//------------------------------//
// Chapter Sixty-One 
// Story: A Journey Unthought Of 
// by Hustlin Tom 
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I was running through the Everfree Forest, looking for my best friend, Lyra Heartstrings the unicorn.  As I followed the beaten down soggy grass and soil that was my trail, so many thoughts jumbled through my head; what should I say first?  Should I explain, and then apologize?  Should I just apologize?  How could I get her to understand?  I made it to the edge of a clearing, when I saw the most horrific sight I had seen in a while.  

My two greatest friends were surrounded by what I could only think of as wooden hellhounds.  I could just barely hear what Lyra was saying over the crackle of each of those creature’s footsteps.  “Right.  Okay.”  I was frozen to the spot, out of fear for my friends, and simply due to the shocked disbelief that it was happening.  My head was screaming GO!  SAVE THEM! , but my feet weren’t responding.  

“Good-bye Bon Bon,” I heard Lyra say, and then Bon Bon was gone in an emerald flash.  I saw the largest of those demonic tree wolves lunge for Lyra, my Lyra, and I acted.  Even though my brain was still at the clearing’s edge, my heart was already reaching out through my legs, my arms, my lungs, and my mouth.  I yelled a great and primal warcry as I tackled the side of the wooden beast, and we fell several feet away from Lyra.  

I pinned the creature to the ground, but it quickly recovered and began clawing at me with its hind legs, and reaching around to snap at me with its thorny jaws.  In the back of my head I was reassured to notice the other three wooden wolves had not attacked either Lyra or I.  I guess there was some honor code this big one, I assume the alpha male, had to hold to in order to keep the respect of his Pack in the face of a challenge, and that was to go at me mano y mano.  

They walked around Lyra to come and begin to watch the fight, and I quickly shouted, “Go!  Run!”  Lyra was still shocked from nearly facing death, only to just being snatched literally from its jaws; she didn’t move.  “I said RUN!”  I unintentionally slackened my grip, and my foe took full advantage of it.  He brought his head around and sunk his teeth into my left forearm, and I screamed in pain.  The underlings to the brush beast called out in glee and triumph, sensing my agony.  

The wolf held his grip on my forearm; fortunately the wounds were only punctures and he didn’t rip away from me.  While I expected some things were different for this wolf’s anatomy, whatever was keeping the creature alive had to be flowing through its neck, so I took my good right arm and slammed my forearm down into the creature.  He grunted in pain, and his jaw’s vice-like grip sprang open like a valve, releasing me.  Blood was pouring down my arm.  I brought my hands together, and they came down like a sledgehammer.  I felt and heard something crack in the creature’s underbelly, and it yelped even as it bowled me over.  

It had me pinned to the ground on my back while balancing all its weight on my stomach and my arms.  I knew it meant to rip out my throat and it meant to do it very soon.  So I did the only thing I could do.  I brought both my hands up, and locked them around the creature’s throat.  It lunged at my face, but couldn’t reach because of my grip.  It started clawing with its back legs again, scraping deep wounds into my abdomen.  

I was starting to black out; purple and black were on the edges of my vision, and it felt like my left arm was on fire.  I had to do it now!  With what power that was left in my body, I moved my hands up to its head, gripped with all my might, and twisted hard to the left.  My vision blurred as I heard a snap like a large branch breaking.  I felt the weight of the wolf fall off me to my left.  I faintly heard a voice shouting out “Oh sweet Celestia!  SOMEPONY HELP!”  then a small set of hooves, I couldn’t tell if they were running to or running away from me.  Then I knew nothing.