Canine Complications

Chapters

Well... That's New...
Better and Better
An Apple in the Wolf's Mouth
Bathroom Trouble I (Shower Shenanigans)
Breakfast in Bed?
Conditions and Formal Introductions
Formal Introductions II
Out of the Frying Pan
Into the Fire I
Into the Fire II
Return
In the Bag
Acceptance and Mercy
Pain and Fear
Prophecy
Fear
Looking Up
Conflicted
Expectations
Roadblock
Ambush
Fight or Flight
Answers
Civility
Worry
Testimony
Resolution
Epilogue
Waking Up on the Wrong Side
Past and Present

Well... That's New...

Twilight Sparkle awoke in extreme pain. A quick self-diagnosis attributed this pain to several sources: her back (from sleeping on the hard wood floor of her basement), her head (from the magical backlash of the experiment that knocked her out last night) and finally her stomach (it felt like she hadn't eaten in days).

She surveyed the damage from the failed experiment. She cringed as she saw the table she had been using for her research material was in shambles. To the untrained observer it would appear that the table had been struck by lightning, but to her it looked a lot worse.

Her notes were shredded and sporadically burned, the reference books she had off to the side appeared to be scorched as well, but worst of all, the spell book she had been examining and testing was simply gone, lost to the torrent of magical backlash. She would have cried right there, that book was one of only three copies of "Animus's Arcane Animals", and with it gone she would need to travel to Canterlot to examine the one in the royal library if she was to finish her research, if she even could with her notes so thoroughly ruined.

She would have broken down right there, but her hunger pangs were more compelling than her depression.

"Spike!" she yelled up the stairs.

No response.

"Spike, are you awake yet?"

No response once again.

She unhappily rose to her hooves, grimacing at the pain of the endeavor. She made her way to the stairs and began the grand ascent. By the time she reached the top she was even less excited about the next venture of her journey: checking on Spike upstairs.

She made it to their room to be met by the sight of the peacefully sleeping dragon. She wanted to go to bed and have him bring her something to eat, but decided that, despite her pain, it would be unfair (and too difficult) to wake up the baby dragon after forcing him to stay up so late helping her last night. She had only dismissed him when she felt confident she would be ready to perform the test, and he had gone to bed not a second after his dismissal.

Twilight didn't remember the event itself, but she gave credit to the little drake for being able to sleep through the undoubtedly loud magical explosion she had caused only minutes later.

She trudged back downstairs after remembering that even if she woke him up and asked her to cook he wouldn't have anything to cook with; the kitchen was a barren wasteland after the most recent patented Pinkie Pie pantry pirate party.

Off to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast it was then. As she left home the fresh air helped to clear her headache a little, in fact after not too long she was actually feeling alright, other than her stomach.

The longer she walked through the more she noticed the odd looks she was getting. Ever since she became the all-team-organizer she had taken time to make sure she had at least introduced herself to every resident of Ponyville, and since the "want-it-need-it" incident she had taken even more time to reassure those residents she was not a crazed mad-mare. Some residents still gave her sideways glances when they thought she wasn't looking, but that was nothing like the looks she was receiving today. Today the residents of Ponyville were reacting to her the same way they reacted to Zecora at first, with fear, panic, running, and the liberal application of wooden cross-beams to window-frames and doors.

One particularly articulate mare had the calmness and sense of mind to scream "Predator!" at the top of her lungs.

That got Twilight's attention.

Perhaps, she reasoned, it was not her they were looking at but a predator so closely behind her as to elicit such glances. One so close that she should probably run for cover.

Her mind processed that thought in a fraction of a second and her body not a moment longer. She was sprinting at super-pony speed before she realized it, following the overly-articulate mare to the only structure that hadn't become a secure compound in the last thirty seconds: Sugarcube Corner.

The mare ran faster and faster as Twilight caught up, nearly being brushed by the fleeing mare's tail by the time she caught up to her. She expected the mare to hold the door for her, so when the door was unexpectedly slammed on her face she had no way to stop or even slow down. Result: She smashed into the door at full force, knocking it from its hinges and landing on top of it where it fell inside the bakery.

Fear compelled her to her hooves as she surveyed the small crowd that had sought refuge in the bakery. Their faces betrayed absolute fear as those in front began to fight to retreat further into the crowd.

One pony though, came forth from the crowd as they retreated, ready for what was about to happen.

"Puppy!" Pinkie shouted as she grabbed Twilight in a headlock and began to rub her chin.

"Pinkie? What are you doing?"

"Twilight? I didn't know you were going to be a puppy today! You should have told me! I would have prepared a 'Congradulations-on-becoming-a-big-scary-puppy-party'! Really though, we could have saved some panicking time if you would schedule what you are going to be. First it's stone, then it's the old grandpa from the retirement home, then it's an ali-"

Twilight put her hoof over Pinkie's mouth. "Pinkie, I just want to know why you thought I... was... a..." She answered her own question though, because as she looked to her friend, she noticed that it was not her hoof in the pink pony's mouth, but a paw.

"Oh..." was all she managed to say before she passed out on the floor of the bakery.

"Awww, puppy's tired!" Pinkie laughed as she began to reassemble the door with parts she kept around in case of "door emergency".

Author's Note

Written in a fit of creativity (madness) after seeing that cover pic. I will be continuing this in short (relatively stand alone) chapters as inspiration hits. Second chapter should be off the presses Soon™ (probably like the end of the week)

Better and Better

"So what am I supposed to do for food!"

Twilight was understandably upset with this latest revelation.

"Calm down Twilight," Fluttershy felt odd saying those words that she herself were so often told, "It's not like you can't eat a daisy sandwich, it's just that you won't get enough nutrition for that to be a long term solution."

"So what? I'm slowly going to starve to death unless I find the counter spell soon? Am I going to-"

Fluttershy could tell Twilight was in full freak out mode. "No, there are plenty of things-" she attempted to calm Twilight down, but the panicking wolf paid no attention.

"-what about Celestia! Promise me you won't tell her!"

"Twilight I think it would be best if we did tell-

Twilight unheedingly continued "If she finds out she'll have me hunted! I'll be banished! I'll have to leave Equestria and fight animals for scraps of food! what if-"

"NO! She can't find out about this! If she hears I tried a spell without knowing what might happen- Or if she finds out what I've turned into- Promise me you won't let her find out!"

"But I think she might be able to-"

"Promise me!" Twilight's mane was frazzled and only getting worse as she frantically glanced around the room, as if expecting the solar monarch to be hiding in the room, ready to jump out and banish her.

Fluttershy hated seeing Twilight like this, but sometimes friends just need a little- what did Applejack call it?- "hoof-to-flank motivation."

Fluttershy had long since sworn to herself never to use the stare on any of her friends. In fact she only used her power on her animal friends when they threatened herself or others, but in this odd situation Fluttershy decided to ignore the paradoxical nature of Twilight's predicament and use it on her anyway. Fluttershy held the stare on Twilight and called her name, when she looked she was frozen immediately.

Twilight's spiraling decent into social, ethical, and dietary madness was stemmed before it got too bad, but seeing as "too bad" in Twilight terms case meant she hadn't yet begun to plot any elaborate and ill-contrived conspiracies, she was still far from ok. When she was sure Twilight had stopped her panicking Fluttershy averted her gaze from the frozen wolf.

"Twilight, I Pinkie-Promise I won't let Celestia Know until you're comfortable with it." That visibly calmed her formerly frantic friend. "Now, I have an idea for something you can eat, but I don't have any right now. So for now we'll just have to go to the Cakes to get something else, ok?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes, I'm starving. ...and thanks for stopping me. I know how I get when I'm stressed and... well... thanks."

"It's not a problem, I just don't want you to be upset. I'm sure we'll have this sorted out soon."

"Thanks Fluttershy, So off to the cakes then? I'm starving!"

Most ponies were off the streets by dusk. Other than for good reason, almost all ponies were home safe by the time Celestia's sphere crossed the west horizon and Luna's broke the east.

This night was no different, Twilight had worried about the reactions she may get, but that became a non-issue as they walked the empty streets to Sugarcube Corner.

"Thanks for doing this for me Fluttershy."

"Oh it's no problem Twi. I'll just go in and get the food for you and we can go back to the library with it. ...if that's ok with you?"

"Why should you do all the work? I'll just go in and get... What are we getting me for food again?" Twilight just realized she had never been told what exactly she was expected to get in the way of ...meat... in a bakery.

"Oh, we'll I would have gotten you some fish, like I give to some of Mr. Bear's friends when they need help, but I was all out... Sorry..." Fluttershy looked at the ground and fiddled with her hoof.

"It's not a problem Fluttershy, I don't think I'm quite ready for something so... previously alive." she shuddered at the thought of eating something that used to be, at least partially, self-aware. "But that doesn't explain why we came to Sugarcube Corner. Why would the cakes have anything I can eat amongst their cakes and cookies?"

"Oh, we're not here for their cakes or cookies, we're here for what I brought over this morning: eggs! They are high enough in protein that they should be good for you, they are readily available (my chickens are always happy to oblige!) and best of all you don't have to feel bad about eating them, because we all already eat eggs!"

It's kind of funny now that she thought about it. It's obvious in retrospect that eggs would work, she just hadn't thought of them in that way before.

"Wow Fluttershy, I hadn't thought of that before, but why did we need to come here again? Don't you have eggs? I know you have chickens."

"Well, I do have chickens, but I was actually bringing a load over to the Cakes when the whole 'predator' scare happened this morning. Right as I came in to deliver them, I found you and Pinkie on the floor... and ran to get the girls." Fluttershy said as she continued to hoof at the ground again.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you did what you could at the time, and thanks for that."

The mare and wolf had made their way to the Corner and had stopped to chat, but in the awkward silence that followed said conversation, Twilight absent-mindedly pushed open the door to the corner and went in.

Understandably the Cakes were upset to have a wolf walk in to their store after closing time, but when Fluttershy followed it in they were less upset.

"Good evening Mr. Cake, It's Twilight if you were unaware. Fluttershy has recently informed me that due to my current form I am in need of a high-protein diet, would you have the resources to prepare me an egg meal?" Twilight asked, trying to sound as analytical as possible to clear up any doubt to her identity.

The cakes responded by staring at Twilight then to Fluttershy.

"...Please?" Twilight added as an afterthought.

"Fluttershy, could you leave your animals at the door? Please? Your wolf seems ready to eat somepony." Mr. Cake said dropping down behind the counter slightly.

"Mr. Cake, I assure you that I am-"

"Fluttershy could you put a muzzle on him or something? Mr. Cake interrupted.

"Mr. Cake! I am not-"

"Uh, Twilight... You... I'm sorry, I thought you knew..." Fluttershy eeped, not looking anywhere near her canine friend.

"Knew what Fluttershy? That Mr. Cake has finally gone deaf? I told Pinkie that practicing eleven instruments at once was bad to do indoors!"

"Oh my, uh... no, he's not deaf."

"Well something's wrong here! He's talking as if he can't hear me!"

"It's not that he can't hear you, it's that... well... you are a wolf... and wolves don't talk."

"Fluttershy, we're talking right now." Twilight said. As the obvious dawned on her she brought a paw to her face, "...and you can talk to animals. Right. Ok, so now I'm scary, hungry, and unable to communicate with anyone other than you."

"AND ME!" Pinkie said as she bounced down the stairs in her own wolf Nightmare Night costume. "I can speak with you too! Isn't that awesome! We can all speak in wolf code! You're like a secret agent now! Ooh! ooh! Can I be a secret agent too Twilight?"

"Pinkie how can you- Ah! I almost... Eh, never mind." Twilight gave a world-weary sigh, and looked back to Fluttershy "So that's why Applejack bucked me while I was talking to her?"

"Probably, after you passed out I came out of the closet and took you home." Fluttershy said.

"Oh! I remember that" Pinkie said as she sniffed at Twilight, hunching down and wagging her tail like a dog wanting to play. "after Fluttershy took you Applejack felt real bad about hitting you and went home all sad..." the pink wolf-pony sat now looking like she was going to cry before her mane proofed back up again. "But if you're awake now then you're ok and AJ can be stop feeling bad!"

Twilight's stomach began to grumble and the vacant ache in her stomach that had been plaguing her all day returned.

"Well," Twilight began, "It sounds like we should head over to Sweet Apple Acres after I'm done eating."

Author's Note

This was originally supposed to be the first half of the next chapter. (For all those who complain about short chapters) but, it would be another few days before that would come out, and despite what I said, this actually makes more sense as it's own chapter anyway.

An Apple in the Wolf's Mouth

The trot over to the Sweet Apple Acres was a lot more enjoyable than their earlier trip to the bakery. Twilight chalked up the difference to the fact she was no longer enduring the ache of unappeased hunger.

She was now firmly adamant she had to try Pinkie' signature egg assortment sometime she was less ravenous ...and less carnivorous.

As the Twilight and Fluttershy passed under the gateway to the Acres, they could once again see the familiar light of the farmhouse.

"Fluttershy, how about you go first this time? I'd rather not get bucked in the face by Granny Smith or Big Mac." Twilight dropped back a little so Fluttershy was now leading.

"...but what if they are all asleep. I don't want to wake them up, or what if they’re doing something del-" the demure mare responded as she exponentially decreased her speed approaching the door.

Twilight got behind her timid friend and pushed, “Come on Fluttershy, it's not like you're doing this alone! I'll be right back there. I just don't want the first thing they see to be-"

As if by prophetic vision, the next thing to happen was exactly what Twilight was attempting to avoid.

"Get away from Fluttershy you varmint!" the Apple yelled, coming out the front door. Before she could react, or Fluttershy could say anything, the Apple had run over and impacted Twilight as hard as she could.

...but while no one could discredit her bravery, Applebloom was not getting her wolf-fighting cutie mark today.

Twilight watched as the filly charged straight at her in an apparent attempt to tackle. She couldn't dodge in time and the little filly impacted tight into her, and bounced right back off.

Twilight didn't want the filly to try again (and hurt herself) so she did something she knew dogs commonly did with pups who were getting in over their heads. She bent down and picked up the filly by the scruff of the neck.

"Help! Applejack! Big Mac! I'm being eaten!"

Twilight supposed it wasn't the most accurate assessment of the situation, but it could still raise problems.

Applejack was the first to the door. As she came out her expression turned from fear to anger as she saw the wolf with her sister in its mouth, but when she took notice of Fluttershy (and the lack of filly eating going on) her expression turned to relieved amusement.

Twilight was trying her best to not drop the flailing filly.

"Help! Sis! It’s got me!" Applebloom's little limbs reached towards her sister in desperation.

Applejack was struck by the strangely humorous sight. "Calm down there Applebloom, Twi's not gonna eat ya."

Twilight gently lowered and released Applebloom who ran over to the safety of her sister's undercarriage.

"Fluttershy? Ya mind taking little Applebloom here off to bed? I'd like to talk with Twi for a bit."

Fluttershy looked to Twilight, silently questioning if she'd be alright with it, and with a nod from Twilight, Fluttershy collected the frightened filly and went inside, leaving a mare and a wolf standing outside the farmhouse.

Applejack coughed "So, uh, Twi..." she shifted awkwardly, looking away from her canine friend, "I'm not gonna make excuses for what happened this morning, but believe me when I say I'm sorry about hittin' ya in the gut. I'll make it up to ya. I swear to it on the Apple name. Just say it and I'll do whatever you want to get you to forgive me." tears began to form around her eyes as her apology became less and less rehearsed, "Really Twi, I may not have been the best friend to ya so far, what with denying your help when ya offer it, and with me being the first to decide to offer comfort to the changeling cadence before the wedding and..." Applejack was hardly coherent through her sobbing now. "...and I've been thinking... It actually took me seriously hurting one of my friends to do it, but I thought back to all the times that I've not been the best friend to ya' and it's just like it all came together at once... I'm so sorry Twilight, really, I'm so sorry..." the sobbing mare spent a few minutes composing herself before continuing. "You always said it wasn't my fault afterward, but my silly pride was keeping me from seeing that I wasn't practicing what I preached. I was just..." she choked up again before she could finish. "Now look at me! I couldn't even say it to you when you were... I'm sorry for being such a bad friend that I couldn't even say this to your face... That I had to do it when you didn't look like yourself... Even now I'm making all this about me, when you're the one we should be thinking about..."

She was spiraling and even through wolf's eyes twilight could see it plain as day. She temporarily forgot about her own situation and focused solely on Applejack. She edged up to where Applejack was sitting and leaned into her.

"Thanks Twi... You really are a great friend." Twilight was content to stay like that all night, but after a bit Applejack continued, "-but seriously anything you want and I'll get it for you!"

Twilight shook her head.

"There is nothing I want more than your friendship."

They sat staring out at the acres together, just enjoying each other’s company. After a while Applejack broke the silence, "You know I didn't understand a word of that right?"

"I know Applejack, I know." Twilight barked back.

Author's Note

Eh... Debating whether this chapter is to serious for a humor fic. I think that the build up was good for the joke ending though.

I was originally going to have the twist be that the communication barrier went both ways and that Twilight didn't catch a bit of Applejack's heartfelt admission, but that presented a bunch of problems if I wanted to continue on to newer and better plot and joke ideas (which would be way to much of a hassle if they required two-way translation)

As always: give me joke ideas! I hunger for good jokes!

Bathroom Trouble I (Shower Shenanigans)

After going inside and finding Fluttershy (to solve the communication issue) it was decided that Twilight would spend the night at the Acres to avoid scarring Fluttershy's animals back at the cottage.

Twilight asked if she could just go back to the library, but Fluttershy was adamant that until the effects of the wolf-ifying spell were understood, or at least had been more explored, Twilight should remain in the care of another pony. Twilight raised a concern over who would care for Spike, but Fluttershy informed her that after AJ knocked her out, (Applejack apologized profusely for that again) Rarity had gone to check the library and had taken Spike to her boutique.

With her concerns for Spike removed, Twilight had happily accepted Applejack's offer but was a little concerned about sleeping arrangements.

"Twilight wants to know where she's going to sleep." Fluttershy translated from Twilight's barks and whines.

"Well, we don't have any spare rooms at the moment but I see no reason why you can't just stay in my bed with me." Applejack responded happily before suddenly taking on a threatening air, "As long as you don't have a sleep song... You don't do you?"

A quick eye raise from the wolf resolves that question.

"Well, ok then, I was just about in bed myself before I heard Bloom's screaming, so I'm gonna hit the sack. If ya want a shower, ya know where it is. I assume ya can handle yourself in there?"

Another "are you serious?" eye raise from Twilight and Applejack headed up to bed. Fluttershy decided that this was her time to leave, and departed for her own bed.

Twilight was quite excited to take a relaxing shower after her crazy day. She actually would have preferred a bath, but as much as she wanted to feel clean, her tiredness quickly overrode her thoughts of an hour-long soak in the tub.

The shower was an enjoyable experience given the hectic day. As she stood in the shower she let her mind wander.

Manipulating the controls with her magic was easy enough, but how did Applejack (or any earth pony for that matter) manipulate those darn knobs with wet hooves? She had never really thought about it before, but she decided to ask Applejack about it sometime.

...ok, seriously, how did she do it!

Twilight tried (and failed) to operate the knob with her paw.

Maybe she uses her mouth?

As Twilight pondered the sanitary concerns of sharing a bathroom that earth ponies must face, she used her magic to turn the water off, deciding against trying to turn the knobs with her new (exponentially sharper) teeth.

As she stood there dropping she realized a new problem: She had no towel.

She would just go and get one, but she didn't want to go on a scavenger hunt for towels while dripping all around the Apple home. She considered calling to Applejack, but she was likely already asleep, and waking AJ up for her own forgetfulness was something she wanted to avoid.

"Well, here goes nothing!" Twilight said, spreading her legs for balance in the slippery tub.

She shook.

She shook every part of herself just as she knew canines did... and it felt good! lt provided an instinctual joy for the new wolf. As the bliss of the shake overtook her, she subconsciously realized that her tongue was hanging out too, but she didn't care: there was shaking to be done!

It was an odd experience, but while she was doing it she didn't want to stop, and when she finally did she really wanted to do it again despite being dry, so she did anyway. She shook and shook, but all good things must come to an end.

When her little session was done, she pulled the curtain and stepped out. ...and fell on her face.

Although she had kept the curtain closed, some water had apparently still managed to escape the shower, making the floor slick.

Looking around she noticed that the splash damage was not limited to the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling were soaked.

Twilight gaped at the condition of the room, it was as if Rainbow dash had let a thundercloud explode inside AJ's bathroom.

Twilight face pawed again. She had forgotten the fundamental flaw of canine's primary method of water removal: they dry themselves at the cost of the area around them.

Beginning to panic, her original fear of tracking water around seemed moot. Anyway, now that she was relatively dry, she did not have to fear tracking water around the rest of the home; her hunt for towels could travel where it may. After a frantic dig through the cabinets under the sink came up empty, she decided that the laundry room was the next most reasonable place to have towels. She sprinted down stairs as quickly as she could.

The laundry room was nice and welcome sight, containing seemingly every towel this side of Appaloosa. She grabbed every towel she could and returned to the soaking wet bathroom.

She manipulated some to the ceiling and some to the floor, dropping saturated towels into the tub and pulling dry ones out of the pile to take their places.

She worked furiously wiping down the walls and eventually the floor.

She gave a final check to the whole room, leaving the towels in the tub to drain, she made a mental note to clean them up when she woke up.

She walked back down the hall back to Applejack's room. She had been quite exhausted before her shower, and now that the adrenaline had worn off she was about to pass out.

She wandered into the darkness of Applejack's room only semi-conscious, finding the first comfy surface and curling up on it.

She didn't even notice the small quivering form she wrapped herself around.

Breakfast in Bed?

Twilight, for a welcome change of events, awoke gently for the first time in what felt like forever. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Observing the bed she was on, she noticed several things at once: first, Applejack's bed was quite small, second, Applejack was not in the bed, and third, Applebloom was quite warm.

