-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic stalks his way through the Everfree Forest, a few different enchanted gemstones in a small bag around his left foreleg. Tonight's prey; Timberwolves.

Aurelic makes his way through the tree canopy, eventually finding a smaller pack of the creatures. "Five wolves, perfect." He thinks happily to himself.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

One of the smaller timberwolves sits down, as do three of the others, as the alpha among them paces around their fresh kill; A deer that had been unfortunate enough to wander the Everfree. The first wolf to sit stares on hungrily as the alpha continues to inspect the buck.

Suddenly, one of the other sitting wolves is yanked from below into the treetops, letting out a yelp before going silent. Shortly after, the bits of wood that were once its body start to rain down from above, lightly hitting the grassy floor.

The three remaining wolves immediately stand up, growling and taking a defensive stance with their alpha, their glowing green eyes looking around for any sign of their attacker. That is, until another of their number is suddenly yanked upwards as well, tangled in what appear to be black vines, before leaving their sight. They growl even louder, as another of their ranks is pulled into the cover of the trees.

Soon, the alpha meets the same fate, the last remaining wolf barking out in anger. Teeth gnashing as sap-like slobber foams at its mouth. Then, comes the sudden grip around its ankles and torso. Before it can react, the wolf is pulled up into the trees at a disorienting speed. In the one, brief moment when the wolf makes eye-contact with the aggressor, it sees the horrifying visage of a pony like insect face, grinning widely. The moment is brief, as the timberwolf feels something breach into its body, the magic it's comprised of drawing into the obstruction. It feels itself starting to go numb, until it can't feel anything anymore, its wood falling to the ground below.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

"Aaaand that's the last one. Everfree magic: Acquired. Now..." Aurelic thinks, looking at the five glowing gemstones full of the magic the timberwolves once possessed. "Time to put it to good use..."

Aurelic slinks his way towards the mirror pool's cave, setting his procured gems on the floor of the cave. Over at the opposite wall, lay various piles of plant matter, grouped by the ecosystems they've been retrieved from. Picking up one of the gems, he walks over to his first pile of material. This pile is comprised entirely of material found within the Everfree Forest, including a flower of poison joke. He places the gem into the pile, readying a spell. Casting it, the magic from within the jewel begins to weave through the given materials, Aurelic guiding the shaping along with a bit of supporting magic within the spell.

A new creature descends from the air, gently landing on four hooves. The odd creation appears to be in the shape of a deer, eyes glowing a similar shade of green to the timberwolves inhabiting the Everfree. Atop the creature's head is a pair of antlers, made from twisted branches, along with the adorning flower of poison joke. Its legs are made from sturdier bark, intertwined with thick vines. The creature may look delicate and thin, but Aurelic has made sure it's anything but.

"The first dryad. Still soulless, but that will change once the copies are made..." Aurelic says aloud, the newly created dryad simply standing there, awaiting orders.

Aurelic moves on to the next pile, made from material gathered from the Whitetail Woods. Repeating the spell, the next dryad is formed. Its antlers are more streamlined, covered in leaves, and its legs are much thinner, comprised of branches held together by roots. Due to the lack of supernatural plant material, Aurelic has deigned to implement feathers found from one of the creatures within; the phoenix. This deer shaped dryad sports wings in its shape, with the phoenix feathers woven into those wings. Oddly enough, its eyes glow a soft orange, most likely also caused by those feathers.

The third pile consists of material taken from around a pond; Seaweed, bits of algae, lily pads, driftwood (From a pond, who the hell leaves their wood in a pond?), even water sausages, all still damp. Aurelic binds them together into another deer shaped dryad, sporting lily pads that flow down a bit past the hooves to act as flippers, with a long, dolphin-like tail flowing down from its rear. Its antlers are made from the water sausages, perfect for producing a gentle melody when wind blows through them. This dryad's eyes glow a beautiful deep blue.

The fourth pile is comprised of material found around Sweet Apple Acres. Discarded material, some scattered debris, bits of metal from old nails and screws, hay, horseshoes, as well as purchased produce. Aurelic winds it together, the cleaned bits of metal used throughout its form, the horseshoes at its hooves, with nails tipping its antlers, and even screws used to bind some of the bark together. The produce helps fill the inside, adding some extra weight to this one. He even weaves the hay into a straw hat for it. By far the tallest, largest dryad of the bunch. Its eyes glow a passionate pink.

