Canterlot Castle was abuzz with activity. The Friendship Express had arrived, and every pony had come down to the train station, a long, low pavilion along the west wall, to greet their new arrivals. The citizens of Ponyville were piling out of the train, where Canterlotians could help move them into their rooms in the castle. Silverstar was overseeing the operation when a white unicorn with a blue mustache, monocle, and what appeared to be a dinner jacket stepped from the train. He moved with a purposeful, self-important gait, and immediately demanded to know “I say, who is in charge here?”
“That’d be me, fer now.” Silverstar replied.
The newcomer looked upon him with a disapproving gaze. “You? The king of Canterlot? “
“No, sir, we haven’t got a king, or a queen, either.”
“Strange. Well, in that case, I would like to speak with your champion.”
“We ain’t got one o’ those, neither.”
The unicorn looked astounded. “No king, no queen, and no champion? And in such dangerous times, I might add.” His expression changed from shocked, to stoic. “Very well, then. I shall assume the mantle of command for the time being. I am the only pony here with real political rank, after all.”
Just then, Granny Smith walked up, with Fire Streak in tow. “What’s goin on here, Silver?” she inquired, “and just who is this?”
“Oh, it seems we have not been properly introduced. I am Fancypants, Mayor of Ponyville.” His expression darkened, and he growled, “At least, I was, until those wretched Diamond Dogs showed up.” He took a second to regain his composure. “And just whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?” He asked, extending a hoof in greeting.
Granny Smith took the proferred hoof. “Mah name’s Granny Smith, resident doctor in the castle.”
“Excellent! Someone with medical knowledge! I was worried that I would have to take on that responsibility, as well. Not that I couldn't do it, mind you, I've a fair amount of experience running an imfirmary.”
“Actually, we call it a hospital here.” Granny Smith corrected.
“Oh? Well, I hope the hospital is hospitable, then. Haha!” Fancypants laughed at his own joke, and glanced around, wondering why nopony was laughing with him. “No? Nothing? Oh, you ponies have no taste in humor, I say!”
“Riiiight,” Granny Smith droned “Well, Ah suppose Ah should introduce you to this one.” she said, motioning to the pegasus on her left, “This here’s Fire Streak, our local weatherpony.” She turned and frowned at Fancypants, “He's, uh, not all there, If ya take mah meaning. You two should get along fine.”
“Hey!” Fire Streak burst out, “Not all there! What's that supposed to mean?” He demanded. “Wait, is this about when I tried the triple barrel inverted loop around the castle spire? Cuz, yeah, I'll admit that wasn't the best place for it, but I knew what I was doing at the time! Besides, you can't deny it was awesome!” he finished, with a wide, goofy grin.
“Indeed. Well, I have a task for you, Mr. Streak.”
“What d’you need?”
“I need you to fly around the countryside, and bring any ponies you find up to the castle. We don’t want to leave any poor souls out there with an invading army.”
“I’ll get right to it!” Fire Streak said as he took off into the sky.
Fancypants turned to the others. “Right. Ms. Smith, I need you get me an inventory of our medical supplies. And find whoever is in charge of the kitchens, ask them how much we have in the way of food. We may be settling in for a long siege.”
“Yes, sir.” Granny Smith saluted, before cantering off, muttering about crazy, unhinged stallions.
“And you, good sir, ah, I don’t believe I got your name.”
“Silverstar.”
“Right. Silverstar, I want you to go around the castle, and find out exactly how many able-bodied ponies we have. Find Spitfire and Soarin, and get those ponies trained and armed as best as you can. Quickly, now!”
As he left, Fancypants said to himself, “As for me, I have some mayoral duties to attend to. I must inspect the kitchens! Can’t be feeding the troops with bad provisions, I say!” And with that, he trotted off to the castle, drawing a number of odd looks from his new 'subjects'.
*
The sun sat high in the afternoon sky as Twilight and her friends made their way along a dusty cliffside road. On their right, a sheer cliff face soared hundreds of feet above, while on the left, a sharp scree slope led far down to the bottom of a canyon. As they approached a small copse of trees, Rainbow Dash noticed something.
"Hey, look! Hoofprints!"
Twilight moved up to investigate. "Actually, these are pawprints. Which is a good sign. Diamond Dogs have paws, so we must be on the same trail they took."
