“No, Cluckensworth, come back!” Fluttershy whined breathlessly. Twigs and leaves were tangled in her usually neat and tidy feathers, and a smear of dirt ran up the side of her right forehoof.
One of her chickens, the last of the escapees, was fleeing through the underbrush in front of her, evading her every desperate swipe and grab, determined to meet an early demise at the claws of one of the denizens of the Everfree Forest.
“S-stop running away from me!” Fluttershy panted raggedly, her steps faltering as she tried to catch her breath.
It had been an extremely long afternoon, chasing chickens this way and that after the Cutie Mark Crusaders crashed a hang glider into her chicken coop, scattering the denizens to the four winds in terror.
Fluttershy had even found one in her attic, and now all that remained was this lone chicken heading for the ‘freedom’ of the depths of the Everfree.
“You’ll get eaten!” Fluttershy warned the chicken, leaning heavily against a tree, chest heaving as she tried to even out her breathing. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the chicken’s tailfeathers disappearing beneath a bush.
“I swear, if you keep running away from me, I won’t preen your feathers for an entire week! Do you even know how much they will itch!?” Fluttershy threatened, stalking through the brush after the chicken, pushing the bushes aside angrily.
Cluckensworth was standing at the edge of a cave entrance, strutting back and forth, head bobbing.
“Don’t you dare go in that cave!” Fluttershy hissed, wings flaring angrily.
Cluckensworth looked at her over his shoulder, clucked once, and then leaped forwards into the inky blackness of the cave.
“You get back here right this instant!” Fluttershy snarled, bounding forwards to the edge of the cave, staring into the darkness with narrowed eyes.
The smug cluck of a chicken echoed from somewhere inside.
“I won’t preen your feathers for a month!” Fluttershy growled, stalking into the cave fearlessly.
There was a rustle of movement somewhere above, and she paused, an ear-perking upwards.
“...Hello? Is something in here?” Fluttershy called timidly.
There was another rustle of movement, and then a loud series of shrieks and called. Fluttershy recoiled, wings lifting to cover her face as a horde of bats swirled through the air around her. Wings buffeted her on all sides as the trail of bats rushed past her and out of the cave, shrieking and calling out to the sky as they all dispersed into the treetops.
Fluttershy watched the bat's then slowly turned her attention to back to finding Cluckensworth but to her surprise saw him standing still looking into the cave. Fluttershy immediately stalked over towards him until she was standing next to him. “Bad chicken, very bad chicken!” Fluttershy scolded but stopped when she saw he was shaking with fear. "Cluckensworth?"
That was when Fluttershy heard a sound that sounded like chewing or something causing her to shake in fear. She slowly glanced up towards the direction of the sound. She could barely make out a figure hunched over something. She saw it. A large creature but what she saw caused her even more terror. It was holding a dead manticore with its hand and was biting into it tearing flesh off, making the ground be covered in blood. Fluttershy slowly picked up Cluckensworth and held him to her chest as she slowly walked backwards but stopped when she tripped a rock making a loud echo noise causing the creature to stop and slowly turned towards her. Fluttershy froze with fear as its glowing yellow eyes stared at her while it slowly began to stand with blood dripping down its maw.
The creature took a step towards her then suddenly reared its head up letting out a loud howl causing Fluttershy to scream and run out of the cave.
Fluttershy ran through the trees holding Cluckensworth, eyes wide, breath heaving, mane and tail snarled with twigs and leaves, desperate to find a way out. Somewhere above, she knew, the moon shone down on Equestria, but the trees hid its light away, leaving her only the slightest glow to see by. In the darkness, her mind, desperate to find the path to safety, conjured all manner of beasts and bogeymen, lurking, waiting to devour her.
She didn't hear it following her, but she knew inside that it was following her....no.....stalking her looking for its next meal. She ran until she ran through the trees and out of the forest. Once she was a hundred yards away she stopped running and was taking in large gulps of air while panting from fear.
"I.....think......it is gone." Fluttershy huffed out with a small smile before she felt as if something was watching her. She slowly turned and her eyes turned to pinpricks when she saw the thing staring at her. She let out a scream before deciding to run to Twilight's library. She was unaware that the beast simply watched her run.