…Applebloom?

Suddenly fully awake Twilight now could see the little yellow filly she was curled around.

"Applebloom? Why are you in Applejack's bed?"

No response.

"Applebloom?" Twilight put a paw on the filly's back and gave her a gentle shake.

The filly still did not respond.

Twilight knew that the filly would probably not be excited about being woken up by a wolf, but if she wasn't waking up at all, that was much worse.

Twilight decided to cut her losses and try the one of only things that Spike had always used successfully on her. Assuming the filly wouldn't wake to the call of "you're late", she used the method that Spike had used as his backup plan since they were young.

Twilight licked the filly.

That was normal right? Dogs did that all the time, and she was just playing the part right?

Might as well be thorough... She licked the filly again.

Aww, Now her fur is going the wrong way! Twilight licked again... And again... And again...

Twilight kept at it until she heard the door open.

"Hey Applebloom you seen- oh, Twi... I... Uh... What are you doing?"

Twilight retracted her tongue, closed her mouth, and stood back up.

"Now you weren't about to take a bite of my sister now were ya?" Applejack asked, giving a very unamused look to the wolf sampling her sister.

"NO! I was trying to wake her up! -and she!-" Twilight tried to explain, shaking her head.

The wolf's growls and whimpers meant little to the farmer, but the frantic head shaking was universal enough.

"Suuure... I'm going ta' give ya the benefit of the doubt and not buck you out the window right now."

Twilight gulped as she gave a nod.

"I came to say that breakfast is ready. But just so you know, Apple is not on the menu."

Twilight gave a sheepish nod, and followed the farm mare out of the room.

As soon as she was sure the monster was gone Applebloom opened her eyes. She had managed to play dead the whole night, but if Applejack hadn't come by she probably would have been- Ah!

She jumped as she heard a banging on the door to her room.

"Applebloom! You up yet? I forgot to tell you Scootaloo and Sweetiebell are here for you!"

Maybe they can help!

Applebloom followed her sister downstairs, past the kitchen where IT was, and was on the way to the clubhouse with Scootaloo and Sweetiebell before IT saw her go.

The filly trio had galloped half way to the clubhouse before the other two fillies spoke.

"What's the rush Applebloom? Do you have an idea for our cutiemarks?" Scootaloo said excitedly.

"Yeah, uh... is everything alright Applebloom?" squeaked Sweetiebell.

The farmer filly turned to her following friends. Scootaloo was beaming with excitement while Sweetiebell looked concerned.

"No! Everything is not alright. I didn't get any sleep last night because I was almost eaten right in front of my own house! Applejack saved me but then she let it into the house too! It snuck into bed with me! I was almost breakfast in bed!"

"Whoa! Cool! What kind? Did it have big teeth?" Scootaloo bounced with excitement.

"Not cool! I don't really know what it was, and seeing as it was going to EAT ME, yes it had big teeth! Anything else?"

"Would it make a good cutie mark if we caught it?" Scootaloo asked unabashed.

"No!" Applebloom and Sweetiebell said in unison.

"Well then, what are we going to do about it?" Scootaloo asked.

"We're going to do what we usually do when we have problems." Applebloom answered.

"What? Ask your sisters or Rainbow Dash?"

"No Scoots, I think she means we're going to build another catapult ...again."

"That's not right either Sweeetiebell, we only do that when we try helping Scoots learn to fly. No, right now we're going to visit Zecora!" Applebloom shouted.

Sweetiebell cautiously approached the subject of "Why?"

"Because she knows everything! She'll how to stop the monster before it eats anypony!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster Hunters YAY!"

Across town in the middle of the quickly filling marketplace a conversation was overheard. "Seriously I saw that animal care pegasus taking that beast from the market yesterday over to Sweet Apple Acres in the middle of the night. Shady stuff I tell you..."

One market-goer couldn't help but hear the mares' gossip as they passed him in the market. He was off duty, but he took his work as the Ponyville dog-catcher very seriously ...despite the city council's claims that Ponyville didn't really NEED a dog-catcher... Anyway he had never been fond of how Fluttershy, the goody-four-shoes, had always prevented him from catching any of the stray animals in the little town. The way she always caught them before he could was always a thorn in his flank, or more specifically his long-handled-net cutiemark.

But this was finally his chance, an actual non-pet possibly-feral canine had been sighted in the town, and Celestia be bucked if he was about to let that challenge to his sacred dog-catching honor -no- his destiny go unfulfilled!

He was going to catch this scourge if it was the last thing he was going to do.

Conditions and Formal Introductions

"So I was thinking Twi, why don't you go see Zecora? She's helped with things like this before, maybe she knows something that can help." Applejack said between bites of her flapjacks.

Twilight gave a weary glance to the door.

"Oh yeah, uh... Why don't I go with you? That'll help keep ponies from freaking out right?"

Twilight looked up from her plate and gave Applejack an ' are you serious? Do you really believe that will work?' stare.

"You got any better ideas?"

The wolf returned a shrug as she licked her plate clean.

"Then we'll leave right after breakfast."

"Now where'd she get too?" Applejack cursed as she ran through the streets checking every alley and listening closely for any shrieks of terror from across the town.

-20 minutes earlier-

Applejack and her carnivorous friend left the farm expecting to head straight for Zecora's. The ponies of Ponyville had a different idea.

"Now Twilight, I need ya ta' stay close or else we'll cause a panic." Applejack said as they approached the town proper.

Twilight nodded absently as she looked to the storefronts just starting to welcome their first customers of the day.

Things were going great, ponies were jumping at the sight of the large predator walking through town, but to Twilight's amazement, they were behaving as Applejack expected, waving to her and calming down as soon as they saw the orange mare walking alongside the fearful beast.

Everything was fine until one pony decided to jump off the roof of Sofas and Quills with a Pinkie-class comically oversized net.

"Don't worry citizens! The Ponyville dog catcher has saved you from your almost certain fate! Never more will you have to fear this foul creature! Why, I would even go so far as to say-" he stopped as he saw the looks he was getting from the few ponies out on the street. "What? Do you not realize what I have done?"

"Yeah! Ya just spooked a big-bucking predator away from the mare that was helping it out of town!" the Sofa clerk shouted, "Not to mention tore off part of my gutters!"

The previously ecstatic dog-catcher-extraordinaire looked back at his net.

True to the shop owner's words, the net was empty of his great prize, and the mare that had been near it was running full gallop down the street. Part of the shop's gutters also lay on the ground behind him, the rear end of the net's handle pierced through the twisted metal. The handle must have gotten in the way of his decent, throwing off his aim and allowing his prey to escape.

"Buck..." the net-flanked pony thought as he bemoaned how much more work he'd need to do now. He couldn't even pass it off as outside his jurisdiction now, no doubt the city would blame him for spooking it if it happened to run anypony down.

"Great. Just great." he had a job to do.

Applejack turned down another street just in time to see a pink tipped tail turn the corner a block ahead.

"Twilight!" she yelled after it, receiving no break from fortune.

By the time she turned the same corner she had lost sight of her target.

"Come on Twi. There's nothing to be afraid of." she said to herself as she began her search again, this time in the direction of the disappearing pink tail.

"Yeah! You better be afraid ya' mutt!"

The valiant dog catcher was in pursuit.

Well... He sure was screaming as if he was.

Passersby would take note of the very critical absence from the equation: the dog.

Twilight meanwhile had taken shelter far from the hustle and bustle (and giant net wielding base jumpers) of the market.

She was now taking refuge behind Ponyville General Hospital. She had a lot of experience with the place, having been put into a double front leg casts (and horn-powered wheelchair) after falling down the stairs into Applejack's new apple cellar in one of the 'ear-flop eye-flutter knee-twitch' incidents. She also got a nice look at the hospital’s interior when she visited Rainbow. The staff were nice, caring ponies (when you weren't leading them on romps around the town over a break-in for a book) so Twilight knew that they wouldn't want to hurt her even if they found her.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!"

Twilight looked over to a nearby window where a blue mare with a white mane was calling out to her through a tiny open window near the corner of the building.

"Hey! Are you hiding from someone?" she called over.

"Um... Yes? ...not that you'll-"

"Well than come inside! -the door key's under the mat!" the mare welcomingly called once again (much to Twilight's surprise).

Twilight more than happily obliged the mare's invitation. She levitated the mat aside, found the key, and used it to gain entry to the sanctuarious hospital.

"Come on over dear!" Twilight heard from down the hall to her left, "Don't be shy now! Come on over!"

She followed the voice to a very unassuming door at the very end of the hall.

"Come in, the door's unlocked."

Twilight pushed open the door to be met with a sight she had not anticipated.

Food poisoning, maybe a broken leg or two, even a burn or something probably would have been Twilight's guess at the patient's condition, but she was quite a ways off. And the room itself showed why.

The floor, walls, and even ceiling were covered in thick white padding. The light, far out of reach was covered by a fine metal grate, enough to protect the bulb, but not enough to allow tampering or to support any significant weight. In the corner there was a discarded cylinder of mesh with rubberized ends and straps with simple buckles and slots for locks: a muzzle. Most strikingly to Twilight though was the mare's clothing: a strait jacket.

The refugee wolf began to back out of the room.

"Now I know what this looks like, but I'm not dangerous or anything! I've never bitten anyone (who didn't deserve it.)”

"Uh, what's... If I may ask, why are you in here? You don't seem too out of it for being in an obviously low-security, yet evidently high-risk cell." Twilight asked keeping her running legs primed and her door-slamming paws at the ready.

"Oh, you know, same reason as everyone else: being around without an owner. It's not that bad actually, all the others talk about the pound like some kind of dump, but it isn’t bad at all! The feed me three times a day, and we go on walks every-"

Twilight backed out of the room somewhere between "owner" and "pound" to read the chart on the outside portion of her door.

In type it had a long paragraph under the "Condition:" heading, but from what Twilight could interpret of the overly complicated (and in some places misused) terminology, she learned the mare inside the room's condition: dementia leading to the belief of canine being.

She thought she was a dog.

Twilight re-entered the room.

"The door says you think you're a dog, is that right?" the wolf-that-thinks-herself-a-pony asked the pony-that-thinks-herself-a-dog.

"Yup! We’re talking aren’t we! And besides, what else would I be?" she responded with a head tilt and questioning look.

"Twilight, where the heck are ya' girl?"

Applejack had been jogging around town for what seemed like (and had probably been) hours.

"You!" someone shouted from behind her.

Turning, she saw the crazy net-wielding roof-jumping stallion from before running at her.

Thinking fast, she side stepped him as he recklessly charged to where she had just previously stood. She extended a hoof in his path.

"What're ya' trying to do!" she shouted at him as he tumbled to the ground.

"Ouch… Why'd you trip me?" he said as he got up, rubbing his flank.

"Why were ya' charging at me like a madmare? Somepony comes at ya like a stallion possessed out of the blue of course yer not gonna take too kindly to that!"

"Sorry, I'm just excited... Do you know where that big wolf-dog went?"

"Ya mean after ya scared her off while I was walking her out of town? No! I havn't seen her, and I've been looking since ya jumped us! I don't know what you think you were doing, but if she's hurt or anything it's on you, and trust me when I say: if Celestia hears you hurt her- If that wolf comes to harm, you will regret it."

*gulp* "Uh, sure... Wa- Was there something special about that wolf?”

"Ya better believe there is! She's..."

"So you’re saying that I'm actually a pony that just thinks I'm a dog?"

Twilight had spent her time in hiding trying to approach this topic with the mare, but had no success until now.

"Yes! Finally!" Twilight was ecstatic that her effort was finally meeting some success.

"...says the wolf that claims to be a pony."

Or maybe "success" was not the right word.

"Listen to me! You are just confused! I'm a unicorn that had a little magical mishap. I AM a pony and so are you!"

"I think you are the confused one.
You. Are. A. Wolf.
I. Am. A. Dog.
Simple as that. Now if that's settled, let's begin the formal introductions."

Twilight was not going to try to approach the subject again if the mare was just not going to listen.

"Formal introductions? Ok, for starters my name is- WHATTHEHECKAREYOUDOING!?!"

Formal Introductions II

"Get your head out from under there! -AH!- Don't sniff that! Stop that!"

Twilight was not afraid of personal contact, but this contact was a little too personal for her tastes. She leaned forward and attempted to force an end to whatever this crazy mare was doing. Twilight pushed back the mare with one of her back legs and before the mare could get her head back underneath of her she sat with her stomach flat on the ground.

The mare's straight jacket was shuffled off in the commotion allowing the mare to respond with something Twilight decided was even a more direct turn for the worse.

The mare mounted her.

Nope! Nope! Nope!

Twilight jumped with enough force to send the blue mare back into one of the (luckily very padded) walls.

Reason had a time and place, and that was not when you were being jumped by an apparently very confused mare.

Compulsion took over as Twilight stared down at the mare.

"Stay down!" she barked.

The mare complied. Twilight now positioned herself on top of the mare.

This was where she belonged. This felt correct.

As Twilight kept her focus on the mare below her she did not hear the door to the room open, nor did she notice the brown stallion that peaked in.

"Hey Screwy? Are you alright? I heard some- Waaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

That got the species confused pair's attention.

Bedside Manner was not the most excitable of ponies. He couldn't be in his profession. He had been a nurse at Ponyville General for almost three months and had seen things that most doctors in a normal small town would never see in a whole career, and this fine morning he could add one more thing to that ever-growing list.

He had heard barking from patient "Screw Loose" (or "Screwy" as the staff had affectionately dubbed the literally barking-mad mare.) Today though, he heard barking different from her usual excited yips, in fact it sounded like a different dog altogether (maybe even a real one!) and he had decided to check it out.

He now regretted his inquisitiveness as he stood before... Well... He wasn't sure what he had just interrupted, but it it was unexpected to say the least. So, as any reasonable pony would do in his position, the first thing Bedside Manner did was scream at the top of his lungs.

...and subsequently pass out.

The nurse's screaming accomplished two things very quickly: it brought Twilight's attention to what she had just done, and alerted Everypony within a few blocks to the wolf shaped anomaly in Ponyville General.

Luckily for a certain dog catcher, that meant that he now could approximate where his target was.

"That came from the hospital!"

As the catcher and Applejack arrived at the hospital it was easy to see that they were well aware of Twilight's presence.

Into the fray of frantic ponies the pair dove. Fighting the surge of nurses and patients fleeing the hospital, Applejack and the dog catcher (who had revealed his name to actually be Catcher) eventually made their way to the epicenter of the action.

As they rounded the corner into the east wing hallway they were met by the sight of a medical pony brandishing what appeared to be a scalpel and facing the wolf who was curled into the far corner of the hall, opposite an open door.

"Turn, hellhound, turn!" the stallion shouted advancing at Twilight.

Despite his menacing appearance, the stallion was no trouble after he got blindside-bucked by Applejack, who then raced to her friend.

"Are you hur-" the farm pony began to ask before she was tossed aside by Catcher.

"Are you hurt! Oh please don't be hurt! Ah!" he began inspecting the wolf for damage.

Twilight stood up as he continued his search.

"Does anything hurt? Your legs? Your head? Your neck? Your back? Your tail?" the stallion searched each respective place for damage, but when he reached her tail Twilight turned on him and began growling.

"Now ya best stop while yer ahead there feller." she said as she pulled the over-eager stallion off of her friend. "Now Twi, I know he's not the, eh... most courteous of ponies, but Catcher here didn't mean ta' startle you before. He's just a little over-excited about his job."

Catcher dropped to the ground in front of Twilight's paws. "I didn't know who you were! I swear! If I would have known you were Twilight Sparkle I wouldn't have... you know... done what I did! I'm just so sorry! I'll do whatever I have to make it up to you!"

The nearly hysteric stallion's eyes were closed as he made his plea, resulting in him not noticing that Twilight and Applejack had escaped the facility as soon as possible, leaving him alone .

His pleas to the absent party were heard by one though, by one very peculiar mare. A mare who had just been claimed, and had just watched as another submit to the pack leader.

Don't look up at her! She's testing me I know it! I just have to stay like this until she forgives me!

...

Is she doing something? I hear shuffling behind me... Is she going to hurt me? Oh sweet Celestia she's going to hurt me!

It's coming! She about to-

She's!

She's.

She

...

She's on top of me.

...

and humping me.

...

"Twilight? Are you going to GAAH- Who the buck are you? Where's Twilight? Most importantly: GET OFF OF ME!"

It appears that the newest packmate does not submit to my dominance of seniority in the pack.

We'll have to work on that...

But for now!

Screw Loose grabbed Catcher by the tail and dragged him down the hallway in pursuit of the fleeing mare and wolf.

"Mistress pack leader, I'm coming!" she barked through strands of tail as she left the hospital behind and entered the glorious open air of Ponyville.

Out of the Frying Pan

"Mmstress mmack eader, M'm cmmming!"

The stallion's tail in her mouth obstructed her speech as she raced towards her pack leader.

"Oh! Agh! Ooooh! Agh! Arghhhhhhh!!!"

Twilight turned to see the strange mare from the hospital running towards her, dragging the strange screaming stallion by the tail. His head being dragged violently over the rocky path. When they caught up to Twilight, Screw Loose released the stallion's tail.

"I told you, you crazy mare I was right behind you! You didn't have to drag me the whole bucking way!" he put a hoof to his head, "Dragging me all the way from the hospital! You could have killed me! Are you nuts!?!"

"Woof!"

"Never mind." The stallion went to stand over by Applejack, positioning himself so that both Twilight and Applejack stood in shielded him from the clearly disturbed mare.

Twilight gawked at the mare “What are you doing out here! You need to be back at the hospital! If you're missing when they've settled down-"

"Mistress, I brought you the stallion who submitted to you! He's not very fast though, maybe he needs... Where are we going mistress?"

"Back to the hospital! Where else?"

"NO! Please mistress! I'll be good! Don't make me go back there! It's so cramped! And the guards don't let me go outside when I need to p-" a paw to the mouth stopped the spew of unwanted explanations.

"But you were saying how nice it was before, right? Don't you want that back?" Twilight goaded.

The mare didn't bite "No, I may not have been suffering in that little pen, but it was boring, only walls to look at and only going outside when they wanted... But now I have a pack! A real pack! I'm not giving that up! Ever!" the mare's explanation was heartfelt, defensive, and almost tearful.

Twilight couldn't stand to force the mare back into what she interpreted as (and basically was) a prison cell.

"Ok, you can come along, but no running off! I need you to stay with us." she gestured to herself and Applejack.

The mare nodded ecstatically, her tail flipping from side to side uncontrollably.

"Yes Mistress! Oh thank you! Thank you!" the happy mare laid down and flipped onto her back.

"Uh... Good girl?" taking a hint from how Twilight had seen Applejack play with Winona she used a paw to give the mare a belly rub. The mare growled contently at her mistress's touch.

"I think it's safe ta' she likes it, but uh, Twi? Could you tell me wha-" Applejack stopped as she realized Twilight was completely engrossed in her current task, paying no mind to the world around them.

"You like that don't you? What about this!" Twilight sat so she could use both paws on the mare. The growling intensified. Twilight was having fun with the mare... Until she heard voices and looked up to see the small audience the scene was attracting.

"Mommy? Why is that doggie giving the lady a tummy rub? Shouldn't she be giving the doggie a tummy rub?"

"Well my little muffin, I'd think you were right, but we shouldn't judge other ponies for what they enjoy. Sometimes ponies are just... different."

The heat from Twilight' face could melt stone at five paces.

"Let's leave them alone muffin, it's not nice to stare." the grey pegasus said as she carried the inquisitive little scamp away.

Screw Loose was abruptly aware she was no longer having her belly rubbed and instead her mistress was staring at a pair of ponies walking away.

She hadn't known her mistress long but she could detect her pack leader's tension.

She decided that she'd do something special for her, but what would mistress wolf want?

As she thought about this, the merry band finally made its way back on course for Zecora's hut, but before they reached the Everfree they encountered one last problem.

Growewwwewwewwwwwl~~~

"Twi? Was that you or your stomach?"

Once again back at Sugarcube Corner Mr. And Mrs. Cake delivered meals to Applejack, Catcher, and a purple wolf that sat at the table while a blue earth pony curled up under the wolf's chair.

"Mommy, there's the doggy and lady again!" the little unicorn filly pointed the table out to her mother.

"Yes dear, but it's not nice to point, remember?"

"Yes mommy..."

"It seems you got a fan Twi." Applejack whispered as she glanced over Twilight's shoulder to where the filly was trying (and failing) to look over the edge of her booth without being seen.

Twilight turned, finding a filly's horn barely peeking over the edge of a nearby booth.

"Cute little thing, maybe you should go over there and let her pet you." Twilight leveled a gaze that shivers up Applejack's spine. "Ok, so maybe not. At least after this we can finally go to see if Zecora can help."

The glow.

The glow was the enemy.

The glow caused them to go hungry and their limbs to grow thin.

The glow pushed them from their homes and made it hard to hunt.

The glow was the enemy.

"Sir!" a scout ran up to the tall leader of the Everfree Timberwolves, "There are ponies approaching!"

"Do they have the glow?" he asked, instantly cautious of ponies that would willingly enter their territory.

"No sir, they do not carry the glow, and they seem to be pups no less."

"Pups wandering into the forest? Where are they now?"

"Half way to the striped one's den sir."

"Good, very good, follow me and we'll be eating well tonight!"

Into the Fire I

Scootaloo ran as hard as she could. She had to find Rainbow Dash or Applejack or Rarity or-! or-! somepony!

"Now those were some mighty fine-" before Applejack could finish her critique of the meal, the door to Sugarcube Corner burst open.

"Applejack!" The orange pegasus filly cried as she ran in, "You gotta help them! Apple Bloom and Sweetiebell were taken!"

