The Bond of Three

“What are we going to do? This is bad, this is very bad!” Nightingale panicked in the living room, Cherry Blossom attempted to calm her, while Red Quill calmly sipped tea in the dining room. What else was there to do? All of Equestria have been told of the capture of Princess Luna and those six pony friends, and Princess Celestia was grief-stricken, after all, nopony had ever come out alive of the grasp of the wolfponies. Red Quill was told by Princess Cadence that Celestia refused to come out of her chambers, all the more to panic. The Sky Apples were to be delivered tomorrow to the wolfponies; otherwise the captives would be eaten alive by the wolfponies themselves, slowly and painfully. And yet, Red Quill was just simply sitting in the dining room, sipping tea, and not doing a thing to help! Suddenly, Nightingale’s panicking ceased, and Red Quill turned to look in the living room, confused by the sudden lack of sounds of terror. Suddenly, she was toppled over by a purple missile of fur, and her precious tea was knocked away. Red Quill’s eyes stopped derping in circles for a moment, only for her to come face to face with an angry Nightingale.

“Why are we just sitting here? We have to go and save them!” She complained to Red Quill, who calmly got up, picked up her tea again and sipped.

“Well, you think we’re going to go into the Everfree forest, and try and save a princess and six ponies, against an army of wolfponies?” She replied, slight annoyance in her voice.

“Obviously. After all, nothing is impossible, unless you don’t believe in yourself that it is possible.” Nightingale coos with her Welsh accent and beautiful voice. A spark of memory ignites inside Red Quill. But it fades out all too quickly, too fast for her to fully grasp it. Her mum had said that once.

“Yeah, it’s not fair that they’ll kill them, just because of the Sky Apple shortage!” Cherry Blossom cut in that time. The two new friends of Red Quill began to chant, and Red Quill’s stomach twisted in guilt. They were right. It was unusual that Red Quill would ever even consider leaving somepony for a terrible fate. So why did she say it? ‘Oh no.’ She thought. ‘That was dad speaking. Only he would say something like that.’ She held back a tear at the thought of her father.

“Alright, alright, we’ll go save them.” She replied, her own mind speaking instead. She got up, told the others to pack, and went to pack herself. In the meanwhile, her mind rolled over whom to bring on the adventure. Not a lot of ponies Red Quill could trust, besides the six ponies that were captured. Twilight, her biggest fan… it was hard to think of her being captured for Red Quill. Well, besides Nightingale, Cherry Blossom, and Skylark, all who was left to bring was Ditzy, who had probably at least seen signs of the Legendary Wolfpony Cave.

“Let’s start there, my dearest murderer of a daughter.” Red Quill feels her father’s voice biting at the back of her mind, and tears run down her face.

~~~~~

I wait silently before the entrance to the sub-cave bearing the Pool of Prison. For three days, Śikārī has been going to the pool daily, dropping food off for the ponies, by crawling into the pool. Legend says that the pool was made from a droplet from the legendary Mirror Pool, and fueled with the blood of prisoners, giving one the ability to go into a room crafted in the fabric of reality, explaining the way he gets in. Śikārī doesn’t seem to like having to deliver food, probably because of his grouchy demeanour, which could possibly provide me with the ability to view the ponies myself. Suddenly, the pool ripples, and a grumbling Śikārī leaps out. Now’s my chance. I leap in to sight just as he begins to leave the sub-cave, and he snarls.

“Don’t you dare give me any trouble Sutāurufu! One of those wretched ponies tried to kick me!” He growls, and I lower into a defensive posture. I hold back a snarl at his words of insult to those wondrous creatures.

“That’s why I’ve come. I have come to offer that I feed the ponies instead.” I offer, speaking in the carefully rehearsed words I hoped for. He raises his eyebrow.

“Um, sure. But you’ll have to ask Dākuurufu…” He begins, but is cut off by another voice, with a maniacal touch to it.

“Ask me what?” It booms, and Śikārī looks behind me in horror, only to find the legendary mad brother of the three sisters.

“I ask that I replace Śikārī’s job of feeding the ponies, sir.” I cut in, and Śikārī turns to me, and I can tell by his eyes, that my cut off was uncalled for. Dākuurufu glares down at me, his intense gaze seeming familiar, and eventually it softens, but only a little bit.

“I see. You have full permission to deliver food.” He replies, and I can tell by Śikārī’s eyes, that he was expecting I was going to get a beating (and he was hoping for it). “Begin by harvesting the purple threeawn grass just outside of the cave. Do not leave the territory.”

“Yes sir.” I reply without making eye contact, and I rush to the entrance to the cave. I catch a faint whiff of something off of Dākuurufu’s coat. Admiration? Fancy? Or maybe even…love? I push the very thought away. Dākuurufu’s heart was composed of nothing but hatred.

