Rest for the Weary

"I guess that's just what you and I are. We're just a couple of problem-solvers." -Boone

The ponies all followed the tracks without hesitation. Their first priority had changed without use of tongue: Fluttershy first, then the mission. Nopony should venture into the everfree by themselves, let alone at night. So why would Fluttershy go off without telling any of them?

This is exactly what they discussed while following her hoofsteps.

"I just don't know why she would do something like this!" Rainbow Dash exploded, "What was she thinking?"

"Maybe one of her animal friends ran away! OH, maybe she was on a rescue mission!" Pinkie Pie seemed ecstatic despite the situation.

"Well it doesn't matter, if we keep following the tracks we should find h- the tracks are gone." Twilight ended abruptly.

"She must have started to fly, but Fluttershy doesn't fly unless she has to. What could have happened?" Rainbow Dash looked pleadingly at Twilight.

Twilight was calm and collected when she spoke, "I don't know. But sitting here isn't going to find her." Just then Twilight spotted a opening in the leaves, "Rainbow, check that hole in the canopy, maybe Fluttershy wanted to see where she was. Or better yet, she's just flying around up there."

Rainbow Dash saluted her and took to the skies.

"So what was up there RD?" Applejack asked as Rainbow Dash touched down.

She scratched the back of her head, "Well not Fluttershy. It's getting really dark out, but when I looked in the direction her hoofprints were heading I saw something weird," Rainbow tapped her hoof to her chin, "There was a faint light in the direction the prints lead, and it looked like it was... I don't know... Steaming."

Twilight perked up at this, "Whatever you saw could be the thing princess Celestia sensed!"

"And Fluttershy is already there!" Squealed Rarity.

"C'mon everypony! Let's go find Fluttershy!" Applejack cheered.

"Yeah!" They all cheered.

Applejack took the lead as the five ponies raced through the thick foliage. Their hooves crushed the grass under their feet as they raced to reach the source of the now barely visible light. Thousands of scenarios played through Twilight's mind as she galloped. 'Where is Fluttershy?' and 'What's that light?' were among the most prominent thoughts swirling around as they neared their destination.

As they cleared through a last particularly thick layer of brush Rarity stopped immediately, "What in the name of Luna is that?"

They trotted up on a barren patch of land. The dirt and rock seemed scorched by some unknown blast, and there were charred poles protruding from the ground that they could only assume were trees. The area seemed to radiate some ominous heat that distorted the trees behind it.

Applejack showed no sign of stopping as she trotted toward the blast zone, but without her permission she was lifted in a purple aura and levitated back to the group.

"What the hay Twilight?" Applejack complained as Twilight set her down.

"That area has high amounts of magical residue coating it," she explained, "if you went in there without some sort of protective suit, the odds of you getting extremely sick are high."

"But Twi, didn't you just use your magic to levitate me?" Applejack asked with a flat expression.

"This is different. This magic is so powerful it could hurt the princesses. My levitation spell has barely a fraction of that power. Besides, i'm almost certain this is what the princesses sensed."

"But there's nothing in there Twi," Rainbow Dash said, "Why would Discord just blast a random part of the everfree with mag-"

Rainbow's words were cut off by Pinkie Pie, "Girls! I found some more prints... but you're not gonna like where they're heading." Pinkie Pie sounded extremely nervous.

The assorted ponies walked over to see Pinkie with a nervous smile forced onto her face. She pointed a hoof at a set of prints starting in the middle of the field and continuing into the blast zone.

Twilight processed what the tracks meant in an instant, then she started hopping from hoof to hoof, "Nonononononononononononononono! This can't be happening! Fluttershy is a smart pony. She would probably stay away from the scary smokey crater in the everfree unless... unless..."

"Something was in trouble." Rarity finished for her.

"Everypony spread out! Look for Fluttershy and any tracks going out of there." Twilight said in an authoritative voice that they did not hear often

"Right!" All of her friends yelled as they ran in separate directions around the blast radius.

It was a good minute before Twilight heard Applejack yell. It was a big blast radius, If Fluttershy went in there and tried to carry something out with her she wouldn't be feeling good for a long time. Twilight rushed over to Applejack. Applejack gave her a scared look and pointed at tracks leading back into the forest. The tracks were deeper than the previous set, and they seemed to be staggered, like Fluttershy was off balance. On an unspoken order both ponies charged into the foliage, determined to find their friend.

