Timbarzan of the Timberwolves

When Blue Blood Heard the report of the firearm he fell into an agony of fear and apprehension. He knew that one of the sailors might be the author of it; but the fact that he had left the revolver with you Twilight Sparkle, together with the overwrought condition of his nerves, made him morbidly positive that she was threatened with some great danger; perhaps even now attempting to defend herself against some savage stallion or beast.

What were the thoughts of his strange captor or guide Blue Blood could only vaguely conjecture; but that he had heard the shot, and was in some manner affected by it was quite evident, for he quickened his pace so appreciably that Blue Blood, stumbling blindly in his wake, was down a dozen times in as many minutes in a vain effort to keep pace with him, and soon was left hopelessly behind.

Fearing that he would again be irretrievably lost, he called aloud to the wild stallion ahead of him, and in a moment had the satisfaction of seeing him drop lightly to his side from the branches above.

For a moment Timbarzan looked at the young stallion closely, as though undecided as to just what was best to do; then, stooping down before Blue Blood, he motioned him to grasp him about the neck, and, with the white stallion upon his back, Timbarzan took to the trees.

The next few minutes were such that the young Equestrianstallion never forgot. High into bending and swaying branches he was born with what seemed to him incredible swiftness, while Timbarzan chafed at the slowness of his progress.

From one lofty branch the agile creature swung with Blue Blood through a dizzy arc to a neighboring tree; then for a hundred yards maybe the sure feet threaded a maze of interwoven limbs, balancing like a tightrope walker high above the black depths of verdure beneath.

From the first sensation of chilling fear Blue Blood passed to one of keen admiration and envy of those giant muscles and that wondrous instinct or knowledge which guided this forest god through the inky blackness of the night as easily and safely as Blue Blood could have strolled a Canterlot street at high noon.

Occasionally they would enter a spot where the foliage above was less dense, and the bright rays of the moon lit up before Blue Blood's wondering eyes the strange path they were traversing.

At such times the stallion fairly caught his breath at sight of the horrid depths below them, for Timbarzan took the easiest way, which often led over a hundred feet above the earth.

And yet with all his seeming speed, Timbarzan was in reality feeling his way with comparative slowness, searching constantly for limbs of adequate strength for the maintenance of this double weight.

Presently they came to the clearing before the lake. Timbarzan's quick ears had heard the strange sounds of Sabora's efforts to force her way through the lattice, and it seemed to Blue Blood that they dropped a straight hundred feet to earth, so quickly did Timbarzan descend. Yet when they struck the ground it was with scarce a jar; and as Blue Blood released his hold on the timberwolf-stallion he saw him dart like a squirrel for the opposite side of the cabin.

The Equestrianstallion sprang quickly after him just in time to see the hind quarters of some huge animal about to disappear through the window of the cabin.

As Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes to a realization of the again imminent peril which threatened her, her brave young heart gave up at last its final vestige of hope, and she turned to grope for the fallen weapon that she might mete to herself a merciful death were the cruel fangs tore into her fair flesh.

The manticore was almost through the opening before Twilight found the weapon, and she raised it quickly to her temple to shut out forever the hideous jaws gaping for their prey.

An instant she hesitated, to breathe a short and silent prayer to her Maker, and as she did so her eyes fell upon her poor Spike lying inert, but alive, beside the cupboard.

How could she leave the poor, faithful thing to those merciless, yellow fangs? No, she must use one cartridge on the senseless Spike where she turned the cold muzzle toward herself again.

How she shrank from the ordeal! But it had been cruelty a thousand times less justifiable to have left the loving dragon who had reared her from infancy with all a son's care and solicitude, to regain consciousness beneath the rending claws of the great cat.

Quickly Twilight Sparkle sprang to her hooves and ran to the side of the dragon.

She pressed the muzzle of the revolver tight against that devoted heart, closed her eyes, and Sabora emitted a frightful shriek.

The mare, startled, pulled the trigger and turned to face the beast, and with the same movement raised the weapon against her own temple. She did not fire a second time, for to her surprise she saw the huge animal being slowly drawn back through the window, and in the moonlight beyond she saw the heads and shoulders of two Stallions.

As Blue Blood rounded the corner of the cabin to behold the animal disappearing within, it was also to see the timberwolf-stallion seize the long tail in both hooves, and bracing himself with his back hooves against the side of the cabin, throw all his mighty strength into the effort to draw the beast out of the interior.

Blue Blood was quick to lend a hoof, but the timberwolf-stallion jabbered at him in a commanding and peremptory tone something which Blue Blood knew to be orders,, though he could not understand them.

