Intermixture

Little Sin had just been launched from the cannon.

"Was Little Sin's recipe the only reason you wanted me?"

"No, silly. That was just a prank we were going to pull on Eyha. Follow me upstairs, I need your help with the babies."

Cabooses ears perked up and his pupils slowly started to dilate.

"Caboose, do you want to come meet the babies?" Pinkie asked.

Caboose stared at her and his eyes were nearly completely black.

"No." Caboose said, voice deep and raspy. "I am quite fine here, thank you."

Fluttershy stared at Caboose and felt a wave of unease pass through her and she shuddered. Pinkie eyed Caboose curiously.

"Okay then..." Pinkie said slowly, making her way to the stairs.

"What happened to Caboose?" Fluttershy asked, voice shaking. "He seemed... strange back there."

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's just playing a game." Pinkie said happily, then tightened her smile. "I think."

Fluttershy looked down the stairs at Caboose who was staring out the window, his fur seemingly darkening.

"Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked.

Caboose then shook his head and his eyes and fur went back to normal.

"No, I'm Caboose." Caboose said with a smile, voice back to normal pitch.

Fluttershy smiled at Caboose, then made her way to the room where Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were asleep.

"What do you need my help with?" Fluttershy asked, smiling at the sleeping foals. "They seem to be okay to me."

"Oh, I know." Pinkie said. "It's just that their first birthday is coming up soon, so I wanted you to help me plan the party."

"I would be happy to help." Fluttershy said. "What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to bring some animals so there could be a small petting zoo for them to play in." Pinkie said.

"That sounds nice." Fluttershy said with a smile. "I'll try my best."

"That's all I could hope for." Pinkie said.

The two girls then made their way down the stairs and the door suddenly swung open. Angel had somehow opened the door, sweating profusely.

"Angel, what's wrong?" Fluttershy gasped. "Where is Grif?"

Angel shook his head and started out the door, not turning back. Fluttershy’s instincts told her to not ask questions, immediately starting to follow Angel. Pinkie then shuddered violently.

"There’s a doozy a-coming." Pinkie said, running out the door.

"How do you know?" Caboose asked, galloping after Pinkie.

"My Pinkie sense told me so." Pinkie said.

Angel stopped at the entrance to the Everfree forest and started pointing inside. Fluttershy stared worriedly inside. "He went in there? Doesn't he know dangerous it is in there?"

Pinkie and Caboose then caught up to Fluttershy, noting the extremely worried expression on her face. "What's wrong?" Pinkie asked.

"Grif went into the Everfree forest." Fluttershy replied.

"We need to get the others." Pinkie gasped. "Caboose, you go get Twilight Church, and Tody. I'll go get Applejack and Rarity. Fluttershy, you go find Rainbow Dash. Meet back here as soon as you find them. We'll need as much help as we can get."

Fluttershy nodded and started flying towards where Rainbow Dash lives. Pinkie Pie started to run towards Sweet Apple Acres. Caboose looked at the forest and then ran off in a random direction, thinking he was going to the library.

"Let go you fucker." Grif yelled, kicking off a timberwolf that was biting on his leg. "Screw it, I'm just going to run."

"I think I like that idea too." Eyha said, kicking a timbewolf in the face. He hadn't sustained any wounds, but he was still having trouble fighting them off.

And with that, Grif and Eyha lunged forward to escape the predators. He glanced around at the trees, no discernible path, he kept running in a straight line.

"Where the fuck are we going?" Eyha asked

"I don't know." Grif yelled.

He knew that the timberwolves were going to catch up to him and it was only a matter of time. Then he remembered something. "I have wings. Why am I running?"

Eyha looked at Grif. "Why the hell didn't one of us think of that earlier? Let's go."

Grif and Eyha then focused on their wings and flapped once, shooting through the tree branches into the air and making cuts on their bodies. Another flap of his wings and they soared above the tree line.

"Woah. This is awesome!" Grif exclaimed. "I'll never have to walk again."

"From what I here, you didn't anyway." Eyha said

He then straightened his wings and stared straight down.

"Now how the hell do I go back down..." Grif muttered. Grif retracted his wings and started to spiral towards the ground. "Not my best day." Grif grunted before slamming his face on the ground.

"You've got to be kidding me." Eyha said as he lowered himself cautiously. He looked over to see Grif lying on the ground, wounds all over him. He wasn't looking too good. "Grif!" Eyha exclaimed as he went over to him.

Grif tried to stand up but fell over in a daze. He looked at his body and saw that his wings had bite marks on them, and there was the occasional chunk missing from his back legs.

"They got me more than I thought." Grif said, laughing weakly. "Ow, my body."

"We need to get out of here. Can you walk?"

Grif was about to reply when they then heard another branch snap and glanced to where the noise was coming from. There was a pony in a robe standing still, watching from a distance. Grif sighed and collapsed on the ground from blood loss, Eyha not knowing what to do about the situation. Back at the entrance to the forest, all the ponies were gathered, all staring nervously at the forest.

"Why did he run in there?" Applejack asked. "Doesn't he know how dangerous it is in there?"

"Um, how dangerous are we talking here?" Tody asked.

"There are all sorts of deadly predators in there." Pinkie said.

"Has anyone seen Eyha?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not since he left." Little Sin said.

"Oh, I hope he didn't go in there with Grif." Fluttershy said warily.

"I do." Tivos said. "If anyone can guard somebody, it's Eyha."

"Well nobody could be as clueless as Grif." Sarge remarked. "Let's go."

"You really care about Grif, don't you Sarge?" Twilight asked.

"As lazy as that son of a bitch is, he is still one of my men. Besides, Grif and I both know that I am going to be the one that will be the death of him."

"We should hurry, it looks like the sun will be setting soon." Simmons remarked.

The group nodded in agreement and started to make their way into the forest to find Grif.