//------------------------------// // A Tussle in the Woods // Story: The Silent Saviors // by AFestiveTaco77781 //------------------------------// A small ray of sunshine peaked out of the clouds and shone down upon Fluttershy as she entered her cottage. She had been out at the market getting various animal feed and some food for herself. Now was time to relax, enjoy herself, and read a book for a bit. However, her activities were interrupted by the intense and heavy amount of noise coming from her animals outside. She looked out of her window with a confused look and pondered why the animals could've been making so much noise. Coming away from the window, she opened up her back door and stepped out into the yard of animals. Upon seeing her, they immediately assaulted her with whines, cries, and grunts. "Calm down everypony, calm down now," she said with a reassuring and calm tone. The animals did as they were told and ceased their rambles. "Now, can anypony be so nice to tell me what has got you all in a fuss?" she said with a smile. A gray woodland squirrel stepped up to the plate and chattered his sentiments. "A strange, new creature? When did it come here? Oh, I would've loved to see it! What did it look like?" Fluttershy said with an inquisitive smile that would've rivaled Twilight's. The squirrel continued his talk. "Walks on two legs. Has claws with stubby appendages. Oh that sounds so interesting! But, correct me if I'm wrong, did you say it had a hat, carried a long stick made of metal and wood, and had a strange curved sword on its waist?" she repeated back. The squirrel nodded its head. However, Fluttershy wasn't smiling after he finished his statement. "It took Mrs. Hen? Oh dear, oh dear! Mr. Rooster must be worried sick!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "I'll go out right now and see if I can bring her back!" Upon looking out into the sky and seeing how close to the end of the day it was, she decided differently. "On second thought, maybe I'll go tomorrow. But, I'll go first thing in the morning!" she exclaimed back to the squirrel. And with that, she entered back into her house and went back to her book. Fluttershy awoke from her wonderful and refreshing slumber. She blinked her eyes a couple times to adjust to the light from the sun shining into her bedroom. After a couple moments, she arose from her bed and walked downstairs. She quickly fixed herself some breakfast in the kitchen and sat down at her table to eat. After finishing breakfast, she put on a saddlebag, gently opened up the back door, and peaked out to see if any of her animals were still sleeping. Most were awake, however, some were still in dreamland. She quietly trotted out to where the squirrel from the night before was. "Hello again, Mr. Squirrel. I hope you had a wonderful night's sleep. About Mrs. Hen, do you know which direction the creature went?" she asked in her usual shy tone. The squirrel replied by pointing towards the northern path towards the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy gulped. Her legs started to wobble and her body started to perspire a bit. She was wary of the place as many bad things happened to ponies who dared to enter through those cursed trees. The weather was wild and unruly, monsters of all shapes, sizes, and builds thrived there, and most of all, the forest was huge. She was afraid she would be swallowed whole by the forest and never, ever, come back out again. But her motherly love for each and everyone of her creatures made her snap out of it. Mrs. Hen might be in trouble, she might be dead, but Fluttershy had to make sure if she was okay or not. She had to at least retrieve the body if it had come to Mrs. Hen's death. So with that, Fluttershy stepped onto the road and started her walk towards the Everfree. The walk across the path towards the Everfree was monotonous to say the least. However, her thoughts were on Mrs. Hen. She hoped that she was okay and the creature had decided not to eat her or harm her. But she almost knew that was stretching it. Why else would a creature of the Everfree take one of her animals? It wouldn't make sense if she found out that it didn't eat her. She knew, even though it was unsaid, that Mrs. Hen was most likely dead. She was just looking for her body to give her a proper burial with her family. By that point, she had entered the forest and was walking along the path towards Zecora's hut. She stuck to it as not to get lost and swallowed by the vastness that was this forest. She would quietly call out for Mrs. Hen here and there, just to see if she would hear some sort of response. But something new came up in her vision. A trail of blood. And by the looks of it, still relatively fresh. It, however, went off the beaten path and went deeper into the more overgrown parts of the forest. As much as her body said no, she decided to follow