Eye of the Beholder

In another part of the Everfree, two Timberwolves scouted the area, both with their noses to the ground trying to track a sent. One let out a snort before stating at the other and barked at him, the other’s wooden ears faltered as his companion walked away. The one left behind gave the area one final sniff before letting out a snort and followed after his companion. The area fell into silence after the two Timberwolves left the area, about a full minute passed before something broke the silence.

“You think they’re gone?” said a feminine voice; its source was nowhere to be seen.

“I think so.” said a male’s voice. About a second later from a bush popped out a young dragon head. Spike looked around the area until he was completely sure that the coast was clear before walking out “Okay it’s safe.” he said back towards the bush. Immediately after, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo came out from the bush.

“That was close.” Scootaloo said with a sigh of relief.

“I’ll say, good thing we heard them coming.” pitched in Apple Bloom.

“You mean good thing Spike heard them coming.” Scootaloo corrected.

“Right, how were you able to hear them when we weren’t?” asked Apple Bloom. While the gang were walking Spike had suddenly stopped before pushing the girls forwards into the bush that they were hiding in. They didn’t know what was going on until they saw the two Timberwolves appear only a few seconds later. While they were glad that he got them out of sight in time, they also wanted to know how he was able to hear them coming.

“I have a higher sense of hearing than you do. Just like Timberwolves, dragons have higher senses that they use for hunting. Even though I don’t need to use them most of the time, they come in handy.” Spike explained.

“No kidding.”

“How about giving me a hand in here!?” Spike, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom turned their heads to the source of the voice, which was coming from inside the bush.

“You okay in there, Sweetie Belle?” asked Apple Bloom as she walked up to the bush.

“Stupid dress got caught.” said Sweetie Belle; she could be heard struggling to get free.

“Anypony have something sharp to cut her free?” asked Spike. At this time Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both turn their heads towards Spike giving him a ‘are you kidding me?” look. Spike looked back at them for a moment before it hit him and he face palmed. “Right, I’ll just go and get her out of there.” said Spike as he re-entered the bush that was currently refusing to let go of Sweetie Belle.

“Alright, so where exactly are you stuck?”

“From behind, the dress got caught on a branch.” the sound of movement could be heard, most likely Spike trying to find the branch in question.

“Why don’t you try pulling on it?”

“Oh, gee, why didn’t I think of that…?” Sweetie Belle said sarcastically.

“Alright, alright, just give me a second.” silence fell as the other waiting for something to happen. They had expected to hear a branch snapping at any second; however that is not what they heard. A second later a sound filled the air that sounded less like a branch, and more like fabric being torn.

“What was that?”

“Whoops…”

“Whoops!?” yelled Sweetie Belle “What did do!?” she continued as she emerged from within the bush. “He tore it didn’t he, is it bad?” asked Sweetie Belle as she turned around to show Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.

“Not at all.” that was a lie; if the tear ran any higher it could have been the most embarrassing moment ever for the young unicorn.

“Yeah, it’s nothing to worry about” Scootaloo piled on.

“Sorry, Sweetie Belle.” said Spike exiting the bush. Sweetie Belle shot Spike a glare for tarring her dress, but then she let out a sigh.

“It’s fine, let’s just keep going.” as Sweetie Belle turned to walk away, Spike was able to see just how much he tore her dress. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom quickly put their fingers to their lips signaling him not to say anything. It was probably for the best, he’d rather they be out of the Everfree before Sweetie Belle started yelling at him.

“Right, yeah, let’s go.”

While Spike, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had the advantage of being small in both size and numbers to aid in their hiding from the Timberwolves, another group wasn’t as fortunate. A team composed of eight ponies all in their late teens to early adult stages of their lives was easy to spot. Unfortunately for that exact same group they were in fact spotted, and not by a single creature, but by a whole pack. Running down a path in the forest the mane six along with Silver and Azure found themselves being chased by an entire pack of Timberwolves.

“They just keep coming!” yelled Azure as he blasted yet another Timberwolf with a laser spell. He and the others have struck down several of them as they ran, yet they just seemed to keep coming back for more.

“Timberwolves aren’t your common kind of canine, they can take a beating and come back from it good as new in no time.” explained Applejack. She had several run-ins with the beasts so she would know, but never with these many numbers.

