy up again.

"Your every need it seems to attend," Zecora said while pointing at Timber with her free hoof, "it seems that you have found a friend."

"Well..." Derpy thought on this for a moment. "You see, when I left your hut, I was attacked by a cockatrice. It injured me, and almost killed me, but I was rescued by Timber." She tapped the top of Timber's head as she finished the sentence. "I guess I kinda owe it one."

"Well Timber is quite the interesting find, for it is not part of the hive mind." Derpy looked at Timber questioningly. Zecora rolled her eyes and forcefully lifted her struggling timberwolf off the ground and began to drag it to her cottage.

"Follow me to my humble home, the answers you seek are in a tome." Derpy raised an eyebrow.

"Tome? Does that mean... um... book?" Derpy gave a large nervous grin. Zecora sighed and nodded.

"Follow me to my house in the Everfree," she said as she started to walk again. Timber followed.

"So..." Derpy began, "how did you know we were under attack?"

"A tripwire bush detected something strange, showing that timberwolves were in close range." Zecora's timberwolf gave up and stopped struggling.

Questions like, 'What's a tripwire bush,' or 'Why the hay are you kidnapping a timberwolf,' begged to be asked, but instead Derpy asked, "So what was that potion you were making?"

"The Potion of the Hidden Colt," Zecora said through a wry smile, "requires plants like Darkened Volt."

"It's really lucky that it requires that plant. I don't think that there are any other words that rhyme with colt."

Zecora chuckled. "Bolt, jolt, molt, smolt, revolt, thunderbolt. May not be many, but good enough for me."

"If you don't mind me asking," Derpy ventured, "why do you always rhyme?"

Here Zecora hesitated. Derpy wondered if it was a bad question before she was answered. "Poison Joke is a nasty weed, gave me a curse of which I'll never be freed."

"You were able to cure Twilight Sparkle and her friends, why can't you cure yourself?"

"I was infected for far to long, the effects have become far too strong."

"I'm... sorry. I really am."

"It's not your fault, what's done is done, it simply cannot be undone." Timber slowly nodded as if it were agreeing with this statement.

After no small amount of time, they reached Zecora's tree house. Zecora held open the door for Timber, and entered her cottage, tying her timberwolf to a wooden stake placed next to the cauldron. Which was empty. Derpy shrugged off that fact as Timber dropped her on a chair and immediately went to sleep on the floor. Derpy's ears perked up at the sound of Zecora clearing her throat. She looked up to see Zecora holding a number of bandages in her mouth.

"Oh!" Derpy exclaimed. "Um... thanks!" Zecora strode towards Derpy and began her work. First, she slowly removed Derpy's tattered mailmare suit, which was damaged beyond repair in it's current state. Then it was a simple matter of bandaging her injured wing and foreleg.

"So... how do I get back to Ponyville? Do I just wait for my leg to heal and walk home?"

As she finished wrapping up the wing and moved on to the leg, Zecora replied, "Apple Bloom will be here soon, word of your misfortune should be there by tomorrow afternoon." Before Derpy could respond, she heard the door open. Right on queue, Apple Bloom entered the cottage.

"Hey Zecora!" She shouted out cheerfully, raising the heads of the two timberwolves that she was completely oblivious to. She had two large sacks tied two her back, a sweet and very strong scent coming from them. They seemed to be full of flowers of some kind. "Ah got the flowers yah-Ahh!" She jumped straight to the roof and held onto a mask on the wall. She seemed to have noticed the timberwolves, and possibly Derpy to.

"Now now, dear Apple Bloom, for these guests there's more than enough room."

"Yah warned mah that yah were having guests Zecora. But yah didn't warn me that they were timberwolves!"

Zecora chuckled. "I understand your worry, little filly, but this fear is rather silly."

"Timber is perfectly safe to be around," Derpy said, patting it on the head affectionately, "besides, Zecora wouldn't willingly put you in danger. Everything is under control."

Apple Bloom looked around worriedly. "Well... if yah say so..." she let go of the mask, falling to the ground with a loud crash that woke Timber up. It looked inquisitively at Apple Bloom, then at Derpy, then back towards Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom shivered visibly as she slowly walked towards Zecora, both eyes firmly locked onto Timber the entire time. She then cautiously placed both sacks on the ground and stepped back slowly.

"You're safe, that fact is true," Zecora reassured, "but there's something Derpy needs from you."

Apple Bloom's face lit up. "Really? What can Ah do to help yah, Derpy?"

"Nothing much. You just need to go back to Ponyville and inform the local mail service that I am currently injured and will be staying with Zecora for a while. Also, inform my friends, in particular, Time Turner, that I'm alright." Derpy shook her head. "Though if I know him, that madpony will be out the door faster than you can say, 'bowties are cool'."

"Got it!" And then Apple Bloom was gone, shouting as she left, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Injury Informers!" Zecora chuckled.

"So..." Derpy started, "what about that book on timberwolves?"

Author's Note

New chapter! Cover art and avatar courtesy of Rubbaduckwolf.
I'm sorry that this chapter took forever. Writing dialog for Zecora is so hard xD. Besides, between terrible Internet and everything else that has been happening at my house, it's been so hard to get going.
Also, is 'badrump' a reasonable substitute for (minor swear) badass? Or is it just silly?