Fluttershy sprinted even faster than she did in the woods. She sprinted as hard as she could. She knew that it was chasing her. She could feel it's breath on the back of her neck as it slowly inched it's maw open. she was cut off from her thought as she bumped into a pony. As she landed she let out a scream while covering her face with her hooves while crying.
"Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy moved her hooves to see her friends staring at her with worried look along with the rest of Ponyville who looked like they just work up.
“Oh, dear!” Rarity gasped and raced inside, sitting beside the shaky Pegasus and patting her gently on the head. “Oh, Fluttershy, darling, are you quite all right?”
Applejack approached next, her concern much more subtle than Rarity's. “How ya feelin', sugarcube?”
Fluttershy slowly picked up her head and struggled to reply "There's something out there."
There was another pause, this one more ominous than before. Twilight broke the silence by asking, “'Something?”
“It was . . . . . . . it was . . . so scary . . . it . . . I . . .”
“Calm down, Fluttershy,” Dash spoke as she stepped up, “just start from the beginning, and tell us what happened.”
Another disconcerting pause later, Fluttershy finally explained, "I.....went to find Clucksensworth." The chicken made a cluck. "I..... found him in a.....cave and.......and......"
“WHAT!?!” Pinkie Pie finally squealed, looking and sounding almost tortured by the suspense. “What did you see?! Was it a dragon? Was it a monster?! Was it a hundred-foot marshmallow man?! TELL US—” One quick, admonishing look from Applejack quieted her down.
It was too late. Pinkie's raving had upset Fluttershy more. “It was a monster!” she repeated, the tears coming back with a vengeance. "It was eating a dead manticore before it decided to come after me!"
The memory seemed to intensify Fluttershy's state, and she was no longer able to go on. Fluttershy promptly buried her face into her hooves and went back to sobbing and shaking.
Rainbow Dash processed what Fluttershy had said, but could not take such a fanciful explanation seriously. "A monster? Come on Shy everypony knows such a things don't exist."
“What Rainbow Dash is trying to say,” Twilight interrupted with a growl (more at Dash than anypony else), then directed the rest to Fluttershy, “is that it's very unlikely that it was some 'monster'. After all, monsters don't really exist—”
“I saw it!” Fluttershy shrieked again, still shaking and shedding rivers of tears. "It had blood coming out of it's mouth and had glowing yellow eyes!"
“Why, this vicious, inconsiderate brute!” Rarity huffed angrily. “And to make our Fluttershy cry like this! Shame on him!” She then turned to Fluttershy and continued to assuage her, “There, there, darling, you're safe now. That beastly cur won't dare come after you with us around! Why, if you ask me, that despicable creature owes you an apology!”
Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoove. "There was something that woke everypony up."
"Oh come on egghead!" Twilight gave her a glare. "I doubt there is such a monster! I'm sure it was just timberwolves!" Rainbow explained with a smug look. Everypony were glancing at one and another not sure.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud howl that caused everypony to jump with fear as the howl was so loud that it echoed for what seemed like an eternity before finally disappearing.
"That....is not a timberwolf." Pinkie spoke with wide eyes.
After that experience last night, the whole town of Ponyville all met up the next day to discuss what they all had heard. Many ponies simply stated that it was Timberwolves while others said it was too loud to be one plus the fact that it was a single howl while Timberwolves are known to hunt in packs.
"I'm telling you, it was just a timberwolf!"
"Yeah! Since when has a timberwolf howl ever been that large!?"
Twilight sighed as she stood next her friends who were still comforting Fluttershy who finally appeared to be calm now with a few shivers a few minutes later. Most of her thought was on the loud howl that was heard last night. Normally she would have pushed it off saying it was a timberwolf but simply staring at her friend she knew it was something.....entirely different. That and she had heard a timberwolf howl.
"Yeah you think so!? How about you go in the woods and find out!"
"This is getting out of hoof." Twilight heard Pinkie commented next to her.......where did she get that popcorn. Pinkie was next to Twilight munching on her popcorn. Twilight shook her head remembering it was Pinkie she was talking about.
"Can everybody please calm down!" Mayor Mare yelled which caused the opposite, making them seem to increase in arguing.
"Well, maybe I'm busy!" One pony yelled.
"Sleeping!? How is that busy!?"
"Somepony has to do it!" The pony retorted.