“As impressive as that is, that’s not very good for us.” Twilight said between pants for breath. The group had been running for a while now and it was starting to get to some of the less athletic ones. Rainbow and Applejack are used to working their bodies daily so they had a large pool of stamina on them. And while Pinkie didn’t exactly work out she still had more energy than any of her friends combine, she could probably run for hours. Silver and Azure were also in the clear, both being physically fit they could run for a long time before getting tired.

However there were some in the group that weren’t able to keep up with the others for very long. This included Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy who were starting to show signs of their exhaustion getting to them.

“I-I don’t think I can keep going like this!” said Rarity, her speed starting to slow.

“Just work through the pain Rarity, we’ll get out of this!” Applejack encouraged.

“Easy for you to say, but I don’t oh!” suddenly Rarity felt her foot come into contact with something on the ground, it was probably a rock but that didn’t matter. Right now Rarity found her feet off of the ground and her body starting to fall. If she hit the ground it would be the trouble not only for her, but her friends who would have to stop to help her. She came within inches of the ground and closed her eyes waiting to hit the ground, but before she could she suddenly felt herself being pulled back up.

Rarity opened her eyes and saw she was being lifted off the ground for an unknown. Rarity’s body turned over and she fell again letting out a sudden yelp. “I got ya.” said a voice when she felt somepony’s arms grab on to her. Opening her eyes Rarity saw that it was Azure who was holding her and most likely the one who prevented her from falling.

“Um, thank you.”

“Thank me after we get out of this situation.” said Azure, and with good reason as the Timberwolves were starting to close in.

“Everypony, stop!” yelled Rainbow as she skid to a halt. The others were wondering why she had told them to stop but they figured it out when they got close to her. Blocking their path was a deep ravine, the gap far too wide to jump over.

“What do we do now!?” asked Twilight.

“Over there!” yelled out Pinkie pointing towards the right. The others looked over to see what she had spotted. There was a long patch of rock connecting the ravine like a bridge, and it was big enough for them to run across.

“T-there almost here!” Fluttershy informed them, they were so focused on trying to get across that their first problem had almost gone forgotten.

“Can you still run?” asked Azure, he wasn’t sure if Rarity’s trip had caused any harm to her foot.

“Y-yes, I’m fine.” Azure nodded and put Rarity down.

“You all run, we’ll try to hold them off while you get to that bridge.” said Azure as he tapped Silver on the shoulder as he ran towards the oncoming Timberwolves. With no time for arguments the others began to run for the bridge, however one wasn’t going to let somepony else do all the work. Silver and Azure stood firm on the ground, both their horns glowing powerfully as they both charged a spell. As they did, Azure saw somepony stand next to him, it was Twilight, and she too was charging a spell.

“Twilight?”

“You two aren’t the only ones who know an offensive spell!” said Twilight with a firm look on her face. Azure could only smirk and nod as he turned his focus back to the task at hand, they needed to wait for the right moment to attack. With each passing second the Timberwolves got closer and closer, but they still held their ground in wait.

“Not yet…” Azure thought to himself as he saw them get closer.

“Almost…” Silver thought to himself, the gap between them was getting smaller by the second.

“Just a little more,” Twilight thought to herself, they were now at the point of no return; they wouldn’t be able to get away if they messed this up. The glow on all three unicorn’s horns finally reached their peak, it was time.

“Now!” all three yelled simultaneously as they each fired out the spell they were charging. Azure and Twilight both shot out a laser with their own respective colors while Silver blasted out a powerful sound wave. All three spells flew forward at a great speed until colliding together with the ground in front directly in front of the pack of Timberwolves. The result was an explosion so strong that the tree unicorns felt themselves being pushed back slightly from the force. The three stood in wait as the smoke from the explosion began to clear, the results was satisfactory.

Most of the Timberwolves were now in pieces, others were missing limbs, and a small few were too disorientated to move. There was a faint feeling of relief that the Timberwolves weren’t technically organic, otherwise this scene would have not been pretty.

“Come on, it won’t be long before they pull themselves back together!” said Twilight as she pointed towards several pieces of the Timberwolves that were beginning to move. Azure and Silver nodded in agreement and the three began to run in order to catch up with the others. Although they were told to run ahead the others couldn’t help but worry and waited at the bridge to see if their friends were running behind them.

“There they are!” called out Applejack as she saw the others running towards them.