At last, under their combined efforts, the great body commenced to appear farther and farther without the window, and then there came to Blue Blood's mind a dawning conception of the rash bravery of his companion's act.

For a naked stallion to drag a shrieking, clawing stallion-eater forth from a window by the tail to save a strange purple mare, was indeed the last word in heroism.

In so far as Blue Blood was concerned it was a very different matter, since the mare was not only of his own kind and race, but was the one mare in all the world whom he loved.

Though he knew that the manticore would make short work of both of them, he pulled with a will to keep it from Twilight Sparkle. And then he recalled the battle between this man and the great, black-maned manticore which he had witnessed a short time before, and he commenced to feel more assurance.

Timbarzan was still issuing orders which Blue Blood could not understand. ' He was trying to tell the stupid white stallion to plunge his poisoned ar rows into Sabora's back and sides, and to reach the savage heart with the long, thin hunting knife that hung at Timbarzan's hip; but the stallion would not understand, and Timbarzan did not dare release his hold to do the things himself, for he knew that the puny white stallion never could hold mighty Sabora alone, for an instant.

Slowly the manticore was emerging from the window. At last her shoulders were out.

And then Blue Blood saw a thing done which not even the eternal heavens had ever seen before. Timbarzan, racking his brains for some means to cope single-hoofed with the infuriated beast, had suddenly recalled his battle with Blue Moon, and as the great shoulders came clear of the window, so that the manticore hung upon the sill only by her forepaws, Timbarzan suddenly released his hold upon the brute.

With the quickness of a striking rattler he launched himself full upon Sabora's back, his strong young arms seeking and gaining a full-Nelson upon the beast, as he had learned it that other day during his bloody, wrestling victory over blue moon.

With a shriek the manticore turned completely over upon her back, falling full upon her enemy; but the black-haired giant only closed tighter his hold.

Pawing and tearing at earth and air, Sabora rolled and threw herself this way and that in an effort to dislodge this strange antagonist; but ever tighter and tighter drew the iron bands that were forcing her head lower and lower upon her tawny breast.

Higher crept the steel forearms of the timberwolf-stallionabout the back of Sabora's neck. Weaker and weaker became the manticore's efforts.

At last Blue Blood saw the immense muscles of Timbarzan's shoulders and bi ceps leap into corded knots beneath the silver moonlight. There was a long sustained and supreme effort on the timberwolf-stallion's part and the vertebra; of Sabora's neck parted with a sharp snap.

In an instant Timbarzan was upon his feet, and for the second time that day Blue Blood heard the bull timberwolf's savage roar of victory. Then he heard Twilight Sparkle's agonized cry:

"Prince Blue Blood! Oh, what is it? What is it?"

Running quickly to the cabin door, Blue Blood called out that all was right, and bade her open. As quickly as she could she raised the great bar and fairly dragged Blue Blood within.

"What was that awful noise?" she whispered, shrinking close to him. "It was the cry of the kill from the throat of the stallion who has just saved your life, Miss Sparkle. Wait, I will fetch him that you may thank him."

The frightened mare would not be left alone, so she accompanied Blue Blood to the side of the cabin where lay the dead body of the manticore.

Timbarzan of the Timberwolves was gone.

Blue Blood called several times, but there was no reply, and so the two returned to the greater safety of the interior.

"What a frightful sound!" cried Twilight Sparkle, "I shudder at the mere thought of it. Do not tell me that pony throat voiced that hideous and fearsome shriek."

"But it did, Miss Sparkle," replied Blue Blood; "or at least if not a pony throat that of a forest warrior."

And then he told her of his experiences with this strange creature of how twice the wild stallion had saved his life of the wondrous strength, and agility, and bravery of the brown furr and the hoofsome face.

"I cannot make it out at all," he concluded. "At first I thought he might be Timbarzan of the Timberwolves; but he neither sleeps nor understands Equestrian, so that theory is untenable."

"Well, whatever he may be," cried the mare, "we owe him our lives, and may Celestia bless him and keep him in safety in his wild and savage forest!"

"Astallions.," said Blue Blood, fervently.

"Fo' the good princess's sake, ain' Ah daid?"

The two turned to see Spike sitting upright upon the floor, his great eyes rolling from side to side as though she could not believe their testimony as to his whereabouts.

The manticore's shriek, as Twilight Sparkle had been about to put a bullet into poor Spike, had saved the dragon's life, for the little start the mare gave had turned the muzzle of the revolver to one side, and the bullet had passed harmlessly into the floor.

And now, for Twilight Sparkle, the reaction came, and she threw herself upon the bench, screaming with hysterical laughter.