The fifth and final pile is comprised of material found within the Canterlot Castle Gardens. Trimmings from the hedges, Bits of chiselled marble, various flowers, vines, bark, and even an apple from Celestia's Golden Apple Tree. When he binds this dryad together, the material used alone makes it appear more regal, roots sprouting from the seeds within the apple that spread throughout its form. The marble bits become more dust-like, giving it a glimmering sheen. The flowers adorn its grassy hair, the hedge leaves taking scale-like formations. Its eyes glow a brilliant gold.

Aurelic has them begin to clone themselves with the mirror pool, the cave soon filling with the five types of dryad, until Aurelic orders them to stop. Casting a spell, he finds which is the oldest of each of the five kinds, bringing the originals back out from the collection. Now comes the special part; Giving them souls. He produces five sigils engraved withing chunks of wood from each of their biomes.

Moving to the first dryad of the Everfree, he places the sigil to the gem in its chest. "Dryad of Everfree, I now hereby dub thee Animus Fern!" Upon casting the spell and invoking the words, Animus Fern is truly brought to life.

Animus looks around, before laying their eyes on Aurelic. "My name is... Animus Fern. Where, am I?" They ask in a confused, androgynous voice.

Aurelic nods to Animus. "I am Aurelic, and I've brought you into this world. Welcome to Equestria, Animus Fern. Currently, we're in the Everfree Forest, the forest I've assembled your form from. I have to bring your siblings to life as well, please stay right there until I give the go-ahead."

Animus nods, sitting delicately on the ground as instructed.

Aurelic moves to the next dryad, placing the sigil. "Dryad of Whitetail, I now hereby dub thee Ashen Canopy!" Aurelic says, bringing Ashen Canopy to life.

Aurelic repeats this process, the pond dryad given the name Melody Reeds, the orchard dryad given the name Hardy Harvest, and the royal garden dryad given the name Regal Blossom.

Once that's done, Aurelic stands before the five of them. "The five of you will lead the other dryads of your respective kind. For the moment, you must all live in the Everfree with Animus Fern, until the time I summon you." Aurelic projects illusions of ponies, changelings, Spike, and Zecora. "Avoid all contact, and keep out of sight from these beings, aside from myself until I say otherwise. The keyword is Antidisestablishmentarianism."

The five dryads salute. "Understood, master."

Aurelic nods. "You are dismissed for now."

With that, Aurelic teleports away, leaving the dryads to their own devices.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic plops into his bed, pulling the covers up, tucking himself nice and snug with magic. "I'll have to check on them periodically, but that army of dryads... They should be enough to protect the ponies, if anything goes wrong. And with this being an alternate universe originally, according to Discord... Nothing is set in stone. And I'll be damned if I let this world go to hell in a handbasket on my watch."

With that, he turns on his side, facing the wall ad he closes his eyes, letting the embrace of sleep overtake him.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Meanwhile, within the Everfree forest, a manticore finds its way to the dryad colony. Growling, it rears up to attack the intruders on its territory. Sensing the danger, Hardy Harvest charges forward, impaling the exposed belly of the beast with their metal nail-tipped antlers. The manticore howls out on pain, swiping down and hitting Hardy with its claws. A few chunks of wood fly off, only to return to their body shortly after.

Melody Reeds draws some of the moisture out of their own body, sending a watery orb right into the manticore's eyes. The creature blinded for a split second, Ashen Canopy takes the chance to swoop down, kicking the manticore in the face, knocking it onto its back. Animus Fern steps in next, eyes glowing bright as vines sprout from the ground, restraining the manticore. Once the creature is restrained, Regal Blossom steps forward, healing the beast of all injury.

Animus Fern steps forward once more, looking into the manticore's eyes. "This forest is our domain, your territory means nothing to us." The vines retract. "Leave us." Animus says sternly.

The manticore nods, before rinning off, scorpion tail tucked between its legs.

Author's Note

Fun fact; In nature, wolf packs don't have an alpha. The pecking order usually defaults to the older wolves being on top, which are typically the parents of the pack. The reason the timberwolves and diamond dogs within this story have alphas, is due to the way that the misconception usually leaks its way into modern media, and would likely ring true in Equestria.

And to clarify, when Aurelic drained the magic from the timberwolves into the gems, he did not take their souls or consciousnesses. It was only the magic that holds them together, and allows them to reform. Don't feel bad for them either, they're creations of Grogar, devoid of empathy, and incapable of learning it.