“Come on, I don’t know how long it will be before they start running after us again.” said Twilight as she paused to catch her breath. She then got a look of the rock bridge, it was big enough to cross all right, but it was still no wider than two to two and a half feet wide. “We’ll have to take it slow when crossing, Rainbow, Fluttershy, you better fly across.”

“Gotcha.” said Rainbow as she and fluttershy took to the air and flew to the other side. Then it was time for the others to cross. First Pinkie, then Rarity, then Applejack and finally Twilight, they made sure to wait until the gap between them was comfortable before taking their turn to walk across the bridge. Azure was just about to take his turn to cross when-

“Darn it!” Silver called out, Azure turned to see what he was referring to and saw it immediately. The Timberwolves had already pulled themselves together and were continuing to hunt them down. The wolves would most likely catch up to them before everypony could get to the other side, something needed to be done.

“Silver, go on ahead, I’ll make sure they can’t follow us anymore.” Silver knew there was no arguing with Azure whenever he came up with a crazy idea, all he could do was nod and begin to walk across the bridge. While Silver and the others continued to cross, Azure started to use his laser spell to do what he could to slow down the Timberwolves.

“I think we should pick it up a little, girls!” said Twilight when she saw what was going on behind them. The others were in agreement and began to quicken their pace as much as they could without losing their balance. Azure saw that they were already over half way across the bridge and began to walk it himself. However he was not one to turn his back to an enemy so he started to walk the bridge backwards, probably not the safest way but he didn’t become who he was by taking it safe.

Although the bridge limited his movements, he still knew that it would be the same case for the Timberwolves who would have to cross one at a time. But even on equal ground Azure would still have the advantage from the fact that he could attack at a range. One by one Azure blasted a Timberwolf while he slowly continued to back away. But as he crossed he knew that this wouldn’t work, as soon as he crossed they would be back to running away from the Timberwolves for Celestia know how long.

“Azure we made it across!” called out Silver; Azure took a quick glance back to see that he was right; he also noticed he was half way across.

“Once I get across the other Timberwolves will just run after me and the others…but if this bridge wasn’t here anymore.” an idea popped into Azure’s head and he stopped.

“Az, what are you doing!?” called out Rainbow Dash.

“Making sure they can’t follow us!” was Azure’s reply as he began to focus his magic. The glow of his horn alerted the Timberwolves, but still they continued on cautiously in case something happened. The Timberwolves continued to focus on his spell as the Timberwolves slowly inched their way closer to him. Slowly Azure extended one fist out and kept his other fist back; it was a usual fighting pose one would take in a battle. As he held the pose something began to happen, a magical hue began to move through his body focusing on the fist that he was holding back.

“He’s going to destroy the bridge?” asked Twilight.

“Yup.” no sooner had Silver answered did Azure bring his back fist up; all the remaining magic needed had finished charging around it. Quickly and with as much force as he could muster, Azure brought his fist down. Azure’s fist continued to drop all the way until it made contact with the rock he was standing on. The impact sent a shock wave through the rock and immediately the area around him began to crack. The Timberwolves looked around in fear from what was going on, the bridge could no longer hold itself and was starting to give way.

“Darn it I used too much magic in that.” Azure said when he noticed he caused far more damage than he intended. He was aiming to destroy the part of the bridge in front of him but now the whole thing was going to fall. The Timberwolves were backing away; he needed to run before it was too late. But as soon as he took a step back, the chunk of rock he was standing him gave way and began to fall with him still standing on it. The others watched in horror as Azure began to fall, however, Silver did not seem worried in the slightest.

Azure was falling along with the rock bridge that he had destroyed, any other pony would be freaking out in this kind of situation, but not him. Azure had placed himself in so many dangerous situations that he had learned to keep himself from panicking if something were to go wrong. Azure took a deep breath; he allowed his focus to heighten so that he could enter his most effective state. The world around Azure began to slow down; he could see everything around him almost as if they were standing still. Azure took in the position of every rock that was falling and would fall for what felt to him like minutes, but in reality it had only been less than a second.

Azure’s horn began to glow and a circle formed under his feet, the spell was cast quickly and Azure jumped from the rock he was standing on. Azure jumped higher than anypony normally would under be able to under their power, he continued to climb until he landed on another falling rock. As this was happening the others couldn’t believe their eyes, Azure was actually jumping off the falling rubble to climb his way back up. Azure continued to jump from one chunk of rock to another never once taking a pause, it was like everything was going the way he wanted it. Soon enough, Azure climbed up as far as he could, there was only one falling piece of rock left and it was already down by a good margin.

