"Ouch ouch ouch." A young man groaned as he slowly sat up and looked around. He didn't know what hit him, or where he was. All he knew was… "I am definitely not making it home before dark."

Taking a deep breath he scanned his surroundings for any clues to which way civilization was. But all he saw were trees.

"Ok… maybe this is a cervical test…" He told himself before looking himself over. "Silver band on hoof check… wings look good…" Blinking he did a double take. "Wait. Hoofs? Wings? WHAT'S GOING ON!!!!" Putting a hoof to his chest he quickly started to hyperventilate. "Ok, breath. I need to stop panicking and analyze my situation."

Taking a few deep breaths he looked himself over again. "Ok. I apparently turned into some kind of winged horse after… whatever it was hit me… and I'm in some kind of forest." He thought for a moment before looking at the sky through the trees. "And it looks like I have time to find a way out of here before it gets too dark."

With a nod of confirmation, he got up and started down the only path he saw. "I can only hope that wherever this path leads has food. I'm starving."

As the sun started to set the young now colt emerged from the forest. Stopping for a moment to check his band, he smiled and took his first step toward the nearest house when he heard a voice.

"Don't y'all take another step whippersnapper." An elderly voice warned.

Blinking, he looked over to see an old mare holding a crossbow in her hooves. "Sorry?"

"Don't play dumb with. I know what you are."

"You do?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"You're a Timberwolf!"

Blinking, he laughed it off. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"There you are granny!" Another voice called, as a blue mare with a rainbow main flew down. As soon as she saw the crossbow she sighed and turned to the stallion. "I'm sorry about this. Granny thinks the Timberwolves are trying to sneak into town." She laughed. "She thinks they found a way to mask their scent and change into ponies."

"Really? Do you think it's possible?" He asked.

"Nope. You can smell them coming. And trust me. The smell alone will make you want to run." The blue mare laughed. "Name's Rainbow Dash, by the way. Head of the local weather team, element of loyalty, fastest pegasus in Equestria and recently appointed guard of this town. And this is Granny Smith… she's the head of the Ponyville Apple family and owner of Sweet Apple Acres."

"Nice to meet you…" He replied before thinking for a moment. "I was wondering something… there was an old legend in my home town. I was wondering if you might have heard about it…"

"You'd have to talk to Twilight about that stuff." Rainbow laughed. "Unless it has something to do with Daring Doo or pegasi stuff. I won't be much help. Sorry."

"It's fine. Can you introduce me to her? I don't mind waiting till tomorrow if-"

"Sure thing." Rainbow interrupted. "Knowing her. She's probably still awake reading." Turning to lead the way, Rainbow motioned for him to follow before calling back to Granny. "And you should get back home! Next time I'll send Big Mac to get you!"

The walk through town was mostly quiet as she kept her ears on a swivel. "Not a fan of flying?"

"Out of practice." He lied.

She shrugged and started to hover in reverse as they made their way down the street. "So. What's the legend about? Something awesome I hope."

"Well… you know. The usual stuff. Creatures of the night… things that lurk in the dark…ponies that turn into wolves… that sort of thing." He replied.

Rainbow thought about it for a moment. "All but that last one is a common thing…" She sighed. "It's the reason I took the job as Ponyville's night guard." Turning back to face the path, she tapped a hoof to her chin. "Although… I don't know if turning into a wolf would be all that great."

"Crap, she heard that." He thought before asking. "Why not?"

"Think about it. Wolves eat meat. It'd be kinda hard to hide that fact in a town like this." She replied.

"True." He admitted. "But… What if you can eat both meat AND plants? All you'd have to do is keep the meat hidden."

Rainbow smiled. "True. But the smell would still give it away. It's one of the reasons why Timberwolves are so easy to identify."

"Because they eat meat?"

"I wish that was all they did." She groaned. "Twilight said they're made of dark magic. Mixing living flesh with trees. The older they get. The more rotten the smell… or at least that's what the egghead thinks."

"And you?"

Rainbow huffed. "They turn other creatures into one of them and use US to reproduce." Looking up she smiled. "We're here… and she's up." Not giving the stallion a chance to comment, she flew over and opened the door. "HAY TWI! GOT A MINIT?"

"What is it, Rainbow?" A mare replied from her desk. "I have very important research to finish."

"You can do that later." Rainbow laughed. "I found someone I think you're going to like."

Taking a deep breath Twilight sighed. "Fine. Let them in. What do they want?"

"Know anything about ponies turning into wolves?" Rainbow asked. "Maybe a legend or some ancient power lost to time?"

Twilight thought for a moment as the stallion came in and found a seat on the couch to watch from the sidelines. "Not exactly…" She replied, rubbing her chin. But that would help explain a few things."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Just that Luna's guards were rarely mentioned. And the numbers were never confirmed." She replied without regarding who asked. Turning to her book she smiled and continued. "In fact. Several mentions say her guard had powers and some were even great beasts. There are so many contradicting statements that most were seen as false claims. But if we consider the possibility…"

Rainbow sighed and landed next to him. "Here we go again. She's going off on one of her rants again."

"Should we do something?" He asked.

"Not really. Either, Spike will show up to snap her out of it. Or she'll come to her realization and notice us." She replied with a shrug. "But at least we have the answer you were looking for."

"Yeah. It's possible they're real." He agreed before his ear twitched at Twilight's words.

"... and if her guard had kids, it's possible that ponies today might be able to change and not even know it. But there's no telling who has the…"

The two looked at each other before Rainbow got up "SPIKE! I NEED YOU TO SEND A LETTER!"

Author's Note

This is one way to return to writing. Lol can't wait to see where my brain decides to take this one.