Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

The fourth week appeared to be going along just as smoothly as the last. Julius's training had intensified each week, so by this point, he was using his magic to buff himself to a point where he was training like an Olympian gold medalist. He made sure to push himself so that at the end of the day, he'd always be exhausted; this, combined with his new, reluctant vegetarian diet, burned off nearly all his body fat. To begin with, he was never very fat, but he was hardly an athlete. Now though, the body he sported resembled a finely honed athlete. Sure he had the help of magic and a talking zebra wisemare, but hey, it still counts.

During his limited free time through the prior weeks, Julius had made himself a nice solid staff. He had two things in mind for it. The first a melee weapon. It could kill if needed, but most things would be driven off by a solid smack or two. The second was a possible magic focus, to use it in a way similar to how unicorns used their magic. While that venture hasn't worked quite yet, he had only just started trying that, and he was starting with his barely developed healing magic. Yeah, that would be an uphill battle. All in all, everything was shaping up to be a typical mid-week day until Julius heard growling.

"Timberwolves, yeah, I think I'ma just avoid them," Julius said, sighing. Sure he was confident he could take a few, but he reasoned it was better to avoid fights rather than to charge towards unnecessary ones, and that is what this was, an unnecessary fight, well it was until he heard it. It was faint, barely more than a whisper; only by straining could Julius make out the sound.

"No, please, somepony help me!" A soft, demure voice pleaded.

"Son of a bitch!" Julius sighed very heavily. That had to be one of the ponies from the nearby town, and it was in danger of the timberwolves. He could leave the pony to its fate. The townsponies knew the dangers of the forest, and he wouldn't be figured out. It would be the safe sensible thing to do. But Zecora helped him while he was an unknown entity. She had placed herself in great danger for him. Feeling it was time to pay it forward and maybe thaw the relations between the ponies and Zecora and himself, Julius ran full speed towards the cry for help.

Running deftly through the familiar forest, he quickly came across the timberwolves. In total, there were six poor odds for him. They were cornering a pegasus pony, one with soft yellow fur and a pink mane. The lead timberwolf leaped up and towards the pegasus fangs and claws bared. The pegasus, for her part, shrieked and cowered, waiting passively for a devastating strike, and what a devastating strike it was.

CRACK

A thunderous crack echoed through the Everfree as a shower of wood and leaves fell upon the pegasus. Timidly looking up, she quivered and slowly backed away. Before her stood something she had never seen before, a tall, bipedal, clothed animal with a wooden staff stood where the timberwolf was. The pegasus curled up into the tree's base while shaking, while this thing seemed to ignore her to focus on the timberwolves.

"Get out of here!" The creature commandingly yelled as he flourished his staff. Stepping a few steps forward, bracing himself for the inevitable onslaught, he sighed. "You have wings, so fly out of here, leave these animate bundles of kindling to me!" He commanded now clearly at the pegasus as the timberwolves circled the creature.

Deeply breathing, Julius steadied himself. Being surrounded by five timberwolves was daunting. If he were alone or had someone he could count on, then he'd feel confident about his odds, but no; instead, he had to take on five timberwolves while protecting an extremely scared pegasus. Oh yeah, he was going to come out of this with his fair share of wounds. Tracking all five enemies was extremely difficult. The first timberwolf struck out at Julius. With a swift, powerful movement, Julius strikes that one, breaking its timber skull; however, as it fell, two others dashed in. Barely reacting in time, Julius dodged and parried the attacks away from doing any real damage, but still, their wooden claws slashed through his arms and legs. Julius winced in pain as he magically closed the wounds. Julius felled the second timberwolf while swiftly sliding back. Usually, Julius would have been fine, but this was mid-day, he was already halfway to exhaustion, and he was making heavy use of his magic to allow him to take out the timberwolves in one hit, and it was showing.

The three remaining timberwolves got together. If Julius didn't know better, he could have sworn they wore an evil grin. All at once, the three loosed a mighty howl, at which Julius's eyes went wide. He knew what they were doing; they were calling for help. Time was very much of the essence now. Taking one deep breath, Julius summoned all the magical strength he could and swept into the timberwolves. The pegasus watched on in both awe and terror. No land creature should be that fast or that strong.

"Oh please, Celestia, please let it like ponies," the pegasus begged under her breath, shaking in fear as the three timberwolves were dispatched. The creature didn't come out unharmed, claw marks and bites covered his arms, but they closed quickly. Upon turning around, the pegasus got a look at the creature's face. Its mane was a dirty blonde, its eyes were small, blue, and focused, like a predator's, its face was pretty flat. But what really scared the pegasus was its teeth. Unmistakably it had pointed teeth, the teeth of something that ate animals, maybe even ponies. While panting hard, the creature grabbed the seemingly paralyzed pegasus.

