The Earth pony trudged angrily through the thick forest, her cloak being torn and shredded by the many branches and thorns around her. Her tribe had exiled her, saying that she was not fit in the mind to stay with them. There was nothing wrong in her mind of studying unicorn magic to allow plants to grow better, but the others disagreed.
"You are a traitor to your kind, witch. Leave us now, for surely no one will ever take in vile scum like you."
"Never come back, for we will know who you are. We can all see the mark of dark magic on you."
"You'll wish you didn't do this to me!"
"Silence! You are a disgrace to us all! Unicorn magic is not for Earth ponies, only the foolish and simple-minded would ever think otherwise! Now leave!"
They would see in time, that they were the ones who were foolish and simple-minded. Earth ponies could grow crops, unlike pegasi and unicorns, sure. But with extra magic, Earth ponies could become greater, stronger, better than the other tribes. But no; they wanted to remain at the bottom end of the three tribes, and only ever be used for the sake of food.
She tripped over a root, and landed hard on the ground. Her hood was completely ripped away by a branch, and there was no way to get it back, now. She scowled, and continued walking. It didn't matter anyways. The less she had to remind her of her wretched tribe, the better.
A howl sounded in the distance.
She quickly looked around for any signs of movement, but saw none. She continued to walk, trying to be as quiet as possible. It was a difficult thing to do in thick woods, and the ground being covered in sticks and leaves. Wolves lived in this forest, that was quite obvious. So long as she didn't encounter one, maybe she could survive.
A growl sounded from directly behind her.
She froze in place, and slowly looked behind. Two eyes were staring right at her, glowing with hunger. A gray wolf moved slowly out of the trees, its mouth open, showing many teeth. It was going to pounce.
She ran as fast as possible, ignoring the many scrapes that she was getting. They wouldn't matter if she was going to die, anyways. The wolf was gaining, being better suited for this terrain. The remainder of her cloak ripped away from her, but she barely noticed.
"There is no chance you'll survive in there for a day. It's more likely that you'll die within ten minutes. The sooner you're gone, the better.
She froze, as in front of her was a large chasm. She heard the wolf come closer, and quickly jumped off the ledge. At least if she died, it would in an instant, and the pain would only last a moment. A wolf would rip her to shreds, or just leave her to bleed to death.
Her hoof grazed a branch.
She desperately grabbed on to it, as it held the difference between life and death. The branch was rather thick, just it still cracked under her momentum. However, it still held, a large crack now formed in it. She breathed, and carefully climbed up on the branch. She cautiously walked along it, and made it to the thick tree trunk.
She began to pick her way down the tree, seeing the branches in the little moonlight. She stepped down on to a branch, which snapped, causing her to tumble down the tree. She slid off a ledge, and crashed down on to a surface of rock. In pain, she got to her hooves and looked up.
Her eyes met with those of a gigantic beast.
The beast had the appearance of a wolf, but was made of plants. It had glowing green eyes, which did not have any malice or anger in them, only curiosity. She continued to stare at the beast, before hearing a growl from behind her. She whipped around, and saw that the gray wolf was staring at her, looking even hungrier than before.
She couldn't move. There was the huge wolf of plants behind her, and the true wolf in front of her. Death was unavoidable. The gray wolf pounced, and she fell to the ground, covering her eyes so her last moments would be more peaceful. The wolf of plants let out a snarl, and then she heard a whimper. She cautiously peeked out from behind her hooves, and as the gray wolf running away.
She looked up at the wolf of plants, and saw that it was standing over her protectively. It had just saved her life.
"With your mark of darkness, nothing will ever help you."
The beast took a step back, and she turned to look at it.
"What are you?" she whispered.
The beast turned its side towards her, and she looked with interest. There was something in the middle of all the plants, but what was it? She leaned in closer, and found a small open spot that led to the center. She looked in it, and saw what was inside. Her eyes widened in horror, and she quickly moved away.
In the center was the corpse of a gray wolf.
