Quiet.

That was all the denizens of this particular area of the river knew, for the most part anyway. Just peace, quiet, and the flow of the stream.

Nothing really interesting happened here, at least until this day.

One of the denizens was investigating two strange objects that had appeared in his home. They were tall, brown, and covered in short, black, wispy strands of... something. It didn't seem like a tree branch that had grown into the river, and it had appeared when no one was looking. Curious, he began to approach the strange objects, to see if they were indeed a danger.

Suddenly, a piercing pain seared through his side, he barely had time to gasp in shock as he was forcibly yanked out of the life-giving water of his home and into the deadly air beyond.

"Got one!" I exclaimed triumphantly, raising the sharpened tree branch above my head. A reasonably sized fish was speared on the narrow, fire-hardened point at the top.

Thirty-four days.

That's how long I had spent trapped in this forest. The first few days were the hardest, as soon as I had found a reasonably safe place inside the castle, what I assumed to be an old noble's quarters, the loneliness had hit me like a hammer blow. I had been expecting panic, desperation, fear, but loneliness? Nope. I had cried myself to sleep that night.

The days after were even worse, a constant string of trial-and-error to determine which of the various flora near the castle wouldn't make me sick.

I almost never got lucky.

Honestly I had spent more time puking my guts out before finding the few species of berries and nuts I could eat. Spear fishing had been a skill I had only gotten the hang of a few days ago after I began to suffer from what I assumed to be a protein deficiency.

I pulled my new prize off the end of my spear and made my way to the riverbank, I would be eating well tonight. Pulling on my boots, and securely fastening the fish to my hip using the old drawstring of my hoodie, I began to climb the nearest tree.

Once I had reached a sufficient height, I leaped from branch to branch, making my way back to the castle. 'Tree-hopping' was another skill I had forced myself to learn, most creatures of this forest tended to be nocturnal, making it safe to leave the protective structure of the castle during the day... for the most part. The notable exception being those fucking wooden wolves.

With all the other creatures I had come across, I had been able to come up with a schedule of sorts for when they'd be the most active, but those wolves just seemed to show up without any sort of rhyme or reason to their movements, making them incredibly unpredictable. They had caught me with my pants down on several occasions... figuratively, of course. The only safe place was the castle, so far, nothing dangerous had come close to it.

Therefore, the easiest way to traverse the forest in near-complete safety was to hop from branch to branch and parkour my way through.

My train of thought was derailed when a child's scream pierced through the forest.

Applebloom was lost, she had gone to visit her friend Zecora at her hut to learn more about brewing potions and herbal remedies. After the lesson however, she had decided to try a shortcut, but had mistaken where she actually was and was now hopelessly lost within the Everfree Forest. Night would fall soon, and she was starting to panic.

"Where's the exit?" she murmured worriedly, readjusting the strap on her saddlebags as she scanned the surrounding foliage for anything that looked familiar.

*snap*

The sudden sound of a twig snapping caused the little yellow filly to snap her head towards the source, ears splaying back in fear.

"H-hello?" she called out towards the noise, "Zecora, is that you?"

She was answered with growling as a group of three timberwolves padded out of the foliage on silent paws, making splintering noises as their hackles raised.

Applebloom's breath caught, she began to slowly back away from her aggressors, eyes darting to each of the wolves in turn, before cycling back to looking for a way to escape.

One of the wolves stepped on another twig, the resulting snap breaking Applebloom out of her terrified trance.

She did the only thing she could do in that situation: run.

Turning, she bolted in the opposite direction, the wolves let out a collective snarl, giving chase as the yellow filly instinctively used her smaller size to weave in between the trees in an attempt to shake off her pursuers. The lead wolf let out a soul-piercing howl, one that resonated through the still forest, and into Applebloom's very core, heightening her fear.

Heart pounding Applebloom ducked through a hollow between two thick bushes, the leafy plants forming a temporary, flexible barrier between her and her pursuers.

Applebloom continued her gallop until she couldn't hear her pursuers behind her any more before slowing to a walk, allowing herself to breathe deeply again. She had lost her bags when she escaped into the bushes, and she wasn't about to go back the way she came.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Applebloom continued on her way to regain her bearings...