Azure put as much force as he could to his legs and jumped off the rock aiming for the end of the ravine that his friends were. Azure was able to get good air from the jump but the distance was still far, Azure began to fall as he got closer to it. Azure reached out his arm, feet turned to inches, and inches turned to centimeters, Azure stretched out his arm as far as it would let him. At the final moment Azure finally felt his hand come into contact with something solid and he quickly tightened his grip around it.

At that moment all the pieces of rock that were falling had already hit the ground below, Azure looked around and saw that he had made it, but just barely. “That was a close one.” Azure said with a sigh of relief; however that was probably premature for at that very moment the piece of earth he was holding on to broke off. Azure’s hand pulled back from the sudden movement, he tried to grab hold of something else but he body had moved to a weird angle and he couldn’t correct himself, Azure began to fall.

“Gotcha!” Azure felt his body stop and something holding on to his arm, he looked up in surprise to see that Rainbow had grabbed his hand before he could fall too far. “Need a hand?” Rainbow joked as she tried to pull Azure back up.

“Nah, I had this all under control.” Azure replied.

“Sure you did.” Rainbow said with a smirk as the others joined her to pull the colt out from the ravine. After Azure was pulled out from the edge of the ravine he took a moment to sit down and catch his breath. The bridge they used to cross was now gone and the Timberwolves stood on the other side staring at them unable to get across. With the danger finally over the others decided to take a breath themselves.

“That was incredible, and stupid.” Twilight said between breaths regarding Azure’s actions.

“Don’t forget awesome!” Rainbow pitched in. “I mean did you see that, he was jumping off falling rocks!” needless to say, she was impressed.

“I told you I can handle myself in the air.”

“Of course, when there’s something you can jump off of.”

“There are others ways I can think of.”

“Of course there are.”

“Save it for the honeymoon you two, we need to start looking for shelter for the night.” said Twilight noticing the sun. She hadn’t been able to keep track of the time while she was running but now that she had time to rest she could see that sunset wasn’t too far away.

“Let’s split into two groups so we can cover more ground.” suggested Applejack. The others nodded and split up evenly. Silver, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie made up one group while Twilight, Azure, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity made up the other. Both groups set out in search for a place to use as shelter for the night promising to meet back where they began within half an hour. At best they were hoping to find a cave that just happened to not have something living inside of it.

“So Az, quick question.” Rainbow said breaking the silence of the group.

“Yeah?”

“How can you jump so high? Back there you were jumping so high it’s like you defied gravity.”

“That’s because I was.” Rainbow and Rarity gave Azure a confused look, but Twilight figured it out quickly.

“Gravity spell!” she shouted as she snapped her fingers.

“Bingo, it helps with the bigger jumps.”

“I should take some time to learn that, I might find a use for it someday.” said Twilight making a mental note to look up the spell when she got back to Ponyville.

“Wait, so if you can control gravity with a spell, couldn’t you have prevented the rock you were standing on from falling?” asked Rainbow.

“Well, maybe, I haven’t completely mastered the spell yet so all I can do is reduce the effect gravity has on me for a short period of time.” said Azure.

“Not surprised, it’s a high level spell.” said Twilight.

“Yes, yes, it’s a useful spell, but maybe we should focus more on finding shelter.” said Rarity refocusing the others to the task at hand.

“Right, Rainbow, see if you can get a better view from above.” Rainbow nodded and took up to the sky for a better view of the area. Those who were left on the ground continued their search in hopes to find shelter quickly.

“And that’s why I’m not allowed in Manehattan anymore.” said Pinkie seemingly ending a story.

“What, what now?” asked Applejack.

“Weren’t you listening?” asked Pinkie.

“Listening? It was all quiet and then you randomly just said that.” said Applejack, Silver and Fluttershy also looking confused as to why Pinkie had randomly just said that.

“Well I had to say something, it was too quiet around here.” no matter how many times they had gone through them, Pinkie’s friends were never used to her random moments. Though they had learned to not try to make sense of them and let it go.

“Anyway, you picking anything up with that echo thing, Silver?” the shade’s wearing unicorn was still focusing on the sound waves he sent out, he was about to extend his range when he caught something.

“I think I got something, over there.” said Silver as he began to walk in the direction he had pointed towards. The others followed the unicorn wondering what it was that he picked up, they walked for several minutes before they had to stop.