Applejack lept out of the booth at the sudden information, "Where are they! Who took 'em? Was it those buckin' Diamond dogs again? When I find them I'll-"

"It was Timberwolves! We were going to Zecora's and we-" Scootaloo froze as she saw the expression on the farmpony's face.

"Timberwolves..." Applejack knew the creatures well, having all to recently been involved in the fake-turned-real Timberwolf attack.

Despite how she may have acted, or how boldly she told Spike to leave her behind, she had been terrified.

Twilight was out of the booth and up next to Applejack in a flash. She rolled her head towards the door in the inter-species sign for "follow me."

Catcher and Screw Loose jumped in line right behind.

Swallowing her fear, Applejack put on a brave face, "Don't worry we'll save Sweetiebell and ma' sister in a jiffy! You jus' go home fer now, ok?"

Without waiting for a response from the distraught filly, she turned to the group, and quickly the four were off.

"Uh, Miss Applejack? Do we know where we're going?" Catcher called over to Applejack as they ran deeper into the woods.

"We're following Twilight! That's where we're going!" Applejack shouted as she ran behind a thick outcropping of trees.

"I can see that, but does she actually know where she's going, or are we just following a wolf into the woods? Because I'm pretty sure my mom used to tell me stories about following wolves into the forest... And why are you way over there?"

"She's sniffing our way to ma' sister if ya can't tell, and I'm staying downwind so she doesn't smell me instead."

Catcher ducked under a branch, "But how does she know the scent? I didn't see any scent items or anything?"

"Downside, or upside really, to living in an apple orchard: Ya' always smell like apples. All us Apples smell like apples, that's why I have to stay down wind!"

"Ok, but we still have the issue of-"

"IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"That was Sweetiebell!" Applejack shouted to Twilight.

The wolf of the pack sped up, leaving the others struggling to catch up.

Applejack, no longer needing to stay downwind, joined up with Catcher and the oddly quiet Screw Loose.

"I'm coming girls!" she shouted into the night.

The orange one may have escaped, but they had the other two, and that was enough for a good meal.

"Good catch Pinepaw."

Apple Bloom flailed and kicked at the wooden hide of her captor.

"Thank you sir." Pinepaw replied through teeth clenched around the tail hair of the freshly re-caught prey, "Shall we head back to the den sir?"

"Yes, before these little pups try to escape again."

"Sorry sir..." said another Timberwolf as he caught up, the rest of the pack right behind him, "I thought I had a firm grip on her..."

"Do not fret over it. You have done well for your first hunt, the pup has been captured and we will still eat well tonight. I'd even say-"

"Drop the fillies!" shouted a bush off to the side.

All eyes turned as a purple she-wolf leapt through it, taking a low fighting stance facing the group.

"And who are you? A pup of the flesh-tribe?" said the pack leader, "Go away, there is no food for you here."

"Release them! Now!" said the she-wolf said defiantly.

Ignoring her demands Bark Back spoke again, “Flesh wolf territory is far from here. Has hunger driven you this far, or are you an outcast? Tell me, what pack are you with?"

Twilight in turn ignored him "Those are not your food. Release them."

"I am Bark Back, the pack leader of the Everfree Timberwolves. If you dare to ignore me and order my pack, you challenge my authority. For a flesh wolf, you are bold. I give you one last chance to flee flesh-wolf, I suggest you take it."

Twilight couldn't retreat; she couldn't even consider it with the fillies on the line.

She sized up her chances. On one hoof- err, paw, although she was now larger than the average pony, she was still slightly smaller than an average Timberwolf. Meaning Bark Back, at his taller than average height, was about a head taller than Twilight, standing nearly the height of a full grown Alicorn. Furthermore, Twilight doubted her claws or fangs stood a chance of damaging the hardwood hide of the Timberwolf pack leader.

All that, but she knew what she had to do, "I challenge you for the fillies."

The pack, including those holding Apple Bloom and Sweetiebell, began to make a ring around the small clearing where the two competitors stood.

Bark Back began to slowly circle towards Twilight as she looked at her opponent for signs of weakness.

Her analysis was cut short though, as Bark Back had circled within range, he pounced, claws extended and mouth open.

She dodged, rolling out of the way.

He came back around with a swipe of his claws, aiming for the soft flesh of her neck.

The crowd cheered as their pack leader got within inches of the interloper's throat.

She managed to rear up and avoid the swipe, but fell onto her back.

Bark Back was on top of her in an instant.

Twilight could almost feel the density of his foul breath as he leaned down to put his teeth around her neck.

She kicked up with her forepaws hard enough to knock him off balance and rolled out from under him.

Getting up, Twilight drew back as far as she could without running the risk of being backed into the wolves at the edge of the clearing.

"Give up female. You stand no chance against me. Run back to your den and suckle your pups. This is no place for a-"

Twilight took advantage of the break and lunged forward making a swipe at Bark Back's wooden muzzle.

The hit connected.

Although it wasn't much, there were now ruts where her claws dragged against his face.

Twilight jumped back after her strike and watched as Bark Back inspected his injury.

"It appears I misjudged your ability. My apologies for earlier, but now you will see how a true alpha fights!"

Without missing a beat, Bark Back lunged forward much faster than before. The onlookers cackled and cheered for their leader's victory, but cheers quickly died and turned to frantic glances as the they realized that their leader had not only failed to land a winning blow, but the challenger had disappeared as well.

The mare was behind Bark Back.

He whipped around to take another swing at her. She dove over his massive paw and backed off again.

"How did you dodge me?" Bark Back asked, "You moved too fast, nothing can out run Timberwolves, yet I didn't even see you move. How?"

Twilight held her tongue, she was about to lunge for another strike, but stutter-stepped when she heard a cry from behind her.

She wheeled around to find Screw Loose, Dasher, and Applejack just outside the ring, with the perimeter wolves turning on them.

"NO!" Twilight yelled, cursing that she forgot they were following her "AJ Screwy! Dasher! Run!"

Although only one out of the group understood Twilight's commands, they all complied, until they were promptly surrounded by the much faster wolves.

Bark Back laughed, "Ha! Even more food!"

To be continued...

Into the Fire II

Bark Back laughed, "Ha! Even more food! I'll tell you what female: if you can land even one more blow on me, I'll fulfill our deal. But if you fail, you must tell me how you dodged my pounce before."

Twilight jumped right back into the fight, having much more trouble than before.

Every swipe she made missed wide, and every time she tried to close the gap she was left in the dust. Bark Back made no further attempts to strike her, instead maintaining his distance and allowing his opponent to wear herself out.

Twilight was getting desperate. She was tiring much faster than her opponent, and in a contest of speed and agility that meant failure.

Although she could just teleport again she was wary of doing so when he was likely already expecting her to do it again. She looked around her environment for anything that could give her an advantage.

"Perfect!" She ran towards the towering Timberwolf, but this time when he dodged, she kept running, straight through a hole left by the portion of the pack that was now occupied with holding their newest prey.

She could hear the surprisingly agile bounds of the wolf following her.

She ducked under the lowest branches and darted between the narrowest trees, attempting to put more distance between her and her opponent. Her plan was so far succeeding...

When the sounds of her pursuer's footfalls were all but in-audible, she dove into a bush.

She quickly flopped on her back and shimmied as much as she could in the soft dirt. Standing back up, she teleported into the tree that overhung directly above the bush.

Now all she had to do was wait.

And wait...

...

... Ah! There he is!

The hunter was now the hunted. She watched as her prey sniffed her trail through the woods. She had made her path difficult, but not so unreasonable that he would lose her scent. He approached the trap.

Nose inches from the bush, Bark Back let his disfavor be known, “Come out female! You run from a challenge? You hide in a bush like a common hare? You disgrace your pack!"

His yelling actually made things even easier for Twilight, it allowed her extra time, and even cover-noise as she adjusted her position on the branch.

"I said COME OUT!" Bark Back shouted taking a bite out of the bush with his wooden-stake teeth.

Now!

Twilight jumped from the branch, falling paws first right onto the head of the unsuspecting wolf.

He reared back, and she tumbled off, falling harmlessly into the bush.

A choppy guttural sound filled the area. For a second Twilight was afraid that her decision to trick her way to the winning blow was a bad idea. That thought died though as the grumbling turned to uproarious laughter.

"-Gra Ha Ha! You tricked me well female! Fine! You win the deal! But please, tell me your name?"

"I am Twilight Sparkle." she said as she righted herself and dismounted the bush.

"Well, Twilight Barkle, I must admit, you truly had me fooled with your scent trail. Tell me, how did you climb the tree without leaving a scent on the bark? Surely you did not jump so high?" he nodded to her springboard branch a long ways out of reach, even for him.

"The same way I dodged you before," she goaded, “and it’s Sparkle.”

"Fine, a deal's a deal. Let's go back to my pack, and give you your prize." he turned and began trekking back the way he came.

Twilight followed close behind, not wanting to get lost. Although she was confident she could find her way back to, say, Ponyville by way of celestial navigation that required the use of the stars, and in the dense forest that would require climbing a tree. She could teleport again, but magical exhaustion, brought about by physical exhaustion, was quickly becoming an issue.

When the two reached their destination, Twilight was relieved to find that her friends were all still unharmed.

"Release the young ones!" Bark Back barked.

The ones holding Sweetiebell and Apple Bloom complied. The fillies scurried over towards Applejack.

"What about the others?" Twilight asked, watching the fillies cry into the legs of the still captured AJ.

"Our deal was for the pups only."

"You said-!"

"Our deal was for the pups only. I'm not going to offer up our entire food supply over a simple bet. You won my challenge and have your food, run along."

"But they're not-!"

"They are ours now; our food is none of your concern! Now run along!"

"Big sis!" Apple Bloom cried as she clamped around her big sister's leg.

"Apple Bloom, I need ya’ to go with Twilight." she pointed a hoof to the purple wolf, "She’ll take ya’ home."

"Big sis!" she cried as a wolf put a massive paw around her whole body. She cries as the wolf pulled her off, carelessly casting her aside. Tossing her before Twilight's paws.

Twilight had had enough.

Frustration, exhaustion, and distress she had only felt once before welled up inside her like waters against a dam. A dam that then burst.

The violet wolf exploded in a flash of crimson flame.

Fire licking around her body, she walked straight for the wolves holding Applejack and her friends.

The wolves bolted at the sight of an embodiment of their natural enemy. As beings of wood, a fear of fire was instinctual, but the fear they felt at the sight of the burning wolf was much deeper than that.

The infernal wolf began to glow a darker shade as the formerly captured ponies were lifted from the ground, surrounded by the same light.

In an instant the event was over as one last great flash engulfed the forest. When the pack managed to regain their senses, the fire wolf and the ponies were gone.

Safely depositing her floating friends on the library's reading couches, Twilight finally felt her body relax, relief washing over her before she passed out.

Back in the Everfree Pine paw approached his commander. "Sir? Was that...?"

"Yes, I believe it was."

"Then-!"

"Yes, tomorrow we'll find her."

Return

"Ah... That's the feeling I'm used to in the morning."

Twilight awoke in pain.

She slowly opened her bleary eyes.

"Oh my!" a soft voice exclaimed, "Girls! I think she's waking up!"

As her eyes attempted to focused, Twilight could make out the distinct color schemes of all her friends plus the two additional figures of Catcher and Screw Loose.

"Girls?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, it’s us Twilight." Fluttershy replied gently.

"I'm here too mistress!" Screw Loose happily proclaimed, "You sure showed those wood-wolves mistress! But please don't catch on fire in here... this place is kind of... flammable."

Twilight suddenly became very focused very fast. "Are Applebloom and Sweetiebell safe?" she flailed her limbs, bicycling until she flipped and could stand up.

A little woozy, but otherwise alright, Twilight looked around the gathered ponies. She looked to Applejack and Rarity. Neither looked like they were mourning the loss of their sisters.

"They're fine Twilight. Thanks to you." Fluttershy reassured.

"Oh thank Celestia!" Twilight said, slacking up a bit.

Applejack stepped up to Twilight, "Twi, I need ta' thank ya' for saving Applebloom 'n me." The farm pony's expression began to crack, "I was-" it broke as she threw her hooves around Twilight's neck, "I was so scared!" she sobbed "I thought I was gonna lose ma' sister!"

Twilight allowed the farm pony to cry into her coat unabashed.

After some time and many tears, Applejack gave one final squeeze and backed off of Twilight.

Rarity came up next, "I was not made aware that Sweetiebell was in danger until she didn't come home. I merely assumed she was staying over with Applebloom until I went over to the farm to make sure." the fashion pony looked Twilight in the eyes, "If what I’m told is accurate, I owe you a great debt Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight turned to the pegasus healer, "Fluttershy, could you please translate for me?" She gave a nod and Twilight began, looking the fashonista in the eyes as Fluttershy translated. "Don't worry about it Rarity, I know you would have done the same for Spike and me."

Rainbow Dash lifted off of the ground, "Ok! Ok! Now that we've gotten all the sappy stuff out of the way, I have two important questions. First, who are these ponies?" she floated directly above Catcher and Screw Loose and pointed strait down at them like they were statues in a garden.

With Fluttershy as intermediary she introduced the pair, hoofshakes were extended to Catcher, but Screw Loose was another matter.

"Aren't you just darling! That snow-drift mane! That summer-sky blue coat! Surely you must take the best care of yourself!" Screw loose tilted her head in confusion at the babbling pony. "You simply must tell me how you manage to keep your coat's luster so- so- natural! Is it-"

As the white mare continued to ramble, Screw Loose could see her gesturing to her body.

Oh! Is my fur mussed?

Screw Loose was not a perfectionist in any regard, but she knew if she presented poorly, it reflected back on the pack leader, and she couldn't have that.

"-or is it some kind of herbal conditioner? I must know!"

Rarity's question was answered by an unwitting demonstration of the mare's particular coat-care techniques.

"What are you-? Oh sweet Celestia! Why are you-? That's disgust- No! Don't come near me! No! Get off! My coat! Stop! No! STOOOOOOOOOOP!" Rarity's cries fell on deaf ears.

The girls watched as their new acquaintance leapt on top of Rarity and began licking her face.

"HEEEEEEEELLLLP MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Rarity cried as the others looked on in varying levels of shock and amusement.

"Girls, this is Screw Loose." Twilight told them via Fluttershy, "She's a little different, if you can't tell. I wish she could talk to you like I- Wait!" Twilight magically separated the overly friendly mare and the defending fashionista.

"Screw Loose, meet Fluttershy. Fluttershy, meet Screw Loose."

Screw loose eyed the yellow mare, "Pack leader, what-?"

"Nice to meet you Screw Loose." Fluttershy said reservedly.

"She speaks!" Screw Loose exclaimed, practically

Twilight let out a chuckle that sounded more like a growl, "Yes she can speak to us, in fact, she is known for her ability to communicate across species."

"A pony that speaks canine! Imagine! That's crazy!" Screw Loose exclaimed. "Are you a part of mistress's pack?" she asked as she jumped at the butter pegasus.

"Uhm... I guess... Twilight is the leader of the Elements of Harmony... So she's kind of our leader..." Fluttershy said, meekly raising a hoof to gesture to the pack of mares.

"Wow mistress! Our pack is big! I thought it was just the three of us!"

"Well, as I keep telling you-" Twilight began, but was not able to make her point before terrified shrieks resonated through the windows of the tree from the freshly awakening Ponyville.

"Fluttershy, take everyone to the basement! Stay down there with the elements! I'll go check it out!"

She sprinted to the front door.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy shouted in an uncharacteristically loud voice, "We aren't just going to let you go alone! What if it's something we need the Elements for again?" It may have just been her animal form, but Fluttershy seemed unduly worried for her bestial friend.

"Fluttershy, I've carried an Ursa out of town before, and if it gets bad I promise to teleport down there and get the Elements with you, so just stay down there and have my tiara ready." Fluttershy nodded but still very concerned.

"Ok, but if it's bad-"

"At the first sign of trouble." Twilight reassured.

Fluttershy gave another nod and turned back to the group to convey the message. Rainbow and Applejack seemed upset with the plan, but Fluttershy eventually convinced them all to take cover in the basement.

As her friends descended, Twilight prepared for a fight. Her body and magic were recharged from a night of rejuvenating sleep, and she was ready to once again defend the town she had grown to love.

When she was sure the group was all safely downstairs, Twilight opened the door.

As she came out of the library her blood ran cold.

The Timberwolves from last night were back.

This time though, it looked like they brought the entire pack. Nearly a dozen wolves could be seen wandering the town.

She hadn't even fully processed the sight before one of the wolves saw what he was looking for.

"There she is!" he boomed loud enough to be heard across the town.

Every Timberwolf immediately dropped what they were doing and started running toward the library. Twilight slammed the door, locked it, and braced it with her body.

Eyes closed and teeth clenched, she held the door for what felt like an eternity. Anticipation held her firm, but no impact came. No pounding, no scratching, not even the sounds of the wolves barking. Minutes passed, and slowly her anticipation turned to confusion, and confusion turned to fear.

What were they doing?

She released the locks on the door and chanced a peak outside.

Outside lay over a dozen wolves, more than she had seen upon first glance. Something else struck her about the pack too: not only were there slightly more wolves than there were last night, but were also a few that looked to be around the size of ponies.

The thing that caught her attention the most about the Timberwolves gathered outside her door though, was HOW they were gathered outside her door.

They were all laying, almost prostrate, around her door. All had their hind legs tucked, front paws outstretched, and each had their muzzle on the ground, eyes closed as if they were all asleep.

"Chaser of the sun! We lay ourselves at your burning paws!" Twilight could see the speaker was the wolf she fought yesterday. "We pray you bear us no ill will, and we submit willingly to whatever is necessary to gain your favor."

Another wolf stumbled up from the side, with a small sack hanging from his jaw by its pull string "We brought you an offering as well!" He gently placed the sack at Twilight's paws, "We hope you like the taste of chicken! Feathers were getting everywhere while we were catching this one!" The wolf backed away with a bow, glancing to Bark Back, who gave him an approving nod.

Twilight stared in a mixture of shock and apprehension. "What? You killed a chicken! You murdered a poor, defenseless, innocent, cute, sweet..."

Twilight's mouth began to water. The thought of dead chicken was becoming a lot less barbaric and a lot more appetizing the more she thought about it.

After an exhausting afternoon and even worse evening, she had sadly missed dinner, and with her painfully exclusive diet of egg since her transformation, she was understandably, but absolutely, starving.

I'm a wolf. Meat is a wolf's natural diet. Of course I should eat it! it's only natural! Besides, if the chicken is already dead it would be terrible to just let it go to waste...

Without even a cursive glance to make sure the doors and windows to the tree were closed, she opened the sack.

In the Bag

Twilight opened the sack.

She didn't even care what was in the sack, as long as it tasted as good as it smelled.

Examining the contents she realized there were features of this chicken that did not fit the norm, namely the four hooves and purple mane.

"Scootaloo?"

She looked down on a shivering, wide-eyed, frozen filly.

"We thought you'd like this one!" the wolf who brought the sack forward began, "That is, after we saw how much you wanted those little snacks yesterday."

"You said it was chicken..."

"Nope! Better! We were going to get you a chicken, but we found this little one inside the coup with them! Pony seasoned with chicken!"

"No you idiot!" another wolf, who she did not recognize from before jumped up "It's obviously a pony-chicken half-breed! Why else would it have been living in a chicken coup? And if it were just a flying pony it would have flown off! It had to have gotten those wings from a chicken!"

Twilight looked back down at the filly. The bickering timberwolves could wait. This was more important...

She leaned over the terrified filly. It was true, she did smell like chicken.

She leaned closer and closer to the little filly's neck, getting a good whiff of that wonderful aroma.

The sight of the filly brought Twilight that same warm tingly feeling that she had felt almost exactly twenty-four hours before in the presence of another bite-sized filly.

Unlike that filly though, this one was awake. Much more awake.

The wide-eyed unable-to-process-the-fear phase had passed, and once again regaining control of her body, Scootaloo was making her displeasure known.

"HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!!!" she cried.

*CRASH*

Before the cry had even finished Twilight recognized the ever memorable sound of a library window breaking. A sound she recognized from the many surprise visits of a certain rainbow-mained speedster, she was not surprised when she turned to see Rainbow headed for them. Headed fast for them

"No! They're not-" Twilight shouted in defense of the seemingly docile timberwolves, but very quickly she realized that there were two flaws surrounding the logic of her statement. First, Rainbow couldn't understand anything she said anyway, and second, she wasn't aiming for them.

The force of impact knocked her into the crowd of timberwolves, but Rainbow stayed on her.

"I knew it! AJ told me you might have gone predator!"

Rainbow's attempts to hold down the much larger Twilight were quickly undone as the previously docile timberwolves jumped in alarm.

Bark back swiped Rainbow off of Twilight.

"Are you alright burning one?" he asked.

Twilight did not respond. She just blankly stared at the concerned pack leader, then turned to Rainbow.

"She told me to watch out! And she was right!" Rainbow yelled as she took off to avoid the angry timberwolves stalking towards her.

Wide eyed, Twilight continued to stare at her.

"What?" Rainbow continued, "I ruin your meal predator?" She spat the last word with utmost malice.

Twilight was in shock. Rainbow's words snapped her back into the reality of what had just (almost) happened.

I just tried to justify killing- eating a filly!

And it didn't even seemed strange!

I'm-

She turned and ran, the pack of timber wolves following behind her.

Bark Back gave one last growl at the flying pony who distressed the burning one, before turning and following the pack away.

Rainbow landed on the library's front stoop before opening the door.

The girls had followed Rainbow up the stairs after the scream, but had stopped before venturing outside and into danger. They trusted Twilight with their lives, so If she wanted them to stay out of harm's way, then they were not going to go outside and put themselves in the line of fire unneeded. They mostly accepted that, other than with the use of the elements, they'd only slow down their time-bending, monster destroying, goddess-trained friend.

...That is all but Rainbow.

Applejack had not been fast enough to grab the overeager Rainbow's tail and she had left the library against Twilight's request. Shortly after, Scootaloo had run in crying, and Rainbow returned shortly after that.

