Chapter 2 - Suspicion

"So this purple mare comes up, and scares a pack of timberwolves by talking to them?" An orange filly asks incredulously, raising an eyebrow to signify her obvious disbelief.

"No offence Sweetie Belle, but ah think yer just hit yer head too hard or somethin..." The pegasus and earth pony shared a worried look, concerned for their friend.

"Look, I'm telling the truth!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, rolling her eyes, "I'll prove it to you! We'll go to the Everfree tomorrow!" clearly exasperated by her friends' lack of faith in her.

"Are yer outta yer mind! Yer know what sorta filly eatin monsters are in there?" Apple Bloom all but shouted at her unicorn friend.

"I know, just trust me! Twilight said to just call if I needed help, and we'll definitely be safe with her!"

Scootaloo stared at her red maned friend for a few moments, trying to make a decision, before finally speaking up, "Fine, we trust you, but I'm just saying, this is crazy!"

Shooting a grateful look at Scoots, Sweetie Belle continued, "Thank you crusaders, She's really nice, I promise! We'll meet beside Zacora's hut first thing in the morning, just don't let her see you!"

Chairs screeched as the three fillies packed up their saddlebags and made for the door, not noticing the white mare with a deep amethyst mane standing behind the door, boundless questions racing around her head about the anonymous unicorn.

"Scoots! Bloom!" Sweetie Belle called out, trotting to a bush where two fillies sat, faces full of trepidation.

"Uh, so we're definitely not changing our minds?" Scootaloo asked tentatively, hoping against all hope that the answer was one she liked.

It wasn't.

"Nope! I'm gonna prove to you Twilight is real, and she's so kind!" The unicorn filly chimed, eager to see her savior once more, "Follow me!" She pranced into the dense forest, her friends bounding in behind her, shortly followed by an alarmed mare trying to keep up with her sister.

Rarity, the fashionista, cursed her sister's habits of leaping into trouble, What pony in their right mind would knowingly jump into such an uncouth place? But despite her reservations, she cantered after the crusaders, curious as to who this 'Twilight' mare was and her intentions.

They had been calling for what felt like ages now, with not a single pony to answer for their efforts, "Twilight! Twilight! Twilight? Twil-" The three fillies felt their blood run cold as they screamed.

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle faced a monstrous beast, part goat, part tiger, part snake.

A chimera.

A chimera who was staring murderously at the three fillies caught in his grip and opening his mouth.

"AHH!" The sound made Rarity freeze.

"SWEETIE BELLE!? WHERE ARE YOU?" The mare desperately called, having lost their trail a few corners before.

Her ears swiveled in alarm, turning in all directions, unable to trace the yell for help due to the cavernous echoes.

Rarity began galloping at full pace upon seeing a cluster of birds flying off into the air, fleeing from the disruption and alerting the white unicorn, now covered in mud, of the direction she needed to pursue

Just as the Chimera was about to thrust his meal into his gaping mouth laced with venomous fangs, a strong breeze rustled the leaves and jostled his fur, making him stop dead in his tracks.

The beast felt a powerful and familiar energy in the air, the magical signature of-

"Elijah." A cold dread swept across his body as he quickly released the frightened fillies, letting them scamper behind the bush, before crouching down and shaking before his master, awaiting his punishment.

A lone cat, with her smooth lavender fur and navy mane, stood before the trembling creature on a newly made platform constructed of vines, staring down at him regally with a disappointed gaze.

"What were you about to do?" The smaller animal questioned with a soft, calm tone despite the fury rolling off her in waves as she grew in height, swiftly transforming from the feline into a pony, her shadow draping over the chimera.

The lavender mare was beautiful, devoid of her usual cape covering her features, her navy mane was striped with locks of pink and purple as it whipped around her neck, shimmering with stars and flowing in a non existent breeze, her flank sporting a magenta starburst cutiemark.

The creature gaped in admiration as his mistress revealed her beauty, but he faltered upon noticing his master's bright violet eyes, filled with sadness as she regarded the chimera.

"I-I'm sorry my Mistress." The mixture of animals bowed deeply, "I...I accept your punishment..." While hanging his head in shame and holding back tears, wholly unexpected from an outsider’s view for a creature of his size, power and dominant features.

Would his mistress disown him? Leave him to rot in the forest? He had betrayed his promise.

Instead of the harsh words the chimera expected, he felt a warm hoof under one of his chins, bringing his tiger head to gaze into her eyes, filled with compassion, kindness and a small trace of disappointment.

"It's alright Elijah, just... don’t forget the promise you made in the future," Seeing the creature's hesitation and regret, Twilight added, "I trust you will not let this happen again."