“It’s a dead end.” said Applejack, she and the group were standing in front of a large rock wall covered in vines and leaves. While she was convinced that Silver had been misinformed by his echolocation, Silver himself didn’t look like he had any doubt. Silver placed his hand on the vines that were clearly against solid rock and continued to trace the surface with his hands.

“Come on, it’s all rock, we need to hurry and find something before he have to-“

“Whoa!” Silver yelled out disappearing through the vines.

“Silver!?” yelled Fluttershy as she ran up to the vines where he disappeared.

“I’m okay!” Fluttershy heard from behind the vines, after a few seconds Silver emerged from the vines readjusting his shades. “There’s a cave in here.” he said pointed back towards the part of the wall he fell into.

“Looks like I was wrong.” Applejack admitted as she adjusted her hat. The others followed Silver in to check the area, it was very spacious inside and wasn’t too deep, the back of the cave visible from where they were standing. The fact that vines have grown to cover the mouth was a good indication that nothing has lived in it recently.

“Alright we have shelter, let’s go get the others.”

Spike and the others weren’t as lucky to find a safe place to sleep a second time; however, the dragon had a backup plan just in case. Spike had been digging the dirt next to a tree for almost half an hour; it was finally big enough to fit him and the others comfortably. “We’re back!” called Sweetie Belle as she, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom appeared holding on to large leaves.

“Great, hand them over.” they began to give Spike the leaves one at a time as he used them to line the inside of the hole he had dug.

“Can’t believe how fast you dug this.” said Apple Bloom noticing how large the hole was.

“Got a lot of digging experience from helping Rarity find gems, eventually it just started to get easier.” said Spike as he placed one last leaf inside the hole satisfied that he had covered the surface well. “Alright that should do it, and not a moment too soon.” the sun was setting, in a few moments it would be dark and the nocturnal hunters would be coming out. Spike helped each of the crusaders inside of the hole before using what was left of the leaves to cover the opening.

By comparison it didn’t feel as safe as the cave they hid in the night before, it also didn’t feel as warm. As the sun vanished from sight and Princess’s Luna’s took its place, Spike had stayed awake keeping an ear out for anything that could happen. “Aren’t you going to sleep?” Spike turned his head, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fell asleep over an hour ago, and he thought Scootaloo had as well.

“Yeah in a bit, I just wanted to make sure it was safe before I fell asleep.”

“You worry too much.” Scootaloo said with a smile.

“Can’t help it, I wouldn’t forgive myself if I let something bad happen to you.” what Spike said and what he actually meant were most likely different, but that didn’t stop Scootaloo from feeling a strange sensation in her stomach when he said it. This sensation however was overtaken by a sudden chill which made her shiver, and Spike noticed it. Sweetie Belle’s dress had layers which acted as a blanket while Apple Blooms overalls were working wonders keeping her from feeling cold. Scootaloo on the other hand was wearing short sleeves and short pants, perfect for summer days, but not cold nights.

“Here, you should wear this.” said Spike as he took of his sweater and handed it over to Scootaloo.

“I, um, thank you.” Scootaloo said having a hard time trying to find the right words, she couldn’t explain it. “B-but what about you, you’re not wearing anything now.”

“I’ll be fine; I just don’t want you getting sick.” Scootaloo looked back and forth between her and Spike, sure he was looking out for her so she wouldn’t get sick, but what about him. If Spike were to get sick then it would be trouble for all of them, and he didn’t want to be the reason for it. She thought about having him take the sweater back but she was almost sure he would refuse, so she could only think of a compromise.

“Well I don’t you to get sick either so-“ Scootaloo got in closer to Spike and put his sweater over them like a blanket. “We’ll share.” she added wrapping her arms around him so he couldn’t refuse.

“I, but-“

“No buts; just go to sleep.” Scootaloo interrupted before resting her head on Spike’s shoulder. If it hadn’t been so dark she would have notice Spikes face begin to burn red the moment she rested her head on him.

“Guess I’m in no room to argue.” Spike thought to himself with a smile. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt a little comfortable. Slowly and a bit hesitant, Spike worked his arm under and around Scootaloo before resting it on her shoulder. Spike let out a relaxing sigh and slowly but surely let his eyes close. It wasn’t long before the world around Spike vanished, and he drifted off to the land of dreams.