"Is it over?"Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash gave a nod.

The group loosened up at the news.

"So what was it this time?" asked Applejack conversationally, "Dragons? The Changelings again? The timberwolves come back? Did the- Uh... Where's Twilight?" the apple farmer looked around for her purple friend.

"She's gone." Rainbow said.

Rarity fainted on the spot. No dramatic head-over-hooves fall. No fainting sofa pulled from nowhere. She just collapsed where she stood, hitting the ground with a thud.

Fluttershy and Pinkie were in each other’s hooves, embracing.

Applejack just stared, disbelieving, at the Rainbow pegasus. "She's... passed?"

"Might as well have. You were right Applejack. She's gone predator. Had to chase her off before she ate Scootaloo."

"No! Twilight would never!" Fluttershy shouted. Defending her friends was one of very few things that could make Fluttershy loud, and this was definitely one of those times.

"What did you see her do?" asked Fluttershy, directing it to both Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Well, I didn't see her do anything, but I saw how she was looking at Scoots."

"Looking at her? That don't sound like much..."Applejack scoffed.

"You're the one who said she was tasting your sister!"

Fluttershy spoke up again, "She what?"

"Applejack told me about how she walked in on Twilight trying to make a snack out of Applebloom."

"Now hold on there missy, I only said that she was lickin' 'er. Winona does the same thing all the time. I joked around but I didn't really mean-"

"Did she bite her?" Fluttershy interjected.

"Huh? Did Winona?"

"No, has Twilight bitten anypony?" she asked again more forcefully.

"No."

"Then she has not "gone predator"! It has to be hard for Twilight to be fighting her new instincts without warning, or even knowing them, but she is! Mr. Bear is the sweetest guy in the world, and even he struggles to play nice with Mrs. Deer and the chickens! And he's only an omnivore! Twilight's body is constantly telling her to eat meat, and if she still hasn't taken a bite out of anypony or any animal, she still must be Twilight on the inside!"

"Oh... Then we should probably go get her..." Rainbow meagerly spoke.

"Where is she?"

"Last I checked? Running into the Everfree forest with a pack of timberwolves."

Author's Note

I don't like writers who just post a "chapter" that's actually an update on the state of a story, so in turn I don't, but when there is something I want to throw by the readers for review I do a blog post asking for opinions. Good idea right? It allows me to get feedback without doing the aforementioned not-chapter updating, Right?

Wrong. I tried doing this with several recent events involving this story, and there was one response. One. So, if you'd like to put your two bits in about the direction of this story check it out and post your opinions here. Or you could become a ~~mindless drone~~ faithful follower and get these updates instantly in the future.

Acceptance and Mercy

She ran and ran, fleeing deeper and deeper into the forest. No path in mind, no place to go, nopony with which to seek refuge, just running.

Tears clouded her vision and her own sobbing downing out the sounds of the world around her. Fatigue demanded she stop long ago but she continued.

As exhaustion began to cloud her mind, she made it to a small empty cave. She fell as she entered, writhing from both her burning muscles, and at the indomitable pain in her heart. She was almost happy as she felt her conciseness begin to fade, a sweet relief from her terrible thoughts.

"Find her?" asked Applejack as she returned to the impromptu search center they had set up in the library.

Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity shook their heads solemnly.

"Well I looked behind every tree from here to Zecora's and I didn't see hide nor hair of 'er... What if she-"

Before the darker sides of possibility could be explored, Rainbow burst through the front door.

"Did any of you find her?" she asked hopefully.

Solemn faces and shaking heads were all that met her hopeful eyes.

She deflated matching the others in silent depression.

"So what now..." Pinkie asked after a minute. Her mane had been straight since she had heard of Twilight's run into the forest, but now her neck drooped so that her mane dragged on the ground as well.

"We keep looking! She's our friend! We can't abandon her!" Rainbow Dash shouted, startling the other mares with her conviction.

Rarity shot her a harsh glare, "Wasn't it you that chased her off? 'Don't abandon our friends'? Didn't you make her run off into that dreadful forest surrounded by those beasts? Isn't this your fault?"

Rainbow couldn't respond. Instead she just went back out the way she came in. A trail of water drops following her out the door.

"Smooth Rar-"

"I'm going home." Rarity was out the door before she could respond to Applejacks chastisements.

"Fluttershy and Pinkie wordlessly followed as well, leaving only Applejack left in the library.

"Twi, I hope you're alright."

---One week later---

Fluttershy had been all but catatonic in the days that followed Twilight being run off. She felt personally responsible for her friend's situation and was heartbroken every time she heard that she had still not come back.

After two whole days of endless comforting by all her animal friends she was still not getting out of bed. It had taken the hungry cries of her bird friends for her to finally get out of bed and feed everyone.

She had spent the rest of the week sulking around her cottage, trying her best to avoid thinking about her dear friend in the forest.

On the final day of the week, something happened to break her out of her stupor, and pull her out of her home.

Integrating into pack life was hard, but Twilight was tough. It had only been a week since the timberwolf pack had followed her into that cave, only a week since they had made their offer, and only a week since she had become the de facto pack leader of the Everfree Timberwolves.

In only a week she had proven herself and been accepted as not only the pack leader, but as the prophesied “burning one".

-and today she was finally going to find out what that meant. All that was left before she could become the affirmed pack leader was a traditional hunt. Her own hunt.

Twilight stalked towards their prey. She had organized a simple yet effective pincer movement with her taking what amounted to the lead position.

This was her kill.

Till this day she had survived with her sanity intact by thriving on those little rationalizations that she could just accept.

Those had included not killing any prey herself, and not taking any more food than would have gone to waste anyway. It was through these simple justifications that she allowed herself to keep the shreds of pony-hood she still had.

But today that ended. Today she would take the final step as a predator. Today she would kill her own meal and eat her fill. Then she would no longer be a pony.

She would be a predator.

A rustle in the bushes brought her attention back to the hunt. Whitetail Wood was home to many creatures, but the most prevalent was its namesake deer.

By the movement and size of the bush she could tell that she had found her target.

Fear rose in her heart. She steeled her resolve. This was it.

...but she couldn't do it. Her mind still needed an excuse. Her prey's heart wouldn't allow her to kill without excuse.

The other hunters made a perimeter as she readied to pounce. They signaled their readiness, but she remained.

Why was she doing this? Why should she kill another just to-

The pangs of her stomach told her why.

Trepidation filled her heart but resolve filled her mind.

She leapt.

Her claws landed on flesh. She leaned in finding the throat, ready to end the life of her prey before it could attempt to flee. She leaned in teeth-for-throat but hesitated.

The deer reacted, but rather than the hoof to her face she expected from it, the deer merely turned to face her. Then she saw why the deer did not flee.

After meeting Fluttershy for the first time and learning of the animal care profession, Twilight had read a few books on the topic, learning signs and symptoms of animal sickness and diseases, but one didn't need that knowledge to see that it was sick.

Very, very sick indeed. Drool dripped from one side of the poor animal's mouth as it stared blankly at her. It seemed as if it would try to stand but instead its limbs just flopped uncoordinatedly, still showing no signs it recognized it was in danger.

"Probably won't last another day..."

Mercy. That's how she would justify it to herself.

She would fulfill her duty to the pack and at the same time ended the suffering of a dying animal. She would have her feast, she would completed the ritual, and she would finally learn the significance of the name 'Burning One'.

She smiled to herself, she had done what she needed to without really killing anything. She only had to put it out of its misery...

Fluttershy watched as the wolf that not a week ago had stayed in her bed carried off a bloody deer corpse in its teeth.

Author's Note

(A squiggle point to whoever can correctly guess the disease the deer had.)

Pain and Fear

Divine retribution.

Punishment imposed by a vengeful god for taking the lives of other living things. That was all Twilight could assume justified what she felt at that moment.

It was designed to break her. To drive her insane. It had to be.

Why else would they force her to carry the wonderful meal all the way back to the den. Yes, there were good arguments against eating it where it fell, but still!

Crossing the threshold of the den, she dropped the carcass in the middle of the floor.

"Ok, you are clear. You may-" Bark Back didn't need to finish, because before he had, Twilight had already begun digging in.

The sight was a little terrifying, even to the other Timberwolves

"Wow, she must have been hungry." one of the hunters noted.

"There won't be any left for the rest of us at this rate!" another shouted.

Twilight didn't seem to notice.

"It is her hunt, her kill, and now officially her pack, so you best watch your tongue when addressing the mistress." Bark Back growled at the disrespectful young hunters. He approached her where she feasted, "That said, Mistress you might want to slow-" Bark Back reached a paw towards the ravenous she-wolf.

He recoiled as she turned to him, growling as whips of smoke rose from her mane.

He backed off, leaving the wolf to her food.

At noon Catcher had burst through the door to her cottage and told her the situation.

"Oh my..."

"Yeah, so we need to find her quickly! I'm not sure how well she can function alone, and you know how dangerous the Everfree is!

"Uh... If you don't mind me asking, then why'd you break her out? If she was in the care of -"

"Did you see her when you all turned her back in? She was terrified! I admit she's not the... most normal of mares but I'm not going to make her go somewhere she hates so much!"

"I wasn't part-"

"I know she's not the most well-adapted of ponies, but she can function just fine in a group! When she was with Twilight and I she was just fine!"

"Just so you know-"

"But then you had to go and take her away! She was so happy when she was with us, but then you had to turn her back in to that place! Did you see how afraid of it she was? she-"

Fluttershy put a hoof to the young stallion's mouth as she realized what was going on. "Of course I'll help you look. With any luck, we may find Twilight too."

"Rarity, it's been a week. We have to."

"Whatever are you talking about dear?" Rarity asked as she took another sip of tea. She had brought out a fine blend for her private meeting with Applejack. She knew it would be needed if the topic she expected arose.

Applejack looked directly into the eyes of her ivory friend.

"We need to tell the princess about Twilight."

Applejack had expected a reaction, but the spit-take she received was beyond what she had imagined.

"Applejack, dear, we've been over this, we simply can't." Rarity tutted as she tried to regain her composure.

"Now pardon my language, but BUCK Fluttershy's promise! We have to tell the Princess! We haven't seen hide nor hair of Twilight in a week now! We should've told Celestia as soon as she ran off! Now I’ll admit I was complacent when Fluttershy convinced us not to, but now I'm feeling like that was a terrible decision. We need to tell the princess. Now."

"Applejack dear, be reasonable, we can't really-"

Any counter-argument that Rarity was about to make was immediately cut down as the locked door to her boutique resounded with frantic pounding.

"Yes, yes, my goodness, I'm coming!" The pounding continued until she opened the door, at which point she was tackled by a yellow and pink blur.

"Fluttershy! What's wrong dear?" Rarity asked as the Pegasus cried nestled into her side.

"So you and that Catcher bloke went to look for the crazy mare? That sounds like no reason to be crying!" Applejack looked puzzled to the distraught Pegasus.

"Let the dear finish!" Rarity tutted as she hugged the still crying pegasus, "Go on."

"...but then we got separated and I lost the trail... But since we were in the Whitetail I went to look for some of my deer friends... But instead I saw-" Before she finished, the fragile Pegasus once again broke down into sobbing.

Applejack jumped up ready to take action "What! What did you see? Was it Twilight?"

Fluttershy nodded as she cuddled closer to Rarity.

"Why is that bad? Was she in trouble?"

A shake.

"Was she hurt?"

Another shake.

"Was she..."

Applejack's grim look spread to Rarity.

Fluttershy shook her head again. Rarity relaxed ever so slightly, but Applejack had almost lost her patients with the fearful pegasus.

"Then what was the problem? What happened to Twilight?"

Fluttershy raised her head, quelling her sobs as best as she could to speak.

"I saw a deer -sniff- that was all alone, -sniff- so I called out to him, but he just ran away... He was acting so strange, so I followed him... But I lost him..." Fluttershy's barely maintained composure broke as tears began to flow again. She kept speaking. "When I saw him next..." Rarity could feel Fluttershy's shaking worsen.

"...he was being carried off by Twilight..."

Author's Note

If you like this story, you should check out my other big story here.

Just give it a peek...

You know you want too...

Prophecy

Deer tastes bucking fantastic.

That was the only thought in Twilight's mind as she laid back, belly full for the first time in a week.

"Are you done mistress?" Bark Back asked as he approached the sated Twilight.

The haze of Twilight's mind was beginning to clear, and she was now beginning to recognize the shocked expressions across the faces of the surrounding pack.

"Um..." she looked back to the remains of the deer. She felt like she was going to burst but it still looked so appetizing... "Yes, I'm done."

"Very well." A wave from Bark Back brought the rest of the wolves leaping on the carcass. They ravenously dug into the meal.

As Bark Back himself approached the feeding frenzy the other wolves showed him deference, leaving a path to the choice bits.

Twilight watched as the remains of the deer were quickly consumed and the pack of wolves sated their hunger.

She waited patiently until the pack had finished, but in her newly regained clarity, she remembered the real pressing question: what was the "burning one".

When only the bones of the deer were left, the pack dispersed, forming a ring around the perimeter of the den. The ambient murmuring of the den immediately died down to silence as Bark Back rose to speak.

"Mistress Burning One, we now fully accept your right to rule, and can now share with you the greatest prophesy of our kind: the prophecy of the Burning One!"

"Finally!" Twilight thought, "What 'prophecy' is so important that they couldn't even tell it to ME! The one it's about!"

As if to answer her unspoken question Bark Back continued, "We are sorry that we could not tell you of this sooner, but it is one of our kind's greatest secrets. You will soon understand why."

Twilight was surprised by the reverence being given by even the littlest of the den cubs. Apparently this story really did hold a lot of weight amongst the pack.

Bark Back began, “This prophescy has been passed down from the beginning. From when the first magic of our kind took form amongst the branches. You will doubtlessly have questions, I will answer them in time. For now I ask that you hold them; the prophecy is a short one.

It goes as such:

'When the one who burns walks amongst the pack,

The White Hunter shall return to her crusade.

Forsake the past.

Defend the den.

Glow embracing essence.

The White Hunter will be defeated,

And within her cities shall the woodwolves feast eternal.'"

He waited a moment letting the words sink in.

"As you can imagine, we feared if the ponies knew of our destiny they would have hunted us to extinction far before we could fulfill it." Bark Back continued, "It was only by the careful protection of this secret, and avoidance of the Speakers, that we were able to defend it for so long."

Twilight shook her head an opened her mouth to speak, but she closed it again without making a sound.

She sat a minute and just stared ahead, like her mind was a million miles away.

The pack watched their unmoving mistress with growing worry.

Eventually she shook her head again and stood up.

"I need some time to think about this." she said resolutely, walking into a deeper portion of the den where she knew the others would not follow.

Some time passed before a cry from the den entrance brought her running back out to the main den area where the others had mostly taken to sleeping off their meal.

"Mistress!"

Twilight arrived to see two of the hunters, one of which was carrying a struggling pony in its teeth by the scruff of the neck.

"Mistress, we found this one snooping around near the entrance to the den. What should we do with her?" the one who's mouth was not full of pony-fur asked.

The pony's struggling stopped as she laid her eyes on Twilight.

"Mistress!" This time it was not one of the hunters who spoke, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Put her down." Twilight told the wolf carrying the blue mare.

The wolf obeyed, but kept close.

"Mistress!" she happily cried as she ran up to flip onto her back before Twilight.

The submissive greeting was awarded with a short rub before the mare flipped back on to her hooves.

"I missed you so much mistress!" She exclaimed, hunching down, tail wagging, a playful bounce further conveying her excitement. "It's been so long! I thought you might have been caught or something!"

Twilight couldn't help but smile at the all too foal-like admiration and pride shining in the mare's eyes.

"No, I just had some problems back home and had to...

"I know! After you disappeared leaving us inside the big tree, the colorful pony dragged me back to the kennel!" a shudder shook through her at the memory, "It felt like forever before he broke me out again..."

"He? ...Catcher? He broke you out?"

"Yeah! As soon as we were out I came looking for you... but I got... uh... lost in the woods... for a while..." No longer exuberant, now her tail was tucked and she was cursively glancing away.

"Exactly how long were you lost?

"Not long..." her head was almost facing the entirely opposite direction of Twilight by now.

"Really? Then you won't mind that we have no food for you?"

The tail, previously tucked away, fell droop-down as the rest of her froze.

"...no..." she said meekly, "...I- I caught something to eat... In the forest..."

Her attempted cover-up wasn't fooling anywolf, but just to make sure, her stomach growled loud enough that some of the elder hunters ducked fearing an ursa attack.

"Well, if you're not hungry then what was-"

"Alright!" she broke down begging on the floor, "I'm sorry I lied! I'm starving! I haven't eaten all day and I couldn't find anything in the forest! I thought I could find food and bring it to you, but I couldn't even find anything to eat myself! I'm a failure of a hunter! Please don't let me starve!"

"Now calm down, I wouldn't let you go hungry..." Screw Loose’s ears perked up, "...but there is no food for you here, and we'll have to go near town to get it. They may think of us like animals, but that would only give Fluttershy more reason to feed you."

Fear

"Fluttershy!" Twilight called to her friend's cottage, "Are you home?"

Light inside the home was enough of an indication of life that Twilight continued up to the door.

"Fluttershy? Are you-" as she went to knock at the door with her paw, she realized that the door was slightly ajar.

It would make sense that this could be a slip that the timid pegasus would make if she had come home late and not wanted to disturb her animals, but Twilight was intimately aware that Fluttershy always made sure to lock her doors when home alone, if not for herself, then to keep the nasties of the Everfree away from the morsels that also called her house home.

Guests Twilight assumed. The ever-so faint voices coming from the small crack confirmed her suspicions as she tried to peek inside.

Screw Loose came up beside her mistress as she widened the crack in an attempt to see who was with her timid friend so late at night.

The now improved view of the front room showed many sleeping animals, but no ponies. Further inside the home the voices continued their conversation.

Still unable to hear the conversation or pick out the voices too well, Twilight opened the door and quietly entered the home.

"...and now this has happened. I was afraid my complacency would come back to haunt me." an all too familiar voice replied pensively, "I should have ended this long ago when I had the chance..."

No, it couldn't be...

"What do ya mean Princess?" a familiar drawl asked.

Applejack too? What is this?

"I mean, my little pony, that this is my responsibility and I will do whatever is needed to ensure the safety of my subjects."

"...um... But what are you going to do? I'm sure Twilight didn't mean to... Or at least... She didn't want to..."

"Do not worry dear Fluttershy, I know Twilight is no longer aware of her own actions. I will merely detain her so she may be returned to normal."

"But then what are we going to do about the timber wolves?"

"I will rid us of them as I should have long ago. Do not worry about any of them escaping, I shall strike at night, when most should be clustered together, and I will have the guard defend the borders of the forest as I clear it out. I will also make sure the Ponyville border is especially reinforced in case they try to retaliate."

In the silence that followed Twilight processed and re-processed what she had heard.

They plan to-

A brash voice broke the silence, "I want to help too! I'll break those piles of sticks up so fast that they won't know what hit them!"

"No Rainbow Dash, I will do this alone. Physical force cannot destroy them, they can only be killed by removing the magic that keeps them animated, something I alone will do."

So engulfed by the heavy topics discussed a room away, Twilight had forgotten about her original reason for coming, and the lapse suddenly decided to make itself known.

*Gurgle~*

"Sorry mistress!" Screw loose whispered through the darkness, but it was already too late.

"What was that?" Rainbow asked suspiciously.

"Oh do calm down dear, it's only one of Fluttershy's animals!" Rarity replied.

"Um, no it wasn't..." Fluttershy interjected, "I made sure to feed them all extra so they wouldn't bother us for a midnight snack... And also that was too big to be any of my little critters..."

If Twilight had not bolted the moment Rainbow had become suspicious, she would have been showered in splinters as Rainbow burst through the kitchen door with enough force to tear it off its hinges.

Twilight had cleared the structure and made it to the tree line, and Screw loose was not far behind as they heard a crack of Thunder form inside the house.

"Mistress?" Screw loose asked, "What were they talking about?"

No response came from the leader, as she continued to run ahead, fear and determination on her features.

By the time Screw Loose had made it to the den, Twilight had been out of sight for a while, so when she came in, she was not surprised to find the den all awoken and her mistress taking charge of the situation.

"What are we going to do?" asked a younger hunter.

Twilight stood firm, but did not answer. From the short time Screw Loose had been with her mistress, she knew that she was wearing the face of intense thought.

"We're..." she started, a struggle appearing in her features, "We're going to..."

She was silent for a moment before her troubled expression broke into one of hopelessness, "...I don't know..."

"Mistress!" Screw Loose ran up to comfort her, "What's wrong?"

"I just don't know what to do! I gave that prophesy a lot of thought, and although you showed up before I had sorted out all the details, I could tell was that I was supposed to fight this "White Hunter" individual... But I..." she fell silent for a moment, "I don't know... I thought I'd... I'd have more time to prepare! I thought I'd have my friends to help me! I- I thought I'd be fighting evil! Not Celestia!" That was it, Twilight was pusher over the edge and tears streamed down the great wolf's muzzle.

"Mistress, you do have friends! We'll help you! That's what packs are for, to help everywolf and everydog! To act as one!"

Startled by the normally silly Screw Loose's assertion, Twilight looked around to see that the other members of the pack were nodding in agreement. Even the littlest members were smiling and nodding, as if what Screw Loose had said was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You all..." The tears came back to Twilight's eyes, "You all really mean that?"

"Of course mistress, every member of the pack would give them self for any other. The pack protects its own. There is no question."

"Thank you Bark Back, thank you everywolf. Thank you..." Twilight rose up, tears no longer falling, "I will not let them hurt you. I will not let her hurt you. There is no question."

Looking Up

"What do you want us to do mistress? Should we prepare for an attack?"