Rainbow sighed before she flew up into the air and took in a large gulp of air. "QUIET!" Every noise stopped as they stared at her. Rainbow flew down and nodded her head to the Mayor who nodded back in thanks.
"Now I know everpony is freaked out over last night event. We need to remain calm." The mayor spoke while the ponies glanced at each other. "First we need to write a letter to the princesses."
"I already did!" Everypony looked towards Twilight who stepped up next to the Mayor. "Princess Celestia wrote back to me last night. She wants us to go and investigate."
Twilight stood there glancing at all the ponies who suddenly found the ground or sky interesting. Twilight glanced into all their eyes to see nothing but pure fear in them. She already knew they wouldn't agree. Glancing over towards her friends she saw them smiling at her.
Unaware to everypony, there was a pair of three eyes watching and listening from a bush but they quickly vanished and there were three small fillies running away towards the Everfree Forest.
The crusaders’ plans were mostly harmless, usually taking place within the safe borders of Ponyville. But the fillies' plan today was anything but safe. Today, their quest led them to one of the most dangerous areas in Equestria. The great forest that was located just outside the borders of Ponyville: The Everfree Forest.
“Are you sure about this, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked somewhat nervously. The excitement that had filled her voice during her and her friends’ shout from before was gone without a trace.
“Oh come on! Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts,” the purple-maned pegasus replied, skipping several steps ahead of her two friends. “Monster catching just HAS to be our talent!"
By this point, the crusaders had arrived near the borders of the forest. None of them could recall how many times the adults have told them to stay away from it by now. Judging by the many nightmarish creatures that dwelled within, their warnings were undoubtedly well-founded. Scootaloo just gave her friends a mock laugh and continued on.
"WE WILL BE AMAZING!"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked over their shoulders towards Ponyville. Both of them were thinking of the same thing: the huge scolding they would receive from their families once they found out where they had been. Apple Bloom’s sister Applejack and Sweetie Belle’s sister Rarity would be especially angry.
Scootaloo decided that she'd had enough promptly rushed into the forest.
“Wa… wai… wait!” Sweetie Belle finally managed to force out, her heart still pounding in fear. It was a miracle that none of them had passed out from fright.
“Come on!” Scootaloo yelled back, her voice clearly trembling from a combination of terror and excitement.
Sweetie Belle still hadn’t recovered enough to move, let alone run after her friend into the most dangerous forest in Equestria. Apple Bloom, however, was seemingly made of sterner stuff as she soon rushed after the pegasus.
“Scootaloo, stop!” she shouted after her friend as she ran. “You said we weren't going to go that far in! Are you even listening?! Hey, Scootaloo!”
Sweetie Belle sat for a few seconds and watched her friends disappear within the shadow of the trees, Apple Bloom's yells growing more and more distant as the two of them ran further in. Realizing that she was being left behind, she shook her head fiercely before pursuing them as well. Unaware to the three a pair of yellow glowing eyes watched them from a bush before following after them.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Rarity couldn't help but ask as she glanced around the trees as the friends walked through the Everfree Forest.
"Oh Come on! There's no reason to be scared. If that thing tries anything then I will give it a good old buck!" Rainbow shouted as she hovered in the air throwing a few jabs like a boxer causing everypony beside Pinkie and Fluttershy to roll their eyes.
"Yer sure sugarcube? I think it might like the taste of cocky pony." Applejack spoke with a smirk causing Rainbow to glare at her.
The whole group seemed in high spirits all except for Fluttershy who remained close......very close to her friends while also looking everywhere with wide eyes expecting the thing to jump out at them.
Traveling through the forest was safer then one would think. The general rule was that so long you stuck to the path, predators will seldom cross yours. It was quiet however. As a forest of strange and unusual phenomenon, silence was not one of it’s fortes. The ponies noticed this ominous atmosphere giving the forest trek an overflowing feeling of tension.
Fluttershy was the first to notice this. “Umm, do you girls think the forest is a bit...quiet?”
Her answer came rather quickly from Rainbow. “Yeah, its kinda creepy…”
While AppleJack was just as creeped out as anypony else, one could not resist the chance to stab at Dash’s pride. “Does the forest scare ya still-”
“No!” Her retaliation was quick and arrogant, but short lived as a breeze made the leaves and branches rustling in a mezzo piano symphony of foreshadows. Rainbow’s voice slipped back into something more timid. “But, theres a difference between scary, and creepy…” Despite this lack of activity, the six continued onward.