They didn't have to look very far. After they re-entered the forest they came upon two unconscious forms next to a large oak tree. One was easily identified as Fluttershy which Applejack rushed up to try to wake up. The other was something Twilight had never seen before.

Sprawled out behind Fluttershy was a long, skinny figure. The way it was positioned confirmed Twilight's suspicion; Fluttershy had carried this thing out of the extremely toxic area. Along with being tall, the creature was covered in clothes and metallic objects. It had very little hair, but what was visible was only on it's head and is bleach-white. The areas not covered by hair or the strange clothes had tanned skin. The creatures face was soft and round with high cheekbones and a pointed chin.

Of course this was all speculation. For all she knew, she could be staring straight at the creatures genitals.

"Twi! Help me out here! Fluttershy's not waking up!" Applejack yelled.

This broke Twilight out of her possibly suggestive analysis of the creature and turned her attention to Fluttershy. She was breathing normally, but when Twilight put a hoof to her forehead it almost burned her.

"She's burning up, we need to get her to the hospital." Twilight told Applejack.

"Well hurry up and teleport us Twi!" Applejack screamed.

"I can't make that kind of jump, and even if I could we shouldn't let either of them come in contact with more magic. It could make it worse!"

"Did you find her?" Applejack and Twilight heard their friends come bounding towards them, "How is she, and what is that?" Rainbow asked.

"Fluttershy's sick, and that's the thing you're carrying back to ponyville." Twilight answered in a hurry, "Now help me flip it ov- oh, oh Celestia..."

Twilight had flipped the creature onto its front with all of her strength. Once it was laying flat Twilight noticed the holes in the clothing. They peppered the creatures back, and each hole had it's own distinct ring of dry blood. Twilight fell backwards in shock.

"Twi, magic doesn't do that right?" Rainbow Dash asked cautiously.

Twilight sat staring for a few more seconds before regaining control of herself, "No, but we still need to get them to the hospital. Applejack get Fluttershy. Rainbow, Pinkie, pick it-" she motioned to the creature "-up. We need to go."

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked hesitant, but picked up the creature nonetheless. Twilight looked to Applejack who had Fluttershy straddling her back. Once Twilight made sure all her friends were ready to move they set out towards Ponyville.

Twilight heard something. She didn't know what it was, but it cut through the thick silence like a knife. She couldn't quite place the noise, it sounded distant, but something about it felt familiar. They had been walking for close to an hour and so far had no interruptions, but like every one of their adventures there was always some sort of twist. And here in the everfree a twist could mean getting turned into stone, she knew from experience.

Awooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well, so much for a peaceful walk through the forest.

The low crunching noise of timberwolves joints grinding was made clear. Brush in the distance rustled, and then exploded as three of the wolves burst out.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, put them over by that tree. We need to keep them safe." Twilight told them

Applejack and Rainbow Dash returned to Twilight's side. They cast wary glances at the eight or so timberwolves that accumulated in front of her. Twilight looked back to see Rarity and Pinkie Pie flanking them on either side. The creature that Twilight was starting to resent for causing all this trouble leaned motionless against a tree next to Fluttershy.

All in all, it was turning out to be a pretty crappy night.

One of the Timberwolves tried a lunge a Twilight. It was rewarded for it's bravery with a swipe of magic that sent it flying back to it's compatriots. The second Timberwolf ran at the hovering blue pegasus, but failed to notice the two-ton cannon-of-fun pointed right at it. With an explosion of confetti and love, the second timberwolf was shot back into his group. Slightly dazed, the wolf got back to his paws without a scratch on him.

'This isn't going to work! We need to get Fluttershy out of here! I could probably tell Applejack to run off with her, that might work. I'm just glad they aren't smart enough to attack at the same time. Twilight thought.

As if they could read her mind, the wolves all backed up as one.

"Get ready!" Twilight warned her friends who exchanged nervous glances.

Time seemed to slow down as the timberwolves charged. Their wooden paws scratching the ground slowly, their snarls as they eyed their next meal, her friends hearts hammering in their chests, the sound of their scared screaming as their lives flashed before their eyes... then, another sound. One of shuffling. It did not come from the wolves in front of them, nor did it come from her friends. The sound came from behind her. Twilight had no time to ponder what the sound was though, because she watched in slow motion as the timberwoles tried to halt abruptly and ended up tumbling over eachother in a rather comical manner.