...only to bump into the wooden chest of another timberwolf.

Applebloom's eyes widened as she backed away from the predator, the wolf lowered its stance, bringing it's wooden muzzle to eye level with the terrified filly, revealing the branch jammed deeply into it's eye socket.

The wolf snarled, and the three wolves from before slunk out of the foliage behind her, trying to box her in. Applebloom's panic grew to a climax as she let out a loud, shrill scream that echoed through the forest, displacing a nearby flock of birds and stunning the timberwolves, whose sensitive ears caused them to cringe at the sudden assault.

Applebloom capitalized on her temporary advantage, juking around the wolf in front of her and galloping as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her, the wolves were right behind her.

She no longer had a head start, and the wolves were gaining on her. Frantically, she searched for a place to hide and evade her pursuers.

Her gaze fell upon a large, hollowed out log ahead of her, just large enough to shelter her, and small enough that the much bulkier wolves wouldn't be able to reach her.

Applebloom dove for the log, just barely making it inside before the lead timberwolf snapped it's jaws shut right behind her.

The little yellow filly huddled inside the log, watching the pack of wolves outside her makeshift bunker as the wolf that had almost gotten her began scratching at the log, prodding for some structural weakness that would allow them to widen the entrance. Meanwhile, the two other wolves began to circle around to either side, cutting off any escape routes should their prey try to run again. The wolf with a branch in his eye socket sat a short distance away, watching the scene play out.

Celestia help me, Applebloom's panic-stricken mind was racing as she thought about what would happen should her shelter fail her and she fell prey to this pack of predators. She wouldn't ever see her family or friends again, her eyes began to tear up. Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Granny Smith... Big Mac... Applejack. She was about to vanish from their lives forever, without a trace. She doubted the wolves would even leave behind a recognizable corpse.

*crack*

The wolf at the entrance to the log finally found purchase with its claws, seemingly grinning with savage delight as a small crack opened in the log before it. Applebloom began to sob profusely, praying to Celestia that somepony would come and save her.

*crack*

The small weakness widened, forming a small fissure in the wood and drawing a shriek from the little filly.

*crack*

The fissure opened into a hole, the timberwolf's snout right on the other end, "Back off! Go away!" Applebloom shouted, lashing out with her hoof, slugging the wolf in the nose out of desperation, causing the wooden beast to recoil in surprise and anger. Snarling, it redoubled it's efforts, using it's jaws on one side of the fissure, while it's claws pulled on the other, attempting to rip the log apart to get at the quivering prize inside, completely ignoring the filly's attempts to dislodge it's grip.

The log began to groan from the strain, Applebloom's kicks became weaker and less frequent as she began to surrender to her despair.

*splat*

Something impacted the side of the wolf's head, causing it to dislodge and attempt to shake the slimy, foul-smelling object off of it's muzzle. It finally succeeded, flinging the annoyance off to the side before refocusing on the task at hand, not noticing the figure descending upon it from above.

The wolf let out a strangled yelp as the blade sang through it's wooden throat and out the other end, pinning the creature to the ground. With a twist of the blade, the structure that served as the wolf's neck severed, beheading it and causing the body to crumple into kindling, the ghostly green light fading from it's eye sockets.

Applebloom watched, wide-eyed as the hooded figure rose on two legs, letting out a grunt as he pulled the blade from the wolf's corpse and turned to face the remaining three wolves.

Two of the three wolves began to advance on the strange, bipedal creature, letting out splintering noises as their hackles raised.

The creature roared, it was a loud, bellowing sound that shook the forest around it, causing the wolves to pause in their advance and look at the creature more warily.

The creature turned it's head towards the log, it's face obscured by shadow. All Applebloom could make out was a single, glowing red eye that seemed to pierce into her soul.

"Go."

That one, solitary word was all the encouragement Applebloom needed before she bolted, her savior turning back to face his three adversaries.