After a long period of silence, Applejack stretched her neck for a nonspecific reason and in doing so, asked a specific question. “So, if this here forest was once a thriving city back when the castle was in it’s hayday, then where in the wide blue yonder did it come from?”
Ever the smart one to follow up on such a question, Twilight responded. “That is actually one of the biggest mysteries known to pony kind.
Some believe the forest is the aftermath of Discords reign, others theorize it was a curse from Nightmare Moon, but I think that it grew from the tree of harmony as a way to protect and conceal itself.”
AppleJack answered in doubt. “Really now? Ya’ll sure about that?”
Twilight nodded. “Even Celestia thinks that it has intelligence, but so far nothing has been definitive.” Twilight’s brow constricted in thought.
Fluttershy spoke up, barely audible through her mane.“Makes sense to me...If the sisters were protecting me from something big and dangerous... and something that caused Nightmare Moon left me all alone...than I can see myself trying to hide, but not in a big scary forest...I’m sorry but that’s just my opinion...”
“Of course,” Rainbow Dash exasperated. “You would be the one to hide, the only thing you don't hide from is an average animal.”
“Oh? Then what would you do?” In Fluttershy’s defence Rarity posed a challenge. “You can't really fly away, you're a tree!”
Rainbow met this challenge with creative but illogical reasoning. “I would use my tree powers to create a super awesome mega fortress that would protect me from anypony that was after me!” She floated proudly in the air at this flawless plan.
Rarity’s voice was blatant as was her expression. “That’s not much different than hiding...”
Realising that she was right, but not willing to admit it, she covered the stain with an overused comeback. “It’s hiding...with 20% more style!”
Pinkie bounced in joy at her version of tree self-defence. “Oh! Oh! I know what I would do! I would use my supertree power to surround me with other trees, so no pony would know I was any different than the others….But then I could throw a super-duper-tree party and invite all the little forest animals so that we could play!” Pinkie bounced with enthusiasm at her idea.
Twilight stared at her with astonishment. “Th-Thats actually a decent theory, just with aggressive monsters, darker intentions, and a signal of some sort instead of a party!”
/
“I’m surprised we didn't notice the giant cave where it was sooner, then again we seldom went out there back then, it was so dirty and unwelcoming, in fact, it still is!” An acute observation from Rarity.
Followed by another, made by AJ, “Actually, Ah wonder why the hay we weren't told sooner about that gosh darn tree, Ah would think the Princess would tell us before it became an emergency.”
“Well...” Flutters said. “None of us ever asked…”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of the three fillies screaming causing the whole group eyes to widened as they recognized who it was.
"SWEETIE BELLE/APPLEBLOOM/SCOOTS!"
The whole group began to run towards the direction of where the sound came from.
"I said WAIT!" Apple Bloom shouted as she made a latch-ditch effort to jump at Scootaloo after finally catching up to her. The effort paid off as she managed to knock the pegasus to the ground, finally putting an end to her friend's running.
"Ow!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she rubbed her head. "Was that really necessary?!"
"It wouldn't have been if you just listened to me and stopped on your own!" Apple Bloom answered with a noticeable amount of irritation.
Behind her, Sweetie Belle finally caught up with the two, but she was too busy panting in exhaustion to contribute anything to the conversation.
"Why are you so worked up for? I know where we're... going..." Scootaloo trailed off as she realized that she, in fact, had no idea where they were. The vegetation around them was so tightly grown that barely any sunlight made it past the trees' crowns to light up the fillies' surroundings. Scootaloo offered her friends a sheepish smile, which Apple Bloom answered with a facehoof.
"Hehe, whoops," the pegasus laughed nervously. "But hey, it's no problem! I'm sure we can find our way back. Miss Cheerilee said something about following your own hoofprints when-"
A shadow suddenly dashed between the trees in front of her, and her words came to a grinding halt as she began to look around the area. Her sudden behavior was quickly noted by her friends.
"What... are you..." Sweetie forced out between breaths, finally able to actually talk after her rush.