"No Bark Back, as strong as the pack is, we can't and won't fight Celestia head on. For now, all we can do is-"

"Mistress..." a timid voice interrupted, "I know this is a bad time, but I'm still hungry~"

"Ok, first things first I guess. Bark Back, were there any left-overs from this morning's hunt?" she looked hopefully to the large wolf, who shook his head.

"-Oh! Nevermind, she can't eat meat anyway... Uh... We could quickly go out and find some flowers. Maybe in the Whitetail?"
"We do have a small reserve-" he began, but Twilight interrupted.

"But, like I said, she can't eat meat..."

"It is not meat." Bark Back responded.

"Oh! Perfect! Where is it?" Twilight asked, turning around and scanning the walls as if she had missed it before.

"In the darkest part of the back chamber, you should have seen it when you went there to think before."

"I don't..."

"I'll show you." Bark Back said as he stepped past them towards the darker back-end of the den.

Twilight and Screw Loose followed as Bark Back led them out of the main chamber and into the dim back-shaft of the den.

The back chamber wasn't particularly long, but it was dark enough that Twilight lit the path with magic so Screw Loose's day accustomed eyes could see.

After only a bit of walking Bark Back stopped and turned to his followers. Twilight at first assumed that he was going to speak, but then she noticed he was pointing to a pile of mush against the wall.

Twilight examined the mound to see that it was, in fact, a pile of greens.

...or it had been a long time ago. Now it was closer to a compost heap.

"A little... old don't you think?" Twilight noted before giving her head a shake, "Never mind, we don't have time for this! Bark Back, are there any good places for her to eat without leaving the forest? It doesn't have to be a feast, just enough for her to keep her strength up?"

He thought a moment, "If we must, the Striped One has a small patch of flowers by her den."

"Of course!" The others almost recoiled at Twilight's sudden outburst, "Zecora! We were going to go to her before you all arrived in Ponyville and this whole fiasco began! We can go speak to..." The energy disappeared from her voice as fast as it came, "...but she'll probably try to run us off too..."

"Do not fear mistress, despite our aversion to pony Speakers, the Striped One has always treated us with respect."

"Wait, what? You've interacted with Zecora? And she's friendly?"

"I would not say friendly, but she tolerates us and helps us when we get sick in exchange for protection while she gathers her plants from four-head territory."

It was too much for Twilight to process, she sat utterly dumbfounded until she could articulate her surprise, "That- That's great! We'll go to her right now! She might even know how to help me turn-" the words died in her throat, "Ahem, anyway, we will head there now."

The trip to Zecora's was not long distance-wise, but when traveling with an entire wolf-pack, cubs and all, under the looming sun of one who wanted to hunt you down, it felt like it.

"Mistress, why did we bring the cubs? We would make better time if we left them at the den in the care of the non-hunters."

"We can't leave anywolf behind. Without me there, if Celes- if the White Hunter found them, I feel she would have no reservations about incinerating the whole den. With everywolf so close to me, she won't be able to go all out."

...I hope

"There it is mistress." one of the hunters near the front of the pack called.

"Good, Bark Back, You, Screw Loose and I will go and talk to Zecora. Everywolf else will just stay hidden here."

They nodded in confirmation, and when Twilight was satisfied with their hiding spots, she, Screw Loose, and Bark Back approached the hut.

"Striped One!" Bark Back called as they stood on the porch, "Once again the Everfree Pack requests your aid!"

There was some shuffling inside the home and before long a tired looking Zecora came to the door.

"My deep sleep you have disturbed,
so do not fault me that I am perturbed-
Please, fair Bark Back,
cut me some slack,
I see you are with guest,
But even I need my rest."

"Striped One, this is The Burning One and her second, they come with a request." Bark Back explained.

"Of the prophesy I am aware,
But do not think-
...Twilight? Is that you in there?"

"Hi Zecora."

Instantly the Zebra's demeanor changed from one of defended aloofness to one of concern.

"Ah, Twilight, now I see,
Why in need, you would come to me." she moved to allow entrance to her home, but blocked once again as soon as Twilight and Screw Loose were inside.

Twilight watched as Zecora whispered something to Bark Back before he ran back into the forest.

"What was that about?" Twilight asked as Zecora led them to some seats.

Taking a seat herself, Zecora sat for a moment before replying, "I asked that wolf to stay with the rest,
Happily, he did not contest.
Now I hear you have a request of me?
One that came up this early?"

"Yes, as you can see, I messed up, or rather, cast a spell without knowing what it did, it knocked me out and when I woke up I was like this. Things were fine for a while, but then..."

"Be calm dear Twilight, for you I have all night." Zecora comforted.

"But that's just it! I don't have all night! I need you to help me turn back as soon as possible! Celestia wants to catch me so she can turn me back, but before she does I think she's going to kill my pack!" Twilight was on the verge of tears as she finished.

"I see your mind connects,
to what your form reflects.
For your pack you fear,
even with means of escape so near.
But I am sorry my dear friend,
the spell upon you I cannot end."

"You have to be able to help me somehow! What else can I do! I don't have anypony else to turn to who wouldn't just run away screaming! I can’t try to use the elements, because I'd need my friends, and I can't go to Celestia without risking the pack!"

"One princess hunts you, that is true,
But what does the other think of you?
From what I saw on Nightmare Night, I think that she may help in your plight."

"Luna? Princess Luna! She should be able to help! Even if she can't directly help me, she should at least be able to talk some sense into Celestia in the mean time! Zecora! You're a genius! Screw Lose, come on, we've got a princess to see!"

Screw loose only whimpered in response.

"I thank you for your flattery
But do not be so quick to flee,
Your companion seems quite distressed,
Is there something else you need addressed?"

"Oh! Sorry Screw Loose! I was so excited about all this that I forgot why we originally decided to come! Zecora, do you have any food we can have? We've been trying to get Screw Loose some food all night!"

"It was just today that I had planned to rise
and make my monthly trip to town for supplies.
So while I have no food for you per say
I will help you gather along the way."

"Along the way? Where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"While I'm sure you would find your way eventually,
but guide would help, it is plain to see.
And when you arrive, at any rate,
Did you think of how you'd communicate?
That is why I offer to come along,
If I did not, I would feel it wrong."

"Oh! I didn't even- Thank you Zecora, this means a lot."

"Then we should depart immediately,
As I can tell, this one is quite hungry."

Screw Loose had practically jumped to the door when it was announced that she one would take them out foraging for food. So when Zecora had finished packing herself a small bag of various things from around her home, the group was quick to depart.

"Mistress, could she help you?" Bark Back asked as he and a few hunters came out of hiding.

Twilight took note that while they gathered around her and Screw Loose, they kept their eyes on Zecora, and that they also conspicuously avoided getting too close to the wise zebra.

"She didn't know what I was looking for, but she has decided to help lead us to somepony who can."

No wolf made to contest her decision, but she could tell that the news was defiantly making the pack tense. She knew now was not the time, but she made a mental note to ask about their relationship again in the future.

"For now though, she is leading us to some food for Screw Loose." She turned to their guide, "If you will Zecora?"

With a nod from the Zebra and a collective flinch from the pack, they set off…

...oblivious to the pair of armored pegasi quickly making their way back in the direction of Ponyville.

Author's Note

It is quite the experience, writing dialogue for Zecora...

That said, critiques about how I did with it would be appreciated.

Conflicted

"NO!" Celestia cried, adding to the cacophony of shouts and howls from the ground.

She flew down as the burning mass landed only a few yards in front of its intended target.

"Twilight!" she whimpered, hoping beyond hope that her student had survived the blast.

Frantically brushing at the flames with her magic, she attempted to smother the fire only to have it flicker and dance as if amused by her futile attempts to contain its fury.

Out of the flames leapt a wolf's blazing form. For a second she thought her student to be engulfed in the flame, but soon the truth became apparent: the flames were not licking up to her, the scorching heat and inferno were emanating from her.

This realization came a second too late as the burning wolf howled and a second realization hit her: the wolf wasn't fleeing from the flames, she was coming at her.

"Run!" Twilight shouted to her wolves.

The pack recognized that there were times to follow the leader, and there were times to disobey their orders. When the leader is weak and injured, ordering you onward and to leave them to their fate; you respectfully break orders and help them. When the leader you expected to be weak and injured has manifested an affinity for the scorching flames of the sun, and stands prepared to do battle with a legendary propagator of genocide, you promptly do what they say.

The wolves stalled only a second to collect the strange blue and striped ponies before bolting at full speed in the direction the striped pony pointed.

Behind them they could hear the unmistakable sounds of battle.

"Mistress!" Screw Loose cried, "We have to go back for Mistress!" Flailing in the grip of the wolf that was carrying her, futilely trying to fight free.

"If you wish to follow her will,
You will stay calm and still.
Towards Canterlot we must flee,
I have no doubt she'll follow shortly." Zecora said. Her words calmed the frantic mare, ending her violent struggle. Only the wolf that had scooped her onto his back could hear the subtle quaking of the Zebra's voice.

Before the burning wolf could tackle her, Celestia took flight.

"What madness is this?" The alicorn stared abhorrently at the growling beast below her.

The sound of softening yips alerted Celestia to the now absence of the wolf pack.

A look to the beast and a moment of hesitation plagued her before she turned and set herself in a dive towards the sounds of the fleeing wolves.

There was a bark from behind her and a flash of light. Before she could process why, she was suddenly sent tumbling.

Fumbling to regain orientation she threw her wings open and glided back to the ground.

In her path lay a mutely purple transparent barrier.

Realization washed over the Solar Princess as she turned, glare hardening on the burning wolf.

"Lower this barrier right now."

The wolf stood firm.

"Using magic? Holding me here while those beasts escape? Knowing that I wouldn't harm the visage of my student? You're a crafty one, whatever you are."

This time it was Twilight who had to dodge as Celestia swooped down at her.

"...But now your trick is over and I can see you for what you are! Mark my words beast I'll track down and destroy those monsters..."

She swooped down again, this time firing a magical blast at Twilight, which she just barely dodged.

"-And then I'll deal with you properly."

Twilight was just narrowly managing to dodge the Princess's attacks, but was finding the real struggle to be the one inside her head.

From the outside an objective observer would probably say that Twilight was a brave pony. Having faced down gods and demons, armies and monsters, evil queens and dark kings, most would probably say she was fearless.

...but she knew this was not the case. She knew she was afraid. She was always afraid. It was instinct to be afraid. When she charged Nightmare that night it was not that she had conquered fear, she had merely overcome the flight instinct associated. She had conquered the single most primal instinct of ponydom. She never ran.

But now, as she made each narrow leap to safety she felt something new. Her biology was presenting her with a new instinct; a new option in the face of fear. One that she was unaccustomed to fighting. One that had a draw she was finding harder and harder to suppress.

Whereas she had learned to overcome her desire for flight, she was unaccustomed to managing, and noticeably losing her grip on her desire to fight.

"Princess!"

The call interrupted the one sides exchange between the alicorn and wolf, but did nothing to lessen the tension surrounding them.

Celestia laid off her offensive for a moment, turning to find that the guard contingent had caught up, edging up to the barrier armed and ready for war.

"Go after the Timberwolves!" she shouted to the stallions, "They fled into the forest in that- GAAAAH!"

The guard watched in helpless horror as the hoof raised to point the way was suddenly grasped in the jaws of a pouncing monster.

The stallions instinctively slammed into the barrier as if sheer force would rend it. Their attempts to reach their monarch proved futile though as the barrier refused to yield.

Dragged to the ground, the burning creature and monarch began to wrestle for dominant position, all while blood flowed out of the injured leg and through the teeth of the berserker wolf.

When it finally appeared that the wolf had gained dominant position, a hard buck from below broke them apart and sent the beast sailing into its own barrier.

Celestia rose. "What did you possibly hope to accomplish beast?" She spat the words, glaring contemptuously at the wolf as it stumbled to face her. "Why do you even flee? Nightmare is gone! What purpose do her golems still have to serve? Why do they not just lay down and wither to dust?"

The staggering wolf had regained her footing and shakily squared off with Celestia once again.

Celestia could see the wolf taking quick glances back and forth between her face and the leg her healing magic had already begun to fix.

"Do you now realize how futile your efforts are? While you managed to let those beasts escape for now, there is nothing you can do to stop me! To stop the inevitable!"

Celestia could see something in the beast's eyes change at her call.

It's legs tensed as it lowered its position.

This is what she was waiting for. She charged her horn for her ace in the hole. All she needed was for the beast to leap within range and she could finally end this mess. She lunged, prepared to meet the wolf in flight.

...but it didn't happen.

The wolf leapt and she lunged in turn, but no contact was made. It took only a millisecond to happen but a woefully long second for her to process.

The instant before impact, before contact was made and she could use her spell, the wolf disappeared.

After a painfully long second she realized that the barrier was gone too.

...She had been tricked! The wolf had not been tensing for a deciding blow, it had been preparing to flee.

Celestia's legs gave out from under her.

"Fan out!" the commander shouted to his stallions as he sprinted to the fallen alicorn's aid, "It attacked the princess! Find the beast and kill it!"

"NO!" Celestia shouted, "Withdraw!"

"But princess! You almost finished it! We need to press the advantage you've made and kill that beast while it's weakened!"

A fire ignited within the alicorn's eyes that made the battle-hardened captain wither beneath it "I was not going to 'finish it', I was going to knock out my faithful student so that we could HEAL HER!" she turned away from the stallions, hiding her face behind the ethereal flow of her mane.

"WITHDRAW NOW!" The command was punctuated with a flash of magic as she teleported away, fleeing the scarred landscape and audience of thoroughly terrified stallions.

Author's Note

I'm alive, so that's something!

Expectations

Twilight fled deeper and deeper in the direction that instinct said led to her pack. She knew that if she could not catch up to her wolves soon, they might double-back to find her, wasting precious time and putting them in danger. Instinct did not fail her though, as after only an hour of tracking she came across something that caught her eye.

In the middle of the path there lay a pile of sticks. To the average traveler or woodland creature, it would have appeared to be just a regular pile of fallen branches, but Twilight's sharp eyes and keen nose were not the common ilk of the forest.

That's why she welcomed the sight of the branches beginning to draw themselves together.

"Splintertooth, did everywolf make it?"

He gave a firm nod and pointed off into the trees as they waited for his mouth to reform, once it had, he spoke, "They have taken refuge with the ponies in a cave to the east."

"Very good," Twilight said, turning and beginning towards the cave, "What of the condition of the pack and ponies?"

"The pack is ready to move at your word, but the blue one makes noises of hunger and the striped one is unresponsive." Splintertooth said falling in beside his mistress, mindful to keep a safe distance from her still burning flames.

"Unresponsive? How so?"

"She has folded herself and does not react to us. We initially feared her to have become ill, but when we tried to move her she smacked us with her stick."

"She's meditating. I'll see to her when we arrive." she turned from the wolf to find them to already be at the mouth of the cave. With a nod, she entered, leaving Splintertooth as a lookout.

"Mistress!" Screw Loose yipped as she bounded for her, "Did you beat the scary flying light monster?"

The other wolves who noticed her arrival looked on in eager anticipation.

Twilight shook her head, "No, and she will likely make moves to pursue us soon if she has not already. Time is critical, we have to make it to Canterlot tonight before Celestia can catch up and before she figures out our destination. With any luck we can still make it before dawn."

"Yes mistress!"

"Did we do the right thing?"

Applejack's question hung in the air between the five mares that sat around Fluttershy's table. Each of the mare's untouched cups of tea sent wisps of steam through their distant stares.

The farm mare looked to each of the table's occupants. To her left she could see Rarity staring blankly into her tea. Beside her, Pinkie's deflated mane nearly touched the floor as her head hung downcast. Next to her, Fluttershy's curtain of mane obstructing her face although Applejack could clearly hear faint sniffles every once and a while. Before she could shift to Rainbow, said mare slammed her hooves down on the table.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you convince me that writing Celestia was a good idea! This didn't sit well with me to begin with, and now the royal guard is out there hunting for her like some kind of monster! And do you know the best part? If some ponies wouldn't have broken their promise to not tell and sold out their best friend, we wouldn't even be talking about this!""

"Now wait just an apple buckin' minute! Don't try to pin this on me! You were just as much a part of this as we were! And if I remember, you were the one who drove Twilight off in the first place! Calling her a monster and all that! If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even have had to go looking for her in the first place!"

The mare's glared at each other with palpable animosity.

Shoving herself away from the table, Rainbow turned away and broke the silence.

"You know what? You're right!" she said with a vicious laugh "There I said it! It's all my fault! If it weren't for me Twilight wouldn't be out there at all!" she turned revealing tears running down her face, "But you know what? I think she's better off! She may be surrounded by vicious unfeeling monsters, but at least in a pack they're loyal to one another!" the words had hardly reached the other mare's ears before Rainbow had passed the threshold of the home and disappeared into the night.

Applejack attempted to call out in argument, but found the call die in her throat.

She couldn’t argue. Giving it thought, Rainbow’s words rang true. For the good or the bad of it, she now realized that she had been disloyal. Fluttershy had explained how Twilight had made her promise not to let Celestia find out about her condition. Rightfully that vow would have carried over to her as well when Fluttershy had told her. Fluttershy’s confidence, and by extension Twilight’s, had been betrayed when she had brought Celestia into this… and possibly worst of all, she had yet again failed to take Twilight’s fears seriously. It sounded crazy when Fluttershy had told her at the time, but Twilight’s fear of being hunted down if Celestia was told was now word for word accurate.

She had betrayed Twilight and Fluttershy’s trust, re-committed the same act that had let Twilight go crazy with worry and let her trust a changeling over her own friend, and now possibly doomed her friend to an animal’s death, all because she had been so gung-ho about letting Celestia solve her problems for her rather than putting forth the effort to help Twilight herself.

The realization tore at her heart.

She was out the door that Rainbow had blown open before it had even reached its apex.

In the wake of their friend’s outbursts and departures, the remaining mares quietly dismissed themselves, not even making eye contact as they shared strained farewells and headed home to re-evaluate their own roles in the mess that they had helped create.

Roadblock

It was a few more hours of travel before the group arrived at the edge of the dark forest. No longer cloaked by the treetops, the mountain upon which their destination sat finally became visible.

With no sight, smell, or indication of any kind that the princess or the royal guard were following them, they came to a stop just inside the edge of the forest that surrounded the base of the mountain.

"How are you doing Screwy?" Twilight asked as she helped her down from Pinepaw's back.

"Those herbs madam stripey found helped a little, but I'm still so hungry..." she whined, fully submitting her pride to her hunger. It didn't matter that much though, as her grumbling stomach had betrayed her tough-mare act long-ago.

"Don't worry, even if the pack can't find anything now, we'll get you some food soon." Twilight said, giving her a rub between the ears, perking her up a little.

Twilight ended the rub as Bark Back came up carrying Zecora upon his aptly-named back. 6

The starved mare looked to the newcomers with hope, only to be met with dual shaking heads. Screw Loose looked up, dejected, before turning and heading back in to continue looking for food.

Zecora and Bark Back joined Twilight in examining the mountain.

"While I can help you speak,
To those whom you seek,
I have no good plot
To get through Canterlot.
If we simply walked through the gate,
I fear we'd quickly meet our fate." the striped one poetically announced before looking back into the deep forest,
"None the less, I must confess, waiting here I as-much fear." she finished.

"I must agree mistress." he said, "Remaining here is not an option, but there is little chance of us making it into the pony city as we are, and much less of making it through the city to the night ruler. What do you wish us to do mistress?"

Twilight looked to the faintly glowing city for a minute and then back to the pair, "I don't know yet, but I'll think of someth-"

"Mistress!" a juvenile shouted as he ran up to the trio.

"What is it? Did you find some food?"

"No mistress, we came across some ponies!"

"What did you do then?"

"We backed off, as you said we should, but they ran off screaming and left their cart!"

Gears turned in the lavender wolf's head.

"I have an idea..."

Well and truly exhausted, Zecora and Screw Loose finally rounded the final bend of the winding path up to the majestic city.

As they got close though, an unexpected figure appeared to be blocking passage through the main gate.

"Halt!" the figure shouted revealing himself to be in the armor of the guard as they got closer, "State your destination and cargo!"

The pair stopped their advance, Screw Loose froze stiff, but Zecora calmly nodded.

"I was unaware that inspections were needed, always before has entry been unheeded."

The guard's stony facade only grew colder, "State your cargo and destination or I will be forced to detain you."

"For that there is no reason, we have not committed treason. We are simply bringing wood to a friend, one who has fires he must tend."

"Wood?" the guard asked suspiciously, a eyeing the mares as he spoke. “I’m going to need to verify that that is actually what you have there." he moved towards the cart, lighting his horn.

Zecora's, facade maintained, but Screw Loose's exploded, she began retreating back as the familiar sight of a unicorn with his horn lit, approaching menacingly.

Zecora, pulled of balance by the unexpected retreat, tried to block his path, but had no luck. The stallion captured the mares, cart and all, in a pale glow.

"I would ask that you did not disturb our load, as it was not meant to be opened while still on the road." Zecora feebly added.

With suspicion boiling over, and only emboldened by the zebra's apparent excuse, the guard continued forward.

Releasing his hold on the cart, his magic embraced solely the tarp, tearing it from the cart...

... to reveal a pile of variously sized logs and sticks, some of which spilled off the side of the over-heaped cart, precisely as the zebra mare had said.

The guard's expression twitched to something unreadable, but none the less he backed away.

"Everything seems to be in order here." he said he said flatly, moving aside for the mares to continue foreword into the city.

The pair quickly pulled their cart away, not even slowing down for a rearward glance. For a long while, they trotted in silence down the empty street, taking the main path flanked by the posh shops of lower Canterlot.

Eventually they turned into a random alleyway neatly tucked between a jewelry store and a dressmakers shop.

Zecora unhitched herself and Screw Loose from the cart, before turning to face it.

