Ash held the vine-rope firmly in his hands; first a loop, go down, back up, spiral down, through the hole, and finally giving the top of the rope a pull. He increased and decreased the size of the noose, making sure the knot was good and finding it to be so. He firmly tied the rest of the rope around a nearby tree trunk and threw the noose over a branch above him. He loosed it enough to fit over the neck and... Done! Another mannequin complete and properly set up with the noose keeping it upright and the cloth around its throat to get his scent on it.

"And that should be the last of them. What do you think about all this Myrtle, having to set up all of these mannequins to keep the little beasties outside the perimeter?"

"..."

"No, you're right about that no need to apologize for the harsh truth, but it's still the best plan I've got for keeping them away while I try to head on out around the town. It's been a good two weeks since I've able to go very far without them threatening the camp."

"..."

"You're very right Myrtle. It has given me enough time to make the disguise as best it can be made, I even got the support straps right so I can walk like one of them now without looking like some horrific goat-man."

He was in fact wearing the disguise right now in an effort to get used to moving in it more naturally. Though he still knew that his presence would still bring the residents of this place fear, he hoped that his wooden mask in the semblance of a pony and wooden hooves with the rig that would let him walk on all fours, would assuage some of that fear so that he may peacefully communicate eventually. It had taken many failed attempts, but the disguise no longer looked like utter garbage and the cloak that he had gotten (it was actually the handkerchief of that nice sea serpent with the amazing mustachio down the way) was able to hide the rest of his form. All in all he looked really shady but at least they wouldn't think him a monster at first sight... Hopefully... Running is always an option.

At this point he turned from the mannequin and began his normal routine of cleaning up his camp and making sure all the defenses were intact; walking the perimeter, repairing the wooden barricades and low stone wall where necessary, putting any foodstuff either up in a tree or buried within his atrocious pottery project (thank goodness for that clay soil near the river,) then finally checking the basic irrigation canal that he had spent weeks digging from the river (damn that clay deposit).

After this was done he began preparing for his first potential encounter with the townsfolk, which he planned to be tomorrow. Everything was packed and ready, now he just had to get some rest and wait until... *Ahhhh!* The piercing scream of a young child filled his ears and sets his heart racing.

"Oh hell to the fuck nah." he said as he hefted the splitting ax that he had fashioned and charged towards the source of distress, only pausing to grab his pack.

There was absolutely one certainty in his mind at this moment, absolutely no one fucks with a child while he has life in his body and an ax at hand.

Perspective of Diamond Tiara

How did she end up in the woods.

Snap!

Not just any woods, The Everfree. No sane pony goes here.

Snap!

She was bolting through the brush as fast as she could, not thinking of where she was going only what was behind her.

Snap

The timberwolf hounding her, however was still snapping at her tail each Snap! causing her to cry out in fear. The little filly had already tired herself out and now the reserve of energy her terror was giving her began to run out far far too soon. Her bleary, tear stained eyes and terror filled mind did not even see the root that lay in her path until she rocketed into it and tumbled downhill and came to a rest in a small clearing.

As she lay there, exhausted and unable to pick herself back up, she cried and babbled and screamed for help... But nobody came. She knew no pony was around as her voice began to crack and ache. She knew no pony was going to miss a spoiled brat like her, and she bawled her eyes out in sorrow and in fear. As the lichen-covered monster slowly stepped into the clearing and approached her, she let out one last broken plea, "Please sob sob help me..."

And then she heard a mighty roar coming from behind her as something there screamed, "TYR!" Then a large stone blade filled her vision as it moved over her head and smashed into the side of the timberwolf, cleaving off one leg and rending a large chunk of it's front. Then the ax went up and down in one smooth motion, making the beast's head take a leave of absence from the rest of it's body.

After taking a brief moment to gaze up at her savior, she promptly said, "thank you," and passed out.

"Oh the poor dear," he thought as he picked up the unconscious filly. He had wanted to go to the town tomorrow, but her friends and family must be worried sick about where the battered little filly had gotten to. As he was thinking about this, the timberwolf found that this was the opportune moment for it to reform. It was wrong. Ash happily lopped off its legs, after setting the young one down, and proceeded to choke the beast. Normally choking a nigh unkillable wood-beast wouldn't work out too well, but Ash had found that if he concentrated on that weird buzzing feeling that he had felt when he had arrived those three months prior, he could either drain or expel the some of the energy around him or inside other things. Needless to say, he was quite satisfied when the pile of wood gave one last yelp and fell into pieces of kindling.

Once again picking the child up and made his way to the pony village. After swinging by his camp to drop off his ax, best first impressions do better without it most likely, he began quickly making his way out of the Everfree. It was towards the edge of the Everfree that he had started to hear the distressed voices of the adults, calling out for the child cradled in his arms. Shifting from his normal bipedal stance into the quadruped one, one of his arms still cradling the child, he made his way towards them while calling out that the child was safe.

"Please let this go well, please let this go well, ..." He muttered to himself as the adults rushed towards him.

Perspective of Applejack

"Tiara! Diamond Tiara!" She called out as she and her family as well as her friends combed the wood line, looking for any trace of the errant filly.

Her father was getting a bit frantic in his callings, but over the din of the search party she heard something.

"Hello!? I found her! The child is safe!" an unknown voice within the forest called out.

"Girls, somepony's in the woods over there saying she's safe." Applejack called to the rest of the group, leading them towards the voice. All of a sudden everypony in attendance gave a collective gasp as a pony, seemingly made of wood, approached with a sleeping Diamond Tiara in his hooves. After stopping halfway between them and the woods the strange wooden pony set the filly down and moved back several paces. As soon as he had let her go, her father had rushed over and scooped her up, then retreated behind the rest of the group.

"Listen here stranger, we thank you kindly for bringing her back safe and sound, but what the hay are you?" Applejack asked, eyeing the stranger with suspicion.

"Now AJ that is hardly the way to thank somepony who just saved a filly from the Everfree. Thank you darling," Rarity said turning to the strange pony in front of them.

The wooden pony gave them a brief bow and turned to Applejack, "I understand that you are wary of me, but I had hoped that this form would be better received than my own. Please know that I mean none here any harm, and just wished to make myself known. The little one was being chased by one of those 'wood wolfs' when I found her."

Everypony's eyes widened at the prospect of the filly being caught by a timberwolf. Then Twilight spoke up, "What do you mean by 'this form' and what happened to the timberwolf?"

"I am not made of wood, but I thought that a form more like your own might make you more accepting. As for the 'timberwolf,' it will not be a bother again." He said, a biting edge to his voice now.

"Wait. How in tarnation did ya do that?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

"She is right, a timberwolf will reform no matter how many times you smash it to pieces." Rainbow Dash put forward. "There's no way you could make it 'not bother anypony again.'"

"If one drains them of their energy, you can." Stated the wooden stranger.

"Drain them?!" Twilight exclaimed, "But how? I think that we should take some time to hear what ... Um what is your name?"

"I am Ash, a pleasure to meet you all. I would be happy to tell you what I can."

And with that, the assembled ponies and the strange being among them made their way further into town.

Author's Note

Although I don't yet know what this story will all contain in the future, but I do hope that you will enjoy reading it.
Please let me know if you catch any errors or if you have any feedback.
Thanks for reading.