“Quiet!” Scootaloo hissed back. Her friends noticed the serious expression on her face, something they nearly never saw her wearing. Scootaloo was looking all around her now, the sound of footsteps around them now audible when her friends were silenced. It didn't take long before several green eyes suddenly revealed themselves in the shadows. Growls and even an occasional howl could be heard as canine-like wood creatures revealed themselves.
"Timberwolves!" Apple Bloom shouted in terror. Sweetie Belle let out a loud scream and hugged her friends in a desperate attempt to calm herself. Granny Smith’s tales of the mysterious and vicious creatures had become a legend among her classmates after the old mare had told them her story during Family Appreciation Day. While her story at school had sounded exciting and adventurous, Granny Smith told Apple Bloom in detail afterwards about how dangerous the creatures actually were. If she had not managed to find and clang a couple of metal pots together all those years ago, the wolves would've caught and devoured her for sure.
"Y-Y-You wouldn't happen to have a pot or two with you, AB?" Scootaloo stammered. It wasn't common for her friends to see her scared like this, but nopony had any intention of making fun of her this time.
"E-E-Eeynope."
"Great... J-Just great."
The wolves walked around them in circles, closing the gap between them and the fillies slowly but surely. All the while, they were snarling and biting at each other, as if they were arguing over who would make the first launch. The fillies knew there was no way out, and thus they simply tightened their embrace and closed their eyes while waiting for the wolves to make their move. One of the wolves finally broke free from the rest of the pack. It rushed towards the fillies and leaped into the air in order to pounce on its meal. The three screamed and closed their eyes.
The timberwolf was a few feet away from them when the thing that had been following the three fillies rushed out of the bushes and slashed towards the timberwolf cutting its head completely off. The head landed by the three with a thud causing them to flinch but keep their eyes open. Thye timberwolves began to whimper even as the thing rushed at them. The fillies could hear the yelps and sound of something slamming into them but didn't open their eyes.
it soon became quite where there was no sound or yelp or growling. The three however still kept their eyes closed when they heard breathing by them. Something was in front of them! The three began to shake even more in fear. The thing stared down at the three fillies with it's yellow eyes then slowly crouched down in front of them. It took a few sniffs and could literally smell the fear on them. It opened it's jaw and slowly dragged a tongue across Applebloom cheek than the others. They shook even in more fear. It perk its head up when it could hear voices than quickly ran behind a tree.
The three fillies shook in place as they heard the creature ran away. The three let out gasps however when they felt themselves pulled into a pair of hooves. The three opened their eyes to see the element bearers.
"SISTER/RAINBOW DASH!"
The ponies embraced each other while the fillies were shaking while being embraced. The element bearers were going to lecture them but could see they were shaken up. "What happened here?" Twilight asked out loud causing everypony to look around. Pieces of Timberwolf lay about and one head was laying by them as well.
"What were you three doing here anyway?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders and began to explain what happened and how they were here.
"It's good to see you three alright."
"We need to get out of here." Fluttershy spoke shakily causing everypony to stare at her.
“Aw, come on, Fluttershy, was there ever any doubt?” Dash asked, brimming with confidence. “Like I said, there is nothing here!”
Fluttershy said nothing.
“Hey, what's the matter? You don't believe me? Come on, I'd have laid out that thing like a dirty rug if it existed!”
Again, Fluttershy was silent. Except for the occasional soft whine that went with her suddenly fearful expression.
Rainbow Dash and everypony stared at Fluttershy in confusion. “Hey, snap out of it, Fluttershy! The worst is over! Now, we can take your stuff and split, and we can start on my workout in . . . record time . . . . it's right behind me, isn't it?”
Fluttershy nodded, shaking loose a traumatized tear.
Dash and friends looked to her side and turned their heads very slightly. Slowly, they turned, finally seeing what Fluttershy saw: the glowing yellow eyes that struck fear into her heart the first time. Standing by a tree staring at them was a large bipedal creature covered in black fur with claw-like fingers.
"T tt t tt t that's not a timberwolf!" Applejack yelled.
The ponies stared at it while it stared back at them. The thing lifted its head backward than thrust forward letting out a howl that shook them to their core.
Everypony stepped back while Twilight horn glowed in case it tried to attack them only to be surprised as it turned and ran deeper into the forest while they just watched it disappear.
"Twilight what was that thing?"
She didn't answer as she continued to stared where it had ran off to.