this trail of blood and investigate it. She started towards it and followed it through the forest. She would fly here and there as to get over fallen branches and to get around thorny bushes. She eventually came to a small clearing by Serpent's River and found that the trail ended there. At the end of it, she found what she had come looking for. There beside a small pile of ashes in a fire pit, was the carcass of a chicken and the head of Mrs. Hen beside it. Fluttershy's stomach gave way and her breakfast came flying out her mouth. She barfed for a good couple seconds before looking back at the carcass. She washed her mouth out in the river before going back over to the carcass and silently wept for her lost animal friend. After 5 min of weeping, she slowly put her saddlebag down and shuffled the carcass and head into the bag. She picked it up with her teeth and secured it to her back firmly again before looking back into the forest again. When she looked, she was met with 4 pairs of yellow eyes staring at her. Soon after, she heard a low growl and the telltale form of a timberwolf stepped out into the clearing. There was a pause and Fluttershy let out a scream. Earlier... Rich woke up with a start and raised himself off of his sleeping roll. He blinked his eyes for a second to adjust and looked for Coal. He found him drinking from the river on the sands of the shore of the clearing. Upon finishing his drink, Coal looked up and back at Rich. "Oh, hey. You're up. How was your sleep?" he asked while walking over to where Richard was. "Fine. We need to get moving," Rich said and rose from his spot on the ground. "Why?" said Coal. "While I was out hunting yesterday, I found a house near the edge of the forest and a path that led to a town. We can get out of this forest finally and restock our supplies at the town." Rich said while rolling up his sleeping roll and grabbing his rifle. The man continued to pack up his gear and check his equipment. He checked his canteen, saber, and made sure everything was there before strapping it onto Coal. With that done, he doused any remaining embers of his fire with water and checked his campsite to make sure he hadn't left anything. Seeing nothing there, he walked over and mounted Coal. "Alright then. That's everything. Come on, let's get moving," he said. And with a small tap to Coal's side, they were off. They traveled through the woods along small dirt paths until they found the main road Rich discovered the day before. "Here it is. If we follow this, according to a sign that I found, we should reach civilization. Maybe we can find a few clues as to what happened to the town. Anyway, onward, my friend," Richard said. They followed the main road farther through the forest at a small trot. Richard fiddled with his rifle a little here and there to pass the time as he was understandably bored. The forest never seemed to stop and there was nothing but trees for miles. So he tried talking to Coal for a bit, to somewhat cure his boredom from this long trek. "So, lovely weather today, huh?" Rich said nonchalantly. "I suppose so. It is a wonderful sunny day, wouldn't you say?" Coal replied back with a grin. "Yes, indeed. Man, I hope that town has a tavern of some sort. I could use a beer right about now," Rich said while scratching his chin. "I don't think you should have that stuff anymore, Rich," said Coal, "it makes you act really strange whenever you drink it." Richard was surprised and a tiny bit shocked at what the horse said. How could he have known what beer was? Or what the effects of the drink were? Last time he checked, he had always tied him up outside by the water pail for horses. How would Coal have known? "That's none of your business," Rich said back with a bit of coldness in his voice. "I've seen you get into those fights and frankly, you might win, but you get seriously injured whenever that happens. It's not good for you. I want you to stop," Coal replied back. "I ain't taking orders from a horse," Richard said stubbornly and poked Coal in the side lightly. "Well then," Coal said and promptly stopped in his tracks. "What are you doing? C'mon, let's get moving, Coal!" Richard said loudly and hit him in the side with his heel. But no matter how hard he tried, whether he whipped the reins of the bit, hit Coal's side with his heel, or downright yelled at him, Coal refused to go a step further. "Will you get moving all ready? Rich yelled with frustration and anger. "Not until you promise to stay away from that stuff," Coal replied stubbornly. "No way. The day I take orders from a horse is the day I... what are you doing?" Rich asked. While Richard was on his childish tangent, Coal had trotted over to a tributary in the forest that looked like it would run into the creek by the cottage. Coal was hanging precariously close to the edge of the water and made his intentions abundantly