Seeing the three fillies fleeing screaming in sheer terror had confused Dawn, she froze and looked around nervously. then she saw them. Big scary wooden monsters with gigantic teeth and glowing green eyes chasing after her friends snarling in anger. The trio were ahead of her as she turned tail and ran away. Her legs pounding the ground pulse racing, pure adreniline lending her speed. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her but it was nowhere near fast enough for her to escape. They were still gaining on her. She gave a scream as she felt cold, sharp tearing pain in her hind legs as a timber maw closed around her flank
Instinctively she kicked out hard as she could, her forelegs scrabbling desperately for purchase on the leafy forest floor. Without her even realising it in her desperate flailing her free hind leg had caught her attacker right in the eye. She may have been small but she was still an earth pony, her panic had triggered a brief surge in her power.
Surprised to find such small prey injuring it the Timber wolf let out a loud yelp of pain. Dawn now free of the vice like grip tumbled forward and came to a stop at the foot of a damaged tree. The Timber wolf was starting to shake off the discomfort and turned to face Dawn. Only to find she wasn't there.
Dawn had scrambled down a hole in between the twisted roots, had she been any bigger odds are she would have failed to fit, but right now she could, albeit only just . Ignoring the pain as she hauled her little body inch by inch deeper and deeper under the root bowl of the tree. She had to get away, she could not run any further so natural instinct made her hide. The little filly cowering in a ball as far down out of the way as she could possibly get.
Bramble and her friends meanwhile had heard the scream, but they did not have the courage to turn back. Even if they did there was nothing they could do anyway, not against those odds. So they just kept running, breath ragged in their throats, their legs feeling like they were on fire. They spurred each other on as best they could. The wolves were gaining on them fast. Then Wanderlust pointed to a tree that had fallen at an angle. They ran towards it running up it as fast as they could they leapt towards a thick cluster of branches in a nearby tree. Briar Rose and Wanderlust managing to land safely and reaching down to help their friend make it. A gigantic timber wolf maw snapping shut just behind her with a loud crunch.
Meanwhile back at the camp pretty much everypony had volunteered for the search party. Elstar paced anxiously beside Blackthorn as they set out He tried his best to reassure her with a comforting nuzzle . The trackers soon found traces of the trio, and much to Elstar's concern Dawn too, it seems she had followed the three out into the swamp. Well at least she would be safe with three older fillies looking out for her wouldn't she?
Out in the swamp under her tree Dawn certainly didn't feel very safe. The big wooden monster up above her head kept scraping at the tree, massive paws trying to uproot it to get down to her. Even chewing on the log in a futile attempt to widen the hole sufficiently for it to get to its prey. She gave a scared whimper, whatever that thing was it smelled scary, looked even scarier, and had already hurt her once. She had absolutely no desire whatsoever to repeat the experience. So she curled up, her hoof in her mouth to silence her scared whimpering. The Timber Wolf outside was on the verge of giving up when it heard the howls. Howl's were good, they meant prey had been found. It turned getting to its paws and ran towards the pack.
The noise outside had stopped, Dawn was relieved, she considered going back up there to see if it was safe. But what if it wasn't? It could be waiting up there for her. She could wait here until she knew it was safe, yes she could do that, and she was so very very sleepy. Exhausted she closed her eyes as the world around her faded and went completely black.
Elstar was frantic by that point in time, they had found a foals hoof prints, then a blood stain, from there the ground was too churned up to track. Blackthorn was trying his best to comfort her, but they both knew that if a timber wolf caught a small filly they weren't even going to find a body.
The pair were completely devastated and clung tight to each other for comfort . They had tried calling out frantically and had lost a great deal of time looking while the search teams tried to figure out what had happened. The earth being in the state it was though even the trackers couldn't figure out what had happened.
They were just about to give up hope when they heard the second howl.
Up in their tree Bramble, Briar, and Wanderlust were well and truly stuck, the Timber wolves below snapped madly trying every trick they could to get to the fillies. Thankfully the log they'd used to get up hear could not bear the weight of a grown wolf. Each of the fillies had a little sling, an essential piece of equipment for a traveller , and they had been well taught how to use them. But against a Timber Wolf they were completely ineffective, let alone against a pack. Plus they only had a pouch of pebbles each.
So they did their best to keep the pack off each other, carefully aimed stones keeping the pack from massing enough to knock the tree over, but their stones were rapidly running out. Suddenly they heard a roar, and the largest Timber wolf was bowled over , underneath the tree the herd were massing, and were they Tartarus going to surrender their fillies.
The ones who could got in close kicking and hitting with any weapon they had too hoof. The ones who couldn't were rattling sling stones into the pack. Blackthorn was tackling the Alpha , using every ounce of his strength to drive it off. His wounds were bad, as were the injuries on a few of the others. But still they fought, and eventually the Alpha turned tail, without him the rest of the pack were soon in retreat.
The distraught fillies were soon retrieved from the tree. Elstar feeling her heart shatter within her as she realised her little foal wasn't with them. But no matter what her mate was wounded , so were many of the others, and the herd always came first. Choking back her tears she gave the last order she wanted to give. “We've saved all those who yet live, break camp, it's time to move on” then tears streaming down her face she lead a devastated Blackthorn back to the wagons.
Meanwhile underneath her tree Dawn rested recovering from her wounds. Unaware her whole world was about to move on without her.