"We need to get out of here now!" It said with a harsh commanding tone. Holding the pegasus firmly to his chest, he bolted through the woods. It was a new sensation for the pegasus. The creature walked, well ran, upright on its hind legs, and while it was fast, it was equally agile. It was very sturdy, yet its movements allowed for gentle rocking. How weird a creature, it seemed that its own body delighted in contradicting itself.

Knowing the general direction of the town, Julius made it there in good time. While usually, it would have been roughly a two-hour walk, Julius was running, making the trip in a little less than thirty minutes. Stopping at the treeline of the Everfree, Julius held the pegasus to his chest for a few moments, his breath hard and heavy. Setting the pegasus down, Julius gave her a soft push on her rear.

"Go home, and don't return to the Everfree for at least the rest of the day!" He commanded her as he darted back into the forest.
Heavily breathing, the pegasus collected her thoughts.

"OK, it's OK, Fluttershy, no reason to panic," she said to herself, slowly regaining her long since lost nerves. "Some unknown speaking creature that can fight timberwolves and possibly eats ponies knows where Ponyville is, nothing to worry about," she said, trying to reaffirm herself. "He seemed friendly enough, well caring; he did save me," she said, picking herself up off the ground.

Walking towards her cottage, Fluttershy stopped. "Maybe the princesses know something about it, oh but Twilight and the others...," she trailed off, "no, they can't know, not yet at least," Fluttershy said to herself as she made her way to the Golden Oak Library. She kept thinking she should tell them about the creature, but they were more the 'blast first, then blast again' type, and that might not go over well. Making her way to the library, Fluttershy knocked at the door. Opening the door, Twilight greeted her.

"Oh hey Fluttershy, I wasn't expecting you!" Twilight said in pleased surprise. "What brings you here today?" She asked, letting her friend inside.

"Oh ahhh, I need a favor Twilight," Fluttershy says, almost asking Twilight. "I need to send a letter to the princesses," Fluttershy says. At this, Twilight freezes in place. While Celestia never forbade Twilight's friends sending her letters, it was just never done. There were channels to go through, checks to be made, there was a system. Seeing the gears in Twilight's mind turning rapidly, Fluttershy starts pleading, "Please, Twilight, it's important!" Fluttershy begged with enlarged eyes. Sighing, Twilight agrees to let Fluttershy send a letter.

"What are you sending the Princesses?" Twilight asks, trying to see what Fluttershy is writing. "Did you find a new animal?"

For her part, Fluttershy was lost in thought, lost in the letter she was writing to the princesses; it had to be perfect. Finally noticing Twilight's leering, Fluttershy turns around.

"Twilight, this needs to be a private letter; it's important," Fluttershy said with a conviction that Twilight didn't know Fluttershy could have.

"OK, OK, Fluttershy, I'll trust you," Twilight says, entering a different room. "I'm making some tea, want some" Twilight asks from the other room.

"Oh uh yes, please, if it's not too much trouble," Fluttershy says, clearly more focused on her letter. Twilight bringing out the tea, gives Fluttershy her cup before sitting down nearby, the curiosity eating away at her. I mean, for Fluttershy to be so bold as to want to send a letter to the Princesses, this had to be big, like really big.

"And done, Spike, would you please send this to the princesses?" Fluttershy asked as she gave the letter to the dragon. In a puff of green flame, it was on its way.

"So what did you send to Princess Celestia," Twilight asked almost right away.

"Well, I sent the letter to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. As for what it was, you'll just have to wait," Fluttershy said with faux confidence.

"Oh, come on, Fluttershy, the only thing you'd write to the Princesses about would be some new animal," Twilight immediately shot back. "So come on, tell me," Twilight begged.

"Twilight, there's a reason I can't tell you. Don't worry though, if everything turns out OK, then I promise I'll tell you everything," Fluttershy assures the antsy mare.

In Canterlot Castle, Luna was just getting up, her rest about as peaceful as it could be, though the concern she had was evident. For nearly the past month, some unknown creature just popped into existence. Its dream signature was unlike any she had felt, and while beings other than ponies had more challenging dreams to enter, this one's was incredibly challenging. The concern and curiosity were what filled most of her waking hours. Walking into the dining hall, Luna sat down to eat something light. Across from her, Celestia was reading a letter.

"An odd time to be reading a letter must be very important," Luna said drowsily, pouring herself a cup of strong black coffee.