"Well, how many were you following?" asked Rainbow.
"Two. Why?" Twilight asked.
"Because," answered Rainbow, "There are three sets of tracks here."
"Really?". Curious, Twilight began counting. "Hmm, I guess, here's one...aaand, two, and...huh. What do you know? Three sets."
"Told ya so."
"What do you think it means? Did they meet someone else? Was this a planned rendezvous of some sort? Are they part of a larger group?"
"Actually, Twilight," Fluttershy interrupted, "I don't think these are diamond dog tracks." She stared nervously at the trees on their left.
Rainbow Dash snorted. “What makes ya think that?” just as a rustling sound and a low growl came from the bushes. “Oh.”
Timberwolves! Two of the dreadful creatures stalked out of the forest, faint green auras highlighting their hideous forms, green slits of eyes glowing with a deadly light. They quickly closed in on the group, murderous intent clear in their every move. The three wasted no time.
“Run!”, yelled Twilight, as they all galloped off down the path, wolves hot on their tails. Running as fast as their hooves could carry them, they skirted around the cliff edge, until a third beast stepped out down the path in front of them. Rainbow Dash swerved aside, headed down a narrow fissure in the cliff face. “Down here!” she cried. The ponies bolted into the gap, just ahead of the wolves.
The fissure ran deep into the rock, twisting and turning. The ponies followed it, just barely staying ahead of their pursuers, until suddenly, the fissure opened up into a wide canyon, with a ledge suspended high off the ground. With nowhere to go, the ponies turned to face their pursuers.
Rainbow Dash took up an aggressive pose. “Stay back! I know Karate! Um, well, not really, but I can still take you on!” she said, challenging the advancing timberwolves. When that did not deter them, she tried a different strategy. Pointing at Twilight, she declared, “She knows magic! Powerful magic! She'll blast you to pieces!”. Turning, she asked, “Uh, Twilight, you do know magic, right?”
“Not really. I haven't learned to control it yet.”
“Well, that's it. We're goners.”
Just then, a loud yipping, whining sound filled the air. The ponies and timberwolves all turned towards this new sound. Up on a tiny ledge, some ways above their own and off to the left, was a tiny timberwolf pup.
Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my gosh, it's slipping!” she cried. Sure enough, the pup lost it's footing, and began to slide off it's tiny perch. Without thinking, Fluttershy hurled herself from her own ledge, and streaked towards the falling pup. As the others looked on, horrified, the yellow and pink pegasus caught up to her target, catching it, and quickly fell out of sight, dragged down by the pup's weight.
“Fluttershy!” screamed Twilight and Rainbow Dash in unison.
*
“Twilight!” screamed Twilight Velvet, running through the halls of Canterlot Castle. “Where are you?” Ponies parted to the sides of the hallway as she passed, Crescent Moon in her wake. “Silverstar! There you are! Have you seen my Twilight?”
“No, Ma'am.” Silverstar replied, shaking his head.
“Oh, where could she be? Where could she be?” Velvet gasped, “Oh my gosh! Is she not in the castle?”
"Whoah, calm down, ma'am,” Silverstar placated, “What happened, exactly?”
Crescent Moon pushed forward “Let me explain. This morning, the door to Twilight’s room was open, and she wasn't there. We've been looking for her and her friend, uh, Fluttershy. Yeah. Anyway, nopony says they've seen either of them all morning. We're getting a little, ah, concerned.” he explained, tilting his head in the direction of his wife, who at this point was nearly hyperventilating.
Silverstar nodded in recognition, “Well, don't you worry; I've already taken care of it, in a way.” he smiled, “Fire Streak is out there right as we speak, lookin' fer ponies still outside the castle. If they're out there, he'll find 'em, and keep 'em safe.”
“Fire Streak?! You think he can take care of them?” cried Twilight Velvet.
Beside her, Crescent Moon was clearly just as worried. “You're right. That pony can barely take care of himself.” he added. “Can we trust him to take this seriously?”
“Hold on now, you two.” Silverstar said defensively, “He may not be the most, ah mentally stable pony in the castle,” he chuckled, “but his heart's in the right place, you see. If your daughter and her friend are really in trouble, he'll get 'em out of it. I trust him, and so should you.”
