Twilight trotted on the trail she'd been following in the woods for the better part of an hour. She could hear dozens of other voices calling out in the dark for the three little fillies she'd come back out to find. Though it was dark, the combined output of light from so many lanterns and illumination spells cast by the unicorns of town, made it easy to see a fair distance ahead. All the same, she'd ventured off ahead for her own reasons.

Though she wouldn't admit it to any of her friends, Twilight found herself much more concerned with Cooper's well being over the well being of the cutie mark crusaders. A guilty feeling welled in her chest from her lack of concern for the three little fillies, but she couldn't help it. Her priorities simply lied with the human she'd spent the entire day looking for already. Perhaps it was just an excuse to keep looking when everypony else had called it a night, but she took the new search party forming as a sign that she just might be able to find him this night.

"Sweetie Belle!? Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!" She called. A few moments passed before she added, "Cooper!?"

The moon's light cast long shadows that spilled from the overbrush onto the trail, covering it in a spiderweb of black. More than once she caught herself staring at a particular splotch of darkness, the shape and contours of the shadows looking just a bit like Cooper, before she moved closer and found that it was just a trick of the light.

Though she was hesitant to admit it, she felt as if someone or something was watching her. It was a feeling she'd practically lived with in the wasteland of Earth, but even after all this time, the fur on the back of her neck stood up. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed; stalked, like prey. It made a pit form in her stomach, but still she pressed on. The goal of finding Cooper was infinitely more important than feelings that may or may not have any basis in reality, or so she told herself.

She heard rustling in the shrubbery to her right, making her pause. Her horn lit up in a lavender light, illuminating the entire area in with intense brightness, allowing her to easily see into the thicket before her. Nothing. She pursed her lips as a gentle breeze blew overhead, making several trees rustle and shake in the wind. Letting out a quiet sigh, she cut out the spell and turned her head back to the trail, intent on progressing forward.

Then she heard it: a scream. It was a bloodcurdling scream so full of terror and utter fear that that there was no doubt in her mind that it could only belong to one of three little fillies. Her head snapping toward the source of the scream, Twilight's horn ignited once more, illuminating the world around her. Suddenly, the quaint forest wasn't quite so quaint anymore. Where there was once merely branches and leaves as far as the eye could see, there were now dozens of pairs of glowing green eyes.

Though timberwolves weren't uncommon in the Everfree forest, Twilight couldnt recall ever seeing any in the White Tail woods, making her nerves fray ever so slightly. Still, the scream replayed in her mind, reminding her that whatever she saw in front of her, there was at least one little filly straight ahead in much the same predicament. It took her no time at all to make up her mind. Charging up her horn, Twilight quickly blasted the first few timberwolves away, turning them into a mass of splinters and charred wood.

While normally, the sight of one of there brethren being obliterated would scare the rest of the pack off, things appeared to be anything but ordinary with this particular group. Nearly a dozen of the wooden wolves charged at her, wholly uncaring of their brother's demise. Twilight quickly unfurled her wings and leapt back, avoiding the snapping jaws of the closest wolf while firing a beam of energy straight into its face, blasting it away. As she landed, her hooves skidding on the dirt trail, another timberwolf lunged at her, trying to bit her throat. She just barely managed to duck under the attack, a spell shield conjuring in her mind as the beast barely missed her.

A magenta shield comprised of pure magic appeared right in the middle of the timberwolf, severing it in two. Twilight quickly turned and fired another bolt of magic at the next nearest wolf, blasting it away. Taking out that wolf gave her just enough clearance to dive through and avoid the swinging claws and snapping jaws of the next several wolves. Without hesitation, she dove forward, her wings flapping just once to propel her at high speeds. With a quick spin and flare of her wings, Twilight swept her horn across the squad of timberwolves, a wave of lavender magic blasting out like a shockwave and obliterating them all.

Now panting slightly from the exertion, Twilight turned back toward the direction she heard the scream from. She knew she had precious little time to waste, her wings already unfurling to take her above the treeline, but a quick glance upward made it clear that there was simply no way to see through the dense forest skyline. Not willing to risk the possibility of missing the filly due to the tree cover, Twilight charged on ahead, her hooves pounding into the dirt.

The going was slow and tough, as the forest was just as thick at its base as it was at its canopy. Still, Twilight progressed as quickly as she could, the sounds of a struggle reaching her ears as they swiveled around like radar dishes. She could hear branches snapping, creatures huffing and puffing, scratching, growling, and then, another scream. This time, however, it froze the blood in her veins.