Elijah, the once fearless chimera, was startled by his master's kind words and faith, though he had never seen his powerful mistress so much as strike a creature under her care, experiencing her forgiveness first paw had bought a sense of eternal loyalty to his heart.

He quickly knelt down into a deep bow once more before pouncing into the thick vines.

"Sweetie Belle?" A gentle, soothing voice rang in the fillies' ears, calming them and allowing them to slowly crawl out of their bush cautiously, looking for any other potential dangers.

The unicorn filly was the first to stammer, tears streaming down her face as she recalled the horrible experience, "Tw-Twi-Twilight?" she trembled as she gazed into the mare's deep, sympathetic eyes.

Twilight reached towards the shaking filly with her hooves, gently cradling her into her chest as she sobbed, murmuring soft words of comfort as the terrified filly buried herself in the mare's fur, drawing reassurance from her voice. "Shh, all of you are safe now."

After a few minutes, Sweetie Belle was calmed, pressed into Twilight's chest and basking in the soft, silky fur's warmth before she was placed gently onto the damp grass before her.

Turning her attention to the other ponies present, Twilight noted that they were, thankfully, in better shape, both were whispering to each other excitedly and casting worried looks at their friend, "Would you care to tell me what you three fillies were thinking, rushing into a dangerous forest?"

Said fillies quickly diverted their attention to the powerful unicorn, tensing up, but finding no sign of malice or fury in her features, relaxed their stance, "Well yer see Miss Twiligh..."

Finishing their tale, the trio looked to Twilight, wondering whether she was angry or not that they trespassed into her home, though they found nothing but a faint veil of disappointment.

"When I say call for me if you need help, I don't mean jump into danger to see me, it isn't that I'm unhappy to see you fillies, I just don't want you getting hurt, do you understand?" The purple mare glanced expectantly at the ponies she now knew to be called Scootaloo and Applebloom along with Sweetie Belle, content upon spotting their small nods.

"But...” The unicorn tapped her chin thoughtfully for a second, “Since you’re already here, how would you like to come with me to my gardens? We can have some tea and I can show you my hom-" Twilight's offer was cut off by a piercing scream and a rock thrown at her.

Reacting quickly, the lavender mage threw her hood on before the white unicorn saw her and was prepared to defend the three crusaders when Sweetie Belle let out a confused, "Rarity?"

Twilight looked to the unicorn filly, who was now giving the intruder a glare, "Sweetie Belle? Do you know th-"

"YOU! What did you do to my sister!? Were you the ones who sent those foul beasts to attack them? You disgusting monster! Let them go!" The mare yelled as she aimed her horn to Twilight, panting and shouting accusations.

"M-monster?" Twilight, who had seemed like the epitome of calm mere moments ago, was now staring at the muddy unicorn, whose mane was frazzled and eyes wide, "I- I-" her throat dried, unable to procure anymore words, she hung her head as she murmured a soft command.

"A-Aegis," She addressed the timberwolf about to pounce along with his pack, who had come to protect their master. The aforementioned wolf quickly looked to her with a mixture of concern and rage, "...Stand down, and show our guests to the border of Ponyville."

Before the creature could protest, his mistress disappeared in a blinding flash of light, the last any creature saw of her being the drops of saltwater which dripped down onto the soil, creating a small trail of flowers. "Mistress..."

Silence reigned supreme for a few tense moments before the crazy unicorn, Rarity, shot out a beam from her horn aimed at one of the many creatures surrounding the group. It was admittedly pretty powerful for a dressmaker more used to lifting fabrics and threads, fueled by her intense emotions.

She was confused at the intentions of the mare, she had to be the crazy pony attacking her sister, right? But why did she tell the creatures to stand down? These thoughts invaded her mind, but she brushed them away in favor of her panic and fear, "Get behind me girls!"

For a moment, the animals did not move, their eyes fixed were on the flowers, they had witnessed something they had never before seen, their untouchable mistress, always calm, collected and kind, had broken down in front of them because of one unic- Unicorn!

Aegis, the Alpha timberwolf, returned to his senses. Although he desperately wanted to chase after his mistress, that would have contradicted her direct orders. He gave a growl to his fellow creatures, who in turn, followed their orders, returning to their posts reluctantly, glaring at the unicorn mare before dissolving into the shadows, leaving Aegis with the ponies.

The mare, Rarity, let out a relieved sigh, before darting around to check on the fillies, "Are you alright? That vile brute didn't do anything to y-" she was halted by the looks on the crusaders' faces.

The trio glared at Rarity, Sweetie Belle starting to tear up again while Scootaloo put a hoof on her unicorn friend's shoulder, gaze still resting on the elder unicorn, who began, "What are you looking at m-"

"Wha in Celestia's name were ya thinkin? Tha monster just so happens to be our friend!" Apple Bloom shouted, before turning to follow the flowers, but was caught with a claw. The claw of a timberwolf.