“Well...I suppose we don't have much choice.” Velvet sighed, “If you think he can be trusted...” she aggressively turned on Silverstar, “If ANYTHING happens to them-”
“Nothin' will happen to 'em.” Silverstar insisted, “Wherever they are right now, I'm sure they're perfectly safe.”
*
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Rainbow, DO SOMETHING! Fly down and catch her!”
“What, and leave you here with these monsters? I can't carry you, Fluttershy, and that baby timberwolf!”
“But, I can't- we- wait- we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!”
“There's nothing I can do! Besides, we've got problems of our-”
AAAAAWWWWOOOOOOOOOO!
“Aw man, they are not happy.”
Just then, Fluttershy floated back into view, looking very surprised, and clutching the timberwolf pup. She was sitting on what appeared to be...a swarm of butterflies.
“Fluttershy!”, Twilight cried, “How are you doing that?”
“I don't know,” came the confused response, “They're just kind of...carrying me, I guess.”
The butterflies hovered over to the cliff edge, where their apparently lightweight cargo stepped off, letting the pup run happily back to its elders, who were overjoyed to see it. Fluttershy addresed the butterfly swarm. “Thank you , friends. You can go fly somewhere else now.”
As the butterflies flittered off, she turned back to her friends. “Well, I guess that takes care of that.” she said, indicating the now-docile timberwolves, “They were just mad because they thought we stole their baby.”
“That was it?” asked Rainbow Dash, “They weren't trying to eat us, or anything?”
“No, silly!” Fluttershy giggled, “Timberwolves eat wood. They have to, I mean, it's what their bodies are made of, so they have to eat it to grow.” She trotted over to one of the wolves, “They're not really such meanies,” she laughed, as the tamed beast licked her face, as if to prove her point. “See?”
“Oh yeah!” Twilight exclaimed, “I knew that!”
Rainbow Dash looked skeptical. “You did?”
“Sure. I just...forgot. Hehe. I guess blind panic will do that to a pony.”
“Well, at least we got out of it all right. Oh, hey, they're leaving. Bye now, not-so-meanies!”
“Goodbye!”
“Bye!”
As the wolves waved farewell, heading back down the fissure, Twilight noticed something about her friend. “Oh my gosh, look! Fluttershy! You got your cutie mark!”
“I did? Oh, wow, I did!” Sure enough, her flank was now adorned with three pink butterflies. “It kind of matches my coat and mane, don't you think?”
“Sure, I guess. Mine's cooler, though.”
“Rainbow! Don't ruin this moment for her!”
“It clearly shows my animal magnetism.”
“What, butterflies?” Rainbow challenged, “How does that mean 'I'm good with animals'?
“I don't know,” Twilight rebuked, “How does a rainbow lightning bolt mean 'I'm fast'?”
“Pffft. Duh! Nothing is faster than lightning, except Rainbow!”
Twilight puzzled over this for a moment. "Ohhh, I get it. That's kind of self-centered.”
Fluttershy was still giddy with excitement. “Ooh, this is wonderful! I have my cutie mark! Yay!”
The day went on, and the three friends celebrated as they walked back to the path and continued on their way. Eventually, the sky turned to a purplish-orange tint, and the shadows lengthened on the ground, as the sun sank lower in the sky.
“It's getting dark soon”, Fluttershy noticed, “Maybe we should find somewhere to make camp?”
Twilight nodded, “Good idea, Fluttershy. Rainbow, could you scout ahead and find something?”
“Sure thing, Twillight.” The pegasus replied, spreading her wings and taking off, “I'll be back in ten seconds flat!” she boasted, hurtling through the air, and disappearing around a bend.
Sure enough, ten seconds later, she returned. “Found something!”
Twilight was a little surprised. “Wow, I didn't think you would actually do that in ten seconds.” she said.
“Hey, never doubt my flying skills!” Rainbow grinned, “But seriously, I found a little cave just around that bend. It looks empty.”
“A cave?” Fluttershy asked, “I-I don't know if we should go in there.” she nervously stated. “It could belong to someone, someone not nice at all.”
Twilight reassured her “Fluttershy, she said it was empty. And small, right?” she asked, addressing her still-hovering friend.
“Tiny.” said Rainbow.
“See? I'm sure we'll be fine staying there for one night.” Twilight giggled.