"We are into the city and hidden away, but for too long we should not stay. The dawn comes and with the fleeing of night, so too will trouble, don't you agree Twilight?"

The cart shuddered, branches spilling from the edges as the pile collapsed, revealing a lavender wolf.

"Yes, the sooner we make it to the castle the more likely we are to get an audience with Luna." She said firmly. Turning to Screw Loose she added, "Sorry Screwy, we'll get you some food as soon as we can, but we need to get moving. If they have guards at the city gate searching incoming traffic, I'm sure there will be heightened patrols within the city as well."

"It was a miracle he did not uncover our guise, I had been almost certain he had seen through my lies..."

"I think it will be ok. Let's just get moving, the faster we get to the castle, the less chance we'll be discovered prematurely." Twilight concluded before hunching down and using her magic to re-bury herself with the fallen branches

Without another word the pair re-hitched themselves and once again entered the street.

...failing to notice the pair of armor-clad pegasi that had aerially tracked them up from the front gate.

Author's Note

So how 'bout that premier? I like what they did story wise, but the whole "send Twilight back 'cuz she's to important" bit was rather contrived, rushed, and just plain silly given the context...

Ambush

Silently, the pair continued on, eventually passing up the businesses of central Canterlot for the heights where the walled estates of the nobles dominated the edges of the road. The castle was still a ways off, but now tantalizingly within reach.

"Stay with me my friend, our journey has almost reached its end."

All that Zecora got from her companion in way of a reply was a moan as Screw Loose continued to trudge diligently onward, despite visible strain.

"When our travel is complete, then you shall have plenty to eat."

Her words elicited another brief response, but it was easy to tell that the starving mare was nearing the end of her rope.

Zecora opened her mouth intending to provide further encouragement, but held her tongue as she noticed dark figures suddenly blocking their path ahead.

"Halt!" the foreword-most of the blockers commanded, his dark blue armor and leathery wings revealing his station.

Looking ahead no less than a dozen similar lunar guards bearing the crest of Luna's forces cut off their advance. Thoughts of retreat were similarly abandoned as another squad of bat-winged troops landed behind them.

"Both of you will unhitch from the cart, take two steps forward and lie down!" the apparent leader once again shouted.

Zecora and Screw Loose looked to each-other, silently seeking consensus on their course of action.

Before they could decide whether or not surrender would bring them to the princess faster, their contemplation was ended by a bright flash in the sky behind them.

Without warning, something emerged from the flash and shot down like lightning at the cart leaving the pair only an instant to dive away.

The overburdened cart stood no chance against the mysterious attack, shattering under the force sending the wood and splinters of the destroyed cart scattering.

When the light faded and the debris had settled, Princess Luna herself stood amongst the wreckage, pinning the lavender wolf to the ground.

"Beast! For what reason do you invade our city? Speak, if you are able, or face righteous destruction!" she yelled as she charged her horn, aiming it at her pinned captive.

"Mistress! I'll help!" Screw Loose barked, charging up from the dust.

Before she could close the distance though, a field of indigo magic deflected her. Undeterred, she began wildly swinging at the barrier. "Get off of mistress!" She snarled, bearing her distinctly not-canine teeth in a still surprisingly intimidating display.

"Thralls." Luna announced flatly, inspecting the madly barking mare. "Guards! Detain these two, but bring them not to harm as their actions are not their own. I will assess their condition once this threat has been dealt with." the glare she gave the wolf below her left little to imagine what she meant.

"Princess of the moon and night, I beg that you cease this fight!" Zecora shouted over Screw Loose's continued barking, as the guards in front cautiously but steadily closed in on her.

"Fear not," Luna said, either unhearing or uncaring of the zebra's words, "you shall soon be free of this foul beast's control."

Zecora's response was hastened as the guard began separating towards both mares individually, "You misunderstand our plight, the one you face is our dear Tw-oof" she was cut short as one of the lunar guard charged foreword, but rather than the sharp sting of armor she had anticipated, instead she was impacted by something softer, and from a different direction entirely.

As soon as she had heard the command for the guards to capture them, Screw Loose abandoned her pounding and began moving. Her familiarity with avoiding the grabs white-coated doctors was translating quite well to avoiding the royal guards who had advanced up to her.

True to Luna's command they were not using their weapons, and were instead left futilely trying to use their hooves to catch the slippery mare. Showing her experience, she managed to duck and weave her way entirely past the group before they could grab her.

Having evaded the line of guards attempting to capture her, Screw Loose's instinct was to simply sprint away, but she could hear the striped ones attempts to talk to the Moon-Bearer, and instead made her way over towards her.

"Stay back striped one!" Screw Loose yelled as she rolled off of her striped companion. Having successfully knocked her out of the way of the guard's dive, she then planted himself between her Zebra companion and the guards.

Undaunted, the guards continued to close in on the pair, slowly expanding to surround them, cutting off their escape.

Fear crossed Screw Loose's face as she considered their situation, that is, until she noticed a twitching amongst the scattered branches.

Before any of the guards could react, all at once the branches were swept up in magic, forming into the wolves that constituted the pack.

Splintertooth was first to fully reform, leaping to Screw Loose's side as soon as his head had reformed.

As more of the pack began rising from the scattered wood to join him, even those unfamiliar with the stories of timberwolves promptly drew back. The guard unit swiftly switched from offense to defense as their numerical advantage was unexpectedly trumped.

For her part, Luna hardly looked away from the creature beneath her, even as a few of the newly reformed wolves began scraping their splintered claws at the barrier.

Luna's shield held firm though, brushing off the combined assault like so much rainfall. Her barrier likely would have been able to hold indefinitely, had it not been for the sudden force that slammed into her, removing her from the captive wolf and breaking her focus on maintaining said barrier.

With the sound of smashing glass the fighting pack met success and the barrier surrounding Twilight, Luna, and the newly risen Bark Back shattered. Luna quickly recovered from the tackle and tossed Bark Back off of her with a flash of magic, but the damage was done and the barrier that separated them was down. As the wolves closed in, she took flight.

The wolves formed up around their mistress as Luna landed amongst her own forces, noticeably stumbling on landing as the wing Bark Back had impacted faltered.

Without words, two of the bat-winged troops sided up to Luna to steady her.

Emboldened by the affront to their princess, Luna's forces formed a battle line poised to meet the wolves head on.

The canine unit faced down the equine, both sides lining up like the pieces of a chessboard on the confined street.

"Mistress, it is apparent that they are not listening to the striped one. Are we to fight or flee?" Bark Back asked.

Twilight carefully considered her options as the bat winged troops closed in, "We will..."

Author's Note

This chapter has been so long in coming, and yet ends on a cliffhanger... Yeah... I know...

Next chapter just needs some severe editing, but should come soon...

Also, give some love to the one-shot I produced while considering what a nation that declared war with Equestria would face. (It's a short comedic concept.)

Fight or Flight

There was a tense moment as the pack awaited their commands. "We will submit." Twilight said firmly as she lowered her hindquarters and then chest to the ground. Finally, she closed her eyes in a bow towards the slowly advancing enemy line.

If Bark Back was concerned by her answer he didn't show it, not hesitating to follow her lead. He calmly edged closer to his mistress before prostrating as well. The rest of the Wolves and Zecora followed, leaving only one pony standing amongst them as the lunar unit cautiously closed in.

"Mistress! What are you doing! We can't just give up! We can escape!"

Her enthusiastic shouts were met by Bark Back calmly turning his head, not enough to look at her, but enough to show he was addressing her, “We could, but then what would that do? We came to find the moon-bearer. We have found her. We have no path nor reason to flee."

"But she attacked us! And we were just trying to talk to her! She hurt mistress for no reason! We should fight back!"

Bark Back suddenly turned his head to face her fully, his glowing eyes opening before narrowing dangerously. He opened his mouth again, but was interrupted by Twilight who spoke, remaining bowed and prostrate, "Screwy, I'm fine. It's like Bark Back said, this is what we came here for. Luna only attacked because she's worried about the ponies in the city. If we give up, she has no reason to-"

Whatever she would have said next was cut off as a spell impacted her. Screw Loose saw most of the pack leap to their paws, only for the world to suddenly go black for her as well.

There was an oppressive silence as the mares gathered once again around Fluttershy's table. Only a few hours had passed since their last meeting, so although heads had cooled, tensions were still high.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack conspicuously avoided eye contact, both shuffling awkwardly as they stood. Rarity watched on, calmly considering how to calm the tension between the two mares. It turned out she didn't have to, as in an odd act, both mares took the initiative at once.

"Rainbow..."

"AJ..."

"Oh, you go first." Applejack said, flinching back as if she expected Rainbow's self-conscious frown to dissolve into an angry scowl. It didn't of course, and instead her eyes broke down as well.

"I'm sorry for what I said before... I'm the element of loyalty, not you. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Applejack looked back, now with her own frown "Now I'm right sorry too, but don't go thinking that just because loyalty isn't my element that I don't feel the same way about my hoof in this..."

Awkward silence filled the room until Rarity gave a petite cough that brought everyone's attention to her.

"We're all upset about what we had to do with this, but apologies should come later, and to Twilight's face. Now, I suppose we should find out why we're here. Fluttershy? What did you call us here in such a hurry for? Did you figure out something we can do to help Twilight?"

Fluttershy fidgeted for a second before quietly responding, "Well... No..." she said meekly, "...but I did, maybe, figure out why she was acting the way she was... "

"We know 'Shy, she's gone predator, explaining it isn't the problem! Fixing her is!" Rainbow shouted across the table, a little harshly considering the recipient if the outburst.

Fluttershy carried on undaunted though, the importance of her message overriding Rainbow's tone, "But what if it isn't? What if fixing her isn't really all that pressing?"

"Go on dear..." Rarity prompted, notably confused, but hopeful.

"Well..."

Twilight regained consciousness as if emerging from a tunnel into the bright sun. As her vision adjusted, she began seeing colors, blurs, shapes, and then finally began to see the forms of ponies before her. Or rather the remains of ponies...

Bile rose in her throat at the sight. As she scanned the street she could see many dark figures in various states of dismemberment before her. She began to wretch, but discovered something already cought in her mouth. She released her jaw to the sound of a hard thump.

She looked down. A blue neck spilled red blood at an alarming rate.

"wh- why?" the figure asked pathetically, coughing blood as she spoke the feeble word.

"Luna!?!" Twilight shouted, hurriedly applying her hooves to the profusely bleeding puncture wounds. "NONONONONONONO!!!! WHAT'S GOING ON!!!" she cried into the Canterlot night. She looked around trying to find her pack for aid, but not a branch could be found, nor were Zecora or Screw Loose in sight.

"Luna! Hang on! Please!" she shouted at the still unresponsive and bleeding form.

"Heeeeeelp!" Twilight yelled into the night, not caring who responded, as long as somepony came to help her fallen friend. Tears built in her eyes and began dripping down her muzzle as she tried to stem the bleeding, to virtually no success.

"HEEEEEELP!" she pathetically and desperately wailed into the night.

"Stay with me Luna! Please!" Twilight turned from the bloody wound, and looked to her face.

She turned, and her lavender eyes met teal.

"Twilight!?!" The tattered figure blurted.

"Wha-" Twilight asked as the world once again began to fade into view. "LUNA!" she shouted, leaping to her paws, in the process knocking something aside.

"Yes?" that something said, sounding slightly pained but equally confused.

Twilight turned her head, scanning her surroundings to find herself in the familiar Canterlot throne room, an exorbitant number of bat-winged guards lining the walls, and Luna off to her side massaging her horn.

"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked slowly and deliberately, scanning her face intensely as she did so.

"Princess Luna! You're alright! Thank goodness! I had this terrible..." Twilight froze, "...wait, you can understand me?"

"Indeed." she replied proudly "It would not become a ruler of the night to be unable to speak to the denizens thereof, now would it, Twilight Sparkle?"

"How'd you-?"

"In dreams we appear as we recognize ourselves, and a moment ago, much to my surprise, you appeared in the form I know you."

"Wha- What was that? That was a dream? I- The last thing I remember before that was telling Screw Loo-" she froze, looking from side to side frantically, "Where is my pack!?!" She hollered, lowering herself dangerously and bringing all of the present guard to brandish their weapons against her.

"HOLD!" Luna shouted to her guards, as they complied and rose their leveled weapons, Luna addressed Twilight once again, "Do not worry for those that arrived with you, they have merely been detained. As for your other question, I must apologize for my trick. When you surrendered, I induced you to sleep, secured your companions, and arranged such a dream wherein I could observe your intentions. You are likely aware how much the proud are willing to reveal when success is apparent. I meant to trick you into revealing your plan to my dying form, for, as you are now aware, I understood your commands relating to me being your 'target' and desired to know if your intention was to kill me, and if so, why. To my great surprise though, not the great wolf but rather may friend Twilight was whom I encountered within the dream."

"Oh..." Twilight said uncertainly, "So it was a ploy in case I was..."

Seeing the confusion and uncertainty on Twilight's face, Luna spoke once again: "I knew not your intentions nor your identity, and although you appeared to submit, I am far from trusting those who come unannounced and with what I thought were hostages. I needed to test you, that is why my manipulation of your dream was vital, but for both that and your companion’s imprisonment I apologize."

"I guess it's alright... I was just terrified, I thought I had hurt you! I thought I had-!"

"Calm Twilight, your dreams prove your nature. I knew not your identity nor intentions when you snuck past the city gate, but now at least your identity and allegiance are clear to me. I had to be sure. Now, on to more pressing matters. I assume if not for my head, then you came for my aid?

"Yes!" Twilight said excitedly.

"Then go right ahead." Luna said, "I shall hear your request. I presume it has something to do with changing your current form?"

Twilight hesitated

"Is that not right?"

"Well that is a priority, and something I'd like to ask your help with, but there is another matter that is even more pressing..."

"Oh?" Luna asked, appearing rather surprised, "and what would that be?"

"Well, I can explain as I go, but I guess the first question I have to ask would be: Did Nightmare Moon create the Timberwolves?"

Answers

"No," Luna replied cautiously, "While I possessed much power under the Nightmare's influence, producing sentient life is something that only the Creators could do."

The first, and most preliminary factor of Twilight's revelation was realized!

"Princess! That is great news! That means that they are not what Celestia thinks they are! If they were not created by the nightmare then there is no reason to fear them! They can coexist with ponies!"

Luna frowned, "It is not that easy Twilight Sparkle, there are many predators in the Everfree not summoned by the Nightmare, and none of them are able to live alongside their food. It is impossible for predators and prey to live in peace."

Twilight's confidence did not falter, "At face value, I'd agree. I myself have found constantly resisting the draw of ...meat... to be very difficult. I can see well now how to baser creatures it would be nigh impossible to resist. Life together would be impossible on a mass scale." she said with a pause,

"...but with the Timberwolves I think we can live together!" Twilight said with a sharp-toothed smile that put the already tense remaining guards even more on edge, "Really, now that I see it, it should have been obvious from the start, but I was too preoccupied to see the signs along the way."

"What do you mean Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked, confusion clear, and yet hope also daring to tinge her voice.

"I mean, I know how ponies and Timberwolves can live in peace! It's been, quite literally, right in front of our noses the whole time!" The growing excitement in the purple wolf was spreading to Luna as well, the guards not finding it as amusing.

"Speak! Speak! Out with it!" Luna pleaded, beginning to feel the hype Twilight was exuding.

Twilight back-tracked a little in her mind, "Well the first clue was when Bark Back showed me their 'food reserves' which consisted of a compost heap. At the time I thought nothing of it, assuming that it was merely spoiled food, but later when I thought about it I realized that they had no reason to have any plant matter as food, let alone decomposing plant-matter. "

The princess of the night appeared not to understand, staring blankly at the still-yipping wolf.

"That's not all! They explained how they had their illnesses treated by Zecora, but what illnesses could they possibly have? Only living things can get sick. They are not animals, obviously, but still get sick, so they must be made out of living wood!"

"This is all well and good, but how does this help us again? Them being made of living wood does not appear to mean much to the situation at hoof."

"-But it does! It means everything!" Twilight said, re-adjusting her stance so she was squared off with the Night Princess, "This is the part that I'm surprised nopony saw, or rather smelled, sooner! Think about it, most ponies have no reason to know beyond 'terrible' but what does Timberwolf breath smell like?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I am not wholly familiar with the scent. What is it?"

"It's important, I want to be absolutely sure about this. Please, just try to place the smell for me." Twilight urged.

"Fine then. Captain! bring one of the Timberwolves here, post-haste."

Twilight followed with her eyes as the stallion carried on his way out after a salute.

Twilight turned her attention back to Luna expecting to be bombarded with a volley of questions before the stallion could return, but was surprised to find Luna looking at the nearest window apparently deep in thought.

"Princess?" Twilight prodded, but when no response was heard, she decided to follow suit, and took the opportunity to analyze what she wanted to say next.

Before long the guard returned, a large Timberwolf closely behind.

"Bark Back-" Twilight began, but was cut off by Luna.

"Wolf! Come forth!"

A subtle nod from Twilight drew him before the lunar ruler.

They did not get uncomfortably close, merely a reasonable talking distance apart, or rather that much and then that length translated upward the height of the stepped dais.

Luna closed her eyes, cringing perceptibly, "I don't..."

"Please princess, just think about it!"

Luna looked confused but closed her eyes in thought. After a minute her expression grew dim, and she solemnly replied, "It smells like a battlefield after a great cataclysm."

"Or more specifically?" Twilight led.

"The rotting corpses..." Luna shuddered at the images she must have seen in memories of times long passed. Twilight felt bad for bringing them to her, but it was needed.

"Yes, that's what I surmised: rotting flesh! That is the key! Under the extreme conditions of the war, I believe that what Celestia saw so long ago was them feasting on the remains after an unrelated battle. Then she, used to fighting similar magically formed constructs, likely just assumed them to be made by the nightmare, and immediately saw their actions out of context and decided them malevolent without knowing better. Sadly, that oversight may be what brought them into the war if they did later fight for the Nightmare... but more importantly, that smell is what made me realize what drew this all together, they aren't normal predators! Unlike hydra, or manticores, or even myself at the moment, they don't eat live meat and digest it like a normal predator. Just look at their bodies! Why would their bodies need the complex carbohydrates and fats of meat? And then I realized it! They don't!"

"Are you saying they kill and eat for sport? That only serves to make their actions unfounded! How-"

"No princess, they do need to eat. And that's where the secret lies. They aren't predators! They're plants! I believe their magical essence can only inhabit living wood, that would explain how they're able to grow from pups and increase in size.

What they eat isn't inherently 'food', that's why their breath smells like rot! They are consuming things, and "digesting" them by letting the nutrients break down into usable forms inside them! That's why they eat meat, it likely breaks down to usable materials much more quickly and efficiently than plant life. It requires further testing, but I hypothesize that within their gut regions is a symbiotic decomposer type bacteria that-"

"Twilight! Please, consequence only. While I'm sure the processes would fascinate a scientist, it is meaningless to me."

When Twilight quieted, and had the decency to look abashed, Luna continued, "Good, now tell me, in lay-pony, what this all means." Luna commanded.

"It means they are very much like the Zionaea Muscipula. Also known as the Zebracan fly trap. To compensate for the fact it normally grows in soil too infertile to support such a plant, it gains needed nutrients by catching and breaking down insects that wander into its trapping jaws. It is my belief, that Timber Wolves function in much the same way only more so, living without any soil and taking all of their nutrients from what they consume."

"So..." Luna led on.

"So, we could support them in the same way Zebracan fly traps are supported in botanical gardens."

Enlightenment sparkled in the night princess's eyes "Yes, go on! What does this process entail? We must know! Is it another modern construct we have yet to see since our return? An enchanted machine perhaps?"

Blown back by Luna's sudden enthusiastic change of heart, Twilight was actually rather unprepared to answer, "In the gardens, it is common practice, rather than to feed the Zionaea Muscipula flies, to give them their needed nutrients through... they... Um... Well... They... Uh... Provide nitrogen enriched pre-digested biomass..."

"Once again I must ask you to speak in lay-pony terms."

"Well, um..."

"Yes! Yes, out with it!"

"They fertilize them."

Twilight risked a glance to the night princess, and immediately wished she hadn't. She remained frozen in place, not even the stars in her mane or eager smile on her face moved.

"The best way to grow a carnivorous plant without meat is to fertilize it with... natural fertilizer." Twilight quickly blurted, "I think it would work in mass, because I think-" Luna's smile began to fade, "theonlyreasontheydidn'teatlikethisintheforestwasamatterofquantity,theyappeartoneedmuchmorethan- eep!"

Twilight jumped away as Luna dove off her throne, landing next to Twilight, right in front of Bark Back.

"You, Wolf!" Luna commanded.

The wooden wolf bowed, "Yes Moon Carrier?"

"Is what my sister's student says true?"

"If my mistress believes it, I would stake my life on its truthfulness."

"Very well," in an instant, a gasp came from one of the guards as his sword was taken from him, flying straight for the night princess, viciously slashing her across the raised fetlock. The others readied to strike down the wielder of the magic, before they realized that it was her own dark-blue aura that had performed the act. Without any warning she all but shoved her bloody hoof into Bark Back's mouth.

"Will you bite me? Will you consume my flesh? Or will you prove you possess the restraint to not consume flesh unnecessarily? Will you prove that peace is possible?"

Bark back opened his jaw and placed his teeth around Luna's wound, but did not bite down.

"Princess, I was getting to this," Twilight said, cutting the stillness, "Unlike myself and most other flesh beings, they have one specific advantage that further arises from their specific condition. While you and I have taste buds to detect rotten food and things that would carry disease, they don't have to fear animal diseases, and therefore do not need a sense of taste. I believe that they do not have preference to one food to another, as long as it provides the nutrients necessary to keep them alive, or... well... functioning as the case may be."

Luna withdrew her hoof, unscratched. Twilight could actually see that even the sword wound had almost fully healed in the short time it had taken her to explain.