Before Rarity could shoot another glowing beam of magic, Aegis spoke with a dangerous edge in his voice, "You are to leave our Mistress alone, follow me to the exit."

The trip was silent save for the threatening hisses sent in Rarity's direction, who stared at her hooves, reflecting on her actions. Why had she just randomly attacked the mare like that? It was like she suddenly had a tunnel vision, not even thinking about things logically, taking one look at the timberwolf sitting calmly by her side and the girls before her, then jumping to conclusions immediately without thinking about alternate explanations, or even giving her the chance to explain anything herself. This wasn’t like her at all.

None of the crusaders spoke, occasionally sending glares in the elder mare's direction.

Reaching the end of the trail, Aegis halted at a safe distance, motioning for the ponies to go on and sending a disgusted scowl at Rarity, he warned, "You are lucky our Mistress has a good heart, We don't want to see you anywhere near here ever again." And before the mare had a chance to speak, he disappeared under the canopy of trees.

"Uh, Girls, would you like to com-" Rarity started, only to be interrupted by the fillies.

"Busy."

"Also busy."

"Busy with them."

Without another word, they cantered off to the direction of the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse, leaving Rarity hanging her head in shame, "I...What have I done..."

On a small hill, covered with countless different flowers, with an opening in the canopy of trees overhead, Twilight let her ethereal mane bellow in the wind without her hood as tears streamed down her cheeks, matting her soft fur and each crystalline drop sprouting a flower as soon as it made contact with the earth underneath her.

Her faithful creatures knew not to disturb, watch or come near her here. It was her private sanctuary, a place of reflection, a place of regret, a place where she could let everything go without the need for appearances.

Am I really a monster?

“N-No.. No I'm not...”

She seems to think so... just like her...

“That was different... I-It was a mistake!”

How was it different?

I- I- Celestia- she- It was a accident! She wasn't thinking properly then... I don't blame her...

Twilight remembered the sun goddess' heart breaking accusations as the lavender mare tried to protect the innocent timberwolves, who were wrongly imprisoned for a few of their species' crimes.

The events of the Battle of the Timberwolves.

"Twilight Sparkle! We order thou to come back here!" Celestia yelled at her former student, eyes alight with fury as Twilight desperately unlocked the prison cells to where the timberwolves were held.

"Tia! I beg of you! you must realize the ones who killed Silver Spear are long gone! You saw to that yourself! These wolves have done nothing wrong!” Twilight pleaded with her mentor, tears rushing down her face, Celestia had to see that what she was doing was wrong!

"Tis Princess Celestia to thee, traitor! That species killed our lover! Dost thou nary care about that? Now they all hast to pay the price for their kind!" The Sun Goddess roared at the mare, failing to notice the rest of the cages had been magically opened, their captives fleeing the scene.

This was not the teacher she used to love like a mother, This pony was blinded by rage and sadness.

"Celestia! Of course I care! I care for you more than you know! It hurts to see you like this! Please, calm down and talk to me!" The lavender mare tried once more, not giving up on her friend.

"Talk?" Celestia mocked "Thou hast sided with thy enemy! Thou hast betrayed all ponykind! Thou art a disgrace!" Before thrusting a deadly spell at Twilight, who threw up a magenta shield just in time.

"Please, Princess! I do not want to fight you! You need to trust me!" The lavender alicorn dodged yet another spell, still hesitant do go on the offensive lest she hurt the alabaster alicorn.

Sneering, the white alicorn launched into the air, "Trust thee? Surely thou jest! Thou deservest to fall! Thou art a Monster! Watch as we destroy thine hideous beasts thou hast given thou worthless life to save!" And with that, she collected her energy, creating a giant mass and sending the full force of the sun towards the petrified creatures, who were throwing their cubs as far away as they could while shielding themselves from their inevitable fate.

Monster. Monster. Monster. the words of her surrogate mother repeated itself in Twilight's head. 'Is that all I am? No...’ She watched as the sickening blow neared the innocents and...

The blow never came.

The once eager crowd watched in horror as a shout erupted out of the chaos, "NO!" A lavender blur shot out of the rubble, leaping and sending a powerful strike towards the timberwolves, pushing them away as wrapped her wings around herself, facing the brunt of the attack.

Her wings.

They were beautiful... warm.. comforting.. and now, they were gone, destroyed.

Twilight curled in on herself, weeping until she fell asleep under the soft moonlight dancing across the meadow and on the soft earth, dampened by her tears.

Author's Note

24/08/20 - Underwent a small edit, fixed a couple of issues regarding words and punctuation, things that I picked up later on in my stories and used some helpful criticism in the comments!