~~~~~

“Ooh! I should’ve beaten that wolfpony to a pulp when I had the chance!” Rainbow Dash snarled as she dug her hooves into the walls fruitlessly. There was no exit to be seen in that round stone room, the only one being the pool in the back of the room, which, was a grey color most of the time, yet, it glowed blue whenever the wolfpony who delivered their food leapt out. Rainbow Dash had tried to enter while it was grey, only to find it to be a normal puddle of water.

“Um, excuse me-” Fluttershy’s voice tried to enter into the conversation, but nopony paid attention.

“Simmer down Rainbow. The last thing we need is for you to waste your time digging at the wall.” Applejack replied harshly.

“Um, pardon me-”

“Oh will you two stop bickering, this place is already ruining my hooficure!” Rarity complained.

“Um, there’s a-”

“Everything is fine! It’s going to be fine!” Twilight panicked in the corner of the room.

“Anypony want to play hide and seek?” Pinkie leapt into the conversation.

“NO!!!” Everypony hissed at the same time, except Fluttershy, who just cowered in fear. Soon, the room was filled with the sound of arguing.

“QUIET!!!” Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice boomed throughout the room, and everypony fell silent. “Look there my little ponies!” Luna pointed her hoof at the pool, and everypony looked in that direction. The pool was glowing blue. Rainbow wasted no time, and dashed to the pool, and attempted to leap inside. But, something leapt of the pool, and collided with her in midair. Rainbow fell back into the group of the captive ponies, and the pool turned grey yet again.

“Oh my Lupus! I’m so sorry! Are you ok?” A different voice cried out in surprise, however the voice had a harsh quality to it, and it flowed with a strange series of growls, rough barks unlike that of a dog, and a few whimpers. Everypony looked to see a creamy golden wolfpony; however it had many scars across its body, all deep red; all seeming to be made by either claws or teeth. The wolfpony bore a mane and tail of black with brown streaks; it had a moderately tall figure, meaning it was a female. It looked exactly like the other wolfponies, except for three telling details: It had swirling, flaring wings, a combination of bright yellow, orange, leaf green, sky blue, and light pink energy, and a long, a pinkish nearly transparent horn, and bright magenta eyes. Rainbow Dash charged at the wolfpony, whom immediately sunk into a posture of submission. The blue pegasus paused. Why in the world would a wolfpony, of all things, submit to a pony?

“I’m a friend! I just want your trust!” It whimpered, and Rainbow Dash backed away in confusion.

“You could have told me that earlier.” She snorted, and the wolfpony lifted her head, joy sparkling in her eyes.

“Great! My name is Sutāurufu!” The wolfpony barked.

~~~~~

“Everypony have everything they need before we go?” Red Quill asked all ponies present; Nightingale, Cherry Blossom, Skylark, and Ditzy, whom all nodded their heads in response. “All right, let’s go.” And with that, the ponies turned, and marched off into the Everfree Forest. Yet, three little shadows watched from behind Red Quill’s house, and three tiny filly voices spoke up.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Pony Rescuers!”

Throughout the trek through the woods, Cherry Blossom kept a watchful eye on the woods themselves, and the rest of the group. Nightingale whispered something like a song softly to herself; Red Quill sipped tea and looked at the map while Ditsy looked around frightfully, reminders of the attack flashing in her mind. Little did they know that little shadows followed in their footsteps. Suddenly, Ditsy stopped in her tracks.

“This is where they were attacked.” She reported. Red Quill nodded, and then her horn flared with aura, as she magically searched the area. Suddenly, Cherry Blossom’s ears pricked, and she stalked towards a rhododendron shrub.

“We’re being watched.” She hissed, and she lowered in a crouch, withers ready to leap.

“Nonsense, I can’t detect any living soul in the surrounding area.” Red Quill replied. But Cherry Blossom’s nose neared the shrub, a grimace of pure concentration across her face. Suddenly, a pair of intense red eyes appeared among the short leaves, and stared straight back at the surprised Cherry Blossom, a growl filling the area. A black wolfpony leapt out of the shrub, and it howled, signaling more wolfponies to jump out of the thick of the dark.

~~~~~

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Scootaloo? It doesn’t really seem safe getting a Cutie Mark in rescuing ponies…” Sweetiebelle’s hushed whisper passed itself to Scootaloo’s attentive ears as they crept behind the ponies who were looking for wolfponies.

“It isn’t, but if I rescue Rainbow Dash from the wolfponies, then she’ll finally teach me to fly!” Scootaloo replied. “And besides, if we follow these ponies, then we’ll be able to find her!”

“AND rescue my big sis.” Applebloom cut in.

“And mine!” Came Sweetiebelle’s voice in turn.

“I have an idea? Why don’t we rescue ALL of them?” Scootaloo snapped.

“Now, is it really safe for three innocent little fillies to be creeping around in such a place?” Came a terrifying female voice right behind the CMC, along with a growl. All three turned in horror as a wolfpony’s face appeared from the darkness of the forest, the wolfpony’s golden eyes glared down at the three blank flanks. Scootaloo barely had time to remember to run before Sweetiebelle’s high-pitched scream filled her ears.