"Cooper, no!" A voice that could only belong to Apple Bloom cried out.

Twilight darted forward through the brush as quickly as she could, her limbs straining against the thick foliage. More than once, she took a branch to the face or scraped her foreleg against thorns sticking out of a plant she couldn't be bothered to dodge. The sounds of struggle became clearer and clearer as she moved, eventually becoming so clear that they were practically being screamed into her brain. With her chest heaving from the exertion, she pushed as hard as she could until finally breaking through a clearing.

Whatever she expected to see upon breaking through the brush, Twilight did not have a chance to rejoice or despair, as the moment she broke through into the clearing, a pair of wooden jaws latched onto her foreleg. Lancing pain shot through her limb, all the way to the bone as she gasped in shock, her eyes darting down to the timberwolf with its teeth sinking into her flesh. She tried to scream out in pain, but the breath was stolen from her lungs as she was quickly and harshly yanked down to the ground.

"Twilight!" Apple Bloom cried out, shock, fear, and concern filling her voice.

Though she was crippled by pain she'd only felt once before, Twilight grit her teeth and focused on the voice crying out to her. She could only glance to the side for a moment, her eyes widening in shock as she witnessed a sight that made her blood run cold. Just across from her, between several timberwolves and the cutie mark crusaders, was Cooper. His broken arm was being used as a chew toy by one of the wolves, while another two sank their teeth into his thigh and calve. All the same, Cooper fought on, his free hand clenched into a bloodied fist, riddled with splinters as he continued to punch and kick at the wolves he could still reach.

Among several piles of wooden remnants that were once timberwolves, all three fillies were unharmed, though they were clearly terrified by the sight of Cooper fighting so desperately in front of them. Blood splattered onto the ground in front of them, some of it splashing onto Sweetie Belle's coat, the crimson fluid running a stark red contrast against her snow white coat.

With no time to think, Twilight immediately ignited her horn, a blast of magic firing off and obliterating the wolf chewing on Cooper's arm. Just as she tried to fire another shot off, however, yet another timberwolf leapt onto her back, tackling her to the ground. Flaring her wings up to protect her neck, Twilight felt the stabbing sensation of wood punching through her fragile wings and into her back. The sickening sound of hollow bones snapping filled her ears as agony washed over her entire body. She cried out in pain, tears spilling from her eyes as the wooden teeth sunk deeper and deeper.

Though he was still fighting to free himself from the two wolves still affixed to his leg, the cry of pain that reached Cooper's ears instantly registered with him. Between the magical blast that killed the wolf biting into his arm, and the unmistakable voice of his closest and most trusted friend, there was no doubt in his mind: Twilight was in danger. Already filled with adrenaline and rage at the beast's attempt to kill and eat three little fillies, Cooper felt an overwhelming rush of fury fill his body as he was finally able to sit up and see Twilight being attacked by two wolves.

His teeth gritting so hard that he nearly cracked them, Cooper reached over to his side with his fractured arm, stinging, burning pain searing into him the entire time. He grabbed hold of a rock that had previously just been out of reach and swung as hard as he could. The impact, while agonizing for him as his own fracture broke even more, completely smashed the head of the closest timberwolf, killing it instantly.

Cooper cried out in pain and dropped the rock, his arm screaming in protest from the treatment he'd subjected it too. He had no time for a reprieve, however, as the last wolf chewing on his calve lunged forward, intent on sinking its jaws into his throat. Cooper managed to duck back just in time to avoid the snapping jaws, but the impact allowed the timberwolf to take the high ground, its jaws just a few precious inches from his face as its claws dug into his flesh.

"Cooper!" Apple Bloom cried, galloping forward and quickly turning to buck the timberwolf in the snout.

Though the timberwolf was quick to react, turning to take a bite out of Apple Bloom's hind leg, Cooper managed to react quickly, grabbing its lower jaw with his hand and pulling its head down. The act gave Apple Bloom a perfect shot on the very top of the wolf's head. She cocked her legs back and bucked as hard as her little filly hooves could. Being an earth pony, her strength was still enough to snap the wood connecting the timberwolf's head to its neck. The beast quickly slumped down, limp, on top of Cooper.

He swiftly pushed the dead bundle of sticks off of his chest and pushed himself to his feet, wincing and gritting his teeth as blood dripped down his thigh to the ground below. With only one mission on his mind, Cooper sprinted forward as quickly as his battered and beaten body would allow, quickly closing the distance between him and Twilight. She was still on the ground, screaming in pain as the wolf on her back bit into her again, just barely shy of her spine.