I turned my gaze back to the three timberwolves, I hadn't really gotten a good look at the kid, just got a glimpse of red hair tied up in a bow, but from the sounds that erupted behind me, they weren't injured. Not seriously anyway.

I gave my sword a twirl before sinking down into a fighting stance, blade raised, knees bent, and my forward toes were facing my opponents. This wasn't going to be like any of my run-ins with the wolves before, where I would fend them off as I retreated until they gave up the chase, I needed to buy the kid enough time to get to safety meaning I had to stand my ground. Worst case scenario: I would only last a few minutes before succumbing to the remaining three wolves.

I took a deep breath to calm my pre-fight jitters and locked eyes with the remaining eye socket of the wolf in the very back of the pack.

"Hello again, Plywood. Looks like you got a bit of a promotion since I stabbed that branch in your eye."

The wolf growled, his hackles raising with a splintering noise. Oh good, I thought ruefully, he recognizes me.

The wolf on the right lunged, attempting to snap at my forward leg and bring me down, his efforts were rewarded with the pommel of my sword smashing into the side of it's head, splintering the wood and causing the wolf to stagger off course, collapsing in a heap next to it's fallen comrade.

The wolf on the left leaped while my back was turned, the sudden weight on my back causing both of us to tumble to the ground. The wolf made to rip my throat out, but found my left arm in it's jaws instead. It bit down, eliciting a strangled cry of pain from me.

The wolf spat out the arm and made another lunge for my throat, only to find himself choking on the blade I had shoved into the side of it's neck. The green glow faded from it's eyes as I rolled it off my body and sprang up again, sword at the ready.

By now the first wolf had recovered and was advancing on me, snarling and drooling sap-like saliva as both it and Plywood began to circle around me.

I was at a tactical disadvantage, and while my injured arm wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, It wouldn't be landing any punches either. I backed up against the log , forcing the wolves to come at me from the front.

I raised my blade and pointed it at Plywood, "Come on then!" I shouted, "You wanna kill me so bad? Then come get it!"

The wolf on my other side leaped for me, but it was met with an upward slash with my sword, the recurve design of the blade allowing it to bite deep into the wolf's wooden body. Plywood sprang for my leg, only to get a boot to the nose as I ripped my blade free from the other wolf's body.

"You really don't like to change up your strategies, do you?" I mocked, taking a swipe at the still stunned wolf.

He growled and jumped back, snapping his jaws and yipping at his downed comrade. The fallen wolf slowly got up, sap-like blood dripping from the rapidly closing gash on it's chest.

"You've gotta be shitting me." I muttered. Looks like injuries that aren't immediately lethal just regenerate... lovely.

I vaulted over the log behind me, closing off the wolves' pincer and putting something solid between them and me. If lethality was what it took to get rid of these wolves, then lethality is what they would get. I twirled my blade around and sank into a three-point stance, ready for when the wolves would inevitably come around the log to get at me.

I didn't have to wait long.

The wolf I had slashed earlier charged around the corner, his quadrupedal gait causing him to skid on the tight corner.

That was his last mistake.

I charged, barreling into the wolf blade-first while bellowing a war cry as my blade found purchase in the underside of it's jaw. I kept going, our momentum lifting the wolf off it's paws while it's head was speared on the end of my blade. I kept going, tugging the now limp wolf as far as I could before planting my boot on it's neck and ripping the blade out before bringing it back down on it's neck, causing it to yelp as the ghostly green light faded from it's eyes.

Panting, I picked myself up and turned to face the last of the pack, raising my blade in a challenge, "Alright *pant* Plywood *pant* let's end this." The wolf growled his agreement, slinking towards me cautiously.

A sudden breeze caused the trees around the two of us to rustle, filling the air with falling leaves. The two of us watched as the final leaf fell.

It fell to the ground as we charged each other, blade meeting wooden fang as the two of us clashed.

Applejack paced in front of the entrance to the Everfree Forest, getting more and more antsy with every passing second. "Where in tarnation is that darned filly?" she muttered to herself. Applebloom had definitely gone into the forest alone again, not that Applejack minded her lessons with Zecora, what she had taught her sister had proven extremely useful when the trees in Sweet Apple Acres had gotten sick, not to mention that the Zebra hermit had been her friend for a little over a year now. What bothered her was that the rambunctious young filly would often leave for these lessons with little to no warning and return later in the day. This time though, she was late for dinner, and that never happened.