clear to Richard. "If you don't promise to give that stuff up, I'm gonna dump you into the water," Coal said while looking back at Richard. "I'll never give," Richard spat back. "Suit yourself," Coal replied back. Just as Coal was about to dump Richard into the water, they heard a scream pierce through the air. Richard reacted with lightning reflexes and looked towards the sound. It had come farther up shore and sounded fairly close. "We'll finish this later," Coal said while turning himself towards the scream. "Yes. We shall. Let's ride!" Richard replied back. Coal galloped towards the location of the scream. It had sounded feminine, so he guessed that it was some sort of lady who had got lost or was being robbed maybe. He would just have to find out and see. The two tore through the forest at a gallop and eventually reached the site of the scream. Richard was stunned by the sight of what he was looking at. There in the middle of the clearing they had camped in, was a small yellow horse thing with wings on it and some pink butterflies branded onto its behind. Even weirder, 4 creatures had surrounded the creature in a semi-circle around its front and sides and were backing the creature towards the water. They looked like trees twisted themselves into the forms of wolves as they were made entirely out of chopped wood and leaves. Somehow, they were living and breathing despite being wood. Many of them looked hungry. The signs of starvation were apparent both on the faces and on their bodies. Many of them looked incredibly skinny, with one of them with their rib cage showing. They were closing in on one of their first meals in a very long time. "Should we help?" Rich asked. "Why would we not?" Coal replied back. Rich didn't understand why he didn't just let nature take its course on the tiny horse. But that paternal instinct in him arose. He had guessed that this horse was a baby since its eyes were huge and cute, but also it was very tiny with stubby little legs and barely defined hooves. Besides, what kind of heartless monster would let a cutie like this die at the hands of these wooden abominations? Richard pulled up his bandana around his face, pulled out his saber, and charged with Coal at the wolves. The wolves were caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of a new foe. This allowed Richard to get the first one easily. Upon reaching the first wolf, he brought his saber down on the wolf and slashed up. The new gash had cut deep into the wolf across the bottom of the chest to the top, which caused splinters of wood to fly up into the air. Tree sap began to leak out of the wound and the wolf fell dead to the ground. The second one, reacting to his friend's death, came around the side to try and get at Coal's belly. No sooner had he reached his position and sprung at Coal had Richard also brought his saber down upon the wolf. He too fell like his brother to the ground from a gash through his hind legs. The third and fourth were approaching their position rapidly, so Richard quickly grabbed his carbine and squeezed off a round. The bullet entered around the left jawline which severed it and was stopped by the brain stem which killed the wolf instantly. Unable to reload in time to meet the last approaching wolf, Richard quickly holstered his rifle and drew his saber again, preparing for the final strike to the wolf. The wolf, however, learned from its brothers mistakes and instead, came from the front. Richard realized he wasn't going to be able to hit the wolf before it would barrel into Coal. He prepared to dismount Coal when the wolf attacked. Instead of Coal's neck being mercilessly destroyed by the wolf, Coal had reared up and brought down his hooves on the wolf's head and brought him down from midair. When Coal's hooves met the ground, the wolf's head was between them and therefore, was smashed under his weight. A liquidy tree sap was splattered across the clearing like a Jackson Pollock painting. The ones killed by the saber leaked out the watery sap into the clearing and slowly drained into the river. Richard let his nerves wind down from the battle and reloaded his rifle with another cartridge. He heard movement, however. One of the wolves who was slashed on its hind legs slowly tried to crawl away. Immediately, he whipped his rifle toward the wolf, sighted in, and shot it straight through the head. After dealing with the final timberwolf, he turned to the small yellow horse thing, which was noticeably frightened. Upon making eye contact with it, it bolted through the forest and disappeared without a trace. Richard didn't bother to give chase to it. "Are you hurt, Coal?" Richard said as he leaned over and checked his horse for wounds. "No. I am unscathed, my friend," he replied back to Rich. "Do you think you will still be able to walk to the town?" he asked. "Yes," Coal replied back. "Well, let's get going, I guess," he said nonchalantly. And with that, our heroes set off for the town. Fluttershy was scared. Terrified. Afraid. 