With every last ounce of anger, strength, and hatred he could muster, Cooper tackled the timberwolf on her back so hard that the creature splintered into pieces from the impact with the ground. With her neck no longer in imminent danger of being snapped, Twilight quickly focused a spell at the tip of her horn, blasting the last wolf off of her foreleg and into a thousand pieces.

With the threat finally over, Twilight panted for breath. pushing herself to her hooves as the cutie mark crusaders quickly rushed over to her side.

"Twilight! Are you okay!?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Upon seeing the blood all over her back and foreleg, all three fillies squeamishly looked away, only one of them maintaining the wherewithal to look over to Cooper.

"Coop'!" Apple Bloom gasped, rushing over to his side.

Her attention promptly ripped to the man just a few feet away, Twilight followed as quickly as she could on just her three legs, ensuring to keep weight off of her injured foreleg. As she arrived, she quickly looked over Cooper while he rolled onto his back, her eyes going wide as she saw the extent of the damage done to his body. His left arm was mangled and bent at an unnatural angle, while his pants were soaked with blood. Worse of all, however, was the wooden steak that stuck out of his chest.

Slowly sitting upright, his face contorted into a grimace of pain all the while, Cooper fixed Twilight with a weary, yet grateful look.

"Hey Twilight..." He greeted, grunting in pain as he accidentally put some weight on his broken arm.

"Cooper, I-" Twilight began, only for Cooper to cut her off.

"Don't. Please... don't apologize or anything... it was my fault. My fuckup... I'm poison to be around." Cooper muttered, his eyes falling to the ground.

"That's not true and you know it, Cooper. There are four ponies right in front of you that care enough about you to run blindly into the forest to find you." Twilight assured him, giving a soft smile.

Cooper held her gaze for a few moments, the barest hint of a frown still on his face, before he finally chuckled and lowered his head in acceptance, "I guess that's true... looks like I really screwed the pooch on this one. Didnt think a piece of wood would do me in." He relented, looking down to the wooden steak sticking out of his chest.

Twilight snorted in amusement before her horn lit up in a bright white light, "Not this time." She said.

The injury on her foreleg slowly healed until there was no damage left at all. Her back was similarly healed within a matter of minutes. Cooper's eyes widened in amazement as he watched his own injuries heal and repair themselves until there was simply nothing wrong anymore. Even the piece of wood sticking out of his chest simply vanished into thin air as if it had never been there to begin with. After a short wait of just five minutes, all of the wounds inflicted on both of them were simply gone, as if they'd never happened in the first place.

"Damn... didn't even know you could do that." Cooper muttered in shock, patting his chest where the wood previously was.

"I've only done it once before. It's an extremely high level medical spell... it's one that tends to take quite a lot of magic out of an alicorn, so I've only ever kept it as a last resort in case me or one of my friends were seriously hurt." Twilight smiled.

"If you could do that, why didn't you do that for Sky after I..." Cooper trailed off.

"Like I said, that spell takes just about everything out of me. You hurt Sky, but the bullet hit him in the wither. We had to get him to the hospital... but I knew that there was a good chance he'd be fine. You... hesitated, when you pulled that gun on him." Twilight explained.

Cooper frowned, his eyes falling to the dirt once more.

"It was as if for a brief moment in time, just before you could do something you could never forgive yourself for... you realized and stopped yourself. I know you've been having flashbacks and struggling ever since we got back here, but... Cooper, I think that if you let me, I can get you to ponies that can help you. Really, truly, help you." Twilight continued.

Cooper pursed his lips as the three fillies behind Twilight slowly closed in around him.

"Cooper... we know that you did a bad thing... but you're not a bad human. In fact, I think you're one of the best humans ever." Sweetie Belle offered.

"Yeah! You took on like, six timberwolves by yourself to protect us!" Scootaloo added.

"No evil, good for nothin' human that's beyond helpin' would've done that." Apple Bloom smiled.

Cooper looked up to the four ponies before him, a mix of emotions going through his mind as he took in their words. Albeit after a minute of contemplation, he finally allowed the barest hint of a smile to form on his features.

"Alright... let's get back to town. I've had enough of this forest for one night."

Author's Note

So I'm sure some people will have issue with this, but I think overall I'm pretty happy with how this story has gone. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters. Just a couple of chapters to go until this one's all done.