"Very well." Luna said in her most down-to-business voice, "As co-regent of Equestria, I declare that your case has been made, and that you have been found righteous in your request." she trotted up to her throne before turning and addressing the hall, "I now declare that henceforth, Timberwolves are legal citizens of Equestria, and shall enjoy the benefits of such. They will be awarded the same tribal sovereignty and independence as awarded under the Buffalo Tribal Lands Accord, and will be granted free travel to and from Equestrian lands and their newly sovereign Tribal lands inside the Everfree Forest."

This time it was Twilight that made the guards jump, as she sprinted up the dais to nuzzle the monarch.

"Thank you princess! This means so much! You can't even imagine how- grrrrurrrruf"

Luna laughed as she found the sweet spot between Twilight's ears, "Do not think anything of it my little- uh, wolf. It was my duty to see this out, and I am happy I could be part of righting this apparent wrong. If my sister were here, I'm sure that she would be more than amenable to the-"

The joyous mood of the room died as, in an intense flash of heat and light, the solar monarch in question materialized before them.

Forgetting herself in the joy of the most recent revelation, Twilight leapt towards her long-time mentor, intent to share the joyous news.

Celestia was not so keen...

Author's Note

Why do half of the commenters seem to think that this is the end of the story?

Civility

A wave of magic swept Twilight aside and a much more threatening blast was fired at Bark Back. Before Twilight's trajectory carried her into the wall and the blast had time to reach its target, though, a dark blue aura caught her and shielded Bark Back.

Celestia's formerly narrowed eyes shot open as she looked to her sister, "What is this?" she nearly shouted, eyes returning to their previous, unquestioningly threatening slits.

"I am defending my citizens, what else would be expected of me?" Luna responded firmly, rising from the throne, eying her sister critically.

"Your- ...citizens?" Celestia's firm and intimidating facade melted and was replaced with one of confusion, then fear, and then finally a teetering edge between anger and sadness. "Sister... Are you saying you are behind this?"

"If you mean to ask if I have defended rightful citizens of Equestria from your misguided attempts at the same, then yes, I am wholly responsible. Beyond that, I am conspicuously unaware of to what you could be referring, a matter I must express a measure of discontent with. Tell me sister, whatever has driven you to the point that you would attack your own student on sight?"

Celestia looked taken aback, glancing between the Luna, who wore a hurt frown and the wolf, who sat with a similar look of worrisome confusion in its eyes.

"I'm sorry sister..." Celestia said quietly. The words brought a smile to Luna's face. "I'm sorry you got involved at all." before Luna could question, a bright flash filled the room to reveal the lunar princess unconscious. The lunar guards may have reacted to the affront, had they not shared a similar fate.

As the dark alicorn fell, Twilight and Bark back were once again suspended by a golden aura. Celestia's sad eyes turned hard as she turned from her fallen sister to the wolves suspended in her grasp.

"So this was your intention? You knew my sister would not fall to your temptations directly, so you possessed my student and used her to drive my sister to re-establish the Night Empire? You may have gotten Twilight, but I will not lose my sister as well!" she shouted furiously, her mane's normally soft breeze quaking and snapping like a pennant in a gale. "I shall never lose my sister again, I swear it!" she screamed as the wooden wolf in her grasp was engulfed in solar flames. The other suspended wolf looked on in horror.

She turned to the remaining wolf, speaking with a much quieter, but all the more frightful for it, tone, "You will release your hold on my student, or I will make you suffer until you do!"

The wolf looked her gaze, Celestia's purple eyes meeting the wolf's blue. ...blue? Celestia's horn brightened, but the magic fizzled out as so too did the magic holding her up.

"I am stunned by your cruelty. The sister I know and love would never act this way, but then again, you must be in a poor state of mind if you thought a sleep spell would work on me sister." the wolf said calmly, in a familiar voice. The figure began morphing into a the same form that lay limp across the room as that and all the other present bodies dissolved into smoke, the very room quivering and reshaping into a familiar starry void of Luna's realm. "Now, what is this about the Night Empire? Surely you do not think I have fallen prey to the Nightmare once again?"

Celestia's anger was clear to Luna, though she could not tell if it was at her, at herself for falling into her trap, or for another reason. Regardless, her anger carried through her grimace and into her words, "You stand before me defending the Nightmare's monsters and claim to not be influenced? The farce has ended, it is all too clear what has happened here."

Celestia's scowl faltered as if surprised though, when, rather than taking action, Luna merely continued to talk, “Well then sister, please enlighten me; What is it that has clearly happened here?" The action, or the conspicuous lack thereof, caught Celestia unguarded.

"You! You... The wolf! Twilight was possessed by some force that has transformed her and continues to influence her! She has brought the Nightmare's wolves from hiding and atempts to bring you back to madness!" Her tone turned incredulous, "Such must be the case if you believe them your subjects!"

"Sister, your student is under an influence, one that she has been doing her best to fight, but it is not what you appear to think. I know not the circumstance, but she speaks in the voice of your student, she herself has expressed the fear that she is tempered by the instincts of a predator, but I have seen no more reason to distrust her words."

"But she fought me! My student would never raise a hoof against me! It is against her nature!" Celestia exclaimed indignantly. To any other the retort would have sounded like a confident statement of fact, but Luna could hear the confusion and concern underlining her words.

Luna took a long breath and spoke her reply slowly and deliberately, "I have no doubt it was hard for her to do so sister, but to simply abandon her friends would be an even greater betrayal of her morals, would it not?"

Celestia's confidence faltered, “What is this of her friends?" she asked, "The Element Bearers were the ones who brought my attention to this matter in the first place out of their concern for her! How would fighting me be in the interests of being loyal to her friends?"

"Because those are not the friends she needed to defend." Luna replied calmly.

For a moment Celestia merely stared at her sister, but quickly her expression changed again, "Surely you do not propose that she has befriended the Nightmare's creations!"

The look Luna returned said all it needed to.

"Sister, surely you are aware that such beings are not capable of-"

"My conversation with Twilight and the timberwolf would attest to the fact they are capable, not just of speech and cognition, but of independent complex thought, and indeed friendship."

Celestia remained steadfast, "If it is as you say, and these creatures are capable of thought, that does not change that they are still allies of the Nightmare! They-"

"These wolves have no more allegiance to the nightmare than our thestrials of today. In fact, their ancestral counterparts likely had even less reason to fight when compared, if our assessment rings true, for they were not even given a choice, rather having been forced into the conflict in order to survive."

"But-" Celestia called out, "Sister, they kill ponies! Even if they can, as you claim, channel the magic of friendship, they are dangerous and wild! There is no way-"

"How many ponies have they killed?" Luna interrupted.

"Many!" confidently shouted in return.

"After the war, how many did they kill after the conflict had ended?" Luna asked, still calm.

"Parties into the Everfree have been reporting attacks ever since! Likely hundreds have died by their claws and teeth!"

Luna did not seem surprised or even all to upset by this number, "Yes sister, but how about Manticore, Hydra, Ursa? Have they killed more than any other creature of the Everfree? Do their actions fall out of line with any other predatory or territorial race? Is there anything to say that their actions have been anything more malicious than trying to survive? You as well as I know the forest does not give special dispensation to ponies and I would not ask that of it, for that is not its way."

Celestia opened her mouth, "Wh-"

"...and I will not hear you make claims against the natural order either, not now, and especially not on the case of a species so closely tied to our last conflict of that very subject."

"Fine! What is it then? What do you propose I do? Allow the wolves to run free? Continuing to kill indiscriminately all those who wander too close to the forest?" Celestia asked, stomping a hoof, "I intend to protect my little ponies, if that means that there is one less type of monster in the forest then so be it!"

"Are you listening to me sister? Or even yourself? Harmony should always be the first choice!"

"Harmony with monsters? We cannot-"

"They are not monsters!" Luna shouted “Are you not listening to me? They are an organized sentient race, and should be treated as such! Can you name one reason that this is not the case?"

"They hunt and eat ponies!" Celestia replied without pause.

"So did the griffons. We can work past it. Further, your student has already presented a method of doing just that." Luna replied, "That is why I have already gone ahead with giving them the rights they deserve. I have already made them citizens."

Celestia gaped indignantly, "Citizenship! They are but magical constructs! How can you think of them as citizens!"

"Are not we all magical constructs sister? Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies, all formed by the great magic that flows within and between us?"

"You know very well what I meant." Celestia retorted unamused.

"Surely I did not! What separates them from us?" Luna shouted, stomping a hoof.

"They are magical constructs! Look at them!" Celestia shouted back, obviously becoming frustrated with her sister's lack of understanding, "They are made of wood held together by magic!"

Luna rose a brow, "So you claim that not being of flesh makes them monsters? I would dare say Princess Cadence would disagree on behalf of her crystal ponies." Luna paused, but continued before Celestia could retort "Do you have yet more reason to persecute them? Or do you need further reason to finally accept them as the rightful citizens I have already made them!"

Whatever response Celestia had been preparing was lost as she sputtered."Persi... I am not persecuting them! I am defending my little ponies! You are the one making a mockery of our nation by offering citizenship to these creatures! What next sister? Will you elevate cragodiles to nobility? This is absurd!"

"No, what is absurd is your refusal to see the truth of the matter!" Luna shouted as she stomped a hoof, "To be certain, I would elevate a cragodile to nobility if it preformed deserving service to Equestria!" Luna paused as her sister stared, aghast "That is precisely the point that you need to see!" she continued much to her sister's consternation, "Do you not remember Prince Platinum the forty-third?"

Celestia was taken off guard by the question but gave a cautious nod.

"Do you remember why we finally ended up removing the power of the Unicornian royal family?" Celestia gave no response. "I believe his exact words were not too far from your own just now, something about making a mockery of Ponydom by allowing the first Pegasi and Earth ponies to live in the royal capitol. Do you remember? I believe that he also made a similar comparison, likening our plan's 'absurdity' to that of an Earth pony becoming noble. I regret to admit that at the time I was more inclined to believe him, but I trusted your judgment. Now here we are, positions reversed, and I hope that you will trust me."

Celestia could no longer hold her sister's gaze...

"Mistress,” Bark Back asked as the limp forms of the Diarchs began to stir, "The Moon Bearer and White Hunter reawaken."

The lavender wolf scrambled to her paws, unsure how to proceed, but preparing to cast a shield just in case.

She sided up to Luna's rising form, keeping her eyes on Celestia's.

"Princess, how did it go? Is she...?"

"She acts as a detestable mule, and has the stubbornness to prove it, but yes..." she said with a weary but contented sigh, "...she has relented."

Author's Note

No, this is not the end.

To be safe, I'm just spelling out the fact that this is not the end of the story, as there are many loose ends that still need to be wrapped up.

(Just didn't want the lack of a cliffhanger to give the wrong impression.)

((lol))

Oh, and is it clear enough what happened this chapter? I don't want to have to recognize what occurred through dialogue (and insult your intelligence), but it seems somewhat unclear upon re-reading... Tell me in comments what you think.

Worry

"So tell me, what's the plan?" Rainbow Dash asked in a whisper, leaning over into the isle conspiratorially as she and the other elements of harmony rumbled along on the train towards Canterlot. There hadn't been any private cars like they had on their trip to Appaloosa scheduled on this leg of the trip until later in the day, so they had been forced to settle for the less comfortable, and much less private bench seating.

"Sit up darling," Rarity commanded, tutting at the stunt-pony's posture "And stop whispering, there is no reason to act so suspicious."

Rainbow frowned, before leaning back in and whispering again, "We talked about going to the castle, but surely that's not all of it! You have a plan right? Spill it! How's this really going down?"

"Dear, we really are merely doing what Princess Luna's letter asked. Yes, I'm worried about Twilight after... What Celestia said she was planning... But, Luna appears to understand the situation better, and once we tell her Fluttershy's theory, I think we may be a little closer to getting this whole dreadful mess sorted out."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Ok, ok, fine! I'll just sit here bored until then, wake me up when we get there."

Rainbow threw back her head, and her years of practice kicked in as she was out like a light.

Rarity stared at the unconscious pegasus with no small amount of envy. She wondered what having that ability to sleep instantly would do for her beauty naps.

"Rarity?" Fluttershy almost imperceptibly asked, breaking her from her thoughts. She shifted, turning to face the pegasus next to the window beside her, "You don't think they... hurt Twilight, do you?" she asked, cowering.

"We've been over this darling." Rarity said comfortingly, "The letter didn't say anything about it, but I'm sure they wouldn't intentionally, and if they did, it would be they who would be in the wrong, not us, and certainly not you."

Fluttershy feigned an unconvincing smile, "I guess you're right... It's just..."

"I know dear... I know..."

"Get up ya lazy-"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Rainbow pleaded before Applejack could get too close. The farm pony recently taken to shaking her when she was caught napping in the orchard, and while Applejack would claim that she was just trying to make sure she was ok, Rainbow was certain that Applejack was just using that as an excuse to shake her around with her absurd earth pony strength.

She used to be able to ignore the farmpony, sleeping through the hours in those wonderful trees, but more and more now she would awaken to the slightest provocation from Applejack.

When Twilight had heard her complaining about it, she had gone into instant researcher mode, asking questions and saying something about "Ponlovian conditioning", saying that over time she would-

"Ya coming?" Applejack asked with a raised eye.

Shaking herself from her semi-delirious musings, Rainbow hoped to her hooves and followed the group out the doors to the platform, taking flight as soon as possible.

Rarity meanwhile, was busy soaking in the sights of Canterlot once again, at least until a throat clearing drew her attention to a small nearby crowd standing off to the side of the platform.

"Oh, were you trying to board? I'm terribly sorry, let me just- AIEEEE!"

Rarity's screech alerted the rest of the group to the nearby crowd's odd behavior, and then to their odd dress, and then to their sharp teeth, silted eyes, and bat wings.

"Ladies Belle, Dash, Apple, and Pie?" The foremost guardmare, likely the one who coughed, asked.

"Yes?" Rarity asked coming to the forefront with a self-conscious blush, "Are you here to escort us to Luna?"

"Indeed, though there should be another with you? A Miss Fluttershy?"

The mares looked around for their friend, but where she had been moments before remained only empty space.

"Here..." a nearby trash can said.

"Oh goodness!" Rarity screeched, "Come out of there! It's filthy!" She ran over to help her pegasus friend out of the can, but before she arrived, two of the armored guards were already hefting her from her shelter. She didn't struggle, but it was apparent from her wincing that she was uncomfortable being mare-handled as she was.

Thankfully, they released her onto her own hooves a moment later and returned to their lines without fuss.

“Now that you are all here, it would be best that we were off quickly. Her majesty has been forestalling until such time as you all were in attendance.

While the Lunar guard spoke, Rarity had been inspecting Fluttershy's mysteriously pristine coat, but at hearing the guard she put such concerns aside for the moment.

“'Forestalling' what exactly?” she asked anxiously.

“Yeah! What’s this all about?" Rainbow shouted, coming muzzle to muzzle with the slate-grey thestral.

"I'm not at liberty to say." She stated flatly, meeting Rainbow's glare and holding it.

"TWEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The mares would have no doubt continued to hold their glare despite the train whistle, had it not been for the almost simultaneous crashing sound that followed. Turning defensively towards the sound both mares were met by the sight of the same pair of guards hefting a sheepish looking Fluttershy from her now overturned trashcan shelter.

"Now that that's sorted out please follow me." The gruff guardmare stated "We must travel quickly, the princess is expecting us."

Any further attempts to inquire about the situation were all ignored by the guards, much to the growing consternation of the mares. Rarity's polite facade was beginning to visibly crack as her polite questions went without even acknowledgement, and Applejack was getting frustrated as well, but Rainbow in particular was beginning to fume as all her attempts to forcefully gain the guards attention went ignored. As they drew down the familiar hallways towards the throne room, the building tension snapped as a whimpering pathetic howl could be heard echoing through the halls.

"That's it!" Rainbow shouted as she suddenly bolted ahead. The leading pair of guards shooting off after her.

The other mares were quick to follow, with Pinkie bouncing ahead while Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy tried to keep up. The remaining guards kept on their hooves behind them.

It was as if the whole castle had suddenly come alive at the sound of the howl. The previously empty halls were now swarming with guards, but their presence was second on the minds of the mares to finding Twilight quickly.

Rainbow could tell that she was still being followed even as she bolted around corners and wove through columns to ditch her pursuers, but at the same time she could tell that even with their bat wings' increased maneuverability in the tight halls, her lead was insurmountable. She knew she might not be able to shake them, and she may not exactly know where she was headed, but she would certainly arrive there first.

Finally turning down a familiar hallway, she recognized the grandiose doors to the throne room. Turning without hesitation she smashed through the doors with one thing on her mind: saving Twilight.

Author's Note

Happy Hearthswarming's!
Under your tree you'll find a gift long-in-coming: the conclusion to this story!

To all I wish the best! Merry Christmas!

Testimony

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, it is good to see you could join us." Celestia said, looking down from her throne beside her sister observing the hall.

Rainbow didn't hear her princess's comment though, not over her own racing thoughts at seeing her there and only a scorch mark else in the hall where her currently canine companion should no doubt have been.

She took off full speed for the princess, or at least she meant to, before the guards that had been chasing her took advantage of her pause to catch up and tackled her to the ground.

"Whoa there partner! Calm down!" Applejack called before Rainbow could start throwing hooves.

"Why?" She stammered as she saw the farm mare and the rest of the group running into the room.

"Whadaya mean why?" Applejack asked as she began to make her own way up to the now-bound pony.

"But! But! Celestia! She Twilight's not- The howl!"

"Jumpin' to conclusions is how we got into this mess, how's about we just ask?" The farmpony herself asked, turning to the princess's, "Where's Twilight?"

Luna was the one to respond, "Fear not, she is safe."

"Then what was that howl?" Rainbow shouted accusingly.

"That is what she went off to discover. Her wolves are being held in the dungeons, voluntarily I may add, until such time as they can be safely removed from the city without risk of panic. In the meantime though, I would like to hear more of the recent events as you tell them. Please, share with me your interpretation of the events leading up to your decision to send for my sister's aid.

"Well then, Fluttershy dear? Would you like to tell us all your theory?" Rarity prodded.

Fluttershy wilted at the attention, "It's not really a theory... more like..." Fluttershy felt a hoof slide over her back, finding Rarity with a supportive smile.

"Just tell us dear, we just want to know as much as we can about what's been going on."

"Indeed," Luna concurred, "there is no need to fear, this is not a trial where your words bear great consequence, rather, we only seek to bring order to the recent chaos."

Luna's words seemed to help, as Fluttershy returned her soft smile.

"I'm sorry it took so long to figure this out, but I..." she took a deep breath, feeling Rarity's hoof squeeze gently, she looked over to find her friends' encouraging faces, "Ok, I'm ready."

"From the earliest if possible." Luna requested, “Twilight has presented her side of the story and my sister has attempted to convey her understanding stemming from what you all told her, so please, if you may, begin where your theory of the situation diverges from what was previously assumed."

"Well... I guess that would be when the Timberwolves showed up." she said, before her gaze fell on Rainbow Dash, and she whispered something unintelligible.

"What was that dear? You must speak up. Don't worry nothing you say will make any of us upset." Rarity calmly prompted.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, "Right." She said with renewed confidence "I'm sorry Rainbow, but when the Timberwolves came, why did you tackle Twilight?"

The pegasus looked confused, but quickly answered "Because Scootaloo was in danger!"

"What made you think that?" Fluttershy asked calmly, despite her oldest friend's reaction.

"Because Applejack told me about how Twilight tried to eat Applebloom!"

"Did she really?" Fluttershy shifted her focus to the farm mare.

"Now wait just a darn minute! I didn't say nothin' 'bout eating her! I said she was licking at her! I wasn't meaning to judge! Winona licks at everything, includin' me, and I don't see her eatin' anything she ain't supposed to."

"Exactly!" Fluttershy said, "That's what I thought, and that's when I realized that we had been thinking about Twilight like a predator, not a wolf."

"But is that not what a wolf is? A predator?" Luna asked obviously intrigued, but not understanding fully.

"Well, yes, but what I mean is we've been thinking about the influence on her as if she had become an embodiment of predator stereotypes, when we really we should have been thinking about her as a wolf."

"I still do not follow, if a wolf is a predator, is it not safest to think of her as such?"

"You don't understand, wolves are predators, but that's not all of what they are. They are parents and children too, they have families, and a close-knit community through their pack. We all have been thinking that Twilight’s actions are related to her being a predator rather than thinking about the other aspects of wolf instinct and life. A Lot of what has happened makes much more sense when thought about with that in mind, like the incident with Applebloom.

"I actually admitted it myself at one point that we were like Twilight's pack, so, as would happen in a pack, I think Twilight was actually just preening what was basically one of our pack's pups.

"That's kinda what I was thinkin' actually." Applejack said with a little confidence leaking into her words.

"Fine! So I misunderstood! That still doesn't change the fact that if I hadn't been there to save Scootaloo that she would've ended up a snack!"

"You may be right, I mean Scootaloo-" Fluttershy tried to say before Rainbow interrupted.

"You can't say that she would have- wait what?"

"I mean you are probably right Rainbow. You probably did save Scootaloo. Twilight almost certainly didn't and doesn't understand what her new instincts are telling her... If her predator nose is telling her that she's smelling prey, she couldn't have known what she was smelling as prey. There is no way to know what would have happened had you not acted, but there were circumstances that made the situation unfair for Twilight."

"What do you mean 'she couldn't have known what she was smelling was prey!' Ponies aren't prey!"

"Uh, Rainbow? Ya know we kinda ARE though, right?" Applejack mumbled.

"That doesn't change the-"

"That's not what I said Rainbow," Fluttershy interjected, to the surprise of most, "I said she didn't know what she was smelling as prey. She didn't know what she was smelling but did know that it smelled like food."

"But why would she think that Scootaloo smelled like food?"