As she returned to real time, Twilight saw menacing timberwolves back away slowly, tails between their legs, as if some thing were scolding them like a normal pet dog.

Twilight's mind processed it slower than she would have liked, but then she came to a conclusion.

She wheeled around in joy, "Flutters-"

The words shriveled up and died in her mouth, because standing in front of her grasping it's chest and standing on two legs, was the strange creature.

The timberwolves backed away as if Fluttershy were using 'The Stare' on them. The creature took slow, pained step away from the line that Twilight and her friends had set up. Twilight looked back at the timberwolves, they shook and whined softly as the creature behind her moved. When the shuffling of the creature stopped, so did the timberwolves. There was a brief silence before the pack turned tail and ran. All of the timberwolves scrambled around eachother to get away from the creature, well, all except one. The timberwolf that stood it's ground was much larger than it's bretheren. It's wooden skin was carved up as if it had seen many fights. It stood completely still, somehow pushing through whatever the creature did to it's pack.

Twilight turned back to the creature only to see it fumbling with some sort of syringe. When the creature held it firmly in the little things at the end of it's foreleg it jabbed the needle straight into it's abdomen. It' pushed down releasing whatever liquid the vial contained into it's bloodstream. The creature let out what Twilight interpreted as a happy groan before in fell to rest on one leg.

"AHHHH!"

Twilight turned back just in time to see the timberwolf rush at Rarity. It showed amazing speed and agility as it expertly dodged Applejack's hind legs and continued on to pounce on the unicorn. It pinned her forelegs down with it's paws and snarled in her face. Rarity couldn't move under the weight of the timberwolf and Applejack was still getting back to her hooves. Then Twilight watched as two figures tackled the timberwolf off of Rarity's petrified figure. One left a multicolored trail as it collided with the wolf then proceeded to fly into the air. The other figure was the creature, who tumbled onto the ground still latched onto the wolf.

As the timberwolf slid across the grass the creature rolled back onto two legs. It rushed at the wolf that was getting back up. The creature grabbed the wolf by it's wooden tail and used it's momentum to throw it at a distant tree. It hit the tree with a low thump, but got up and into an attack stance. More than anything, the wolf only seemed mad.

The creature reached into it's clothes and pulled out a sword. It was much different from the kind the saw some of the royal guards use. It was short for a sword , extremely thick, and the blade seemed to be curved forward. The creature crouched and held the sword at it's side, then it stopped moving. Completely. The creature locked eyes with the timberwolf and they engaged in a deadly staring contest.

The wolf broke first. It charged at the armed creature with frightening speed while the creature remained motionless. However, as the timberwolf neared it's supposed prey a few things happened in succession. The wolf jumped through the air eager to get it's next meal, the creature rushed forward at an insane speed for something it's size and brought it's sword across the wolfs side. The wolf yelped in pain, but nonetheless returned to it's stance to start fighting again.

The creature with the blade simply turned around to face the wolf again, but this time it made the first move. It ran forward and brought it's blade down in a wide arc. The wolf easily dodged it, but did not foresee the long leg kicking it in the jaw. The wolf stumbled back and the creature (which the gathered ponies were cheering for by then) flipped back into a standing position.

The wolf decided to make a last ditch effort. It ran at the creature with the last of it's energy and swiped a wooden claw at it's foe. The sword easily blocked it, but did not stop the set of razor sharp wooden teeth that went for the leg. The creature let out a high pitched scream of pain as the teeth sung into it's leg. It dropped it's sword and grabbed the timberwolf by it's mouth. The creature pulled its jaw off its leg then grasp the wooden wolf by the neck. There was the sound of wood splintering. Then the wolf fell to the ground dead.

Twilight watched in fascinated horror as the creature retrieved it's sword and returned it to its sheath and pushed itself back onto its legs. The creature shouldn't even be breathing! It's absorbed insane amounts of magic, apparently beaten senseless by whatever put the holes in it's back, and gotten bitten by one of the most fearsome creatures in the everfree!

It turned towards Twilight and her friends.

Twilight needed answers, but for now she only asked what all the ponies present wanted to know, "What are you?"

The creature looked blankly at them for a few seconds, 'Wait, it probably doesn't even speak equestrian!' Twilight thought.

"Talking horses... Can't say I expected that."

Twilight stopped mentally berating herself long enough to see the creature fall to the ground unconscious.