"She's never been this late before!" she said worriedly to her brother.

"Eeyup." said an equally worried Big Macintosh.

"Y'all think she got herself lost?"

"Eenope."

"'Reckon we should go look for her?"

"Eeyup"

Applejack turned back towards the forest. It would be dark soon, and that meant big trouble if they didn't find Applebloom soon.

Applejack took a step forward before being tackled by a small, red and yellow missile that exploded from the underbrush, knocking the wind out of her. Applejack struggled with the object that had wrapped around her in a bone-crushing grip, before realizing what, or more precisely who it was.

"Applebloom?"

The poor filly looked as though she'd been dragged through tartarus and back. Her mane and coat were a muddy, grime filled mess, her bow was in tatters, and she had scratches all over her. At the sound of her name, Applebloom began to cry, tears streaming out of her eyes as she began to nuzzle her face in her sister's orange coat, tightening her death grip around her barrel.

"Applebloom, what the hay happened to you?" Applejack said, wrapping her trembling sister in a hug.

Applebloom just continued to sob silently into her sister's chest.

"MMMMMMMPHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed into the small wad of cloth I had clenched in my teeth as I pressed the hot metal on the bite wound on my left arm, before submerging my forearm and the blade into the cool water of the meadow's stream.

I pulled the stinging arm out of the water before wrapping what remained of what had once been the forearm portion of the left arm of my hoodie around the cauterized injury. I untied the fish I had caught earlier, the bark on the wolf's face had stripped the scales from one side, but had ultimately left the flesh relatively unharmed. Picking up the blade from beside me, I began to gut the fish, stripping it of its innards and tying them up in a piece of cloth to use as bait later.

"Fucking wolves" I spat, beginning the ascent up to the castle. I never did end up catching up to that kid from before, I just hoped they got out okay.

I made my way through the throne room, carefully avoiding the warped and broken tiles and rubble, making my way to the staircase behind the twin thrones.

At the very least, I have a goal in mind now. I thought to myself as I climbed up to the room I had taken for myself, If I can find where that kid came from, I can finally find a way home.

I entered my room, there actually wasn't much in here, just a fireplace and what remained of an ancient vanity mirror as well as the makeshift bed I had made out of the two tapestries from the throne room. The mirror itself was mostly fractured, but I could still get a decent reflection.

I lit some kindling in the fireplace and tossed in some wood I had salvaged from the corpses of the dead wolves before spearing my fish on a branch and setting it to cook in its own scales before sitting down in front of the mirror.

I shuddered, not because I was cold, the fire took care of that, but because what I saw in the mirror always unsettled me.

The face staring back at me was lean and hungry, that was to be expected, I hadn't been fat per se, just a little bit that spilled over the belt line. Turns out that living stranded in a forest with little to no food and the need to constantly climb trees to avoid other predators would do wonders for your physique... if not for the need for food.

My skin tone was a light, cinnamon brown with a thick blanket of stubble growing in around my lower jaw. My left eye was a deep, dark color that looked almost black to the casual observer, the whole thing was topped off with an ever-growing mat of raven-colored hair.

All in all, the face looked fine... with the exception of two small details.

I had a shock of silvery-white hair that covered a sizable patch on the right side of my head, and situated right below that was my right eye, which, unlike it's twin, had an iris that was a bright crimson color. Call me crazy, but sometimes I could swear I saw the damn thing glowing.

I shuddered again as the fish began to sizzle a bit on it's spit. Tearing my gaze away from the unnatural features, I got up and prepared for the typical evening ritual of eating and sleeping until dawn.

At least now I knew I wasn't alone.

Author's Note

What? Don't look at me like that! Of course I wasn't going to kill off Applebloom!
Jeez, have a little more faith in me will you?

After all... emotional and physical torment are only for the MC to bear...

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! As always, leave your feedback in the comments below!