4 timberwolves had surrounded her and were closing in. She knew their intentions. She scanned for any possible gaps that she could run through or fly through. But the forest canopy blocked her from flying away and the wolves had closed any gaps for escape without getting extremely hurt. She could try the water, but she wasn't a very good swimmer and would eventually drown. Fluttershy began to accept death. Her life flashed before her eyes and she remembered her days. She thought of her wonderful friends, who had made her life so much better with every moment spent with them. She loved them, and hoped to never see them suffer this fate that she was unfortunately facing. Fluttershy clenched her eyes, ground her teeth, and waited for the inevitable to come. But it didn't. In fact, she heard and felt a loud thumping in the ground. The wolves stopped and looked around for the perpetrator of the sound. She opened her eyes and scanned the scene before her. Out of the foliage burst a massive creature wielding a weird, curved sword. Stranger still, it was on top of another creature with four muscular legs and a completely black coat, save for one white splotch on its muzzle. The wolves had no idea how to act and stood there for a second, unsure of what to do. Reaching the first wolf, Fluttershy observed it bring the sword down and up again with a swipe across the wolf's chest and into its neck. The second one tried to come around its side and get to its belly, but it too met the same fate, with a swipe across its hind legs. The third one was charging the creature with speed and Fluttershy thought for sure that the creatures would be finished. The larger creature slowed its gallop speed, turned itself to the left while the other on top of it pulled out a funky-looking metal and wood stick. At first, Fluttershy thought it was a club. But the smaller creature instead brought it into its shoulder and squeezed the small lever in the middle of the stick. A resounding BOOM! echoed through the sky and Fluttershy's ears rang. The once pleasant aroma of a summer breeze was quickly replaced with a terrible, sulfurous smell. She brought her hooves to her ears and tried to make the ringing stop. While she was doing that, she saw the larger of the creatures stomp its hooves on the last wolf's head, and it was no more. Her old enemies had been destroyed, but she feared she had made a new one. She looked up and saw the smaller creature pull out the stick again. It flipped a small door on the stick open and a yellowish metal sculpture flew out of the stick and landed on a rock with a clatter. She saw the creature pull out another one of those yellowish metal things and put it into the stick. After that, it closed the door and brought back a small hammer on the top. One of the wolves had gotten to its paws, trying to get up and limp away. The creature, however, without mercy or hesitation, brought the stick to its shoulder and another BOOM! thundered in the air. The wolf was no match. It then turned its attention to Fluttershy. She was able to see what the smaller creature looked like. Its face was mostly concealed, as it was wearing a gray bandana and a blackened hat in the style of Braeburn's. She was able to see through the tiny slit between the hat and the bandana and see eyes. They were tiny and squinted. She had expected the eyes to be yellow like every other creature in the Everfree possessed. But she was mistaken. Instead, she was greeted by a smooth and calming pair of blue eyes. She thought to herself that they looked like the waters off the coast of Saddle Arabia, sparkling against the sun's reflective rays which gave its eyes a sense of warmth to them. She shook herself out of the trance and booked it towards town. Even though it possessed beautiful eyes, she had watched it mercilessly and flawlessly kill 4 fully grown timberwolves. It was dangerous and she did not want to become its 5th victim. She quickly ran back to her cottage, dropped her saddlebags off, carefully making sure she didn't let Mrs. Hen's carcass fall to the ground, and flew full speed to town to find Twilight. Fluttershy may not have known what this was or what to do with it, but Twilight surely would've known. She reached Twilight's tree-house library and quickly knocked on the door. "Coming!" she heard from inside. She was greeted by Twilight with a smile. "Hi Fluttershy! So nice to see you!" Twilight noticed her friend had tree sap splattered on his coat and mane which she immediately noticed was timberwolf blood. "What happened to you?" Twilight asked with worry. "I have a lot to tell you, Twilight," Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. She entered the house, closed the door, and told her story to Twilight.