"That's just it, she wasn't smelling Scootaloo. That's why I said it was unfair for Twilight, she has a predator's nose, one that had just spent almost a week eating only eggs from chickens, chickens exactly like the ones that Scootaloo sought refuge with when the timberwolves attacked the coup. So not only was she presented to a starved Twilight as food, but she smelled of the same food she had been eating almost exclusively since her transformation."

"But!" Rainbow shouted, only to find she had nothing to add, "...ok, I guess that makes sense."

Finding the point to have been made, Luna spoke, "This is indeed enlightening, but tell me, do you believe that this event could re-occur? Indeed possibly without such fortuitous intervention?"

"Well, I can't say she will not be as dangerous as anything else when starved, but she has already shown herself to be trustworthy even when confronted." she turned to Rainbow, "When you knocked her off of Scootaloo, What did she do?"

"She just stood there before I scared her off." She replied confidently.

"I'm sorry to say this Rainbow, but you didn't scare her off, she decided to leave. If she really thought about Scootaloo as prey at the time, a wolf would never just give up prey it caught like that."

"Not to argue, but she just didn't think she could win, so she ran off. If I hadn't-"

"Rainbow, she fought Celestia."

"oh... yeah..."

"Thank you Fluttershy," Luna said with a slight nod, "Your account has shed valuable light upon the situation. I'm sure that it will dramatically affect the course of action we take from here."

"Now hold on there, 'course of action?'" Applejack repeated, "That sounds like you plan on doing something with Twilight. She just needs to be turned back into a pony, she doesn't deserve ta be punished."

"Of course Applejack," Luna said with a smile, "Twilight is not in trouble, she has done nothing to warrant punishment, she has merely been a victim of circumstance. This has actually been fortunate though, as we have now become able to correct an injustice we had not even been aware of. As soon as Twilight returns we can-"

"Princess!" Twilight shouted, bursting into the room, "They're gone!"

Resolution

“Gone?” Luna asked, rising from her throne, "what do you mean gone?"

"I mean that my pack is gone! We've got to find them!"

Applejack turned back to Fluttershy, "What's going on? Now I ain't catchin' the words here, but even I can tell Twi don't sound like she's barking good news."

"She says her pack's gone!"

Luna had risen at Twilight's declaration, and Celestia joined her upon Fluttershy's.

"The guard was instructed not to disturb them! There is-" Celestia's words died as the faint screams and shouts of panicking ponies seeped through the hall's great windows.

"HOWWWWWWWWW!"

At the echoing howl, Celestia's mouth snapped shut and head jerked towards the windows facing Canterlot. An instant later Celestia blinked out of existence.

A moment and a muttered curse later, Luna was also absent from the hall.

Wheeling to look at her friends, she spared them a glance before teleporting her way towards the sounds outside.

Twilight did not know what she would find as she arrived on the same streets that she and her wolves had faced down Luna the night before. She certainly expected panic though, and at first the eerie stillness made her heart seize, but then to her befuddlement she saw that not only were the wolves not attacking, but the ponies of Canterlot were not fleeing either.

In the square before her, a little filly was laughing as she was nuzzled by one of the larger she-wolves of the pack, meanwhile a little scamp of a pup bounded around them both. Behind the filly a stallion and mare stood. While the mare's expression was an almost tearful smile, the stallions was a mix of shock and fear. The crowd's expressions fell sporadically between the two, some reacting to what they were seeing as if the sight was heartwarming, and others as if it were terrifying.

The negative scowls turned to confusion as the alicorn-sized wolf made her way past the filly, leaving her to bounce around with the pup. She made her way up to the couple, nodding to them both. The stallion seemed frozen, but the mare nodded back.

Turning, she then rejoined the pack, which held the edge of the street closest to the castle.

As the she-wolf returned, Bark Back came alongside Twilight.

"Though it appears all is well, why did you leave the dungeons? I heard the howling and came to investigate, but you were all gone." Twilight asked Bark Back, spotting Celestia and Luna landing near the couple who still stood watching the filly and pup play.

Bark Back hesitated, "My apologies Mistress, in the chaos before we hadn't noticed, but one of ours was missing when we arrived in the dungeons. It was Redwood's pup."

"Was that the first howl?"

"Yes mistress, the next was the pup's own. When we heard we immediately made our way to retrieve him."

Twilight nodded at him, but still looked concerned, "It is wonderful he was recovered so easily, but where did we lose him? I'm sure none strayed from the pack after before the cart was destroyed..."

"We suspect he fell out when the tarp was removed at the front gate."

"Oh! Then he spent the whole night alone in Canterlot! He must have been terrified!"

Bark Back released a sound that Twilight mistook for a growl before realizing it was a stifled laugh, "No, I dare say he didn't spend it alone."

Twilight just looked at him, before deciding to go over to where she had seen the princesses land.

"Oh, your highnesses!" The mare bowed as Celestia and then Luna landed where seconds before the strange wooden being had nodded in apparent thanks to her and her husband, "It's my daughter! She found the little twig-dog thing whimpering near the city gates last night. After trying to smuggle him into the house, she made us promise to look for his mommy in the morning before she would let go of him." She looked back to where the pup and filly circled each other and smiled, "Good thing too it seems they were missing the poor dear." The mare's smile crooked a little in confusion, looking back up to Celestia "but, um, Princess? What are they?"

"Now is as good a time as any sister." Luna prodded quietly from behind, "a better opportunity and circumstance could not be hoped for."

After some hesitation, Celestia nodded, making her way out to where the filly and pup played, scooping one up with each wing. She faced the ponies, but turned her head to look to the wolves as well.

"Citizens of Canterlot, as you are well aware, the Everfree forest has long been a place of mysteries, many of which we have been all too happy to ignore. Never had we thought that there may have been friends just waiting to meet us there as well." She said giving a playful nuzzle to the pup under her wing, returned heartily, "Though little is known about them, and despite hostilities they have faced in the past, just yesterday their leader approached my sister seeking Equestria's friendship for herself, and for her citizens. Recognizing their need, and in the spirit of which Equestria was founded, that offer was accepted. May I offer to you now the newest citizens of Equestria: the Woodwolf Pack of the Everfree Forest!"

News spread quickly, and although the news passed without much fanfare for the average Equestrian, in the small town of Ponyville a celebration was held to celebrate and welcome the arrival of the new friends. A memorial that would no doubt be celebrated with feasting forevermore.

Epilogue

~~Two Months Later~~

"How's she doing?"

"Much better, her speech is improving faster the more she learns, I don't know if it's latent learning or what, but I think she'll be fluent before the year's out."

"That's good to hear."

"You're telling me! I've been feeling bad about her since I started working at that hospital. It's great to see her not only improving but happy! We always assumed she was just low-functioning delusional, we never would have figured out she was actually speaking canine without your, and miss Fluttershy's help."

"What about her habits? Are the therapy treatments helping?"

"As you are aware, it is only 'treatment' if the disorder being addressed interferes with proper functioning. When it was brought to our attention that she was a properly functioning member of The Pack, we stopped the behavioral therapy. Without trying to sound cliché, it really was a matter of just finding her people."

"Well then, that's great to hear. I'm sure she'll be happy to- oof!" Catcher fell as he was tackled by a familiar pony, or rather, wolf.

"Come on Screwy! You promised not to tackle me anymore!"

"No! Promised not to lick!" She said, before licking him straight across the face, "but still lied!"

The doctor merely laughed, "Miss Screw Loose, Mister Catcher, you are permitted to leave for the day once you've checked out at the front desk. Remember next week's appointment has been moved to one-thirty due to-" just as Catcher before him, Screw Loose tackled the lab-coated doctor, giving him a short lick, "You'd think I'd get used to that, or at least start anticipating it..." The doctor bemoaned in a lighthearted manner.

"Just stupid!" Screw Loose barked triumphantly before turning and marching away towards the check-out. Catcher lost no time turning and catching up as the doctor sat, chuckling to himself. When she had first come to the hospital, he had been part of the team that had tried everything to snap the odd mare out of her seemingly nonsensical delusion. Little did he know that all this time later he would be teaching the mare Equish while at the same time learning a good bit about the canine behaviors as well.

And little would he have suspected that would only be the second strangest case he would be working with.

"Doctor Positive Reinforcement?"

Doctor Positive reinforcement, or "Dr. PR" as most referred to him, turned, spotting the individual that took the cake for the strangest task he currently undertook.

"Miss Twilight? Ah, right on time as always! Are you ready to begin? Let me just grab my tools. Why don't you head out and get prepared?"

With a nod, the mare went out, leaving Positive Reinforcement once again to his musings.

Though he had not been a part of it, he had been briefed on how the librarian had been “cured" of her prior “curse”. It was as not as simple as that though, and after a long discussion with the princesses, it was decided that she would be given free discretion to transform back into of her wolf form while in the Everfree with her wolves and would even be permitted to do so in pony-populated areas after such time as a professional (like himself) had helped her acclimate to her new body and the influences that came with it.

With a sigh he grabbed his “tools” from the table, turning towards the door he considered the progress she had made these past two months. She was still a ways from being in full control of herself, a lifetimes worth of factors could not be simulated by any amount of therapy and it was clear still had a ways to go, but any misgivings about violence towards ponies had been quickly addressed and dismissed. Now it was just the more subtle quirks he had to deal with.

Reaching the workout yard, he found the mare already replaced by the towering wolf.

Setting his bag down, he withdrew today’s study tool and watched as the wolf’s ears perked.

“Moderation and self-control are the purpose of today’s exercises,” he said, leaning down to place a dish with the intention to scoop some of his “study materials” into it, “I want you to only eat half of- what?” he questioned when his free, reaching hoof found only air. Raising his head, he found no wolf where he expected, “Where did you-?” turning he found his patient, looking sheepishly back at him with an already empty jar of peanut butter between her paws.

It was going to be a long day...

Author's Note

You may notice I didn't address another conspicuous plot point, namely some Screwy-Catcher shipping, but I supposed that would best be addressed in a spin-off one-shot, so expect that (eventually).

In the mean time, check out some other Twi-shenanigans in the next big project I'm undertaking wherein Twilight accidentally ends up Conquering the Griffon Empire.

Thanks for sticking around till the end! It's been a journey, and it's one I fully intend to keep going!

Waking Up on the Wrong Side

Twilight awoke for the second time that day with a headache. This time it came from hitting the bakery's door head first. She also again had a back ache from sleeping on the ground and a hunger that she could almost feel was eating her from the inside out.

Twilight began to stir. She could hear faint voices around her, but they sounded far away.

"-waking up."

"Shush! Now girls, let her wake up slowly. I can't fly, or cast shields, or whatever Pinkie does, so if it ain't Twi, I want to be able to run a'fore she's up and angry." she could hear Applejack say.

"Twilight!" *bang* pinkie was apparently the wake up committee, and apparently the wake up committee still had the cymbals from her anti-parasprite arsenal.

Twilight jumped to her paws, fully awake and ready to run.

When her vision finally caught up to the rest of her over heightened senses, she realized that, as fate held it, she had been laying in such a way that when she jumped up she had knocked over and landed on top of Applejack, her only friend still present other than Pinkie.

Judging from the trail of rainbows leading from the scene, she could assume that at least Rainbow Dash had also been here not a second prior.

"Sorry AJ, Pinkie startled me." Twilight said with an awkward laugh.

Her laugh was cut short as she was bucked below the ribs.

"Darn beast! Get!" Applejack shouted as she fought Twilight off of her.

Twilight, on the other hoof, was not fighting back at all. When Applejack bucked her in her already pained stomach it was all she could do to stay upright.

"Applejack! It's me! Twilight!" she coughed before her legs couldn't take it anymore and she fell over. Once again unconsciousness held her.

Twilight awoke for the third time in what felt like twenty minutes, still with a headache, backache, and hungrier than ever.

She moaned as she sat up. She noticed several disturbing things in quick succession: first, from the window she could tell it was already getting dark out, meaning she had been out for hours and not the minutes it felt like. Second, the window through which she looked was not one of the Cakes residence, but rather Fluttershy's cottage. Finally, she noticed that said cottage's owner was only a few hooves (or paws) away, cowering behind a lamp.

"Fluttershy? What happened?"

The pegasus let out a sigh of relief as she began to stand up.

"Why am I in your cottage? What happened at the Corner? Do you have anything to eat? Seriously, I feel like I could eat a horse!"

Right back down into a trembling ball the pegasus went.

"I'm kidding Fluttershy! But seriously, I'm starving. Do you have anything I can eat?"

The pegasus barely mustered the courage to look at her friend.

Twilight tried to give a reassuring smile, but it served the opposite effect. The ball of yellow only grew tighter at the sight of Twilight's newly exposed teeth.

"Fluttershy, don't be- argh!" Twilight let out a cry of pain as she attempted to go towards the shy mare.

Immediately the situation changed. Rather than being startled or more upset by Twilight's cry of pain, Fluttershy was instantly at her side checking the IV line Twilight had unknowingly pulled out.

"Twilight, I need you to relax and lay back." Fluttershy said with calm authority.

Twilight obeyed as best she could. "So, uh, how am I doing? Is there something wrong with me, other than the obvious?"

Fluttershy continued to work, wrapping Twilight's lightly bleeding leg. "Oh, no, you are fine, it's just after you passed out you wouldn't wake up. We tried to, but when you didn't we all took you here to get better. ...The cakes didn't like the idea of a predator passed out on their floor." Fluttershy concluded as she finished her bandaging.

"Ok, well, thank you for taking care of me. So, uh, am I ok to go?" Twilight asked.

"Are you ok to? Yes, but before you go I really would suggest that you let me-"

Twilight hadn't heard anything past the confirmation that she was free to go. As soon as she heard the "yes" she had leapt from Fluttershy's bed and opened up the door with her magic (that still thankfully worked) leading to the central room of Fluttershy's cottage.

As usual, the room was filled with many creatures of varying sizes and species. Unlike usual though, the entire room was not bustling with the activity of dozens of scurrying animals. Instead, they were all frozen in place, staring directly at Twilight.

"Oh no little ones! Don't worry! Twilight won't eat you! Right Twilight?" Fluttershy cooed as she came around from behind Twilight.

"What? Of course not! Why would I..."

The animals, despite their trust of the yellow pegasus, listened to their instinctual fear and began running to their burrows, holes, and homes.

"Fluttershy, what's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Well Twilight, you kind of, sort of, maybe, and I don't mean to be rude, look like a wolf." Fluttershy said in a meek voice as if she was relaying some terrible news.

"Yes, I realize that but that doesn't explain why they are all so..." Twilight let the words die.

"Well, it kind of does... You see, wolves are, well... carnivores." she put emphasis on the last word as if it was acid on her tongue.

"What's the big deal? I've seen you have tea parties with bears, squirrels, and beavers at the same time before. They never ran in fear, and I am quite sure that a bear is carnivorous."

"While that's true, most bears are considered carnivorous, they don't actually need meat. Even in the Everfree most bears eat a diet of more than three fourths vegetation. But Mr. Bear has gone full vegetarian, and all the animals are ok with that." Fluttershy explained.

"So? Just tell them that I'm a vegetarian too! There's no reason to be afraid of me."

"They'll know I'm lying if I told them that."

Twilight was almost as personally offended as she was confused, "Why would they think you were lying?"

"Because I would be. While bears can receive nutrition from plants and vegetation, wolves are strict carnivores..."

Twilight cringed in anticipation for what she knew Fluttershy was about to say next.

"Wolves cannot survive on a diet without meat."

Author's Note

What's Twilight going to do now?

Next chapter things become even more complicated!

Past and Present

"Must have been the wind then." Applejack replied, quickly wanting to return to the topic at hoof, "Now princess, I don't want you to think I'm not believin' ya, but I really don't know if this is a good idea."

Everypony looked to the farm mare with confusion, but hope as she continued, "I mean, maybe there's something to all this we're not seeing! When the ursa attacked, it was because those foals were taunting it. When the manticore attacked, it was because it had an injured paw. I'm not even too sore with the hydra, seein' as we were making a racket near his home and all..." she took a breath, "All I'm saying is, with every other animal there's been a reason. Maybe there's something we did that provoked them, and we can solve this without violence."

Fluttershy raised a hoof just far enough to catch attention, "I'm for non-violence," quickly adding a quiet "-If that's alright..."

Everypony else joined in, supporting peace. Everypony except Celestia.

"I'm sorry my little ponies..." she heaved a pensive sigh, steeling herself, “but that is not the case with these creatures... They cannot be reasoned with... Because they are not animals. They are monsters."

There was silence until It was broken "...Whada’ya mean by 'monsters' princess?" Applejack asked slowly.

"I mean, My Little Ponies, that they are not 'animals' at all. They do not have reason or thought, they operate purely on instinct; that's how magical constructs work. They exist only to fulfill the instinct given to them by their creator.

...And in the case of Timberwolves, that creator was Nightmare Moon."

Celestia heaved a heavy sigh as the gathered mares looked to her in confusion and shock.

"What I say now, I request that you never speak about to anypony... I- This-" The normally unflappable ruler struggled a moment in an uncharistic loss for words.

"...There is a reason I removed her and her actions from history..." her words barely rose above a whisper but her next words were almost inaudible “...I had to... The effects of her actions still haunt Equestria to this day... If the ponies knew..."

"Princess..." Fluttershy edged up to the princess, offering some comfort to the distraught alicorn.

Celestia noticeably calmed at the touch, building the strength to continue.

"When my sister changed into Nightmare Moon, she didn't hold back at all. The nightmare used all of her power against us, including the formation of an army. While there were some ponies sympathetic to her cause, there were much too few to actually construct an army, so she did what she could, summoning the Celestial beasts and droves of golems."

"Are you saying that the giant bear that attacked Ponyville was made by Nightmare Moon?"

"...Yes and no, they already existed, but she is responsible for pulling them from Luna's night sky. We have Luna to thank for why they are for the most part, peaceful. They were already 'alive' making them more like animals than Nightmare's desired soldiers, which is why after some initial chaos, she lost control of them and they all sought refuge in the Everfree." She shook her head, "...but I'm getting off track. The important things now are her golems."

"Her golem armies were grand. In their height they consisted of tens of thousands of clay-pony golems, hundreds of stone minotaurs, even a few dozen dragons of pure volcanic fire, but of all her various beasts of all shapes and forms, her most terrible were the wolves of wood."

"It was near the end of the war when the Nightmare was driven back into in the same forest in which her Celestial Beasts had escaped that wood wolves were first encountered."

"I sent scouts to pursue, but when none returned, I went myself only to find those monsters tearing what remained of them to pieces. It was then that I decided the risk had become too great for anypony else to follow.

I abandoned my armies, and gambled upon using the elements once again. Finding high-priced success, I sealed her in the moon. At the time I was so distraught by guilt and the loss of my dear Luna, that I simply withdrew hoping the Everfree would devour any lingering traces of her magic.

...but now I see I should have swept up the remains myself, for it appears that some of her golems have not only survived, but flourished.

Fear not though, for they are not long for this world."

Following Zecora, the pack almost immediately came to a small clearing in the Everfree where it appeared there had been a small forest fire. While the area was barren of trees, the undergrowth had flourished. Flowers of all colors and varieties seemed to coat every available inch of exposed ground.

A quick scan revealed a welcome lack of a certain blue bud, but every other delicacy of the pony palate seemed to be blossoming in the zone of destruction.

"Zecora, what is this place?" Twilight asked in awe.

"A bolt of lightning, here once struck,
And from that day weeds ran amuck,
But with a little help of fertilizing,
It became a lot more appetizing.
And whenever I need an ingredient,
I find coming here much more expedient."

"Is this the 'small patch of flowers' you were talking about Bark Back? ...Uh, Bark Back? Is there something wro-"

"Oh no..."

In her fear of poison joke, and subsequent awe of the idyllic sight, Twilight had made a quick scan of the entire patch. A patch that was much too large to light with a simple illumination spell. A patch that should have still been shrouded in the darkness of night.

It was an easy oversight really, as her night vision had been so improved by her predator’s eyes, she hadn't expected to need an illumination spell, and true enough, she hadn't.

...but even the best night vision does not allow for low-light color perception, as her advanced knowledge of specialized photoreceptors made her well aware. She could have noticed it through logic, she should have noticed it through instinct, but now it was just too obvious to ignore.

The sun had risen.

...four hours early.

Or at least it appeared to have. Upon closer inspection, it was not a circle of blinding light, but a singularity, a pinprick of the unmistakable light of the sun.

Zecora would later recall also noticing that there was a pony also approaching by air, apparently attached to the blinding light, but just by the light Twilight had seen all she needed to.

It was Celestia.

Casting a spell.

"RUN!" Twilight shouted at the loose formation, routing those who had already seen the light, and alerting those who hadn't.

It was a moment before Twilight realized her mistake; the wolves were able to make it to the far tree line, but the smaller pony, zebra and herself were not as fast. In her haste to get them to safety, she had done the opposite, removing the only thing keeping Celestia from holding back.

"NO!"

Celestia released her spell which flew brilliantly towards the fleeing wolves.

I'm not going to make it!

Twilight sprinted with all her might towards inevitable impact, the blazing spell illuminating the tree line, revealing her worst fear.

Just behind where the shadows of the trees would hide them the pack had waited for her. She saw the hunters hunched to pounce hiding just behind cover, while half dozen little wolves peaked through the bushes behind their protectors, but it was all for not.

No!

She ran faster, pushing herself to the not insignificant limits of her enhanced form, but she could see that the spell was still going to reach its destination before her. It was already hopelessly too close to cast a proper barrier.

NO NO NO!

She leapt, pushing herself, both with her powerful legs and with a burst of telekinetic magic, blasting herself up into the air.

"Mistress!" she could hear somewolf shout.

And then it hit.

Twilight's jump took her up above the tree line, high enough and fast enough to reach her target.

The pony and Zebra not too far off, the pack below, and even the alicorn above all let out a cry as Twilight was engulfed in the fiery blast.

"NO!"