"It's from Fluttershy, one of Twilight's friends," Celestia says, her voice more serious than usual, "I think you should go to Ponyville," Celestia tells Luna.

"What why?" Luna responds aghast, "What could be in that letter to make you say such a thing?"

"Read it for yourself," Celestia says, floating the letter over to Luna.

'Dear Royal Princesses

I know you usually get letters from Twilight this way, but it's Fluttershy. There is a strange creature near Ponyville. Today I had some business in the Everfree Forest. A family of bunnies there were having trouble. I went to help them; everything went perfectly. On my way back to Ponyville, I was attacked by six timberwolves. I thought for sure I was a goner. I was too afraid to do anything. I closed my eyes and waited, but none of them attacked me. When I opened my eyes, I saw something I've never seen before. A strange creature stood between me and the timberwolves. It took out each of the timberwolves in a single hit. While doing so, it was telling me to run away. It seemed to have some kind of healing magic. Whenever it got hurt, its wounds just closed themselves.

After the timberwolves were dealt with, it picked me up and ran me back to Ponyville. Then it told me not to return for the rest of the day before going back in. The creature looked very much like a hairless, hornless minotaur, but its body build was a lot different. It looked less bulky and more athletic, and it didn't speak in the same overly harsh tone. I think it might be friendly to ponies, but I'm not sure. I don't want to tell my friends about it. I fear they might try to attack it. If one of you could tell me anything about the creature, that would be great, if it's not too much trouble.

From Fluttershy'

Attached to the letter was a crude drawing of the creature. At this letter, Luna's eyes went wide. Quickly eating her breakfast in a very unprincesslike, un Luna manner, she started to charge her magic.

"That interesting, Luna?" Celestia giggled.

"Yes, this could be it, this could be the creature I've been sensing in the dreamscape. I'm going to Ponyville," Luna said, and in a flash of magic, she was gone.

While relaxing in the library enjoying the after tea time, Fluttershy's and Twilight's peace was interrupted by a flash of blue light and the appearance of Luna. Shocked by the sudden appearance, both ponies kind of just sat there in shocked awe. Uncharacteristically not standing on ceremony, Luna walked right up to Fluttershy.

"Miss Fluttershy, take me to the place in your letter," Luna commanded.

"Oh um, o-ok Princess," Fluttershy meekly squeaked back.

"Oh, I can't wait, I can't wait!" Twilight said giddily with excitement. "Just let me grab a few things, and I'll be ready!" Twilight said, bursting with energy.

"No Twilight Sparkle, stay here," Luna commanded. "Where we are going is for Fluttershy and me alone. We fear that you and your other friends might complicate things," Luna explains.

"Aww," Twilight moans dejectedly, kicking a hoof at the floor.

"Don't worry, Twilight Sparkle, if all is good, then we shall tell you everything. Until then, lead the way Miss Fluttershy," Luna reassures Twilight and commands Fluttershy.

Making their way back to the clearing where Fluttershy was attacked and saved was quite the affair. Fluttershy was nervous and somewhat intimidated, while Luna had major small talk problems. Rather than introduce an awkward talk, the pair traveled in silence. Sure enough, there were more timberwolves around the clearing, but they were no match for Luna. Luna was more the monster slayer, Celestia, more the bureaucrat. Engulfing the area in a blue glow, Luna smiled. It was faint, but it was there a magic trail.

"What are you doing, and why are you smiling?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head.

"I'm scanning for magic, all magic, even that used by earth ponies leaves behind a trail. That creature you saw was using magic, though very oddly," Luna started to explain. "It feels like unicorn magic, though used in a very earth pony way, how curious," Luna said, smiling all the while. "Nevertheless, I can track it now. Follow close, Miss Fluttershy," Luna commanded.

This magic trail was a complete and utter nightmare. It went everywhere and yet nowhere. It bounded here, there, over there, somehow up there, then it would concentrate in a place before peeling off everywhere. It was like this creature was running around using magic everywhere in the forest. The trail was a maddening maze inside a maddening maze. Fortunately, Luna had enough experience to follow the trail properly. After hours of unwinding that trail and far too many encounters with dangerous creatures, Luna and Fluttershy finally spotted it, a treehouse much like the Golden Oak. The trail led inside. Walking up to the house, they heard two voices inside. Luna recognized one as a female zebra, and the other was the creature from the dreamscape, the one that resisted her, the one she was curious about.

"That's the creature," Fluttershy quietly said, "that's the one who saved me from the timberwolves."

"Well, no time like the present," Luna said, walking up to the door, "let's go say hello," she said as she knocked at the door.