She stared at the beast, now seeing it as even more terrifying, and had a single reaction: she screamed. The beast leaned towards her, and then licked her with a rough tongue. She stopped screaming, but still stared at the beast with fear in her eyes. The beast looked at her with sadness in its eyes, and she realized what it was.
"You're some sort of golem..." she whispered, "A creature animated with magic... You must have been a regular gray wolf, but somepony reanimated you with these plants..."
The beast bowed its head sadly, which confused the pony.
"Why are you sad? You're a beautiful creature!"
The beast turned away, and began to walk. It turned back to look at her, and she realized it wanted her to follow. She followed the beast across the rocky surface, feeling a bit nervous next to such a large creature. It walked up to a cave, and then stopped outside of it. She walked up to the entrance of the cave, and looked in.
There were four decaying wolf corpses in the cave.
It took all of her willpower not to get sick at the sight of the disgusting creatures. She turned back towards the wolf of plants, and saw that it looked even sadder than before.
"They were your family, weren't they?" she whispered, "They're all gone, but you're still alive... Is that why you're sad?"
The beast nodded. The pony felt bad for the beast, and wondered what she could do. It was a creature made of plants, and her cutie mark specialized in plants. It was a magical creature, and she had been learning about magic to help grow plants. She was the only pony who could help this magnificent creature.
She had to help it, by killing it.
"You want to be with them..." she whispered, "Can't you just destroy yourself and be with them?"
The beast turned towards her, before walking away from the cave to the edge of the chasm. She froze as the beast took a few steps back, and then jumped off the ledge. She quickly dashed to the side and looked down, and saw that the beast had broken into many pieces. The wolf corpse that was in the center of the beast was still covered in a layer of plants. The broken away pieces glowed green, and then moved through the air and reformed the beast.
The beast climbed back up to where she was standing, and looked at her. She thought of what to do to help destroy the beast, and an idea can into her head. The beast was being held together by the wolf corpse in the center. If she could remove the enchanted plants from the corpse, then the spell wouldn't be animating the corpse anymore, and the beast would be dead.
"I have an idea," she whispered, "But I don't know if it will work..."
The beast licked her again, and she could tell that it agreed. She carefully climbed down the ledge on to the ground, and looked up at the beast. She took a deep breath, and then looked up towards the beast.
"Jump."
The beast jumped off the ledge, again, and hit the ground beside her. It exploded into pieces, and she quickly zipped over the wolf corpse. Holding back her every urge to get sick, she began to rip the plants off of the corpse. The plants began to reform around the corpse, but they moved slower and slower as she torn away at the plants.
The last piece that she tore away was a piece of wood, and the pieces stopped moving as she wretched it away. She quickly got off of the corpse, still holding the branch in her teeth. A tear slid down her cheek, feeling sadness over the lost of the beautiful beast. She didn't notice the pieces beginning glow once again. Her eyes widened as she felt deep pain inside of herself, and noticed the glowing pieces.
Her magic was being drained away, and it hurt. She sucked in a sharp breath, and dropped the piece of wood in her mouth. She saw the wood reforming into several wolf-shapes, but the corpse remained free of all the magic and plants. At least the beast was now with its family. She saw the figures form eyes, and felt her heart beat slow down.
"You're beautiful creatures..." she whispered, "Please... Get vengeance on the ponies who exiled me... Who caused this... Please!"
She screamed as her last bit of magic was ripped away.
"Please, timber wolves!" she screamed, "Please!"
Her magicless body collapsed on to the ground, and the timber wolves were fully formed. They each contained a piece of of her magic, and had her remaining emotions in them. They had hatred of ponies, and care for their own kind. One of the wolves picked her body up in its mouth, and moved it over to the dead wolf corpse on the ground.
The wolves stood in silence for a while, before one stood up and howled at the moon, and others soon joining in. They were timber wolves, and they would kill the ponies who caused their creator to die. They would have vengeance for Darkwood, as she wanted.
